For days, Hadeel al-Masalmeh has sat alone in her room, refusing to speak.
The 23-year-old Palestinian is still reeling from last week’s deadly strike, when missile shrapnel tore through the beauty salon she co-owned with her cousin and friend, Sahira al-Masalmeh, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
Sahira was killed instantly, along with three other women – two of them pregnant. Hadeel survived with injuries, as did seven others, including an infant.
Walid al-Masalmeh, Hadeel’s father, said she has been discharged from the hospital but will need further surgery to remove shrapnel lodged near a nerve in her leg.
The trauma has transformed his once cheerful daughter into “a different person”, he told Middle East Eye.
