ZIONIST ETHNIC CLEANSING
Gaza parents mourn children killed in conflict with IsraelPalestinian mother Rasha Qadoom clutches tight the tiny pink rucksack belonging to her five-year-old daughter Alaa -- which will never again be carried on her little back.
© SAID KHATIBA
Palestinian boy salvages a toy from the rubble of his home in the town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, which was destroyed in the latest conflict between Israel and Gaza militants
-AFP -
Alaa was the first of 16 children killed in three days of intense conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants in the densely populated Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
© Mahmud HAMS
-AFP -
Alaa was the first of 16 children killed in three days of intense conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants in the densely populated Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
© Mahmud HAMS
Palestinian mother Rasha Qadoom mourns her five year-old daughter Alaa, who was killed in an Israeli bombardment of Gaza, as she looks after her surviving child Rayed, who was wounded
"It was a Friday like any other," said Qadoom, 27, remembering how Alaa had been dressed in a pink T-shirt to match her pink bag with a pink ribbon tied in her hair.
© MAHMUD HAMS
"It was a Friday like any other," said Qadoom, 27, remembering how Alaa had been dressed in a pink T-shirt to match her pink bag with a pink ribbon tied in her hair.
© MAHMUD HAMS
Palestinians inspect the ruins of a building in Gaza City that was levelled by an Israeli air strike on August 6
"She was happy, she wanted to go to the park with her aunt."
But as she went to her aunt on Friday afternoon, Israel launched an intense "pre-emptive" bombardment of militant positions.
Alaa was knocking on the door of her aunt's home when a missile smashed down from the sky.
Later that day -- hours after Alaa was killed -- militants began firing barrages of rockets in retaliation, violence that raged until a tenuous truce came into force late Sunday.
© MOHAMMED ABED
"She was happy, she wanted to go to the park with her aunt."
But as she went to her aunt on Friday afternoon, Israel launched an intense "pre-emptive" bombardment of militant positions.
Alaa was knocking on the door of her aunt's home when a missile smashed down from the sky.
Later that day -- hours after Alaa was killed -- militants began firing barrages of rockets in retaliation, violence that raged until a tenuous truce came into force late Sunday.
© MOHAMMED ABED
A gaping hole is all that remains of the Shamalagh family home in Gaza City after it was blown up in an Israeli strike
- 'Clothes full of blood' -
In her hands, Qadoom holds the blood-stained rags of Alaa's T-shirt, unable to comprehend why her daughter died.
"Nobody was armed in the neighbourhood. Instead of going to play in the park, she came back to me with clothes full of blood," she said.
© MOHAMMED ABEDShamalagh family members sift through the rubble of their flattened home looking for cherished possessions among the concrete slabs
"What was the point of this war?" she asked. "We lost children... all her dreams were on a school bag and a notebook."
The Israeli air and artillery strikes targeted positions of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group
The health ministry in the Palestinian territory run by the Islamist group Hamas said 46 people were killed, including 16 children.
After the strike in which Alaa was killed, the Israeli army said it was targeting members of Islamic Jihad operating in the area.
Israel also said that some of the civilian deaths recorded in the Palestinian toll were the result of militant rockets that fell short or misfired.
Elsewhere in Gaza City, a few blocks back from the Mediterranean Sea in a neighbourhood with houses crammed tight together, the home of the Shamalagh was blown up.
Only a gaping hole remains.
Poking out of the slabs of smashed concrete are the remains of people's lives; a new fridge, a sofa crushed by tons of concrete, a stuffed toy animal.
Dozens of paper scraps from what was an English textbook lie in the dirt.
One page, a lesson focused on the British seaside town of St Ives, sets a task for schoolchildren in the blockaded enclave: "Think of your ideal location for a holiday."
The shattered building was once home to 17 people, including children, who were given just a 30-minute warning to leave by Israel before the devastating air strikes hit.
Sitting beside the ruins of her home, 70-year-old Nadia Shamalagh said that, even after the Egypt-brokered ceasefire began late Sunday, she struggled to rest.
"I couldn't sleep, I was staring at the ceiling and thinking 'they (Israel) are going to strike'", she said.
"Everyone was scared, the children couldn't stop crying".
- 'Tragedy' -
Shamalagh says they had nothing to do with any of the Palestinian political or militant groups.
"They are not linked to Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad," she said.
In Gaza, the cost of war on children is not only on those killed or wounded but impacting all.
The conflict was the worst violence in Gaza since an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in May 2021, when 66 children died in Gaza, and two in Israel.
In June, Save the Children had already warned in a report of the impact on the young since conflict escalated with Israel in 2007 after the Islamist group Hamas took control in Gaza.
"During this time, their childhoods have been marred by five escalations in violence and a decade and a half of blockade," the aid agency said.
"They have repeatedly experienced or witnessed traumatic events and serious violations of their rights."
In her exhaustion, Shamalagh simply repeats a phrase, over and over.
"What is this life?" she said. "Are we going to continue to live this tragedy?"
Behind her, two girls have dragged a plank of wood out of the wreckage and placed it on a concrete block, sitting on either side and rocking on a makeshift seesaw.
cgo/pjm/kir
- 'Clothes full of blood' -
In her hands, Qadoom holds the blood-stained rags of Alaa's T-shirt, unable to comprehend why her daughter died.
"Nobody was armed in the neighbourhood. Instead of going to play in the park, she came back to me with clothes full of blood," she said.
© MOHAMMED ABEDShamalagh family members sift through the rubble of their flattened home looking for cherished possessions among the concrete slabs
"What was the point of this war?" she asked. "We lost children... all her dreams were on a school bag and a notebook."
The Israeli air and artillery strikes targeted positions of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group
The health ministry in the Palestinian territory run by the Islamist group Hamas said 46 people were killed, including 16 children.
After the strike in which Alaa was killed, the Israeli army said it was targeting members of Islamic Jihad operating in the area.
Israel also said that some of the civilian deaths recorded in the Palestinian toll were the result of militant rockets that fell short or misfired.
Elsewhere in Gaza City, a few blocks back from the Mediterranean Sea in a neighbourhood with houses crammed tight together, the home of the Shamalagh was blown up.
Only a gaping hole remains.
Poking out of the slabs of smashed concrete are the remains of people's lives; a new fridge, a sofa crushed by tons of concrete, a stuffed toy animal.
Dozens of paper scraps from what was an English textbook lie in the dirt.
One page, a lesson focused on the British seaside town of St Ives, sets a task for schoolchildren in the blockaded enclave: "Think of your ideal location for a holiday."
The shattered building was once home to 17 people, including children, who were given just a 30-minute warning to leave by Israel before the devastating air strikes hit.
Sitting beside the ruins of her home, 70-year-old Nadia Shamalagh said that, even after the Egypt-brokered ceasefire began late Sunday, she struggled to rest.
"I couldn't sleep, I was staring at the ceiling and thinking 'they (Israel) are going to strike'", she said.
"Everyone was scared, the children couldn't stop crying".
- 'Tragedy' -
Shamalagh says they had nothing to do with any of the Palestinian political or militant groups.
"They are not linked to Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad," she said.
In Gaza, the cost of war on children is not only on those killed or wounded but impacting all.
The conflict was the worst violence in Gaza since an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in May 2021, when 66 children died in Gaza, and two in Israel.
In June, Save the Children had already warned in a report of the impact on the young since conflict escalated with Israel in 2007 after the Islamist group Hamas took control in Gaza.
"During this time, their childhoods have been marred by five escalations in violence and a decade and a half of blockade," the aid agency said.
"They have repeatedly experienced or witnessed traumatic events and serious violations of their rights."
In her exhaustion, Shamalagh simply repeats a phrase, over and over.
"What is this life?" she said. "Are we going to continue to live this tragedy?"
Behind her, two girls have dragged a plank of wood out of the wreckage and placed it on a concrete block, sitting on either side and rocking on a makeshift seesaw.
cgo/pjm/kir
‘Blood, body parts, screams’: Gaza reels after Israeli strikes
Maram Humaid - Sunday
Rafah, Gaza – Another night of terror passed in the southern Gaza Strip as an attack by Israeli warplanes killed a senior commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, Khaled Mansour, along with many nearby civilians.
Until the early hours of Sunday, civil defence and rescue crews continued to retrieve the bodies of the dead and wounded from under the rubble of the refugee camp, despite limited equipment.
According to medics, seven people were killed in the Rafah bombing on Saturday, among 43 others killed in Israel’s three-day attack, including 15 children and four women. More than 300 other Palestinians have been wounded.
The rescue process was made more difficult by the narrow alleyways of the camp because of how closely the asbestos-roofed homes lined up together.
Ashraf al-Qaisi, 46, said he did not think twice before allowing bulldozers to demolish his entire house in order to help rescue teams reach his neighbours buried under the debris.
“This is the hardest night ever in my life,” al-Qaisi told Al Jazeera. “I was sitting in my house with my wife and six children until we suddenly heard the sound of shelling, and part of the ceiling collapsed. One of my sons was injured.”
Ashraf al-Qaisi, 46, second left, allowed bulldozers to demolish
‘Enough is enough’
Al-Qaisi ran outside only to find a number of his neighbours’ homes had been completely destroyed by the Israeli bombing. “Those were tough moments. Blood, body parts, screams under the rubble, bodies being pulled out dead and wounded,” al-Qaisi said.
“It was very difficult for the bulldozers to reach the targeted house, so I let the bulldozers demolish my entire house in order to save my neighbours next door,” he told Al Jazeera as he stood on the rubble of his home.
Although al-Qaisi is unemployed and has no income to support his family, he said he did not hesitate to allow the rescue crew to demolish his house. “The situation was difficult to put into words,” he said. “I wanted to help in any way.”
“I tell the world that enough is enough. The wars, bombings and killings that are happening to us are enough. We are tired. We are really tired,” al-Qaisi said while holding his injured son, Ahmed.
Wissam Joudeh, 39, did just what al-Qaisi did. He, too, allowed bulldozers to partially demolish his house in order for rescue teams to evacuate the wounded.
“I was sitting with my family when we heard and felt shelling that shook the place,” he said.
“I went out and the missile had hit right behind our house. Moments until the civil defence vehicles rushed in, the situation was very difficult. Injured people were screaming under the rubble … [There were] burned bodies, and it was late at night.”
© Provided by Al JazeeraWissam Joudeh allowed bulldozers to partially demolish his house for rescue teams to evacuate the wounded [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]
‘Gaza is alone’
Related video: Watch: Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 10 in Gaza
The only thing the ambulances could do is to have al-Qaisi’s house and part of Joudeh’s house demolished to help access the bombing site.
“Even though I only bought this house three months ago, after a long struggle to find stability, I did not hesitate to allow it to be demolished to try to reach the injured and the bodies under the rubble,” Joudeh said. “They are my neighbours and I was very sad about what happened to them.”
Joudeh called on the international and humanitarian community to pressure Israel to stop its repeated attacks on Gaza.
“Gaza is alone. We didn’t start a fight with anyone. We are civilians who just want to live in peace.”
Just north of Gaza, Najwa Abu Hamada, 46, had not yet recovered from the shock of losing her only son, Khalil, 19, in a bombing near their home in Jabalia refugee camp.
Abu Hamada said she had just had lunch with her son before he went out with one of his friends.
“Less than a minute after he left, I heard a loud bombing,” Abu Hamada said. “Immediately I went out into the street yelling ‘my son, my son!'”
‘He is all my life’
The bombing took place in front of a supermarket next to their home, killing five civilians, including children.
“The first thing I saw was the body of my son’s best friend. That’s when I screamed and knew that my son might also have been killed,” Abu Hamada said. “Minutes later I found my son. He was soaked in his blood and lying on the ground. I was screaming so hard calling for an ambulance.”
Abu Hamada said that Khalil was her only son, whom she conceived after 15 years of trying to have children.
“I did five in vitro fertilisation rounds, all of which failed. Then the last IVF round was successful and Khalil came to light.
“He is all my life. I wanted him to graduate quickly so that I could find a bride for him. I have no one else but him. I can’t believe what happened and I don’t want to believe,” Abu Hamada said, breaking down in tears.
Relatives mourn the death of Khalil, a 19-year-old Palestinian,
‘We can’t endure more’
Umm Mohammad al-Nairab, 60, sat weeping in the wake of the deaths of her grandchildren, Ahmad, 11, and Moamen, 5.
“Last night, the two children went out to buy things from the supermarket across the street from the house where people gathered after evening [Isha] prayers,” al-Nairab said, sobbing heavily. “It was only moments before we heard a loud bombing.”
“Their parents and I went out screaming: ‘Our children, our children!’. There were body parts soaked in their own blood,” al-Nairab said.
The children’s parents were too distraught to speak to members of the media.
“Ahmed was very accomplished in his studies. He is the eldest son and he has two sisters,” al-Nairab said.
“What did they do to get bombed this way? The street was full of pedestrians and children. How many families in Gaza have a wake today because of the ongoing Israeli aggression? We can’t endure more.”
Umm Mohammad al-Nairab weeps after the killing of her two grandchildren
Maram Humaid - Sunday
Rafah, Gaza – Another night of terror passed in the southern Gaza Strip as an attack by Israeli warplanes killed a senior commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, Khaled Mansour, along with many nearby civilians.
Until the early hours of Sunday, civil defence and rescue crews continued to retrieve the bodies of the dead and wounded from under the rubble of the refugee camp, despite limited equipment.
According to medics, seven people were killed in the Rafah bombing on Saturday, among 43 others killed in Israel’s three-day attack, including 15 children and four women. More than 300 other Palestinians have been wounded.
The rescue process was made more difficult by the narrow alleyways of the camp because of how closely the asbestos-roofed homes lined up together.
Ashraf al-Qaisi, 46, said he did not think twice before allowing bulldozers to demolish his entire house in order to help rescue teams reach his neighbours buried under the debris.
“This is the hardest night ever in my life,” al-Qaisi told Al Jazeera. “I was sitting in my house with my wife and six children until we suddenly heard the sound of shelling, and part of the ceiling collapsed. One of my sons was injured.”
Ashraf al-Qaisi, 46, second left, allowed bulldozers to demolish
his house in order for rescuers to save his neighbours
[Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]
‘Enough is enough’
Al-Qaisi ran outside only to find a number of his neighbours’ homes had been completely destroyed by the Israeli bombing. “Those were tough moments. Blood, body parts, screams under the rubble, bodies being pulled out dead and wounded,” al-Qaisi said.
“It was very difficult for the bulldozers to reach the targeted house, so I let the bulldozers demolish my entire house in order to save my neighbours next door,” he told Al Jazeera as he stood on the rubble of his home.
Although al-Qaisi is unemployed and has no income to support his family, he said he did not hesitate to allow the rescue crew to demolish his house. “The situation was difficult to put into words,” he said. “I wanted to help in any way.”
“I tell the world that enough is enough. The wars, bombings and killings that are happening to us are enough. We are tired. We are really tired,” al-Qaisi said while holding his injured son, Ahmed.
Wissam Joudeh, 39, did just what al-Qaisi did. He, too, allowed bulldozers to partially demolish his house in order for rescue teams to evacuate the wounded.
“I was sitting with my family when we heard and felt shelling that shook the place,” he said.
“I went out and the missile had hit right behind our house. Moments until the civil defence vehicles rushed in, the situation was very difficult. Injured people were screaming under the rubble … [There were] burned bodies, and it was late at night.”
© Provided by Al JazeeraWissam Joudeh allowed bulldozers to partially demolish his house for rescue teams to evacuate the wounded [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]
‘Gaza is alone’
Related video: Watch: Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 10 in Gaza
The only thing the ambulances could do is to have al-Qaisi’s house and part of Joudeh’s house demolished to help access the bombing site.
“Even though I only bought this house three months ago, after a long struggle to find stability, I did not hesitate to allow it to be demolished to try to reach the injured and the bodies under the rubble,” Joudeh said. “They are my neighbours and I was very sad about what happened to them.”
Joudeh called on the international and humanitarian community to pressure Israel to stop its repeated attacks on Gaza.
“Gaza is alone. We didn’t start a fight with anyone. We are civilians who just want to live in peace.”
Just north of Gaza, Najwa Abu Hamada, 46, had not yet recovered from the shock of losing her only son, Khalil, 19, in a bombing near their home in Jabalia refugee camp.
Abu Hamada said she had just had lunch with her son before he went out with one of his friends.
“Less than a minute after he left, I heard a loud bombing,” Abu Hamada said. “Immediately I went out into the street yelling ‘my son, my son!'”
Najwa Abu Hamada, 46, lost her only son, Khalil, 19 [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]
‘He is all my life’
The bombing took place in front of a supermarket next to their home, killing five civilians, including children.
“The first thing I saw was the body of my son’s best friend. That’s when I screamed and knew that my son might also have been killed,” Abu Hamada said. “Minutes later I found my son. He was soaked in his blood and lying on the ground. I was screaming so hard calling for an ambulance.”
Abu Hamada said that Khalil was her only son, whom she conceived after 15 years of trying to have children.
“I did five in vitro fertilisation rounds, all of which failed. Then the last IVF round was successful and Khalil came to light.
“He is all my life. I wanted him to graduate quickly so that I could find a bride for him. I have no one else but him. I can’t believe what happened and I don’t want to believe,” Abu Hamada said, breaking down in tears.
Relatives mourn the death of Khalil, a 19-year-old Palestinian,
killed by an Israeli missile strike
[Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]
‘We can’t endure more’
Umm Mohammad al-Nairab, 60, sat weeping in the wake of the deaths of her grandchildren, Ahmad, 11, and Moamen, 5.
“Last night, the two children went out to buy things from the supermarket across the street from the house where people gathered after evening [Isha] prayers,” al-Nairab said, sobbing heavily. “It was only moments before we heard a loud bombing.”
“Their parents and I went out screaming: ‘Our children, our children!’. There were body parts soaked in their own blood,” al-Nairab said.
The children’s parents were too distraught to speak to members of the media.
“Ahmed was very accomplished in his studies. He is the eldest son and he has two sisters,” al-Nairab said.
“What did they do to get bombed this way? The street was full of pedestrians and children. How many families in Gaza have a wake today because of the ongoing Israeli aggression? We can’t endure more.”
Umm Mohammad al-Nairab weeps after the killing of her two grandchildren
[Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]
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