(4 Mar 2019) LEADIN: A Palestinian artist has created sculptures of ice creams - to reflect a story which hit the headlines during the 2014 war in Gaza.
Shocking images emerged of the bodies of Palestinian children and babies stored in ice cream refrigerators, after the morgues became full.
STORYLINE:
Surrounded by glass cases containing her works, Palestinian artist Doaa Qishta patiently carves her latest sculpture at a gallery in Gaza City.
From a distance, these simply look like playful designs of multi-coloured ice cream cones.
But the shapes of the children she creates as their toppings reflect a darker meaning:
"The idea is that I wanted to present this surreal scene that had bizarre elements in the refrigerator: a child was buying ice cream from it, now he is inside it," she says.
Qishta created her artworks to honour the Palestinian children who were killed in the 2014 Israeli bombings in the southern city of Rafah.
During a 50-day war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, some of the bodies were stored inside ice cream and vegetable freezers because the local morgue reached its capacity.
"The work is kind of a resemblance between how the child appears in the refrigerator and the common shape of ice cream," explains Qishta.
Qishta, aged 22, is a resident of Rafah and remembers the tragedy well.
She says she now wants to show her works internationally.
Gallery visitor Shaima Hussein acknowledges there are privacy concerns for the dead, but thinks the work could be a "positive shock" to show the world what has happened in Gaza.
The 2014 fighting killed at least 2,100 Palestinians and 72 people from Israel.
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