Once a respected academic in Gaza, Dr Ghanem Al-Attar is today better known for a photograph that captured him sprinting with two water jugs in his hands, a desperate yet dignified race for survival in a land starved by siege and war. At 70 years old, he has exchanged lecture halls for endless queues at water trucks, providing for a family of 23 in a camp where thirst has become as relentless as the bombs.

Al-Attar speaks with the humility of a man who has lost much yet refuses to surrender his dignity. His home and law office lie in ruins, his daughter Samira and six grandchildren killed in Israeli strikes, his possessions and books buried under rubble. Displaced from Beit Lahia to Mawasi in Khan Younis, he now shares tents with dozens of his grandchildren, piecing together fragments of life amidst destruction. Still, he finds ways to organise the chaos, ensuring order at water lines, teaching the young to respect the old.

Messages of solidarity have poured in from across Palestine and beyond, moved by his resilience. “The leader of the people is their servant,” he reminds, quoting an Arab proverb that mirrors his sense of duty. His voice carries no bitterness, only defiance: that even if Gaza is reduced to rubble, its children will grow, resist, and rebuild.

Dr Ghanem Al-Attar’s story is one among thousands, yet it embodies the unbreakable spirit of Gaza—a people stripped of everything but never their will to endure, to live, and to rebuild their homeland from the ashes.