More than a dozen children, aged between seven months and 12 years, have been killed in Israeli attacks in last 48 hours.
Israeli forces have killed more than a dozen Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip in the last 48 hours, while thousands more face the threat of imminent starvation amid a drastically deteriorating humanitarian crisis.
On Sunday, four-year-old Mohammed Yassine joined dozens of other children who have starved to death in recent days as the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than 70,000 children in Gaza face acute levels of malnutrition.
As well as causing starvation deaths, Israel has intensified its bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza, killing some 600 people in nearly a week.
A strike on a tent housing displaced people in central Gaza killed a mother and her children in the central city of Deir el-Balah, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital, while a child was killed when his family’s tent was struck with a drone in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
A strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza killed at least five, including two women and a child, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Eleven-year-old Yaqeen Hammad, a popular social media influencer, and nine of Dr Alaa Amir al-Najjar’s 10 children were also killed in separate Israeli air raids. Al-Najjar’s remaining child, 11-year-old Adam, is in critical condition in an intensive care unit.
The attacks come amid an Israeli blockade for almost three months that has choked off access to essential food, fuel, and medical supplies. Aid agencies warn that thousands of children are now at risk of death from starvation.
Children account for 31 percent of Palestinians confirmed killed during Israel’s 19 months of war on Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. This figure excludes deaths that have been reported but for which the victims remain unidentified, suggesting the real toll is higher.
Below are some of the children killed in Israeli attacks:
Known for her smile and volunteer work in Gaza, Yaqeen Hammad was killed after Israel shelled al-Baraka in Deir el-Balah, northern Gaza, on Friday night.
The 11-year-old influencer and her older brother, Mohamed Hammad, delivered food, toys and clothing to displaced families, the Palestine Chronicle reports. She also played an active role in the Ouena collective – a Gaza-based nonprofit group dedicated to aid and humanitarian relief.
Messages of grief and tributes from activists, Yaqeen’s followers and journalists poured in after news of her death spread online.
“Her body may be gone, but her impact remains a beacon of humanity,” wrote Mahmoud Bassam, a photojournalist in Gaza.
“Instead of being at school and enjoying her childhood, she was active on Instagram and participating in campaigns to help others in Gaza. No words. Absolutely no words,” another tribute read on X.
“Mohammed was not the first child, and the fear has become a certainty that he won’t be the last,” Basal added.
An Israeli attack on the home of al-Najjar on Friday killed nine of her children and critically injured 11-year-old Adam.
Sidar, Luqman, Sadin, Reval, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Rakan and Yahya – aged between seven months and 12 years – all died in the attack, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.
Al-Najjar is a paediatrician at the southern city’s Nasser Hospital, where her husband is receiving care after being critically injured in the attack.
“It is unbelievable,” said Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s paediatrics department, of the attack’s impact.
“You can’t imagine the shock that [al-Najjar] had when she heard about that [attack]. But up until now, she is trying to be near her son and her husband to survive.”
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