Ten days before her wedding, Hala Salem Darwish was preparing for a celebration.
Instead, she has been taken to intensive care after a bullet from an Israeli sniper pierced her family home and struck her in the head, turning her wedding countdown into a fight for survival.
The 19-year-old collapsed in front of her relatives after the bullet entered through a window shortly before sunset.
"There were only 10 days left until our wedding," her fiance, Mohammed Shreihi, told Anadolu agency.
"In a single moment, everything changed."
The bullet remains lodged in her head and caused severe damage to brain tissue, leaving her condition critical and unstable.
Doctors have so far been unable to operate.
A father's memory
Her father, Salem, said the moment continues to haunt him.
"We were preparing food when suddenly an Israeli bullet came through the window and hit her," he said.
"She fell in front of us. I cannot forget that scene."
Her wedding had been scheduled for early May.
Hala's case reflects the reality in Gaza, where the health system has been pushed to the brink.
Palestinian estimates indicate that around 22,000 wounded and sick people need to leave the territory for treatment.
Her fiance appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and humanitarian organisations to intervene.
Israel has continued to commit daily violations of a ceasefire deal signed last October, killing 830 Palestinians and injuring 2,345, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ceasefire was meant to end a two-year Israeli onslaught which left more than 72,000 dead and destroyed 90 percent of civilian infrastructure.
The UN estimates reconstruction costs at around $70 billion.
