Palestinian Children Build Sand Replicas of Houses Wrecked by Israeli Raids
(AWP) - The house where Lin, a young displaced Palestinian girl, lived with her family is engraved in her memory. Since they were forced to leave the house due to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Lin decided to build it again, this time in the sand outside a displaced persons’ camp in Deir Al-Balah.
With the help of her friends, Lin recreated the shape of the house she is eager to return to once again after it is rebuilt, like thousands of other houses that have been destroyed in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which began October 7.
“We come here to play in the sand, spend time with our friends, and make artistic shapes. We make many things, like a hole, a mountain, ovens, and our house that was destroyed in Gaza. I tried to build something like our house in its old shape: the kitchen, rooms and living room. I tried to build it in sand and mud to make it look like our house,” said little Lin.
Her friend Mai could not salvage her toys from under the rubble of her family’s house in Al-Shojayia district, so the sand around her tent in Deir Al-Balah has become her sole source of fun.
“We have been displaced from Al-Shoja’yia district. We do not have any toys or other things to have fun with. We just spend time playing in the sand. We make holes and draw things. When we are finished, we just bring down what we built and make shapes again,” she said.
Their friend, Jana Abu Hana, said that sitting inside her small, damp tent is boring, so she has come out to play in the sand.
“We feel bored sitting inside tents all the time. We come here to play with sand, which is better than being confined to the tents,” noted Jana.