This particular one....

Journalist returns home to find girl nearly dead

By Bilal Badwan, Special to Gulf NewsPublished: January 20, 2009, 22:58

For two days 15-year-old Amerah's wound bled without medical treatment. She fled her home and left the dead bodies of her father and two brothers.

She moved to an abandoned apartment. She only had a bucket of water, no blankets or first aid equipment for two days as she hid in the building.

It was the home of journalist Emad Eid that she had found. Emad moved his family to a different, safer area of Gaza City some days before.

When Emad returned, he found Amerah bleeding in his home where there was no food, water or bedding.

"How did you handle the sounds of the tanks when you were by yourself, bleeding, hiding alone for two days?" Emad asked the girl. He was afraid that she had neither the strength nor the courage to speak about what happened to her.
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In fact, Amerah, now barely conscious had only five units of blood left in her when the medics came.

"Forgive me, I entered your house without your permission," Amerah managed to muster.

She was covered in blood and there were tear-stains on her cheeks. Emad didn't know how Amerah could find the words for an apology. While he was able to shield his own family from witnessing such devastation, he looked at Amerah and wished he could erase all the horrible memories from her mind.

"They killed my father and brothers in front of my eyes, they threw a bomb at me and my leg was injured. I ran away and found the door of your house open so I came in. I couldn't scream from my bleeding wounds because they would have heard me," she recounted.

Amerah's family believed her to be dead, killed along with her father and two brothers.
They buried pieces of what they assumed to be Amerah's remains.

When Amerah's mother found out she was alive, she rushed to the hospital. She held her daughter sobbing uncontrollably. For the miracle of Amerah's life, her family praised God.

Bilal Badwan is a journalist based in Gaza .