Gaza’s beloved champion was in line to participate in the Olympics until an Israeli attack left her amputated and eventually took her life.
Deir el-Balah, Gaza – At 24, Nagham Abu Samra was already a sporting icon in Gaza.
She had not only earned a black belt in an inspiring karate career but also completed two degrees (bachelor’s and master’s) in physical education from the now-demolished Al-Aqsa University in Gaza.
In 2021, Nagham also launched her own sports centre in the besieged enclave, urging young girls in Gaza to take up sports, especially karate.
She was a role model for all girls studying physical education at the university, which now lies as a pile of rubble.
It was the only university in Gaza that provided this curriculum and she was keen to inspire young girls to take up sport.
In January, Nagham died in an Egyptian hospital, succumbing to her wounds sustained during an Israeli attack that also killed her sister Rosanne in December.
She had been in a coma after having been moved from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, to the border with Egypt before being taken across it to a hospital in El Arish.
A hospital official in Gaza told media that Nagham was brought in with her right leg amputated and severe head injuries. Surgery was too risky given her situation and she was on life support, the official added.
“We were very keen to help her as much as possible. The fact that she was a sports icon in Palestine and a former karate champion pushed us to work even more vigorously on her case. We knew she needed the utmost care which we showed complete readiness for.
“In the first three to four days she was at the hospital, her situation was improving. However, she started having high and unusual fever with chest inflammations.”
Standing by her bedside in the hospital, the young athlete’s father Marwan called on sports fans across the world to help Nagham “stand on her own feet again”.
Medical travel permit came ‘too late’
“I don’t usually look like this – Nagham’s condition has devastated me and I can’t bear to see her like this,” he said, his voice breaking with the pain of seeing his daughter suffer.
Amid its war on Gaza that has killed nearly 30,000 people and wounded at least 70,000, Israel has also targeted hospitals and medical infrastructure across the Strip, where drones, jets and soldiers targeted the facilities’ vicinity, laying siege before entering them.
Lack of fuel, medical personnel, supplies and power has meant main hospitals across Gaza were out of service. Some have become shelter houses for Palestinians in Gaza, displaced multiple times amid Israel’s continued attacks since October 7.
Patients have been treated on the floor in corridors while doctors have been forced to carry out surgeries without anaesthetics.
“We needed to move her out of Gaza but needed a permit to let her leave,” an official at Al-Aqsa Hospital said.
“We had been calling out to the international community and medical institutions across the world for help over many weeks but we didn’t get any.”
“When she was allowed to cross into Egypt, it was too late.”
Marwan, her father, was the young athlete’s first and biggest fan. He would proudly call her “the most beautiful karate player in the world” when she rose to the top of the sport in Gaza.
After her death, Marwan said Nagham was “an exceptional woman”
Nagham fell in love with karate as a child. She was well-known for her agility, softness and talent from the early age of six.
She succeeded in being an icon for the Palestinian sports community, representing Palestine from a very young age in 2011. She finished runner-up twice in the Palestine Karate Championship (2017 and 2018) before finally winning the title in 2019.
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