Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip - Scores of children in matching uniforms pass by on the busy road in Gaza's Beit Lahia district, some chatting loudly, others singing songs and running ahead, taunting their friends to try to catch them.
Wissam keeps his eyes fixed on the ground as they pass. Barefoot and kneeling on the wasteland, he continues to pick up rubble with his three brothers. "I would love to go to school," the 11-year-old says meekly, "but for now I ask God to give me good work for today so I can help my family."
A few metres away, Wissam's brother, Jihad, leans against the family donkey, his head lowered. The seven-year-old seems exhausted.
"This is the work of death," says Abed, the oldest of the brothers, as he unloads another bucket of rubble on to the donkey cart.
The words he uses are laden with significance. It isn't only that the work they do is draining, but that the stones they pick are the remains of houses destroyed during Israel's last war on Gaza.
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