Dr. Martyr Shaima (right) accompanied by her sister, Martyr Samah (Al Jazeera)

Gaza -

The two sister doctors, Shaima and Samah Naeem, made a great effort in search of success, and during the course of their short lives, they were able to achieve an important part of their dreams, including completing memorization of the Holy Qur’an, graduating from the College of Dentistry, practicing in this profession, gaining many “clients”, and starting a family. Proficiency in foreign languages.

But the Israeli occupation army prevented them from achieving the rest of their ambitions, including continuing to manage one of the most important dental centers in the Gaza Strip, traveling, and completing their higher studies.

On January 6, 2024, an Israeli plane bombed the house to which the “Naim” family was displaced in the city of Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip, causing the death of 7 of its members, including the two sisters Samah and her child Lara and Shaima and her child Tayseer and their sister Batoul (17 years old). Their grandmother is “Rasmeya” (87 years old).

The two doctors, Samah and Shaima, are the daughters of Dr. Jamal Naeem, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Palestine and one of Gaza’s most prominent doctors in this field.

Martyr Dr. Samah, accompanied by her child Lara, who was martyred with her (Al Jazeera)

Tolerant and love to travel

Samah was born in Germany in 1994, and studied dentistry at Palestine University in Gaza. Following her graduation, she worked with her father in his specialized center, which is considered one of the most prominent dental and cosmetic clinics in Gaza, and gained great experience.

Samah married the young man Hussein Aliwa, and at first she suffered from reproductive problems, until God blessed her with her child, Lara, in 2023, who was martyred with her. Samah loved traveling very much and loved the idea of ​​traveling around the world, especially since she was fluent in English and German.

Her father, Dr. Jamal Naeem, told Al Jazeera Net, "Samah was not only my daughter. She was my friend and my secret keeper. She was close to me from the beginning of her studies in dentistry in 2012 (where he works as dean of the college) until the outbreak of war in October 2023."

It is mentioned that she always gave her money in charity to the poor and needy, and she would often enter his office to ask him to reduce the costs of treatment for someone, even though she had not previously known him, because he seemed poor and could not pay the costs of treatment.

Jamal adds that he had high hopes for his two martyrs, Samah and Shaima, to bear the center’s burdens in the coming years. He said about Samah, “I saw myself and my imagination in her being fulfilled day after day. My beautiful rose grew and blossomed, and its fragrance began to waft around, but the cowardly usurper plucked it with all its might.” Violence to dig a deep wound in my heart that will never heal.”

The martyr doctor Shaima, accompanied by her son, the martyr Tayseer (Al Jazeera)

Shaima is a doctor and artist

As for Shaima, who is two years younger than her sister Samah, she shared many qualities and goals, as she also graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at Palestine University, first in her class, with a grade of 94.6%.

In addition to her excellence in dentistry, Shaima loved the art of drawing, and she resorted to it whenever she wanted to reduce the psychological pressure and burdens of life on her.

Her father, Jamal Naeem, says that she was known for her intelligence from a young age, so much so that her nursery teacher in Germany asked for an exception for her to enter school a year earlier than her peers.

Shaima returned to Palestine when she was 8 years old. She was fond of reading and drawing, and memorized the Holy Qur’an at a young age. After graduating from university, she worked with her father in his private center, and became his right hand in the orthodontic specialty in addition to her dedicated work in general dentistry.

The deceased was also interested in several other specializations, and to do so, she enrolled in training courses in marketing, programming, French, Hebrew, and other sciences, according to her father. Since her childhood, Shaima was known for being a very organized person. She would make plans to manage her professional and family life.

In this context, her father adds that he saw her program recorded on her mobile phone, after her martyrdom, and was surprised “by the system and discipline that she set for herself in all areas of her life, from daily Qur’anic supplications, daily educational sessions with her son, book readings, drawing and art.”

He stressed that all of this did not delay her from her work as a doctor or from her duty as a wife in her home and with her husband. Before the war, Shaima had arranged all her life’s affairs to travel to Turkey to begin her graduate studies in dentistry, but the Israeli aggression on Gaza was faster than all these plans.

The martyr Dr. Samah, accompanied by her father, Dr. Jamal Naeem (Al Jazeera)

Appointment with certificate

After the start of the Israeli war and the forced displacement of the majority of the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to the south of the Gaza Valley, Dr. Jamal invited his married daughters, including Samah and Shaima, to stay in his house in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip.

On December 22, 2023, his family was displaced to the city of Deir al-Balah to live in his uncle’s house after the occupation army began a ground attack near the area where his house was located.

On the evening of January 6, 2024, the family was surprised by a treacherous Israeli bombing of their home, which resulted in the death of 7 people, including the two doctors, Samah and Shaima, and their two children, Lara and Tayseer.

Dr. Jamal recalls the details of this sad day by saying, “I woke up to the sound of stones falling on our heads, and after I was able to pull myself and my little daughter Maryam out from under the rubble, my mind began to explode from the horror of what I saw and what I did not expect.”

He continued, "I started barefoot, with a bloody head and toes, and a broken shoulder, searching for survivors among the rubble, but the scene was more difficult than anyone could imagine."

Later, Dr. Naeem discovered that his three daughters Samah, her daughter Lara and Shaima, her son Tayseer and Batoul, his mother Rasmiya “Umm Aouni” and his granddaughter “Lea” had been martyred.

He recalls the hours before the massacre, and says, "We laughed a lot that evening. We heard the seven o'clock news and everyone went to sleep at about nine. Some of us did not wake up from our sleep, and some of us woke up to a nightmare that we had not dreamed of, that we would be directly targeted by the occupation."

Source: Al Jazeera