‘We’re dying’: 10-year-old Palestinian girl urges the world to intervene amid Israeli airstrikes

Nadeen Abed al Lateef is having trouble sleeping and cries with fear over the repeated attacks on her city, Gaza

A video of a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in besieged Gaza has captured worldwide attention after she urged people to remember that “children are dying” in Israeli airstrikes.

Nadeen Abed al Lateef told journalists on Sunday, on one of the deadliest days in the attacks: “We’re just dying. We don’t even deserve this.”

Wearing a purple shirt, and standing with her six-year-old brother in rubble, the schoolgirl told NBC News: “The American people, stop giving, stop giving weapons to the occupiers. That’s the way that you can help us.”

More than 200 people are estimated to have died in the impoverished city of Gaza following repeated Israeli airstrikes, including 61 children.

The area is a 140-square mile strip of land housing 2 million people that has been under Israeli blockade since 2007.

An estimated 10 people have died in Israel as a result of around 3,300 rockets from Hamas since the start of the conflict, including two children, Israeli authorities reported.

Hamas, which controls the city of Gaza, is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel and the US.

Nadeen said that the situation makes her “want to cry” when she sees so many frightened people.

The 10-year-old wants to be a doctor but said that her school shut down and that online teaching stopped because of the attacks.

“We are literally trying to live in rubbish but we can’t,” she said.

“When I grow up I want to be a doctor to help my people but I can’t. There’s no learning. I don’t have a right to learn because of the occupiers. My right to learn is gone.”

She added: “I’m living my life, if I get shot I don’t care, I’m still going to go study. My dream is to be a doctor and I will be a doctor. I don’t care if you shot me or anything I will be a doctor.”

On Tuesday clashes broke out in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank following a day of protests against the bombardment of Gaza, as reported by The Guardian. 

For the first time, US President Joe Biden has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following a phone conversation with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

But the attacks continue to rage.

The latest attacks are the result of a month long escalation of violence, but the origins of the tension between the two countries goes back generations and is rooted in the British occupation of Palestine following the First World War.