Gazan woman crafts warm clothes for displaced children

GAZA — Shehnaz Baker spends most of her day with yarn and a needle in her hands, making hats, gloves and socks for Palestinian children sheltering in a makeshift camp for the displaced in Rafah, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip.

Baker, 65, who fled her home in Gaza City, said she couldn’t bear to see young people in the camp without enough warm clothes so she sent her son to buy second-hand clothes from the market, which she unraveled and transformed into new winter items.

“When I see the smile of a child wearing a hat and smiling at me, [saying], ‘Thank you auntie, God bless you auntie,’… this is worth all the money in the world to me,” she said.

More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have taken refuge in Rafah, most sleeping rough in makeshift tents or public buildings.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and captured 253 hostages on Oct. 7, by Israeli tallies, triggering a ground assault on Gaza, with nearly 30,000 people confirmed killed, according to Gaza health authorities. — Reuters