Palestinian children in Gaza City gathered to watch a film screening of The Lion King amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas that has upended kids' childhoods.
Heartwrenching images showed a group of children in Gaza watching a film outside in the middle of a city flattened by Israeli missiles and attacks. The kids watched The Lion King during a film screening in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City. These Palestinian children were also joined by adults as the group watched the movie, through a projector on a screen, on August 30.
Screening organised by Little Wings Cinema
The screening was organised by Little Wings Cinema in a moment of childhood normalcy amid the ongoing conflict. These heartbreaking pictures showed the devastating backdrop of bombed buildings, rubble and tents surrounding the outdoor screening.
This initiative, by the Masharawi Fund for Films and Filmmakers in Gaza, offers children in the war-torn land a recreational space amid the devastation caused by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The young Gazan children were seen smiling as they sat together for the classic kids film.
Project started in November 2025
The Little Wings Cinema project started in November 2025 and sees the fund use mobile cinema screens to show films across the Gaza Strip. The Masharawi Fund said it would screen films daily in accessible areas until the end of 2026.
The fund said that through these screenings "the 'Little Wings' cinema offers a varied film program, where children can, for the first time in two years, safely discover or rediscover the magic of cinema". The fund's website added: "After the war, the children of Gaza are no longer the same. Their faces bear the marks of the unbearable, and their fragile hearts yearn for a glimmer of hope, a moment of safety. Their souls are filled with fear, nostalgia, and worry, but one truth remains: their desire to live, to play, and to dream again."
Deadly attacks continue across Gaza
This comes as two children were among five people Palestinians killed across the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Israeli artillery hit a classroom sheltering displaced Gazans in Deir al-Balah which killed a seven-year-old, according to Andalou. On Sunday, Israeli forces also hit a civilian vehicle, in western Gaza City, which killed a father and his nine-year-old daughter. Six other people were wounded in the attack, according to health officials at Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday said the UK would "reset" its policy on Israel in the coming weeks, as one of his ministers suggested goods coming out of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory, could be subject to sanctions. Prime Minister Andy Burnham meanwhile warned that Israeli decisions over a controversial settlement could "end" the prospect of a two-state solution with Palestine. Miliband's Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar however said his country's government was likely to act in response to UK sanctions. He said: "If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain."
