By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle 
“The same day I obtained these birth certificates was the very day I went to apply for their death certificates.” Father of slain newborn twins
The executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) has questioned the “nightmare” that families are forced to endure in Israel’s war on Gaza, describing a recent Israeli airstrike that killed newborn twins and their mother as “heartbreaking.”
“How many more children will be killed in Gaza or undergo indescribable suffering before the nightmare ends?” Catherine Russell said in a post on X.
She added: “Heartbreaking to hear that newborn twins and their mother were among the latest casualties,” citing the tragedy on Tuesday wherein the three were killed while the newborns’ father, Mohammad Abu al-Qumsan, went to collect their birth certificates.
How many more children will be killed in Gaza or undergo indescribable suffering before the nightmare ends?
Heartbreaking to hear that newborn twins and their mother were among the latest casualties.
It's past time for a ceasefire, and the unconditional release of hostages. pic.twitter.com/gJf3Bls29O
— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) August 15, 2024
Birth and Death Certificates
The babies’ father said he did not get the chance to celebrate their birth.
“Their clothes are still just as they are,” a tearful Abu al-Qumsan, 33, said in an Aljazeera report, with their clothes in his hand. “They’re still brand new, they haven’t been worn.”
Abu al-Qumsan went to get their birth certificates “so we can register them.” While away, he received a call that his home had been bombed.
‘Sentence to Slow Death’ – UNICEF Deplores Horrors Inflicted on Children in Gaza
The newborns, who were named Ayssel and Aser, were “targeted in their home,” he stated, adding that they were born on August 10 and were killed on August 13.
“The same day I obtained these birth certificates was the very day I went to apply for their death certificates,” Abu al-Qumsan said. “In addition to my children, their mother as well.”
“We’re civilians,” he lamented, adding that his wife “was a doctor” who went out and helped people.
Newborn twins in Gaza were killed with their mother and grandmother as their father went to collect birth certificates earlier today.
Aysal, a girl, and brother Aser were born over the weekend and were just four days old pic.twitter.com/tDYg6nTdoj— sabrina (@SabrinGh) August 13, 2024
Over 40,000 Killed
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Tel Aviv is currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians since it began waging a devastating war on Gaza last October.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,005 Palestinians have been killed, and 92,401 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
‘Silent No More’ – American Doctors Believe Gaza Casualties May Exceed 92,000
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.
If I was not a 71 year old woman I feel in my heart I would take up arms to protect these Palestian people who have endured so much for so long, even before 2023. The bombing of these twins, their mother and grandmother will never be forgotten nor will any other who has been killed, maimed, left an orphan by these vicious, inhumane IOF soldiers. Netanyahu belongs in prison or in rubble himself. Let him suffer for his war crimes.i hope I live long enough to see a
Free 🇵🇸!! My soul is shattered watching what the West has been complicit in and seeing how cruel this has all been.