GAZA, (PIC)
In a scene that summarizes the cruelty of displacement in the Gaza Strip, the child Lana Al-Sab lost her life while sleeping inside her tent in a displacement area in the city of Deir al-Balah, after she was run over by a vehicle of the type “jeep” in a shocking incident that brought back harsh questions about the reality of safety in the camps of the displaced, where tents are no longer a refuge that protects children from death.
A journey of displacement without end
Lana was only one of thousands of children who paid the price of repeated displacement. Her family, which left Beit Hanoun in the north of the Strip, moved between more than one area searching for shelter, amid severe overcrowding and a sharp shortage of accommodation places.
Her mother says that they were forced to sleep in the streets for a period, before resorting to the seashore, where the situation was not better, with repeated flooding of their place of displacement due to high waves, which doubled their daily suffering.
A “better” tent, and temporary safety
Later, the family moved to the Upper Beach area, and set up a primitive tent that barely protected them from the cold and wind. The family remained in those conditions for about two months, until a charitable person managed to provide a relatively better tent.
That tent, which seemed simple in the eyes of others, was for the child Lana a different space of safety. “The first time I live in a tent like this,” she said with joy, as her mother recounts, in a rare moment of reassurance amid a life burdened with fear.
The last night
On that night, Lana slept feeling cold, but with some comfort. She did not know that her sleep would be the last.
After a short time, family members heard the sound of a vehicle approaching inside the displacement area.
There was nothing indicating immediate danger, before the catastrophe occurred, the vehicle ran over the tent, with Lana inside it, and she died immediately.
Camps without protection
The incident is not isolated from a broader reality experienced by displacement areas in Gaza, where random spaces turn into overcrowded gatherings that lack the minimum requirements of safety.
The entry of vehicles between the tents, the absence of organization, and the lack of sufficient lighting, are all factors that make these places a dangerous environment, especially for children.
