Bissan’s life began in the chaos of war, and her first months were marked by separation from the mother she had never known.
Two weeks after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, an Israeli airstrike hit Bissan’s family home in Beit Lahiya, killing a sister she would never meet. The blast severely injured her pregnant mother, Sundus al-Kurd, who was forced to deliver Bissan six weeks early to save their lives.
She was evacuated to Egypt in an ambulance, inside an incubator, with 28 other premature babies.
Seven of those children died in Egypt. Bissan survived.
She spent the next two years growing up in Egyptian hospitals and a care home, away from her parents. Her mother remained in Gaza, holding onto hope that they would be reunited.
Whenever she had internet access, Sundus made video calls to her daughter.
In March this year, Bissan was brought back to Gaza in a U.N.-assisted operation. She was among 11 children from the group evacuated to Egypt in 2023 who were returned to their families.
But the reunion was not what Sundus had imagined.
Bissan did not recognize her.
The toddler would call any woman who showed her affection “mama,” Sundus said. After spending most of her life away from her family, Bissan had to learn who her mother was.
Reuters documented their reunion and followed Bissan and several other children as they rebuilt relationships with their parents.
Returning home has also meant learning to live where the sounds of war remain part of everyday life.
Bissan returned to Gaza as a toddler, but she was coming home to a war zone.
When she first heard explosions, she would freeze in fear for several minutes, Sundus said. Even a balloon popping can still trigger panic.
“Her life changed. Her life became sleeping and waking up to the sound of explosions, to the sound of the numerous attacks and missiles,” Sundus said.
Yet there are moments when fear gives way to childhood curiosity.
Soon after their reunion, Sundus took Bissan to a small zoo in central Gaza. Wearing pink-framed glasses, the girl watched as a blue parrot perched on her mother’s arm.
For Sundus, such moments are part of helping her daughter rediscover childhood.
Not every child returned to Gaza was able to meet a mother who had been waiting for them.
For Ibrahim, the reunion with his mother was already impossible.
His mother, Israa Badr, gave birth to him during the eighth month of pregnancy. After her premature son was evacuated to Egypt, she fell into a deep depression. She died the following month.
Her husband, Jabri Badr, said doctors told the family she had died from overwhelming sadness.
“Ever since he was in her womb, she thought about him, dreamed of holding him, playing with him, and feeling what it was like to be a mother,” he said.
Ibrahim has since been reunited with his father in Gaza. But their separation has left another bond to rebuild.
“He was supposed to call me dad,” Badr said. “Today he doesn’t even say dad, or anything. I tell him to come, and he ignores me.”
Arafat Abu Mashayikh, a Gaza-based mental health expert, said the children and their parents would need time to reconnect after nearly two years apart.
The separation deprived the children of their mothers’ presence.
“They were deprived not only of their mother’s milk but also of her embrace and the emotional development that comes with it,” Abu Mashayikh said.
For Bissan and Sundus, the bond is returning through everyday routines.
Some days, they walk to Gaza’s Mediterranean shoreline. On a recent afternoon, they held hands along the sand. Bissan smiled as she looked toward the horizon.
Nights are harder.
When explosions shake the area, Bissan wakes up and searches for her mother. Those moments have brought them closer.
Sundus said her daughter is beginning to understand who she is and what it means to have a mother.
“Bissan has begun to understand who mama really is, who her mother really is,” Sundus said. “I am the only person present in her life. I am the one who feeds her, changes her clothes, combs her hair, and plays with her.”
For a child whose life began with an airstrike and who spent her earliest years separated from her family, the bond is still being built.
Each walk, embrace and frightened midnight search is helping Bissan learn the meaning of the word she once used for any woman who showed her kindness: “Mama.”
