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Visual artist and psychological and social specialist Youssef al-Hindi seeks to draw a smile on the lips of the children of the Beach Camp in Gaza City as the Israeli war on the Strip continues, by making dolls from tin tents and paper dough, and then presenting children’s performances to get them out of the atmosphere of war, bombing and destruction.

Marionette dolls are artificial figures whose movements are controlled by a person, either with his hand or with strings, wires or sticks. The doll may represent a person, animal, plant, or other object. These dolls assume roles in plays known as puppet shows, or the art of araguz.

The Indian made a doll embodying the character of the child “Youssef,” who was killed by Israel during its war on the Gaza Strip that broke out last October, to convey the message of the suffering of the children of Gaza to the world.

“Youssef is the character of the innocent child who did not commit any sin, but the Israeli army killed him without any mercy.” With these words, the Palestinian visual artist speaks about the character of the marionette doll that he creates.

Al-Hindi continues, "I am currently in the manufacturing stage, and after a few days the doll will have a clear shape, and Youssef will have beautiful curly hair and clearly defined white hair."

Last October, a video clip spread on social media of a Palestinian mother who was searching for her son in a hospital in Gaza City, telling the paramedics that her son “has curly (curly) hair, white (white skin), and sweet.”

After a search trip between two hospitals and two recovery rooms, the doctor informed the child’s mother of the martyrdom of Youssef, and the first phrase he said after seeing his son’s body was “Praise be to God.”

Al-Hindi is trying to convey several messages to the world, the most prominent of which is that thousands of innocent children were killed in this war, and that their rights are brutally violated by bombing, displacement, and siege.

Making children happy despite the challenges

The displaced Indian from the Beach camp for Palestinian refugees, west of Gaza City, holds a model of a marionette doll in both hands, and shapes its body, which is made of raw materials that are difficult to find or provide from the markets as the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip continues.

Al-Hindi says, "I am currently trying to make this doll to be able to send messages to the world about the rights of the children of our Palestinian people, especially their right to life in dignity."

The artist, who is in the displacement camps in the city of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip, adds, “My talent, will, idea, and desire to make children happy made me continue on the path of making dolls, defying all difficulties.”

While the Indian sculpts the doll's body, he emphasizes his insistence on making the Marriott doll with the simplest capabilities and materials available in light of the scarcity of raw materials and raw materials, stressing his intention to continue manufacturing it until it is completed, to carry out puppet shows in displacement camps targeting children, to remove them from the atmosphere of war, bombing and destruction.

The visual artist and psychological and social specialist seeks to "draw a smile on the lips of children who are the source of hope," noting that he lost his tools, his house, and everything he owned in the Israeli bombing, which forced him to provide and manufacture new equipment and tools so that he could make dolls.

Regarding the raw materials that he currently uses, Al-Hindi says, “The idea started with tent tin as the basis for my work, so I combined it with paper pulp similar to bread dough to make the body.”

He confirms that the matter was not easy in the beginning, as obtaining raw materials was a very difficult task. “I also tried as much as possible to use materials found in the environment, so I used cork, iron, nylon, and everything I had available.”

Visual artist and psychological and social specialist Youssef al-Hindi uses available materials to make marionette dolls (Anatolia)

Save the children of Gaza

On a personal level, the Palestinian artist narrates the journey of suffering and great difficulties he went through when he was displaced from the Beach camp, west of Gaza, to the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, before fleeing again towards the city of Rafah.

Al-Hindi confirms that this journey and its suffering was experienced by most of the residents of the Gaza Strip, escaping the massacres and genocide committed by the Israeli army in Gaza, the north, Khan Yunis and the Central Governorate, and in search of lost safety.

It calls on the whole world to intervene immediately to stop the war on Gaza, save children, and provide relief for what remains of life.

Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which as of Sunday left 27,365 martyrs and 66,630 injured, most of them children and women, according to the Palestinian authorities, and caused “massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to the United Nations. United.

Source: Al Jazeera + Anatolia