Palestinian teen, Hussam Al-Attar, 15, has been named “the Newton of Gaza” after successfully generating electricity from wind, using the most basic tools.
Al-Attar, who was a student of Jabel Mukaber School in northern Gaza before Israel launched its devastating war on the besieged enclave on 7 October, found himself and his family homeless after having to flee their homes in the Beit Lahia area to Al-Nasr, and then to Khan Yunis on foot, until they ended up in Rafah near the border with Egypt.
“I looked at my twin nephews and saw only fear in their eyes. They felt lonely in the dark inside the tent. So I thought … Bring joy to them, and light up this place,” Hussam told Quds Press.
“The idea of taking advantage of the cold weather and wind, which seeps into the children’s bodies, exhausting them with fatigue and illness, has inspired me to turn it into a source of warmth and heat,” said the teen who “was able, despite the scarcity of capabilities, to create fans that generate electricity, even if only a little, through power generators.”
His mother is proud of her son’s achievement. “He was talented from a young age. He loved to play with everything he could get his hands on, and he made something useful out of nothing, and families also turned to him to repair their electrical tools” she told Quds Press. Hussam’s mother hopes to see him as a great inventor who will benefit his community and his cause. “This is a Palestinian generation that will not be defeated. It is a generation that is searching for life in the midst of darkness and death,” she said.
“I love life, and I adore its details. I wish to be an inventor and discoverer, but it is impossible for Palestine to die inside me,” said 15-year-old Hussam.
Israel has killed more than 26,900 people and wounded 65,949 others, and forced the displacement of more than 85 per cent – or about 1.9 million – people in Gaza, since the start of its ongoing war, according to Gaza Strip authorities and the UN.
The Israeli Occupation army has continued its aggression against the Gaza Strip, since 7 October, with American and European support, as its planes bomb the vicinity of hospitals, buildings, towers and Palestinian civilian homes, destroying them above the heads of their residents, and preventing the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel.
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