Birds of peace give purpose to Lebanese woman stuck in Gaza's Khan Younis

Fakhar Taj Shear has lost her husband and home during years of war

Fakhar Taj Shaer from Gaza said the war 'will not stop me from feeding the animals'.

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Fakhar Taj Shear's birds may not be white doves but they do bring peace to the 70 year old who has lived throughout years of war and conflict in the Gaza Strip.

As thousands are fleeing their homes from Israel’s brutal air strikes, the Lebanese decided to take her birds with her when she fled to Khan Younis in the south.

Ms Shear left her homeland in 1978 after Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon, in which her husband, who is Palestinian, was killed.

“I love animals more than myself,” she told The National. "They are my healing mechanism."

Ms Shear and her family, now her daughter Raneem, grandson Ahmed and, of course, her birds, have set up camp outside Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip in a tent.

“They have a right to live,” she said of her birds. "Every morning, we sit and have a coffee and talk to them.

“Before I buy food for myself and my daughter, I buy for the birds. Who will protect them? They heal me."

The birds are named Ahmed, after her grandson, Raneem, after her daughter, and Fakhar, after herself.

She also has a large fish tank at her home.

"I couldn't bring the tank with me, so I usually go back to feed them despite the dangers,” Ms Shear said.

"I'm not afraid of the air strikes. Let them target us. This will not stop me from feeding the animals."

Ms Shear said her daughter lived near the Rafah border but fled for her safety at the start of the war.

Like many Palestinians, Ms Shear and her family have been living in the "worst of conditions" since Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip after the attack by Hamas on October 7.

Hamas killed about 1,400 Israelis and took about 240 hostage.

Israeli has retaliated with a brutal air-strike campaign and launched a ground invasion into the enclave.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war had exceeded 9,000 on Thursday, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said. In the occupied West Bank, 130 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.