Just hours after visiting her father’s grave before Eid al-Adha, nine-year-old Sarah Rajab was killed alongside her grandfather Imad (57) and aunt Israa (16) when Israeli warplanes struck their home in Gaza on May 27, 2026. Her death marked the erasure of another Palestinian family from civil records, adding to more than 2,700 families wiped out, totaling over 8,574 victims.
Sarah’s ordeal began in November 2023 when an Israeli drone strike on their apartment in Gaza’s al-Zaytoun neighborhood killed her mother Aya (27) and brothers Abdulrahman (7) and Malik (4). Sarah survived with burns, alongside her father Samah. Her aunt Fatima recalls Sarah’s trauma, isolation, and drawings of rockets tearing her family apart.
During a ceasefire in January 2025, Sarah reunited with her father, only to lose him again in November 2025 when Israeli raids struck a residential building in western Gaza. She became the sole survivor of her family, one of thousands of Palestinians left alone after entire households were destroyed.
Her final chapter came on the first day of Eid in 2026, when Israeli strikes targeted her grandfather’s home. Fatima Rajab concluded: “What did children do to deserve all this?” — a question echoing the tragedy of Gaza’s erased families.
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