- ‘My husband, my children, my brother, his children, my sister, her children, everyone died. Only one child survived,’ the only surviving mother tells Anadolu
GAZA CITY, Palestine / ANKARA
In one of the most harrowing scenes of the ongoing onslaught in the Gaza Strip, videos filmed by Palestinian journalists and activists show the dismembered body of a young girl and her injured brother on the rooftop of a neighboring house, victims of a powerful Israeli airstrike on central Gaza's Al-Yarmouk neighborhood.
The video, widely circulated on social media, captures the aftermath of a high-intensity explosion caused by Israeli bombs.
It shows injured children and body parts scattered on the rooftop of a building adjacent to the target site, sowing a grim picture of a genocide underway since Oct. 7, 2023.
Scene of devastation
Among the most distressing images was what remained of a little girl, hurled onto the neighboring rooftop by the blast. Only the lower half of her body was visible, embedded in the bloodstained concrete.
She wore a pink dress, now covered in dust and ash, while strands of her hair blew in the air, stirred by the force of the explosion.
A few meters away, her brother lay injured, bleeding from the head and calling weakly for help. Unbeknownst to his mother, who was frantically searching for him beneath the rubble after losing her husband and other children, he was still alive, stranded on a nearby rooftop.
This boy, her only surviving child, became her final hope after nearly her entire family—siblings, nephews, and nieces—was wiped out in the bombing.
Family blown apart
Nuseiba Shahto, the boy's mother, told Anadolu in a shaken voice that the Israeli strike obliterated their home and killed nearly everyone inside.
“My husband, my children, my brother, his children, my sister, her children, everyone died. Only one child survived. He was thrown onto the neighbor’s roof by the blast. Thank God we found him alive, but his condition is serious,” she said.
“The explosion was so powerful. Ten children from the family were in the house. The entire house is gone. Everyone was screaming. Only my son and I survived,” she added.
Eyewitnesses confirmed the scale of destruction, noting that the victims' bodies were hurled tens of meters by what they believe were highly explosive Israeli bombs. Some children were thrown to the upper floors of the surrounding buildings.
A study conducted by Harvard University on Oct. 23, 2024, confirmed that the Israeli military had used US-manufactured Mark 84 bombs known for their devastating impact.
Child’s testimony
Anadolu visited the injured boy, Ali Faraj, at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Gaza.
In a faint voice and with dazed eyes, Ali recalled: “The walls collapsed, and I fell. I don’t know what happened. I was with my dad… then there was a huge explosion.”
He remembers little of the incident, but the image of his father, who was killed in the bombing, remains with him.
“I woke up in the hospital. My head and stomach hurt,” he whispered.
Ali was undergoing surgery for a severe abdominal injury.
His mother, speaking outside the operating room, made a tearful appeal to the world: “Please, save what is left of our people. We are human beings. We are tired of destruction and death.”
Toll on children
On April 18, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that women and children were the primary victims of the war since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18. Between then and mid-April, Israeli forces killed 595 children and 308 women.
The Gaza Health Ministry announced on March 24 that at least 15,613 children had been killed during Israel's 19-month genocidal war, accounting for 31% of total fatalities.
Over 33,900 children had been injured, which amounts to nearly 30% of all wounded people in Gaza.
The Israeli army resumed its assaults on Gaza on March 18, and has since killed nearly 2,000 people, injured over 5,000 more, and shattered a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.
Nearly 51,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
