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Recently, he wrote on Facebook, “Palestine is my Valentine,” and called on his followers to help him raise $200,000 by Valentine’s Day to rebuild a bombed-out school in Gaza.

Last week in Tadamon, where bombed-out husks of buildings rise out of a sea of rubble, Usama Kastana, 40, and a few other residents explored the ruins near Al-Ras’ checkpoint for the first time, including the site of the 2013 massacre that had been off-limits to residents for years.

His partner, Anya, paints the whimsical figurines he creates, and the irrepressible couple weather the war in bombed-out Kharkiv with their more anxious pal Andrey, a painter and cameraman.

What a tour, though, from the top-notch craft of Yorick Le Saux’s above- and below-ground cinematography to the realism of production designer Adam Stockhausen’s many bombed-out sets.

Footage broadcast by Al-Jadeed TV - whose journalists were also sharing the house - showed a bombed-out building with a collapsed roof and floors covered in rubble.