6:53 am ET, November 29, 2023
A grandfather takes CNN home to Gaza, where his beloved granddaughter died in an airstrike
From CNN’s Jomana Karatshe, Florence Davey-Adlee and Abeer Salman
CNN
For nearly seven weeks, most people in the Gaza Strip have been trying to survive, focusing on the basics of finding shelter, escaping the fighting, and gaining access to food and water.
The The pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas has provided for many families In Gaza, the chance to go out and buy things, get belongings, or return home to bury the bodies of their loved ones.
For many Gazans like Khaled Naban, the ceasefire has deepened the anguish as they come to terms with their new, devastated environment. Weeks of airstrikes and fighting have leveled entire neighborhoods, and many are now seeing the full extent of the devastation for the first time.
All she has left are toys and memories of her beloved grandchildren Reem, 3, and Tarek, 5, who were killed last week while sleeping in their beds.
Their home was hit by what Naban said was a nearby Israeli airstrike in the Al Nusirat refugee camp in southern Gaza. Naban was only able to return following a pause in the fight.
In the battered bedroom of their home in Gaza, Naban showed CNN where his daughter Maisa — Reem and Tarek’s mother — was sleeping when the house collapsed. Maisa and her sister survived but were seriously injured.
Maisa wakes up in the hospital. Their lifeless bodies were found together under the rubble.
“I was numb at the hospital. I hugged them, I wanted to hug them as much as I could. No matter how much I hugged them, I couldn’t get enough,” Maisa said.
According to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, 14,800 Palestinians, including 6,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive on October 7 in response to Hamas terror attacks. – Run health authorities in the Gaza Strip.
