“From War to Amputation”…

Marah Khudr, a Young Palestinian Who Lost Her Leg but Not Her Resolve

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Exclusive – Hayat Washington

She recalls every detail as if it happened moments ago—at times in pain, at times in acceptance. A storm of emotions, yet one feeling ultimately prevails: a quiet hope grounded in faith in God’s will and destiny.

Marah Khudr, a young Palestinian woman in her twenties, lost her leg in a brutal Israeli airstrike. But the occupation could not break her spirit. She still dreams of a future worthy of her, still clings to her gentle smile despite surviving agonies no words can capture and no human should endure.

Hayat Washington visited Marah in her home in Cairo, where she has been receiving treatment after being evacuated from Gaza. There, she recounted the harrowing night when the walls of her home in Khan Younis collapsed around her. She rose from beneath the rubble—alive by the will of God—to bear witness to the horrors and acts of extermination inflicted on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Her eyes carry deep sorrow, yet they do not hide her relief at having survived. Confusion lingers in her gaze, shaped by what she has witnessed, but she longs for the end of this “nightmare.” Marah describes the moment the missile struck her home at exactly 4:06 a.m.—just an hour after she had been reciting the Qur’an, seeking peace before sleep. She awoke to an explosion, unsure of what was happening or what awaited her.

“I heard the blast, and I had no idea what happened or what was happening,” Marah says. “I woke up screaming from the pain. I felt like I was dreaming, unable to comprehend anything. Stones and rubble were on top of me, and I slid down into the basement under our house.”

She speaks of that moment as though it occurred only an hour ago: “I will never forget it for the rest of my life. I can’t even describe it. Everyone around me was screaming. They pulled my brothers, sisters, and the children who were with us from under the rubble. I was still screaming. They finally got me out, and only then did I realize it was a missile that hit us.”

The soft-spoken young woman continues recounting the night in vivid detail: “My room was the most damaged in the house. That’s why I wasn’t conscious or aware of anything around me. I couldn’t see anything. My sisters and some children were with me in the same room. I just kept screaming.”

She adds: “Then I saw my leg. I screamed even louder and cried, ‘Dad, help me—my leg!’ My father told me, ‘May God compensate you, my daughter.’ They called an ambulance. They pulled us out one by one and rushed us to the hospital. The whole way there, I was screaming, begging the person beside me, ‘Please, don’t let them cut it off.’”

“When we arrived at the hospital, they placed me on the floor. My little sister saw me and began yelling at the doctors. I begged them not to amputate my leg. They gave me anesthesia, and I fell asleep. I don’t know what happened after that.”

She goes on: “Two days passed after the surgery, and I still didn’t know my leg had been amputated. I could still feel it. After two days, they told me it had been removed. I screamed, ‘My leg… my leg!’ I cried and pleaded with them to give it back. They gave me a sedative, and I slept again. The next day, the nurses were changing my bandages, and I saw it—gone from below the knee. I screamed again, but then I said, ‘Alhamdulillah, Lord. I accept Your decree, so grant me strength.’”

Now twenty years old, Marah lost her leg to the assault—but not her determination. She continues her law studies remotely at Al-Aqsa University and hopes to earn a scholarship abroad to pursue her dream.

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