‘Born in Gaza’ follows ten children telling their daily life under the bombs during the Israeli offensive that devastated the Gaza Strip in July and August 2014.
They were playing football on the beach when the shelling started. Their friends were killed and Motasem and Hamada were wounded. But worse than the physical injuries are the psychological ones. ‘I tell my mom every day I want to die,’ confides 11 year old Motasem.
6 year old Bisan’s house was bombed, killing her parents and leaving her badly burned. Now she needs to go abroad for surgery and she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Udai, 9, and Rajaf, 13, are also struggling to cope with the deaths of relatives. Udai saw his older brother blown to pieces by a bomb. ‘The largest piece of him left was this size’, he says, making a small gesture with his hands.
Since civil war started in Syria in 2011, an estimated 9 million Syrians have fled their homes, half of them children. With a soundtrack composed by Gabriel Yared, this film follows seven young children for a year.
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