KATMANDU, Nepal: Climber Mostafa Salameh is carrying a kite scribbled with dreams of Gaza’s children to the summit of Mount Everest, seeking to raise awareness of the war’s toll on its youngest victims.
Tucked among his expedition gear is the kite in red, black, white and green of the Palestinian flag, marked with handwritten messages from children in the battered territory.
The war, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, has killed more than 72,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry which operates under Hamas authority.
Children walk outside a residential building that was hit by an Israeli strike the previous day in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City on May 16, 2026. (AFP)
The simple wishes — shaped by loss, grief and displacement — reflect hope for a future beyond conflict.
