JERUSALEM – The war in Gaza had barely begun when 9-year-old Khaled Joudeh suffered an unimaginable loss. His mother, father, older brother and little sister, along with dozens of other relatives, were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
According to the standards
In the months that followed, Khaled tried to be brave, his uncle, Mohammed Faris, recalled. He comforted his younger brother, Tamer, who, like Khaled, survived the Oct. 22 attack that killed a total of 68 members of his extended family. Tamer, 7, suffered a broken back and leg. “He was always calming his brother down when he cried,” Faris said.
At night, as Israeli air strikes on Gaza resumed, Khaled would wake up shaking and screaming.
It was a short, terrifying life for the younger brothers, and it ended when another airstrike hit the house where they were sheltering on Jan. 9, killing Khaled, Tamer and four other relatives, family members said.
Her story summarises how the ten-month war in Gaza has had an exceptional impact on children.
Following a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, the Israeli military launched a war with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas, unleashing one of the heaviest aerial bombardments of this century on the densely populated Gaza Strip. Israel has accused Hamas of exploiting Gaza’s urban terrain to provide its fighters and weapons infrastructure with an extra layer of protection, building tunnels under neighborhoods, firing rockets near homes and holding hostages in city centers.
Hamas denies the accusations and says its members live among the population.
International law experts say Israel has a responsibility to protect civilians, even if Hamas exploits them. The Israeli military says it takes “all feasible precautions” to minimize harm to civilians.
Gaza health officials say that of the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in the war, an estimated 15,000 were under the age of 18. The United Nations estimates that at least 19,000 additional children have been orphaned. Nearly a million children have been displaced, according to UNICEF.
“Gaza remains the most dangerous place in the world for children,” said UNICEF spokesman Jonathan Crickx.
Most children live in overcrowded homes where many families have taken refuge, or in tents, without running water or sanitation facilities. Thousands are severely malnourished and at risk of starvation.
“There is no childhood in Gaza,” Louise Waterridge, a spokeswoman for the main UN agency that helps Palestinians, UNRWA, wrote on social media last month.
For about a month after their parents died, Khaled and Tamer stayed with their uncle Fares in another family building in Deir al-Balah. From time to time, Khaled and Tamer would play in the rubble-strewn street. Then, on January 9, their short lives came to an end.
At around 2:00 a.m., an Israeli airstrike hit the house they were taking shelter in. Khaled and Tamer died, along with their two-year-old cousin Nada, two uncles and their grandfather.
They were buried together in an unmarked grave.
“Unapologetic tv specialist. Hardcore zombie trailblazer. Infuriatingly humble problem solver.”