Feature: Palestinian families shattered by relentless Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip

GAZA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) — Hanan al-Doqi, a displaced Palestinian child from Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, struggles to breathe while lying in a bed at al-Aqsa Hospital to receive treatment.
On Sept. 3, the Israeli army attacked the al-Doqi family’s home in Deir al-Balah, killing Hanan’s mother Shimaa and seriously wounding Hanan, her younger sister, and her father. The attack occurred just hours after the two sisters received polio vaccine doses provided by the UN, following the first reported poliovirus case in Deir al-Balah in mid-August.
Hanan’s right cheek was burned, showing signs of second-degree burns that may leave permanent scars. Additionally, she had both legs amputated and lost part of her intestines due to her injuries.
Her sister, Misk, lost her left foot in the Israeli attack, and their father is in the intensive care unit with a serious injury that doctors say he may not survive.
“It is too hard for the two poor children to lose their parents,” Shifa al-Doqi, the sisters’ aunt, told Xinhua. “They will live as orphans without their mother and may lose their father as well. They will live with their disabilities for the rest of their lives.”
“My heart breaks every time these sisters call their mother. Misk constantly cries for her, and she also calls for her father. She doesn’t realize she’s lost her foot and keeps trying to remove the bandage to see what’s happened,” Shifa said.
Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
As of Sunday, the Israeli military has killed 41,206 Palestinians and injured 95,337, according to Gaza-based health authorities. Despite repeated international calls to end the attacks, Palestinians in Gaza continue to face ongoing Israeli assaults.
The attacks resulted in the widespread destruction of Palestinian residential buildings and infrastructure. In early July, UN statistics estimated that 1.9 million people, or about nine out of 10 residents in Gaza, were displaced within the Gaza Strip.
On Sept. 8, an Israeli attack on the Abu Otaiwi family’s home in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp killed seven-year-old Asmaa Abu Otaiwi, just two days after she received her polio vaccine.
“Despite the war and the dire situation we’ve endured for over 11 months, we rushed to get our children vaccinated against polio to protect them from death. Yet, it seems the Israeli army is determined to kill more of our children,” complained Mohammed Abu Otaiwi, Asmaa’s father.
The grieving man said he moved his eight-member family repeatedly in the Gaza Strip to protect his children from ongoing Israeli attacks. “But I failed to keep my children alive,” he lamented. “Asmaa was a very active child who dreamed of returning to her life and seeing her friends at school.”
“Why do our children have to pay the price for this war? Where are the human rights and children’s rights organizations? Why do they remain silent? Our children and we are being killed in cold blood,” the man shouted. ■