Kids of Palestine

To help his children cope with Gaza’s frequent power outages, Mohammed Abu Moussa, a radiographer at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, installed solar panels at home so they could keep watching cartoons. That's what his children were doing on October 15 when an airstrike hit their home. Youssef, age 7, was killed when the roof collapsed. His siblings, 13-year-old Jury and 9-year-old Hamed, survived. Their father was on a 24-hour hospital shift when his wife Rawan arrived at the scene. In a video posted on social media, she is seen running through the hospital, frantically searching for her son. When a relative tells her they had seen him, she pleads, "take me to him," then collapses in grief when she learns that Youssef is dead. Mohammed found his son's body in the morgue after rescue workers pulled him from the rubble. "The last time I saw Yousef alive was when he ran to hug me on the doorstep of our home, just before I left for work," he told the BBC. "He kissed me and said goodbye after I had given him some biscuits and bananas. He wanted to be a doctor, maybe because he always saw me going to hospital for work."

Youssef's father, Dr. Mohammad Abu Mousa, was abducted by Israeli occupation forces on February 17, 2024, while on-duty inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis. He has since been released.

Ahmed Ibrahim Washah was killed, along with all his family members, when Israeli forces bombed the tents they were living in at the Nuseirat refugee camp 9 days after agreeing to a ceasefire.

Karam was in a minivan with his family, who were traveling to inspect their home in Zeitoun after being displaced. The van was bombed by Israeli forces.

Jumana was in a minivan with his family, who were traveling to inspect their home in Zeitoun after being displaced. The van was bombed by Israeli forces 9 days into a ceasefire.

Yasra was a bright and kind 12-year-old whose biggest dream was to become a doctor helping the people of Gaza. On the morning of October 14, four days after the ceasefire was announced, she told her father that she would quite like to be a bird in paradise. Just hours later, she was killed.

Muhammad was in a minivan with his family, who were traveling to inspect their home in Zeitoun after being displaced. The van was bombed by Israeli forces 9 days after a ceasefire was supposed to begin.

Nismah was in a minivan with his family, who were traveling to inspect their home in Zeitoun after being displaced. The van was bombed by Israeli forces 9 days into a ceasefire.

Yaqeen Hammad was known for her bright presence on social media, where she often shared videos showing life under siege and war. She did so not with anger or despair, but with a spirit of hope and a deep faith in goodness. In one video, the 11-year-old gestures toward a pot over an open flame: "This is a wartime invention," she explains. "There's no gas, so we cook on wood and use a fan underneath to keep the fire going. In Gaza," she adds with a smile, "nothing is impossible."

Together with her brother Mohammed, Yaqeen volunteered with a local nonprofit called Ouena. She helped deliver food, organized activities for children, and worked to preserve a sense of childhood amid the devastation. Her Instagram account grew to over 100,000 followers, making her a symbol of childhood and a reminder of the joy of life, even in the face of ongoing destruction. On May 23, 2025, Yaqeen was killed in Israeli shelling on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. According to the WAFA news agency, the strike also killed ten others. Yaqeen, who for many had come to represent the human face of Gaza, was mourned across the Arab world – her death once again raising the painful question: is there any space left for childhood in Gaza?

Ibrahim was in a minivan with his family, who were traveling to inspect their home in Zeitoun after being displaced. The van was bombed by Israeli forces 9 days after a ceasefire was supposed to begin. Witnesses at the hospital noted "Only half of Ibrahim is here. The rest of Ibrahim is in [his mother's] bag."

On 29 January 2024, in Gaza City, Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian child, pleaded over the phone for emergency workers to rescue her from a car riddled with bullets. Her body was found two weeks later, on 10 February, alongside the bodies of six of her family members in the car they drove to flee their neighbourhood as Israeli forces invaded. The bodies of two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics, missing since the evening of the call when they were dispatched to rescue Hind, were discovered in their ambulance about 50 metres away.

For more information:

• Wikipedia
• Her Name was Hind Foundation

On October 7, 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israel earlier that day, an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza City killed 15 people, including seven children One of them was 12-year-old Awni Eldous, nicknamed "the Engineer" by his family for his fascination with computer games and software. In 2022, Awni launched a YouTube channel in hopes of becoming a gaming influencer. In his first video, he stands excitedly in front of the camera, holding a microphone: "Now, folks, let me introduce myself," he says with a wide smile. "I am Awni Eldous, a Palestinian from Gaza aged 12 years old. The aim of this channel is to reach 100,000 subscribers, or 500,000 – or one million. Thank you for 1,000 subscribers." Behind him, glimpses of life in pre-war Gaza – passersby walking, cars on the street. Awni uploaded gameplay videos, mostly soccer and war games, along with commentary and information about the games and the companies that made them. His aunt, Ala'a Eldous, told the BBC how kind and helpful he was. His dad was a computer engineer, Ala'a said, and Awni would copy his father, "pulling laptops apart and then trying to piece them back together." Awni's dream came true only after his death: his channel now has over 1.5 million subscribers. His original introduction video has since been removed.

Jumana Abu al-Qumsan had given birth to twins via C-section just four days earlier. That morning, her husband Mohammed stepped out to collect their birth certificates and register them with Gaza's authorities. According to an Associated Press report, early in the war the family had relocated from northern Gaza, following evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military. They found shelter in the al-Qastal neighborhood in east Deir al-Balah. Later that day, neighbors called Mohammed to tell him the house had been bombed. His newborn twins, Ayser and Aysal, were killed along with their mother and grandmother. In a video posted to social media, Mohammed is seen weeping while clutching his twins' birth certificates. His sobbing falters as he stumbles and faints. "I don't know what happened," he told Sky News. "They told me a shell hit the house." He spoke just before being called to the Al-Aqsa Hospital to identify his family.

Rana Majed Al-Muqayad didn't reach one year of age. Innocent, orphaned, she was unaware of her surroundings. Surely, had she grown up, she would have had many dreams and stories. Rana and her mother, Shaimaa Saleh, were killed in an Israeli bombardment on the Tel al-Zaatar area on October 26, 2023.

Nasser was in a minivan with his family, who were traveling to inspect their home in Zeitoun after being displaced. The van was bombed by Israeli forces 9 days into a ceasefire.

Anas was in a minivan with his family, who were traveling to inspect their home in Zeitoun after being displaced. The van was bombed by Israeli forces 9 days into a ceasefire.