Mohamed Majed and Ikram Kouachi
12 July 2025•Update: 12 July 2025
GAZA CITY, Palestine/ANKARA
A 17-year-old Palestinian boy, once known as the world’s youngest freed prisoner, was killed Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office.
Youssef al-Zuq died after an Israeli drone struck his family’s apartment on Al-Thawra Street in Gaza City in the early hours of the morning, the office said in a statement.
Zuq was born in 2008 inside an Israeli prison after his mother, Fatima al-Zuq, was arrested a year earlier while pregnant. She had been leaving Gaza for medical treatment when she was detained by Israeli forces.
Fatima later discovered her pregnancy while in detention and gave birth behind bars. She raised Youssef for nearly two years in harsh prison conditions, facing medical neglect, poor nutrition, and lack of proper care for her newborn, according to past rights group reports.
The two were released in 2009 as part of a deal in which Israel freed 19 Palestinian women in exchange for a videotape proving Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was alive in Hamas custody. Shalit was later released in a larger 2011 prisoner exchange.
Saturday’s attack that killed Youssef al-Zuq was one of multiple deadly Israeli strikes across Gaza since dawn. At least 66 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and dozens more injured, according to medical sources.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 57,800 Palestinians so far, most of them women and children.
The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of diseases.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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.
