Late on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike in the Al-Shaboura refugee camp in southern Gaza’s Rafah city resulted in the tragic loss of two young lives: a 4-year-old boy named Kareem Jarada and his 2-year-old sister Mona Jarada. Several other people were also injured in the strike and brought to the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah. The medical staff at the Kuwait Hospital pronounced the two infants deceased shortly after their arrival.
CNN’s footage captures the harrowing scene of individuals, their clothes stained with blood, being extracted from civilian vehicles and urgently transported into the hospital. Additional videos depict injured patients being carefully transferred from PRCS-marked ambulances onto stretcher beds within the medical facility.
Inside the hospital, CNN captured footage of a doctor diligently attending to Mona’s injuries. Her body bore bloodstains, her left eye was gravely wounded, and bandages enveloped her head and right leg. The scene was both heartbreaking and urgent.
In the courtyard of Kuwait Hospital, a journalist’s video captures a poignant scene: a solitary small body bag containing the remains of both siblings. Their names are inscribed in marker on the exterior, along with the date of their passing – April 30.
Four men are seen praying over the body bag, as the children’s grandmother Um Rami Abu-Shalab crouches over, crying. She is seen opening the bag and looking at her grandchildren, saying: “they are going to heaven.” The two lifeless heads of the children look bloodied and discolored.
“Every time I saw her eyes, I’d say she has eyes like a deer’s…God give your mother strength. God rest your souls my grandchildren,” she says while sobbing.
After sunset on Tuesday, Um Rami had a conversation with her daughter. Her daughter mentioned that she had put the kids to bed after they played with the neighbors and had dinner.
“She put them to bed and then the treacherous ones came…God will punish them,” she said.
Um Rami, standing beside the body bag, tearfully informed CNN that these were her first and only grandchildren, whom she lovingly referred to as her ‘first joy.’ She explained that their parents had been injured during the airstrike and were now in critical condition, hanging between life and death.
“We are going to bury them without their parents and without most of their loved ones, because they were either injured in the attack or displaced in different areas of Gaza,” she said.
Despite being displaced multiple times by the Israeli military, Um Rami emphasized that their suffering was inconsequential to the perpetrators. She pointed at her dead grandchildren, stating, ‘This is all they want; this is their goal.’
At the hospital, Maram Abu-Shalab, the children’s aunt, informed CNN that the Israeli military targeted the home where her sister and family sought refuge, striking it without any prior warning.
“We’re still in a state of shock. What is one supposed to say? They are innocent. The babies went to bed last night, and they never woke up. They went to God…this heartbreak will stay with us forever,” she said.
With a heavy heart, she told to CNN that Palestinian lives have been lost in an unending stream since October 7. Israel’s conflict with Hamas, triggered by a terror attack that claimed over 1,200 lives, has resulted in a devastating toll of more than 34,000 deaths in the Palestinian enclave, as reported by the Palestinian health ministry.
“I didn’t even have time to enjoy being called an aunt,” said Abu-Shalab. “They didn’t even have time to grow. They were so young…we are all so sad…there is nothing harder than the devastation of death, and the death of children,” she said.
The IDF’s stated in respond to the CNN: “The IDF is actively working to dismantle both the military and administrative capabilities of Hamas. In doing so, it adheres to international law and takes practical measures to minimize harm to civilians.”
“Despite the ongoing clashes, staying in an active combat zone carries inherent dangers. The IDF will persist in countering threats while making every effort to minimize harm to civilians,” the statement added.
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