Separated by Israel's campaign, a Gaza family prays to reunite

By Hatem Khaled and Mahmoud Issa

As the phone call from his tent on a stretch of beach in Gaza connected him to parents he has not seen for a year because of Israel's military campaign, the eyes of 13-year-old Maher Abu Sakran lit up with joy.

Living in a displaced camp with his grandparents and cousins, Maher desperately misses his mother, father, three sisters and little brother.

"It's enough war, enough barriers. I want to go back," he said .

A few miles away in Gaza City, his mother Asmaa Abu Sakran passed the phone around among Maher's siblings so they could each speak to him.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israeli border communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Israel's military response has levelled much of Gaza and killed more than 42,000 people according to Palestinian health authorities.

The family was separated days after the war began as Maher decided to leave their Gaza City home and go with his grandparents to their home further south where the bombardment was at that stage a little lighter.

Neither Maher nor his parents had any idea that they would be divided so long, they said. Shortly after he left, Israeli tanks pushed into the tiny, crowded territory and the invading forces cut it in two.

Israel says it controls travel between north and south Gaza in order to stop Hamas fighters moving easily. But a year on, Maher and his family remain divided by that line.

"When a boy is young and far away from his family, far way from his mother, far away from his father and far away from his siblings - what could happen - always anxious, scared and unwell," his mother Asmaa said.

After Maher left, the Abu Sakran family home was damaged by the Israeli bombardment. As the army pushed into Gaza City, they were repeatedly displaced. They have now returned to the family home and live in the damaged building.

Maher and his grandparents suffered too. Their house in central Gaza Strip was bombed and the family had to leave. Seven relatives including two of Maher's uncles have been killed.

He recalls life before the war, the daily routine of breakfast and school, hometime, lunch, and playing outside or going shopping or for family beach trips in the car with his grandfather.

"It's enough killing, it's enough killing of people. God willing we will go back to our houses safe. It's enough of rockets falling on us and we've had enough of living in tents," Maher said.