Healing and Resilience

Prosthetics are seen on a table at the Artificial Limbs and Polio Center in Gaza City, Gaza , December11,2014. Many of the Palestinian’s wounded in last summer’s war between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip lost limbs. Heidi Levine for The National

Rawya abu Jom’a nearly one year after last summer’s war , sits under a picture frame showing photographs of her 4 year-old sister Rehav who was killed together with her two aunts when their apartment in Gaza City was hit by an Israeli airstrike. Although the horrific shrapnel wounds have healed on her face , the memories of the war give her flash backs and nightmares still one year later .She is unable to use her right hand because the nerves and bones were badly damaged . She spent 4 months being treated in Jordan following the war but still needs further surgery . She was supposed to start her first year of university but could not because she can not write. Heidi Levine for The National

Injured Palestinian girl Yasmeen Al Bakri,11, stands in her bedroom of an apartment her grandparents are renting in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza CIty ,Gaza on February 21,2015. She was wounded in her home during an explosion by an Israeli air strike on August 4,2014 during last summer’s war between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip . Five family members were killed including her mother and two of her sisters . Yasmeen was evacuated to Turkey for medical care and has been told that she has to wait until she is 18 years old for more reconstruction surgery on her arm which was also burned as well as her face and legs . Heidi Levine for The National

Wounded Palestinian woman Amal el Rafati,30, in the bedroom of her home in Jabalya ,Gaza October 28,2014 as she receives rehabilitation treatment from a nurse from the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Gaza,October 28,2014 . She was seriously wounded and her husband and three year-old daughter were amongst the 16 Palestinian killed that were taking shelter at the facility . She suffered injuries to both her legs and neck in the attack in which evidence claims was by Israeli military artillery shelling . Heidi Levine for The National

Injured Palestinian boy Yamen Achemd Abu Jaber ,4, with his uncle Adnan Abu Jaber at his uncle’s home in Nussarat, Gaza February, 21,2015. Yamen was severely burned during last summer’s war between Israel and the Hamas -controlled Gaza Strip on July 29th when his family’s home was hit by an Israeli air strike in the El Bourej refugee camp in Gaza . Eighteen family members were killed including his mother, father , grandfather and five year-old sister . Adnan is now taking care of his brother’s orphaned son and says that the boy frequently wakes during the night screaming from nightmares. Heidi Levine for The National

Nabil Siyam,34, who lost his arm and sustained other injuries stands with his son Badruddin, 5 at their home in Rafa, Gaza December 29,2014 . Nabil and his son were injured when an Israeli bomb exploded outside there home on July 21 during last summer’s war . The explosion killed Nabil’s wife Shireen and 4 of his children . The attack also claimed the lives of his two brother’s and their wives and three of their children who were all staying at the house . Badruddin lost a kidney . Heidi Levine for The National

Palestinian Manar Shabari sits in her wheel chair by her prosthetic legs that have been fitted with festive shoes to be worn at her brother’s wedding at a relative’s home in Jabalya, Gaza December ,30,2014 . Manar Shabari,14, suffered severe injuries on July 24 during an Israeli military assault on the UN school in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza .Her mother and brother and three other family members were amongst the more than 15 killed at the school where hundreds of displaced civilians were taking shelter during the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip . Heidi Levine for The National

Rawya abu Jom”a, 17, at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City July 22,2014. Rawya was wounded when two Israeli air strikes attacked her family’s apartment on Sunday night . Three of her cousins and her sister were killed in the attack . She is suffering from shrapnel in her face, her legs have perforated holes in them and her bones were crushed in her right hand . Heidi Levine for The National

Wounded Palestinian woman Asraah Al Namla , a married woman and mother of two at her parents home in Gaza City on July 3,2015. Azreen lost both of her legs during last summer’s 50 day war between Israel and the Hamas -controlled Gaza Strip Her husband Wael lost his legs, and their son Shareef lost the lower part of his leg . The incident happened on one of the darkest days during the war that has been named ‘Black Friday’ .Palestinians claim 130-150 were killed in the Rafa area of southern Gaza during a breakdown of a cease fire agreement during a tunnel incident between Hamas and Israeli troops .The family was fleeing on foot trying to reach a safer area when an Israeli rocket attack hit them . Wael’s 11 -year old sister and his brother Yusef and his wife were killed . Heidi Levine for The National

Wael Al Namla at his home in Rafa,Gaza on July 3,2015 with his daughter Abir (center) and his brother’s orphaned son . He lost his the lower part of his right leg during last summer’s war between Israel and the Hamas -controlled Gaza Strip . ‘My life is totally destroyed ‘, said Wael . His wife Azreen lost both her legs, and their son Shareef lost the lower part of his leg . The incident happened on one of the darkest days during the war that has been named ‘Black Friday’ .The family was fleeing on foot trying to reach a safer area when an Israeli rocket attack hit them . Wael’s 11 -year old sister and his brother Yousef and his wife were killed . Heidi Levine for The National

Wounded Palestinian woman Asraah al-Namlah, and her injured husband Wael in the evening as they listen to Arabic love songs in a room lit by safety lights during a power cut at their home in Rafa,Gaza January 20,2015. She lost both of her legs , and her son and husband each lost one leg during last summer’s war between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The incident happened on one of the darkest days during the war that has been named ‘Black Friday’.Palestinians claim 130-150 were killed in the Rafa area of southern Gaza during a breakdown of a ceasefire agreement during a tunnel incident between Hamas and Israeli troops . The family was fleeing on foot trying to reach a safer area when an Israeli rocket attack hit them .Her husband’s 11 -year old sister and his brother Yusef and his wife were killed in the attack. Wael’s brother Yousef, a pharmacist , the only one working in the family and now all the family members are unemployed . Wael is hoping to find a way for his injured family to go to Germany for medical treatment . Heidi Levine for The National

What happens after the bombs stopped dropping on Gaza is just as important as what happened before, because the violence in occupied Palestinian territory has become so cyclical.

I had the opportunity to go back to the scenes of violence, to dig deeper and identify the individual suffering.

My intent was to document how civilians manage to move on with their lives, searching for the visual references of human resilience that emerges from the pain and tons of rubble, by living with families and tracking their gradual, emotional and physical recovery, or the obstacles that make it impossible.

In Jabalya, I met 14-year-old Manar Shabari, who, with the help of women in her family, was trying on two prosthetic legs adorned with white-spangled shoes so she could celebrate her brother's wedding later that day.

Manar lost both her legs last summer on July 24 after an Israeli artillery attack on a United Nations school in Beit Hanoun. When I met her again just a few weeks ago, she showed me how she could attach her prosthetic legs by herself and walked up and down the hallway.

During the war, I captured an image of Rawya Joma's face, as she lay critically wounded in her bed in Shifa Hospital.

Today her beautiful face does not show any signs of the horrific shrapnel wounds but she spoke about the flash backs to the Israeli airstrike on her family's home that killed her 4-year-old sister and two aunts. Yet she is hopeful to find medical treatment to repair the crushed nerves and bones in her hands so that she can write again and enrol in university.

With more than 2,000 people killed, 11,000 wounded and thousands still displaced, these cases and others highlight what still shocks and amazes me after so many years, and what my continuing project tries to capture.

They epitomise human resilience, they depict the process of emotional and physical healing that makes itself felt here in Gaza, even as the threat of another military conflict looms.