Mohammad Abu Al Qumsan quivered and gasped in disbelief. His eyes glazed over before he fell limp in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.
“I beg you. I beg you. Let me see them,” he cried out to health officials at the medical facility on Tuesday.
“She just gave birth. Please let me see her.”
Hours earlier, the Palestinian father-of-two left his apartment in Deir al-Balah to collect birth certificates for his three-day-old twins – Aysal and Aser, a boy and a girl. But while he was out, he said, he received a phone call that an Israeli strike had hit his home, killing the two babies, along with his wife, Jumana, aged 28.
Footage filmed by a freelance journalist working for CNN showed dozens of mourners crowded around Al Qumsan at Al Aqsa Hospital. Men attempt to console the bereft widower, gently stroking his forehead.
In another scene, Al Qumsan can be seen kneeling beside the shrouded bodies of the deceased, before performing Islamic funeral prayers with rows of worshippers. His wife, a pharmacist, and the twins were among at least 23 people, including a nine-month-old baby, killed in several Israeli strikes in the area, according to hospital officials.
In a statement, the Israeli military said “the details of the incident as published are not currently known to the IDF,” adding that it “targets only military objectives and employs various measures to minimize harm to civilians.”
“May God unite you together in paradise my dear,” said one imam. “I swear to God you will be reunited with them in paradise and be with them forever.”
Al Qumsan told CNN he had moved his family to an apartment in Deir al-Balah, in a desperate attempt to protect his then-pregnant wife from Israel’s relentless bombing campaign on Gaza – during which at least 115 babies have been born and killed, according to the Ministry of Health there.
Just days earlier, Jumana had published a post on Facebook celebrating the birth of her twin babies, describing them as a “miracle.” The couple were married last summer, before the Israel-Hamas war began.
“Together forever,” she wrote in an earlier social media post announcing their wedding, in July 2023.
Israel launched its military offensive on October 7 after the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others abducted, according to Israeli authorities.
Since then, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians – including more than 16,400 children – and wounded more than 92,000, the ministry reported.
‘Unrelenting’ war on children
Al Qumsan is one of hundreds of thousands of survivors who have no time to mourn their loved ones against the backdrop of a 10-month Israeli offensive that has killed entire families, deepened a humanitarian crisis, and turned cities into wastelands.
At least 1.9 million people have been displaced, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. The entire population of more than 2.2 million people have been exposed to the risk of famine and disease.
But relief workers say Israeli aid restrictions mean they cannot offer relief to Gazans stricken by war. Meanwhile, health authorities have told CNN they are unable to triage wounded Palestinians, in a medical system annihilated by Israeli attacks. More than 885 health workers have been killed, the ministry said, and less than half of the strip’s 36 hospitals are partially operational.
The UN’s children’s agency, UNICEF, warned the “unrelenting” war in Gaza “continues to inflict horrors on thousands of children,” having estimated that there are at least 17,000 unaccompanied or separated children in Gaza.
“I was shocked by the depth of suffering, destruction and widespread displacement in Gaza,” said Salim Oweis, a communications offer for UNICEF, said Friday. “The footage the world sees on television gives an important peek into the living hell people are enduring for over 10 months.
“What it does not fully show is how behind the crumbled buildings – whole neighbourhoods, livelihoods and dreams have been levelled to the ground.”
CNN’s Mohammad Al Sawalhi and Kareem Khadder contributed reporting.
