The following story, published today in The Times, oozes inspiration and admiration for the six-year-old girl at its center.

Marya Aman was paralysed from the neck down in an Israeli missile strike on her family car in Gaza, last year.

In addition to losing her mother, older brother, and grandmother, Marya  fractured her spine, punctured both lungs, and is confined to a motorised wheelchair which she operates with a mouth stick.

However, earlier this week she experienced her first day at school and proclaimed it her happiest day:

I was so happy. All the other children welcomed me at the entrance, singing for me and throwing flowers. My teacher is very nice, [and] I like the other children in my class very much.

Dressed in a green T-shirt and black slacks, Marya was indeed applauded by her fellow pupils when she joined her class at the Yad-Vayad (Holding Hands) school in the Katamon suburb of Jerusalem.

Assisted by her father, Hamdi, the little girl revelled in meeting her classmates, a mixture of Arabs and Jews, and the excitement of her lessons.

Sadly, Marya’s new found happiness might be short-lived as on Tuesday a court is due to consider whether she can remain in Israel or must be sent back to the Palestinian territories.

Although Marya’s medical care is only available in Israel, she has been forbidden by the Israeli authorities to remain in the country indefinitely, with suggestions that she must be relocated to a hospital in the West Bank. This presents a foreboding issue.

While the Israeli defence ministry has agreed to pay for Marya to attend school for up to a month, her lawyer, Adi Lustigman, is trying to make the government take financial responsibility for her in the long term.

He is asking for permanent residence in Israel for her and her father, and lifelong support to cover treatment which is estimated to cost £10,000 a month.

As Hamdi lucidly states,

Any decision other than allowing her to live in Israel with the full support of the Israeli government would be a death sentence for Marya.

To date, a fund established by The Times for Marya has accumulated £34,000 that will go towards a special chair that will enable her to sit with her classmates if she is permitted to stay.

The story is so wrong on a multitude of levels. Perhaps I am weak at heart, but I find the stories concerning children deeply heartrending, for they are the most innocent.

Had an adult endured such a traumatic experience at the hands of the Israelis, his ability to mingle with Israelis could be tarnished. For Marya, however, her innocence enables her to forgive.

With such fortitude, one feels a gesture such as allowing her family to stay and affording the crucial health care, would provide a way forward for cohesion between the two fractious communities.

Let’s hope the court reaches a humane decision on Tuesday, for Marya and her family have suffered exorbitantly.