Lamis al-Ajrami graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza in 2023, and was offered a role at the university as a teaching assistant.
Shortly after her graduation, the war in Gaza began. Lamis, her two younger sisters and mother began moving constantly between relatives’ homes and public shelters in schools and hospitals, trying to stay safe from the bombardment. Their elder sister, Diana, was living in the south of Gaza with her husband.
Almost a year later, on 6 October 2024, Lamis and her family were living in a shelter in Jabalia refugee camp. That evening, Israel Defence Forces began bombing the area. Lamis’ mother moved the family to a different shelter, hoping it would be safer, but they continued to come under attack. As she went to speak to other families in the shelter about whether to flee again, she was hit directly by a shell.
Lamis and her sisters tried their best to save their mother but had no medical supplies, and she died five hours later. With no other option, the young women buried their mother in the floor of the room they were sheltering in, using debris from the bombing to cover her body. Lamis called her sister Diana, telling her that she had buried their mother. Diana remembers that Lamis cried down the phone:
‘It feels like I didn’t just bury her – I buried my entire life, my memories, and my dreams with her. I wish I had died alongside her’.
The next day, 7 October 2024, Lamis and her sisters moved to their aunt’s home in Beit Lahia, in hope of finding safety. At 11pm that evening, a shell struck the room they were in. Lamis and one of her sisters were killed instantly. Their youngest sister was severely injured but survived.