Mohammed Abu al Qumsan, a father to newborn twins in Gaza, had gone out for some time to collect the birth certificates of his infants. He had their birth certificates in hand, only to return to the apartment they were residing in, to find that his entire family had been killed in an attack from Israel.
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Twins and their mother killed
Muhammed Abu al Qumsan had welcomed his newborns into the world only on Saturday last weekend. He had been living in a flat in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza after being displaced from his home in northern Gaza. Qumsan had left his apartment Tuesday morning to collect the birth certificate of his children from the local office when he received a call from his neighbors informing him that an explosive had struck his family in their home.
He reached the wrecked site, birth certificates in hand, to find his children had passed merely three days into their short lives. “I did not even have the time to celebrate them”, he mourned. Videos circulating online show Muhammed Abu al Qumsan crying hysterically and then fainting in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. His mother-in-law also fell victim to the Israeli airstrike on his home.
His wife and their mother, Jumann Arfa was a pharmacist who had given birth via a caesarean section and had only begun recuperating from the delivery. Qumsan said that his wife “was still tired and couldn’t walk”. She had made a joyous announcement of the birth of her children on Facebook on August 10. She wrote that the birth of her children felt like a miracle.
Jumann and Muhammed had reportedly followed all the evacuation orders by the Israeli authorities which had caused the couple to flee their home in Northern Gaza. The young couple had tied the knot in summer last year, before the disastrous war on Gaza began. The twins, Ayssel- a girl and her brother Asser were the firstborns of the couple. Sources report that the airstrikes in the neighbourhood claimed the lives of about 30 Palestinians, including a nine-month-old infant.
Situation in Gaza worsens
The Palestinian death toll has neared 40,000 while the number of injured civilians has crossed 92,000 in the last 10 months. Records show that over 16,000 of those deaths are that of children while many more have been orphaned.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees called UNRWA has reported the displacement of 1.2 million civilians. The Israeli siege has created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with famine and contagious diseases making the living conditions deplorable. Many of the schools and hospitals in Gaza have been targeted by Israel in the recent past, drawing criticism from the European Union. Israel also stands accused of genocide by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Israeli hostage shot dead
The October 7 attack by Hamas led to approximately 250 Israelis being taken hostage. While some of them have been released in earlier negotiations, many of them remain in Gaza. In two separate events on Monday, an Israeli male hostage was killed by his Hamas guard while two female hostages were severely injured. Abu Ubaida, a senior Hamas official has stated that both the incidents will be investigated by a committee that has been formed for the said purpose.
