Suaad was born under a nylon tent in Gaza, surrounded by the smell of smoke still rising from destroyed houses, in the arms of a mother exhausted by displacement, hunger, and fear – all manifested by Israel.

The streets of Khan Yunis were crowded with poor people fleeing death, and death was not far away.

Suaad came into life at a moment when there was no life. There was no hospital, no nurse, no nursery. Only a trembling hand bringing her into the light, and a faint cry barely audible amid the sounds of aircraft.

She was born from the womb of a mother exhausted by the bombing, who laid her newborn on a worn blanket and then gave up her soul.

Her mother was in her last month of pregnancy, exhausted from hunger and fatigue, when the bombing struck the family’s tents. The mother died instantly, but the field medical team, with its limited resources, managed to deliver the baby alive.

Suaad did not live to see her tenth hour.

She was never breastfed, never held, never heard her mother’s voice calling her, and never saw anything but the grey, dusty sky.

In the evening, death came again.

The same place, the same tent, was bombed again.

Like her mother, Suaad passed away without knowing why she was born or why she died so quickly.

Suaad never opened her eyes to the world, perhaps because God spared her from seeing it.

Not a number, but a complete story

Suaad’s date of birth is not officially known. She was not registered at any hospital or government office.

She left as she came: without documents, without identity, without clothes.

But despite her short life, she became a symbol of the magnitude of the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

Elsewhere in the world, the birth of a child is celebrated with balloons, songs, and cake, but in Gaza, birth may come amid airstrikes, death is faster than milk, and the shroud is closer than the cradle.

Suaad was not just a name on a piece of paper, but a soul that tried to live despite everything.

Gaza tried to give her a moment of life… but the bombing was faster than all attempts.

What remains is her name, a picture of her torn tent, and a very short story of a life that was not meant to be told.

A greater tragedy in Gaza

Since the start of the latest war on Gaza, thousands of civilians have been killed, including a huge number of children and infants.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, hundreds of children have been killed before reaching their first birthday.

But Suaad’s case is different… because she was simply born in the midst of tragedy, took her first breath amid her mother’s blood, and then left in silence, just hours later.

Featured image supplied

By Alaa Shamali

This post was originally published on Canary.