The Al-Shaer family went to bed with empty stomachs in their home in Gaza City, unaware it would be their last night alive.While they slept, an Israeli airstrike hit the area, killing them instantly.
The victims identified were freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, his wife, and their five children. The health officials present made a statement saying they were over 100 people killed within 24 hours as a result of Israeli airstrikes and gunfire, apart from this particular family.
On Wednesday morning, their lifeless bodies were placed outside the remains of their home, wrapped in white linen. Each was marked with names handwritten in pen. Blood soaked through the fabric, staining the sheets red.
“This is my cousin. He was 10. We dug them out of the rubble,” said Amr al-Shaer, who carried one of the children’s bodies after helping to retrieve them.
Iman al-Shaer, another relative who lived nearby, said the family had gone to sleep without eating. “The children slept without food,” he said quietly.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about the specific strike on the family’s home. However, it confirmed that its air force had hit 120 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours, describing them as “terrorist cells, military structures, tunnels, booby trapped buildings, and other terrorist infrastructure.”
Family members said some neighbors survived simply because they were out searching for food when the bombs fell.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Gaza reported that ten more Palestinians died overnight due to starvation. This brings the total number of starvation related deaths to 111, most of them happening in recent weeks, as the deepening hunger crisis continues to sweep across the enclave.
