Ever since 2002, when I was 6 years old, I have been an orphan. But 20 years later, Israel’s war in Gaza made me an orphan for the second time.

Before this war, my life was great and full of love. Even though I lost my mother when I was young, my grandmother raised my sister, my brother and me. I had a dream of working in diplomacy, to fight for the Palestinian cause. When the war began, I was working as a civilian journalist at the Community Media Center, where I covered social issues — specifically violence toward women and children.

I learned to work hard from my older sister, Samar. She dreamed of getting a good job to be able to pay my university tuition. Once, she sold a ring she had inherited from my mother to pay for me to go to school. She gave me everything she had with the hope that I would have a good life.

But my life in Gaza changed dramatically last year, when Israel began its genocide. Early on in the war, a photo spread on the internet of a woman in Gaza holding a small body wrapped in a shroud. Even among the many images of the war, that photo, heavy with grief, became famous. It accompanied articles about the number of children killed by Israel. It even made its way onto a mural in Dublin, Ireland; an artist painted a version of the photo, but replaced the shroud with a Palestinian flag.

I will tell you the story of that photo. The woman in the picture is me, and the person I was holding between my arms is my 2-year-old niece, Masa.

Masa came to this world on a special day — August 2, 2021 — the same date of her father’s birthday and the date of her parents’ anniversary.

Our Masa had many nicknames. Her father used to call her Diamond, because of her pure beauty. We used to call her the fruit of the life. Masa was full of energy. She loved to swim, draw and walk on the beach while eating her favorite ice cream.

Masa was the daughter of my sister, Samar, who was 30 when the war began. Samar was so beautiful, with big blue eyes. She was working as a teacher when she married her husband, Louay. He had so much love for her. He used to see her as the soul of their home.

Louay was a doctor — he was very generous, and successful in his field. In 2022, he started his own business, running two medical laboratories. He was........

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