Facing the constant threat of airstrikes and bombings, 15-year-old Gazan oud player Youssef Saad, with his instrument strapped to his back, rides his bicycle through the war-torn streets of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Saad sings for the children who have suffered daily horrors during the 11-month conflict, and tries to bring them some joy or entertainment.
“The houses in my city were once full of dreams,” said Saad, looking at the rubble of a decades-old urban refugee camp that was built before the war and housed a dense population.
“Now they’re gone”, he says.
Saad was studying at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in nearby Gaza City before it was reduced to ruins by the war that devastated much of the region.
Now, living with relatives after his home was destroyed, he is one of five siblings whose futures have been turned upside-down.
His father, a government employee in the Palestinian Authority, always supported Saad’s dream of becoming a musician.
But now Saad’s focus has changed. He spends his days at the Jabaliya Day Center, playing his oud and singing to children affected by war.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, Israeli figures show.
Israel’s assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza has so far killed more than 40,800 Palestinians, displaced almost the entire population and devastated the besieged territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
“Every home has some tragedy. Someone has lost their mother, someone their father, their neighbor or their friend,” Saad said.
Despite the danger, Saad is determined to continue his mission.
“We try to help them improve their mental health, even if it means putting ourselves at risk,” he said. “It’s my duty to the children.”
And he refuses to give up on his dreams for the future: “We, the children of Palestine, strive to persevere, even in the face of genocide.”
Saad says he lives by a saying that sustains him even on the worst days: “If you live, live free, or die standing like the trees.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)