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Eight-year-old Zain Mhanna has spent every night in a cemetery in Gaza since his mother's death two months ago. He rests on her grave, because it is the only way he can still feel close to her.
His mother, Sanaa Mhanna, died from inhaling toxic gas, a day after Israel launched an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp. She was 37 and was undergoing treatment for a kidney condition.
"I miss hugging my mum, that's why I go to sleep on her grave," Zain said. "When I sleep on her grave and kiss it, my heart stops. I feel like my mother enters my heart."
Israel's war on Gaza has taken a harrowing toll on children in the enclave. More than 35,000 have lost one or both parents since the conflict began in October last year, with the violence killing more than 43,400 Palestinians and injuring 100,000, Gaza's health authorities have said. The war began after a Hamas-led attack on Israel killed about 1,200 people.
But the true scale of the suffering in Gaza is told through children such as Zain. His father, Youssef Mhanna, told The National that his family went to look for the boy, after discovering he was missing at night.
"We found him at his mother's grave," he said. "She was very attached to him. Zain and her were like two bodies with one soul."
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Several people have raised concerns about the boy's safety as he sleeps in the cemetery near Deir Al Balah, where he is vulnerable to Israeli strikes on Gaza or attacks from stray dogs, but Zain believes his mother will protect him. Mr Mhanna said he did not have the heart to prevent his son from going to the cemetery. "How can I take a boy from his mother? How would I stop him? His soul is his mother," he added.
He recalls how Zain, the youngest of four siblings, was so upset about his mother's health issues that he vowed to become a doctor. "He would say, 'When I grow up, I want to be a doctor so I can cure my mother.' My son is deeply affected by her death," Mr Mhanna said. "We try to compensate him for his loss, but a mother cannot be replaced."
No place to call home
The war destroyed the family's home in Gaza city and they were forced to move to the north of the enclave. They were later displaced again to central Gaza and now live in a tent in Deir Al Balah. Their shelter is 500 metres from the cemetery where his wife is buried.
Mr Mhanna explained the tent is too small to fit his four children, brother and four nephews, so he often sleeps outside. "There is nobody that can compensate me, I am sitting in the middle of the street in a flimsy tent made of fabric," he added. "If it rains, we will drown. We have no one besides God."
The onset of winter has made the situation worse. With about 90 per cent of Gaza's population displaced, the family are struggling to find ways to protect themselves from the cold.
Mr Mhanna, who worked as a chef before the war, said his children have outgrown their winter clothes and he has no way to replace them. "What do I do when my son tells me I want clothes? He's older now, it's been a year," he added. "He outgrew his clothes, winter is here and his sweater won't close."
'I refuse to leave Gaza'
Zain dreams of returning to their family home. It holds memories of his mother and he wants to see the places she used to sit, cook and take care of him. Mr Mhanna explained that his son saved two pictures of her on his phone – the lock screen image shows his mother frowning, while the home screen shows her smiling.
He will pick up the phone and pretend to speak to her, asking her not to frown, before unlocking the phone to her smiling back at him. Mr Mhanna said his family feel they are unable to leave the area, because they do not want to move away from his wife's grave.
The desire to remain close to her outweighs any thoughts of looking to escape the enclave. "I refuse to leave Gaza, there is something here that reminds me of Sanaa, something that reminds our children of their mother," Mr Mhanna said.
One year of the Israel-Gaza war - in pictures
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Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes targeted Palestine Tower in Gaza city on October 7, 2023. EPA -
Palestinians take control of an Israeli Merkava battle tank after crossing the border fence with Israel from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. AFP -
This video grab from footage released by the Israeli Hostage and Missing Families Forum campaign group on May 22 shows what the group described as Israeli female soldiers being captured by Palestinian Hamas militants during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. AFP -
Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Gaza city on October 9, 2023. EPA -
A rocket is launched from the coastal Gaza strip towards Israel by militants of the Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam militia, the military wing of Hamas movement, in Gaza city. EPA -
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from the city of Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. Reuters -
Lightning strikes as smoke billows following an Israeli air strike in Gaza city on October 9, 2023. AFP -
An Israeli artillery unit fires at an area along the border with Gaza, southern Israel, on October 11, 2023. EPA -
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people carry their belongings before boarding a ship for US nationals and their immediate family members, as they leave Israel headed for Cyprus. Reuters -
Palestinian youths take cover behind a rubbish container as they clash with Israeli forces at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Ramallah near the Israeli settlement of Beit El on October 20, 2023. AFP -
A man mourns as he attends a funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. Reuters -
A man holds a child, survivors of Israeli bombardment, as they are treated at a trauma ward at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. AFP -
People search for survivors and the bodies of victims through the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2023. AFP -
Anti-war protesters raise their 'bloody' hands behind US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Biden's $106 billion national security supplemental funding request to support Israel and Ukraine, as well as bolster border security, on Capitol Hill in Washington on October 31, 2023. Reuters -
Palestinians run for cover after a strike near the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city on November 1, 2023. AFP -
Palestinian children run as they flee from Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 6, 2023. AFP -
An injured Palestinian woman covered in dust and blood hugs an injured girl child at the hospital following the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 15, 2023. AFP -
Hostages released by Hamas Gal, left, and Tal Almog-Goldstein, second left, stand in a bus transporting them to an army base in Ofakim in southern Israel after they were released by the Palestinian militant group from the Gaza Strip on November 26, 2023. AFP -
Palestinian boys stand in their makeshift tent at a camp set up on a schoolyard in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip where most civilians have taken refuge, on December 13, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians fleeing the north through the Salaheddin road in the Zeitoun district on the southern outskirts of Gaza city, walk past Israeli army tanks on November 24, 2023. AFP -
In this picture taken during a media tour organised by the Israeli military on December 15, 2023, soldiers visit a tunnel that Hamas reportedly used to attack Israel through the Erez border crossing on October 7. AFP -
Jewish protesters block the passage of aid trucks being sent to Gaza in Ashdod, Israel on February 1, 2024. Reuters -
A man pulls water containers as he walks past destroyed buildings in Khan Younis on May 5, 2024. AFP -
Relatives of Hanan Yablonka, one of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants, mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv on May 26. AFP -
Humanitarian aid packages land after being dropped from a plane in Al Mawasi district of Khan Younis, on May 30, 2024. Reuters -
Palestinians attend Eid al-Adha prayer in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza strip, on June 16. EPA -
Displaced Palestinians play football in Jabalia on July 23, 2024. AFP -
Palestinians injured in an Israeli strike on a school ride on the back of a cart in Deir Al Balah on July 27, 2024. AFP -
Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in the northern Gaza Strip, September 11. Reuters -
Palestinians survey the damage at the site of Israeli strikes on a displacement camp in Khan Younis on September 10, 2024. AFP -
A medical staff member carries supplies through a destroyed section of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city on September 17. AFP -
People walk past makeshift graves in Gaza city on September 17. AFP
