ON the night of December 19, 2023, Israeli military forces surrounded the Al-Awda building in Gaza City’s Al-Remal neighbourhood. Four families were inside the building, including the Annan family, after whom the building is popularly known as the ‘Annan Building’. The Al-Remal area, along the Gaza coastline, was a middle-class area of apartment buildings. During the early days of the war, the Israelis cruelly bombed this residential area, turning this residential quarter into rubble.