Dad in Gaza out registering kids’ births, mum & baby twins killed by Israeli airstrike

A pair of four-day-old twins were killed on Aug. 12 by an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza, along with their mother and grandmother while their father was registering their births.

The family had been displaced from their original home in Gaza City, and had followed Israeli military instructions to seek shelter further south.

Four-day-old infants

The Associated Press reports that Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan and his family had originally been from Gaza City, but at the start of the war in Gaza, they moved to Central Gaza, in line with instructions by Israel's military.

Abuel-Qomasan's wife, a pharmacist, had given birth to the twins the four days earlier, a girl named Ayssel and boy named Asser, and on Aug. 12 he had gone to the local government office to register their births.

But while at the office he was contacted by his neighbours who told him that the house that he had been sheltering in had been hit by a shell.

The strike killed his wife, his children, and his mother-in-law.

The Palestine Prime Minister Office posted pictures of the newborns on social media, as well as of Abuel-Qomasan holding up their laminated birth certificates in despair.

Bereaved Palestinian father & husband, Mohammad Abu AlQumsan, displaced from northern war-ravaged Gaza, clutches the birth certificates of his newborn twins, who, along with their mother, were killed in an indiscriminate Israeli airstrike on Gaza, only four days into their lives. pic.twitter.com/QHTJtJSH7H

— PM of Palestine (@PalestinePMO) August 13, 2024

The PMO said the twins and their mother were "killed in an indiscriminate Israeli airstrike in Gaza".

Relentless bombardment

The AP used Abuel-Qomasan's story as emblematic of the impact of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling its bombardment "relentless".

Citing Gaza's health ministry, AP reported that over 115 newborns had been killed in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attacks by the Hamas militant group on Israel.

It also reported that Israel's military rarely commented on individual strikes, instead saying that it "tries to avoid harming Palestinian civilians".

Israel's military instead blames deaths on Hamas, and accuses the group of launching attacks from civilians buildings, such as homes, schools, and mosques.

The deaths come as the Guardian reports further that Israel's military warned that it is conducting new operations to "flush out" Hamas militants who have regrouped in the south city of Khan Younis.

The Guardian quoted Gazan civilians who said that they were at a loss of where to go, with one person saying that they have been displaced four times.

Ceasefire talks

Meanwhile, Hamas has said that it would not participate in a new round of  ceasefire talks due to begin on Aug. 15.

Instead, it accused Israel's government of stalling, and called on Western nations to instead implement measures that had been agreed upon at previous rounds of negotiations.

Reuters quoted a senior Hamas official who said it was committed to the proposal that was submitted to it on Jul. 2, which is based in part on a speech that United States president Joe Biden gave.

The official also characterised Israel as using "the maze of negotiation" to prolong its ability "conduct more massacres".

Israel for its part said that it would send its negotiating team to Qatar on Aug. 15 as previously agreed.

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Top image via @PalestinePMO/X