‘He was nameless’: Orphaned children lose family, identity in Gaza
Al Jazeera
Unaccompanied children in the war-torn enclave are registered as ‘unknown’, or as ‘wounded child, no surviving family’.
Khan Younis, Gaza – Lying on a bed at the European Hospital in southern Gaza, hidden behind bandages that enveloped his disfigured face, five-year-old Ahmed Abu Zariaan remained unidentified for more than a week.
The injured boy was one of a growing number of children in the war-torn enclave to be registered as “unknown”, or under the acronym WCNSF – wounded child, no surviving family.
Ahmed’s family was wiped out in an Israeli air raid as they travelled southwards along Salah al-Din Street, a route Israel designated for safe passage from northern Gaza, in early November.
Heeding the Israeli army’s order for residents in the northern part of the enclave to evacuate to the south, the family of five left Beit Hanoon on a donkey cart and headed for Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
A strike targeting a nearby house along the way killed the whole family but spared the five-year-old. Nour Lafi, a 28-year-old nurse at the European Hospital, said the boy was in intensive care for two weeks after sustaining severe injuries and burns.
