Gaza Herald – When 9-year-old Hala Hassan Labad opened her eyes, her mother was no longer beside her, her father was not there to comfort her, and the siblings whose voices usually woke her each morning had vanished.
Instead, she found herself in a hospital bed, surrounded by bandages and burn wounds, while the entire world she knew had disappeared beneath the rubble of her home.
In the early hours of June 4, 2026, the Labad family’s apartment in Al-Karama neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City, was reduced to ruins after an Israeli airstrike hit the residential building. Within moments, an entire family was wiped out, leaving only one child alive to face a loss far beyond her years.
A Family Lost in a Single Moment
The attack killed Hassan Rabah Labad, his wife Manar Ibrahim Labad, and their children Mohammad, Rahaf, and Tamim. Hala was the only survivor, suffering burns and various injuries across her body.
The family home was no different from the many crowded residences in the neighborhood. Nothing suggested that one night would end the lives of an entire family and leave a young girl to face the world without her parents or siblings.
According to residents, a powerful explosion shook the area, and rescue teams spent hours searching through the rubble before recovering the bodies of the family members who had all been killed.
“She Wants Her Mom and Dad”
Hala’s aunt, Haneen Labad, recalled the first moments after the strike.
“We woke up to the sound of massive explosions shaking the neighborhood,” she said. “We had no idea that a missile had taken my brother and his family.”
Speaking through her grief, she added: “When we arrived at the scene, the shock was indescribable. We discovered that Hala was the only person pulled alive from the ruins of a massacre that erased an entire family.”
Although the young girl survived against all odds, she still does not know what happened to her parents and siblings. From time to time, she innocently asks about them and says she wants to see her “Mama and Baba,” unaware that the strike she survived took them away forever.
A Tragedy Following Earlier Losses
This was not the first tragedy to strike the Labad family.
Earlier in the war, Hassan had already lost two of his brothers, Jihad and Samir, in previous Israeli attacks.
Two of the children killed in the latest strike were also living with disabilities. They carried simple dreams of life despite difficult circumstances, dreams that ended alongside the rest of their family.
The Wounds No One Can See
On her hospital bed, Hala’s physical injuries are visible to everyone. But her deepest wound cannot be seen on medical scans and cannot be covered by bandages.
Medical sources say the child arrived at the hospital in a state of severe shock, unable to comprehend what had happened or understand why the family that had been with her only hours earlier had suddenly disappeared.
Her simple questions have become a reflection of an immense loss, one far too great for a nine-year-old child to understand.
