Gaza boy dreamed of ride to Moon but Israeli missile 'tore him into pieces'
"He said to me 'I hope a rocket comes and I can go to the Moon'. He didn't realise that the rocket would come and tear him up into pieces," says mother of Abdul Aziz, 7, who was killed by Israel along with his brother Hamza, 5 and sister Laila, 3.
Relatives of the Palestinians who were killed in an attack on Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis mourn as dead bodies were taken from the Nasser Hospital for burial in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 21, 2024. / Photo: AA
As Areej al-Qadi tearfully kissed the bodies of her three young children killed by Israel in an air strike in Gaza, another mourner lashed out at the United States and Arab leaders for not ending the genocide.
Palestinians in Gaza attending one funeral after another after more than a year of Israeli genocide feel abandoned and angry that their pleas for help have gone largely unanswered.
Qadi said her son Abdul Aziz, 7, killed by Israel along with his brother Hamza, 5 and sister Laila, 3, while they played outside in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, had wanted to be an astronaut.
"He said to me 'I hope a rocket comes and I can go to the Moon'. He didn't realise that the rocket would come and tear him up into pieces," she said.
"What right does America have, talking about democracy, justice and equality? said displaced mourner Ra'fat al-Shaer. "Also a message to the Arab world, to the heads of the Arab nations. How long will this continue?"
Arab countries have not backed their own calls for an end to the suffering of fellow-Muslims with any threats to end diplomatic agreements with Israel despite the killings of tens of thousands of civilians.
Mourners gather next to the bodies of Palestinian children killed by Israel in a strike, during a funeral in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on November 21, 2024.
'They were all martyred'
Israel has killed more than 44,000 people, wounded more than 104,000 and turned Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated places, into a wasteland of crushed cement and twisted metal.
Most of Gaza's population of 2.4 million people has been displaced and the enclave is at risk of famine, more than a year into Israel's genocide.
Many analysts say the reported death toll is a conservative estimate.
A letter to US President Joe Biden from a group of almost 100 American doctors who served in Gaza estimated a death toll of more than 118,000 in October 2024. And according to the UK medical journal The Lancet, the death toll could be more than 180,000.
People like Mahmoud Bin Hassan al-Thalatha, the father of the three children he said were killed along with other innocent people by Israel on a bustling street, say their only recourse is prayer.
"My children were martyred, the people walking were martyred, and the stall vendor was martyred while he was sitting down, they were all martyred. May God have mercy on them."
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