Raghad Al Fara faces the challenge of rebuilding her teenage life in Athens, particularly as she navigates with crutches due to injuries from the Gaza conflict.
Evacuated from the besieged Palestinian territory in February, she now resides in a shelter for refugee women. “I never imagined surviving, let alone stepping onto European soil,” the 15-year-old shared with AFP.
Raghad is among 10 Gazan minors dealing with “complex” orthopedic and psychological injuries, according to Heracles Moskoff, the Secretary General for Vulnerable Persons at the Migration Ministry.
Injured in an Israeli bombing, she was evacuated with her mother Shadia and younger sister Argwan.
The rest of the family, including three siblings and their father, remain in Gaza.
In total, 26 Palestinians arrived in Athens at the end of February, as per the Greek Foreign Ministry.
“Learning that Greece agreed to host us was a relief,” said Shadia Al Fara, Raghad’s mother.
‘More Than a Survivor’
Sara Al Sweirki, 20, also living in Athens, is determined to “be more than a survivor.”
“I want to live like other girls my age, learn guitar and piano, and study,” emphasized the young woman, who left Gaza in September with her mother and brother.
Accepted by the private Deree American College of Greece, Al Sweirki will start her studies in January.
She chose psychology “to help others overcome their traumas,” she said.
Raghad could benefit from such expertise. Her mother mentioned that the teenager has yet to receive psychological support “despite wetting the bed for months” from severe shock.
Raghad was injured in a July 2024 Israeli bombing in Khan Younis, Gaza, causing numerous casualties.
Her right leg and back were crushed under the building’s rubble.
“For two months, my daughter was on a respirator and bedridden for seven months, unable to move,” Al-Fara recalled painfully.
Upon arriving in Greece, Raghad received treatment from an orthopedist and a physiotherapist at a children’s hospital.
Palestinian refugee Sara Al Sweirki, 20, who now lives in Athens. — AFP
However, she waited months for a support belt, and her mother, a former hairdresser, had to find orthopedic shoes independently.
“Greece took responsibility for us but then abandoned us,” Raghad’s mother stated, noting the lack of financial aid from the Greek state.
Despite requests from the Palestinian community in Athens for the government to host more injured Gazans, there is “no political will” from Greece’s conservative government, said Palestinian official Latif Darwesh.
“The current government has forgotten its historic friendship with the Palestinian people,” Darwesh noted.
Many Palestinian students found refuge in Greece in the 1980s under socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who fostered close ties with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Rising Solidarity
Israel’s strategies against Gaza since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, have increased Greek solidarity with Palestinians.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s government has not recognized a Palestinian state, despite 74% of Greeks supporting such a move, according to a study by the Greek social research group aboutpeople.
Palestinian refugees Raghad Al Fara, 15 (C), Argwan Al Fara, 11 (R), and their mother, Shadia Al Fara, 44 (L), who now live in Athens, walk near a refugee shelter in Athens. — AFP
Sara Al Sweirki is uncertain if she will stay in Athens “forever,” acknowledging that “the future in Gaza remains very uncertain.”
A ceasefire agreement effective from October 10 “does not mean rebuilding,” said Shadia Al Fara, who has enrolled her daughters in a Greek school.
“We cannot return to living under tents, fearing bombings will resume!” the mother stated.
“My three other children in Gaza ask me to get them out of this hell,” but Al-Fara feels “powerless” to help them.
Sara Al-Sweirki, meanwhile, looks forward.
“My dream was interrupted” after October 7. “But now I am more determined than ever to pursue my goal (of studying),” she expressed.
