Newborns die in Gaza attack as father issues birth certificates

Mohammad Abu Al Qumsan shuddered 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 shouted at health officials at the medical center on Tuesday (13).

“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 away, he said, he received a call that an Israeli strike had hit his home, killing the two babies, along with his wife, Jumana, 28.

Images filmed by a freelance journalist working for the CNN showed dozens of mourners crowded around Al Qumsan at Al Aqsa Hospital. Men tried to console the 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 multiple Israeli strikes in the area, according to hospital officials.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that “the details of the incident as published are not currently known to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces),” adding that it “targets only military objectives and employs various measures to minimize harm to civilians.”

Al Qumsan told CNN who 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 in Gaza — during which at least 115 babies have been born and died, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Just days earlier, Jumana had published a Facebook post celebrating the birth of her twin babies, describing them as a “miracle.” The couple married last summer, before the war between Israel and Hamas began.

“Together forever,” she wrote in a previous social media post announcing her July 2023 wedding.

Israel launched its military offensive on October 7 after the armed group Hamas, which rules Gaza, attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people have been killed and more than 250 kidnapped, according to Israeli officials.

Since then, Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians — including more than 16,400 children — and injured more than 92,000, the ministry said.

“Relentless” war against children

Al Qumsan is one of hundreds of thousands of survivors who have no time to mourn their loved ones in the context of a 10-month Israeli offensive that has killed entire families, deepened a humanitarian crisis and turned cities into devastated wastelands.

At least 1.9 million people have been displaced, according to the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA. The entire population of more than 2.2 million people has been put at risk of famine and disease.

But aid workers say Israeli aid restrictions mean they cannot provide relief to war-hit Gazans.

Meanwhile, health officials told the CNN who are unable to triage injured Palestinians in a medical system devastated by Israeli strikes.

More than 885 health workers have been killed, the ministry said, and less than half of the 36 hospitals in the area are partially operational.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF has warned that the “relentless” war in Gaza “continues to inflict horrors on thousands of children”, estimating 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,” Salim Oweis, a UNICEF communications representative, said on Friday.

“The images the world sees on television give an important glimpse into the hell people have been enduring for more than 10 months. What they don’t fully show is how behind the collapsed buildings – entire neighborhoods, livelihoods and dreams have been leveled to the ground,” he added.

Mohammad Al Sawalhi and Kareem Khadder, from CNN contributed to the report.