Father mourns 2 sons killed in Israeli strike

WAR IN GAZA

Nidal Al-Nouri shows a school notebook Friday that belonged to his 13-year-old daughter Sama, killed in an Israeli strike while waiting to receive nutritional supplements at a medical clinic, at his family’s home in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. ABDEL KAREEM HANA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Wafaa Shurafa

The Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip >> Three brothers in the Gaza Strip woke up early to run to a local clinic to get “sweets,” their word for the emergency food supplements distributed by aid groups. By the time their father woke up, two brothers had been fatally wounded by an Israeli strike and the third had lost an eye.

The strike outside the clinic Thursday in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed 14 people, including nine children, according to a local hospital, which had initially reported 10 children killed but later said one had died in a separate incident.

The Israeli military said it targeted a militant it said had taken part in the Hamas attack that ignited the 21-month war. Security camera footage appeared to show two young men targeted as they walked past the clinic where several people were squatting outside.

Hatem Al-Nouri’s 4-year-old son, Amir, was killed immediately. His 8-year-old son, Omar, was still breathing when he reached the hospital but died shortly thereafter. He said that at first he didn’t recognize his third son, 2-year-old Siraj, because his eye had been torn out.

“What did these children do to deserve this?” the father said as he broke into tears. “They were dreaming of having a loaf of bread.”

In a separate development, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said a 23-year-old was beaten to death Friday by Israeli settlers near the city of Ramallah. Further details were not immediately available. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks while trying to get food, according to local health officials. Experts say hunger is widespread among the territory’s 2 million Palestinians and that Israel’s blockade and military offensive have put them at risk of famine.

The international aid group Doctors Without Borders said it has recorded a “sharp and unprecedented rise” in acute malnutrition at two clinics it operates in Gaza, with more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women, and nearly 500 children, receiving outpatient therapeutic food.

“Our neonatal intensive care unit is severely overcrowded, with four to five babies sharing a single incubator,” Dr. Joanne Perry, a physician with the group, said in a statement.