From hospital bed, Gaza father says goodbye to his kids killed by Israel

Wounded in an Israeli strike that killed his children, Mahmoud Zoghroub said farewell to his 17-day-old daughter Aisha and 2-year-old son Ahmed, from his hospital bed.

On Tuesday, Zoghroub grimaced with effort as he pulled himself up to cradle Ahmed, wrapped in a white burial shroud. Zoghroub then wept and fell back again.

Aisha, also bundled in white cloth, was placed next to him on his other side.

At one point, he tapped his heart, seemingly too exhausted to speak.

Aisha's grandmother, Suzan, said the infant was born on December 2.

The extended family was asleep when Israel struck their apartment building before dawn on Tuesday, Suzan Zoghroub said.

She said two of her sons had apartments on higher floors, but the family stayed together on the ground floor amid fears of air strikes.

In all, Israel killed 27 Palestinians in the strike, hospital officials said.

'Have they succeeded now?'

Suzan Zoghroub said many were members of her extended family.

"They removed us from under the rubble and brought us here," she said from the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza that was described by Israel as "safe zone".

She lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said Israel will not stop its air and ground invasion in besieged Gaza until resistance group Hamas has been dismantled.

"I want to send a message to Netanyahu," Zoghroub said.

"Does he think that by killing these children, he will achieve something? Have they succeeded now? Has he achieved what he wants? No, he hasn’t achieved what he wants."

Dozens of mourners held a funeral prayer on Tuesday morning outside the hospital in Rafah, before taking those killed in the strike for burial in a nearby cemetery.

Israel has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians in the blockaded enclave and wounded over 52,000 since October 7.

Thousands of Palestinians are feared buried under the debris of bombed buildings.