In the charred ruins of Fahmi Al-Jerjawi School in Gaza City’s Al-Daraj neighbourhood, six-year-old Ward al-Sheikh Khalil wandered alone, her small frame trembling as flames engulfed the classroom where her family had been sleeping. She was the sole survivor of an Israeli airstrike that killed 31 civilians—including her parents, siblings, and 17 other children—leaving her with nothing but searing memories of the inferno that took them all.  

Ward now sits in stunned silence, her uncle Eyad al-Sheikh Khalil told "SAFA", her mind shattered by the horror she witnessed. "One moment she is quiet, the next she screams for her mother," he said. "She saw them burn. How can a child recover from that?"  

The attack, which struck the displacement shelter at dawn on Monday, used incendiary weapons so intense that victims’ bodies were unrecognisable. Eyad described his brother’s family as "melted"—their faces, their features, erased by fire. Ward only survived because, moments before the blast, she had let go of her mother’s hand.  

Now, she flinches at every distant explosion, whispering the names of her dead siblings. "Mama is a martyr… Baba too… Abd, Silwan, Muhammad, Amal… they’re all in heaven. The occupation killed them," she repeats, her voice hollow.  

Eyad has vowed to raise her alongside his own children, but he asks: "Where is the world? Did no one see her struggling through those flames? Is Gaza’s suffering invisible?"  

Since October 7, Israel has bombed 241 shelters in Gaza. For Ward, the war has left a single, unbearable truth: she is alive, and everyone she loved is gone.