Ten-year-old Renad Ataullah from Deir el-Balah, Gaza, has more than 450,000 followers on Instagram from around the world. Her cooking posts have an incredible resonance within Gaza itself; her resilience and smile are seen as a beacon of hope for the children of Gaza caught in the brutal chaos.
Renad says he has always loved cooking. Even before the start of the war in October last year, she watched cooking videos with passion. But when war broke out, she began cooking with her family using whatever ingredients she had available, often those from aid boxes that contained mostly simple ingredients and canned food.
Renadi, who should now be in the fifth grade, has missed an entire school year as a result of the war. She is currently sheltering with her mother and sisters, crowded with several other families in a single house in Deir el-Balah, which has been at the center of Israeli bombing.
"I became famous by accident!" she says.
A viral video of Renadi unpacking an aid box and discovering that it contained sugar, and her reaction of utter joy at finding a basic ingredient that was missing, captured the world's attention.
Renad's older sister, Nourhan Ataullah, is 25 years old and a pharmacist. She manages her younger sister's social media content and Instagram account. She feels a certain responsibility to ensure that Renad's content does not disturb people who have little or no access to food and water, particularly those in northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from the rest of the enclave by Israeli forces.
Many of Renad's videos address the problems that displaced people in Gaza are facing, such as the lack of water and essential food items.
