In Gaza, unaccompanied cousins shelter in grandparents’ tent

Hamed and Fayza Eliwa have lost four of their children to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, leaving 24 grandchildren in their care. The Eliwas are currently raising their grandchildren in a tent pitched near the ruins of their destroyed family home in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood.

When Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, the entire family was displaced from their home and ended up sheltering together in a tent pitched on the Gaza City coastline. That tent was hit by an Israeli airstrike on 12 September 2025, killing three of the Eliwas’ children and one grandson. After the signing of a ceasefire agreement on October 10, the surviving family members returned to the ruins of their former home, the killed siblings united in a framed portrait that now hangs inside the tent housing the Eliwas and their many grandchildren.

The Eliwas’ oldest son, Mohamed (36), was killed while at work in the Baptist Hospital, which was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in January 2024. Mohamed’s wife was pregnant at the time. He was survived by nine children: the oldest, Hamed (now 17), and the youngest, Asil (now 3), and between them Mohamedayn, Reda, Malak, Mujahid, Ebtisam, Mohamed and Jannat. Mohamedayn (12) was killed in the airstrike that hit the family’s tent on the Gaza City coastline in September.

Another of the Eliwa's children, Ezzat (32), was killed in the same September strike on their tent, leaving behind his pregnant wife and their six children: the oldest Liyan (10), followed by Razan, Obeida, Hala, Rola, and the youngest, Hathifa (4).

Their daughter Naila (30), also killed in the same strike on the tent, was survived by nine children: the oldest, Shahd (13), followed by Doha, Mariam, Walaa, Alaa, Janna, Ruba, Hamada, and the youngest, Sama, who is a year and a half old.

Their daughter Rasha (20), killed in the same strike, had been preceded in death by her husband, who was killed at the beginning of the war. She was survived by her son Raed, who is a year and a half old.

The Eliwas’ five surviving children were injured in the strike and are still receiving treatment at the Baptist Hospital. Fayza herself sustained minor injuries in the September strike but continues, alongside her husband, to care for their grandchildren in their modest tent, where they now serve as both parents and grandparents.

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