The New York Times has published a list of children killed in the latest Israel-Gaza flare-up of violence.
During the 11 days of fighting this month between Israel and Hamas, at least 67 children (under 18) were killed in Gaza and two in Israel, according to initial reports, according to the NYT article.
The US newspaper also published an extended online obituary of the children recently killed in Gaza and Israel.
Vulnerable
The identities of the children, their photos, and the circumstances of their death were corroborated from multiple sources, including their parents, relatives, teachers, schools in Gaza and Israel, international rights organisations, Palestinian officials, and news organisations in Gaza and Israel.
Children are the most vulnerable in Gaza. They grow up amid crippling poverty, high unemployment, cannot freely move due to the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, and live under the constant threat of war, the report pointed out.
The New York Times estimated that an average 15-year-old would have lived through four major Israeli offensives.
Dozens of children, many of whom were under the age of 16, including several babies, were killed in aerial and ground bombardments by Israeli forces.
Critics are citing Gaza’s child death toll as proof of disproportionate and indiscriminate violence towards Palestinians by Israel. According to the latest census records, Gaza is made up of approximately 43 per cent children under the age of 14, and approximately 22pc between the ages of 14 and 24, making the majority of Gazans children and young people.
The victims were in the middle of life when they were killed: Thirteen-year-old Hamada Al Emour and his 10-year-old cousin Ammar Al Emour had just finished getting haircuts when they were killed in an Israeli air strike. Their father had witnessed their deaths. Thirteen-year-old Yahya Khalifa had been on a shop errand getting yogurt and ice cream for his family when he was killed by an Israeli air strike.
Four brothers were killed: Amir Tanani, 6, Ahmad Tanani, 2, Ismail Tanani, 7, and Adham Tanani, 4.
Many babies were killed also, including six-month-old Ibrahim Al Rantisi and six-month-old Quasai Al Qawlaq and siblings.
The obituary begins by describing the grief many parents in Gaza had to endure. “I’m in disbelief,” said Saad Asaliyah, a taxi driver from Jabaliya, who lost his 10-year-old daughter. “I try to calm myself by saying it was God’s will for her to go.”
“When I think about the children who died,” said Ola Abu Hasaballah, a child psychologist in Gaza, “I also think about the ones who survive, those who were pulled out of the rubble and lost a limb, or those who will go to school and see their friend is missing.”
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