War on Gaza: Palestinians recall horrors of renewed Israeli bombing
Amidst a crowd of displaced Palestinians in Gaza, a woman stood alone, crying and gasping for breath as she struggled to take another step.
“We found my son at the barracks, shot in the stomach,” she said in a video circulating on social media. “He was martyred, dead. I couldn’t take or carry him. The tanks were in front of me.
“My beloved, my son, I left you alone in the street.”
Her son had been searching for a cart to help his family carry their belongings when he was killed. Now, she carries their possessions in two large garbage bags.
Since Israel broke the ceasefire on March 18, its renewed attacks on Gaza have claimed the lives of at least 830 Palestinians, pushing people once again into the horrors of war.
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Palestinians, who had initially thought they would get a longer break from sharing the tragedies of the war online, have resorted back to filming testimonies for the world to see.
‘What was this child’s sin?’
A video recorded by Middle East Eye’s correspondent in Gaza saw a man crying after he found a child’s body in pieces following an Israeli air strike.
“I swear to God, she is not my daughter,” the man shouted. “I swear to God, I do not know her. But, by God, I have never seen such sights in my life.
“To every person in the world who has children, consider this child as your own.”
The man then carried the child’s remains on his bicycle, bringing her to the hospital.
“What was this child’s sin?” he said there. “What was her sin? May God punish every person who remains silent.”
‘I don’t have a sister’
A woman was filmed mourning the loss of her daughter, Aya al-Samri, who was killed when Israel bombed Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood.
“My daughter. She has stayed in my arms all night,” the woman said. “May God have mercy on her. She is now with the Lord, she is now with God.”
Nearby, the woman’s other daughter broke down in tears.
“I no longer have a sister, I don’t have a sister,” she cried.
Her mother then hugged her and said, “I am your mother and your sister, my daughter.”
The girl's body was then placed alongside others, as her family gathered to pray for her.
‘I had just started a family’
“This is my first child, he is my whole world, my life,” said Alaa Abu Hilal as he was holding his infant son Mohammad’s dead body.
“My wife was born on 20 February, and my son was born on 20 February. My wife was martyred on 19 March, and my son was martyred on 19 March.”
Abu Hilal had hoped that, by leaving his wife and son in a supposedly safer area in Gaza, they would be spared.
It was not long until he received a phone call informing him of an air strike that hit the tent they were sheltering in.
His son was just 13 months old, and his wife was pregnant with their second child.
Holding back tears, Abu Hilal repeatedly kissed his son’s forehead as he tried to speak.
“He was a very loving and intelligent child,” he said.
“I had just started a family. I wanted to build a life with my wife, to have children. Even during the war, we wanted to start a family, but it was not meant to be.”
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