thefdz

GIRL IN THE FIRE “Girl in the Fire” (2026) Tatreez Embroidery Project by Zenata Amera Some images refuse to leave you. In May 2025, an Israeli airstrike hit the Fahmi al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City, where displaced Palestinian families had sought shelter. From the burning building came an extraordinary image: a little girl, surrounded by flames, somehow making her way out alive. Her name was Hanin al-Wadiya, six years old. The image travelled around the world — but so did the wrong name. Early reports identified the girl in the flames as Ward al-Sheikh Khalil, another young survivor of the same attack. That confusion has persisted, and it is worth correcting. Palestinian journalist Wissam Shabat @wissamshabat identified the child as Hanin. But the identification does not rest on Wissam alone. Hanin's uncle Ahmad al-Wadiya, journalist Hani Abu Rizq and Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal also identified Hanin as the child in the footage. Palestinian fact-checker Kashif documented those accounts, while Misbar independently obtained confirmation from Basal. Ward survived the same attack. Her story is real. But the little girl walking through the fire was Hanin al-Wadiya. Now, in 2026, Zenata Amera has transformed that haunting image into tatreez. There is something deeply moving about seeing a moment like this preserved through Palestinian embroidery — an art carried through generations, displacement and exile, now carrying the memory of a child who walked out of a burning building. Look closely at the piece. Her name is Hanin al-Wadiya. Remember it.