Lana Mohammad Mo’een Al-Qulaq

Their life

Lana Mohammad Mo’een al-Qulaq was a 4-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza City. She was one of the youngest members of the al-Qulaq family, a large and respected family in Gaza. Lana lived with her parents, siblings, and extended relatives in their home on al-Wehda Street. She was a bright and tender child, still in the early years of life, when her world centered on her family and simple joys of childhood. On May 16, 2021, Lana was killed alongside her sisters Hala (13), Yara (10), and Rola (6), when Israeli airstrikes destroyed their home during one of the deadliest nights of bombardment in Gaza.

Born in Gaza in 2017, Lana grew up in a city defined by hardship but also by family resilience and love. At just 4 years old, she was full of innocence, curiosity, and laughter, always surrounded by her sisters and cousins. She belonged to the al-Qulaq family, one of the hardest-hit families during the May 2021 assault on Gaza. On the night of May 16, Israeli warplanes unleashed more than 100 bombs on al-Wehda Street, targeting residential buildings without warning. Lana’s home was crushed in the strikes, and she was killed instantly along with her sisters and other family members. Seventeen members of the al-Qulaq family, from infants to the elderly, died that night, leaving few survivors to carry their memory. Lana’s life ended before it had a chance to begin, her story symbolizing the immense toll of war on Gaza’s children.

How they died

Lana was killed by Israeli airstrikes when missiles struck and collapsed her family’s home on al-Wehda Street in Gaza City.

On May 16, 2021, in the early hours of the morning, Israeli warplanes conducted a massive wave of airstrikes on Gaza City. Al-Wehda Street, a busy civilian neighborhood, was struck with dozens of bombs that leveled entire multi-story family homes. Lana was inside with her parents and sisters when their home collapsed on top of them. Rescue crews later recovered her body from the rubble alongside her three sisters, Hala, Yara, and Rola. In total, at least 43 civilians, including 17 members of the al-Qulaq family, were killed in the attack. Lana’s death was part of what Palestinian and international rights groups described as a massacre of civilians in violation of international humanitarian law.

A plea from the family

A surviving uncle of the al-Qulaq children said after their burial: “We carried them out one after another from the rubble — Hala, Yara, Rola, Lana. They were just children. They should have been carrying school bags, not shrouds. What crime did they commit to be buried this way?” Another relative of the al-Qulaq family, mourning the loss of 17 family members that night, pleaded: “From the baby who was one year old to our grandfather who was 90, they are all gone. We only ask the world to see us, to protect us, and to stop these massacres.” A neighbor who helped with the rescue said: “When we found them, the sisters were still close together. They died hugging each other. Their family is destroyed. We beg for justice. This cannot be allowed to happen again.” A surviving cousin of the children expressed despair: “We are not numbers. We are families, children, mothers, fathers. Today it is us — tomorrow it could be anyone. Where is the justice for Lana and her sisters?”

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Lana Mohammad Mo’een Al-Qulaq, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources