In Gaza's ruins, a grandmother keeps family and hope alive

With no shoes to protect their tiny dust-covered feet, Hiam Muqdad's grandchildren toddled unfazed through the bombed-out ruins of their Gaza City neighbourhood in search of clean water.

Clutching large black buckets and their grandmother's hand, the infant trio seemed not to notice the scars left by two years of war, barely registering the enormous piles of rubble, warped metal and toppled buildings lining their path.

Muqdad, 62, told AFP she went out every morning with the children to search for water, sometimes finding enough for a few days and sometimes not at all.

"Children no longer say 'I want to go to nursery or school' but rather 'I want to go get water or food or a food parcel'," she said. "The child's dream is gone".

"In the past they used to go to the park but today childre