Remains of Palestinian grandmother found after Israeli raid

It took Naifa Rizq al-Sawada’s family an agonising two weeks to discover what had happened to their beloved grandmother following a raid by the Israeli army on her home. 

The 92-year-old Palestinian woman, who suffered from Alzheimer's, was found as a pile of charred bones on her granddaughter's burned bed, according to her daughter. 

Naifa had been separated from her family by Israeli soldiers during their assault on al-Shifa Medical Complex and its vicinity in mid-March in western Gaza City. 

After raiding the multi-floor residential building belonging to Sawada and her married children, troops separated men and women, who were forced to head south. For two weeks, the family did not know Sawada’s fate.

Naifa's daughter Maha al-Nawati told MEE that as soon as the Israelis withdrew, her brother, sister and their children rushed to the building to find any traces of Sawada. 

"[My brother and sister] entered my niece’s bedroom; her bed was charred, and the remains of mum's bones were there," Nawati said. 

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