'This is genocide': Tlaib brings list of Gaza's child victims to Congress

In a powerful and deeply emotional moment on the floor of US House of Representatives, Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has submitted a harrowing document into the official record — the names of thousands of Palestinian children killed by Israel in besieged Gaza.

The 649-page document from the Palestine's Health Ministry comprises a chilling list of children who were wiped out by Israeli shells and bombs.

"The first 14 pages alone are names of babies under the age of one," Tlaib said on Thursday, her voice carrying the weight of loss.

"That's 710 babies that the Israeli government has murdered. I wish my colleagues would look at it."

Tlaib, who represents Michigan and is the only Palestinian American member of Congress, didn't mince words.

"These are not numbers. These are children."

Her words brought an uncomfortable silence to the chamber, a stark reminder of the human cost of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians. Of them, 11,355 were children. It's a conservative estimate, studies show, and numbers are rising.

"This is not self-defence," Tlaib said, her voice rising. "This is genocide."

Testament to destruction

For months, Tlaib has been one of the most vocal critics of the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.

The names she submitted stretched across hundreds of pages. The initial pages were filled with the names of infants, while the final pages listed elders, Palestinians aged 77 to 101, many of whom had lived through the creation of Israel in 1948 and seen decades of violence.

"This is a genocide of children," wrote Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at Hunter College, in response to Tlaib's submission.

"Fourteen pages of babies. It’s nothing short of an attempt to wipe out a people."

A July report from The Lancet, a respected UK medical journal, warned that the death toll could rise even further. It estimated that Israel's military campaign might directly and indirectly result in anywhere between 149,000 and 598,000 Palestinian deaths if the conflict had ended at the time of their study.

"I stand here as a Palestinian American, but also as a mother," Tlaib announced in the Congress. "These are our children."