Elderly child: Trauma of Israeli bombing turns Gaza girls hair grey

Lana al-Sharif was just eight years old when Israel’s war on Gaza began.

Nineteen months later, the Palestinian girl is now known in her displacement camp as the “elderly child”.

With grey hair and white patches across her skin, Lana was diagnosed with vitiligo after suffering a severe panic attack triggered by an Israeli air strike on her neighbourhood in January 2024.

Vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or colour.

“She was terrified and trembling. It was a severe panic attack,” her father, Khalil al-Sharif, told Middle East Eye from the makeshift tent where the family now lives in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

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“We took her to hospital and she stayed there for a full day. She was shaking throughout the night, even after the bombing had stopped,” he recalled.

“Two days after we returned home, two white spots appeared on her face.”

Even before the current war, nine out of ten children in Gaza were already suffering from some form of conflict-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), largely the result of repeated Israeli military assaults.

In June 2024, UNICEF estimated that nearly all of Gaza’s 1.2 million children are in need of mental health and psychological support.

‘Her hair turned grey’ 

Lana’s parents took her back to hospital after the first white spots appeared on her skin. 

A doctor prescribed ointments and medication, but her condition gradually worsened.

“The spots became more visible on her face, then spread across her entire body. Over the past six months, things have become very difficult, her hair has slowly started turning grey,” said her father, Khalil.

“We’ve been seeing doctors for over a year now. They had hoped the medication would help, but without proper treatment - and with the constant bombings that leave Lana trembling - her condition keeps deteriorating.”

Between late January 2024 and January 2025, French and American medical delegations were granted limited access to Gaza on three separate occasions, in an effort to support the territory’s overwhelmed medical teams.

Lana’s parents struggled to reach the delegations and secure an appointment for their daughter amid the flood of urgent cases. Eventually, they managed to do so.

After examining her, the foreign doctors confirmed the diagnosis: vitiligo, triggered by trauma and a severe panic attack.

“They said she needs proper treatment and laser therapy abroad if she’s to have a chance of recovery. But I’ve failed in all my efforts to convince the doctors to add her name to the medical referral list,” Khalil said.

“They told me the Ministry of Health is currently prioritising cancer and cardiac patients, and that my daughter’s case is not considered as urgent as the thousands of others awaiting transfer.”

Trapped 

According to Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, at least 20,000 patients and wounded Palestinians are currently in need of treatment.

Of these, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 12,000 and 14,000 critically ill patients require evacuation for medical care outside Gaza.

As of March 2025, at least 4,500 children in Gaza were reported to be in urgent need of medical evacuation abroad.

'The neighbours ask, ‘Why is your hair grey like an old person?’

- Lana al-Sharif, Palestinian girl

However, since Israel’s closure of the Rafah border crossing - Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world via Egypt - in May 2024, only around 500 medical cases have been permitted to leave the territory.

“In the meantime, doctors prescribe temporary topical treatments,” Khalil said.

“But these are very expensive, and most are simply unavailable in Gaza’s hospitals or pharmacies.

“More than half the medicines doctors prescribed for us couldn’t be found in any pharmacy or anywhere else.”

As of April, Gaza was facing a critical shortage of medical supplies.

According to the Ministry of Health, approximately 37 percent of essential medicines, 54 percent of cancer drugs, and 59 percent of medical disposables were completely out of stock.

Renewed trauma

In a desperate attempt to improve her condition, doctors referred Lana for free psychological therapy, but it has done little to ease her suffering.

“Today, Lana is receiving psychological support,” said Khalil. “But just to get her to those sessions, I have to borrow money to cover the transport costs, which have become very high due to fuel shortages and the lack of taxis.

“Since we fled our home in Rafah and sought shelter here, Lana has been too frightened to leave the tent on her own. She’s scared of the bombing, but also of being bullied. She looks different from the other children now.”

Lana, the only girl among two brothers, now spends most of her time alone.

“Sometimes I find her drawing and crying. I try to sit with her, play with her, so she doesn’t feel so lonely. I tell her she’s more beautiful than her friends, even more beautiful than me, but she knows the truth. She knows something is wrong.”

Speaking in short, hesitant words, Lana told MEE that what hurts her most is feeling different.

“I’m still afraid of the bombing. I can never get used to that sound. It’s terrifying,” she said.

“Now we live in a tent, and the bombing sounds even louder.”

But what frightens her most is how people look at her.

“People in the street stare at me. The neighbours I used to play with ask, ‘why is your hair grey like an old person?’

“That makes me very sad… and I cry.”

middleeasteye.net