Gaza – Saba:
In a scene that captures the horror of childhood under siege, four children from the same family in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, left home in search of food—but never returned. Instead, they became victims of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Gaza, carried out openly and with impunity before the eyes of the world.
Omar and Amir were killed instantly. Their cousin Sama joined them in death. The fourth child, Siraj—just two and a half years old—now lies between life and death in one of Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals.
Their mother, Iman Al-Nouri, told Anadolu Agency that little Siraj had been crying for what resembled a sweet treat—a nutritional supplement distributed by a relief organization. She allowed him to leave with his brothers and cousin to a nearby medical point, hoping to ease his hunger.
Moments after they left, an Israeli airstrike hit the civilian gathering outside the clinic, shredding their frail, starved bodies.
Omar and Amir died on the spot. Sama succumbed shortly after. Siraj was rushed, critically wounded, to intensive care. His mother’s voice trembled: “He was crying from hunger… They went to get him a supplement, and came back as martyrs.”
The children were sitting on the pavement, clearly visible in their small, fragile frames and innocent clothes. There was no mistaking them for anything but children, yet Israel targeted them anyway.
With ambulances out of service—either due to fuel shortages or being deliberately targeted—donkey carts are now being used to transport the dead and wounded. The four children’s remains were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in one such cart.
Hospitals in Gaza have become little more than death waiting rooms. The collapse of the healthcare system is total, a direct result of Israel’s war of extermination that leaves no corner of the Strip untouched by death.
Siraj’s father, Hatem Al-Nouri, wept as he kissed his son’s foot in the hospital bed: “They went out to get him something sweet… and came back dead.”
The Nouri family’s story is just one of thousands documenting Israel’s Nazi-style extermination campaign in Gaza—where even the pursuit of a bite to eat has become a deadly risk for children. War criminals have turned Gaza’s children into deliberate targets.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has waged a genocidal war on Gaza, backed by the U.S., Western allies, and a complicit international and regional silence. To date, it has killed 59,733 people and injured 144,477 more.
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