Fear is not a word that can describe what we feel in Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict

Last week, during another violent night, my almost four-year-old niece asked me a question I’ll never forget.

“If we die while sleeping… will it still hurt?”

I didn’t know what to say.

How do you tell a child — who has seen more death than daylight — that dying in your sleep is a mercy?

So I told her: “No. I don’t think so. That’s why we should fall asleep now.”

She nodded quietly, and turned her face to the wall.

She believed me. She closed her eyes.

I sat in the dark,…