In their home in war-devastated Gaza City, Iman Farhat and her husband cherish the “paradise” brought by their newly-adopted baby, one of many orphans in the Palestinian territory after more than 15 months of conflict, AFP reports.

Wrapping five-month-old Jannah in a brightly coloured blanket, Farhat gently sang as she rocked her to sleep.

“I chose Jannah just as she was,” the new mother said smiling, explaining the couple simply wanted to adopt a young child without preference for gender or physical appearance.

“Her name was Massa, and I officially changed her name from Massa to Jannah,” which means “paradise” in Arabic, she added.

Farhat, 45, and her husband Rami al-Arouqi, 47, adopted the well-behaved and chubby baby in January.

“At first, we had mixed feelings of both joy and fear, because it is a huge responsibility and we had never had a child”, said Arouqi, a Palestinian Authority employee.

“The idea of adopting a child had crossed our minds, but it was cemented during the war” which “wiped out entire families and left only orphans”, he added.