Rimas Abu Shalouf is 16 years old and lost both legs in the war between Israel and Hamas.
This week, at a swimming pool in Khan Younis, she got into the water to learn to swim. Beside her were Sama Abu Khuswan, just 12 years old, and Miral al-Babli, both also amputees as a result of the conflict that has been ravaging Gaza since October 2023. Their prostheses remained at the edge of the pool while coach Nour Qashqash guided them through the warm-up, stroke by stroke, as if the water could give them back something the war had taken from them.
The program is organized by Heal Palestine, an NGO that works with children who survived the conflict. It does not promise to erase what they experienced. But it gives them a place where their bodies can move freely again, without the weight of what is missing.
