Gaza- Sisters Shaima and Samah Naeem put in a great effort in pursuit of success. Despite the brevity of their lives, they managed to achieve significant parts of their dreams, including memorizing the Qur’an, graduating from dental school, honing their skills in the profession, building a clientele, starting families, and mastering foreign languages.
However, the Israeli occupation army thwarted the fulfillment of their remaining aspirations, such as continuing to manage one of the most important dental centers in Gaza and traveling to complete their higher education.
On January 6th, 2024, an Israeli aircraft bombed the house to which the Naeem family had fled in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of seven members of the family, including the sisters Samah and Shaima, Samah’s daughter Lara, Shaima’s son Taysir, and their 17-year-old sister, Batoul, as well as their 87-year-old grandmother, Rasmiya.
The sisters Samah and Shaima, daughters of Dr. Jamal Naeem, the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Palestine and one of the leading dentists in Gaza, were well known in this field.
Samah’s Love for Travel
Samah was born in Germany in 1994 and studied dentistry at the University of Palestine in Gaza. After graduating, she worked with her father at his specialized center, which is one of the most prominent dental and cosmetic clinics in Gaza. She gained extensive experience.
Samah married Hussein Aloua, and initially faced challenges with childbirth until she was blessed with her daughter Lara in 2023, who was tragically killed with her. Samah had a great love for travel and the idea of exploring the world, especially since she was proficient in both English and German.
Her father, Dr. Jamal Naeem, told Al-Jazeera, “Samah was not just my daughter; she was my friend and confidante. She stuck by me since the beginning of her dental studies in 2012 (when I served as the dean of the college) until the outbreak of the war in October 2023.”
He mentions that she was always generous to the poor and needy, often coming to his office asking for reduced treatment costs for someone she didn’t previously know because they seemed impoverished and unable to afford the expenses.
Dr. Jamal had high hopes for his late daughters Samah and Shaima, expecting them to shoulder the burdens of the center in the years to come. He said about Samah, “I saw myself and my imagination realized in her more and more each day. She grew and blossomed, and her fragrance began to emanate throughout. However, the cowardly aggressor forcefully plucked her with all cruelty, leaving a deep wound in my heart that will never heal.”
Shaima – Doctor and Artist
As for Shaima, who is two years younger than her sister Samah, she shared many qualities and goals with her. She also graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Palestine with top honors in her class.
In addition to excelling in dentistry, Shaima had a passion for art and turned to it whenever she wanted to alleviate psychological pressure and the burdens of life.
Her father, Jamal Naeem, says she had been known for her alertness since childhood, to the extent that her kindergarten teacher in Germany requested an exception for her to enter school a year earlier than her peers.
When she returned to Palestine at the age of 8, Shaima was passionate about reading and art, and had memorized the Qur’an at a young age. After graduating from the university, she worked with her father at his private center, becoming his right-hand in orthodontics, in addition to her dedicated work in general dentistry.
The late Shaima also took an interest in several other specialties, joining training courses in marketing, programming, French, Hebrew, and other sciences, according to her father. Shaima had been known for her extremely organized nature from a young age, making plans to manage her practical and family lives.
Dr. Jamal further mentioned that he had seen her meticulously arranged program on her phone following her death, and was surprised at “the level of order and discipline she had imposed on herself in all areas of her life, from daily Qur’anic recitations, educational sessions with her son, reading books, and art.”
He affirmed that all of this did not hinder her work as a doctor or her duties as a wife in her home and with her husband. Before the war, Shaima had completed arrangements to travel to Turkey to begin her higher education in dentistry, but the Israeli aggression on Gaza was swifter than all these plans.
A Date with Martyrdom
During the Israeli war and the forced displacement of the majority of the northern Gaza residents to southern Gaza in Wadi Gaza, 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 22nd, 2023, his family fled to the city of Deir al-Balah, settling in his uncle’s house after the Israeli army launched a ground attack near their area.
On the evening of January 6th, 2024, an Israeli shelling struck their home, resulting in the deaths of seven people, including the doctor-turned-martyrs Samah and Shaima, their daughter Lara, and son Taysir.
Dr. Naeem recalled the details of that fateful day, saying, “I woke up to the sound of stones falling on our heads. After managing to pull myself and my young daughter Maryam from under the rubble, my mind began to explode from the horror of what I saw and never expected.”
He continued, “Barefoot, my head bleeding and my fingers broken, I searched for survivors among the rubble, but the scene was more shocking than any human could imagine.”
Later, Dr. Naeem discovered that his three daughters Samah, Lara, and Shaima, along with their children and their grandmother and granddaughter, had been killed.
He recalled, “That evening, we laughed a lot. We heard the 7 PM news bulletin and everyone went to sleep around 9 PM. Some never woke from their sleep, and some awoke to a nightmare they never dreamt of – to be targeted directly by the occupation.”
