Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
A relative mourns 4-day-old twins allegedly killed in an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, as he holds their birth certificates, at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The IDF says it has no information regarding reports from the Gaza Strip that a Palestinian man’s twin newborns and wife were killed by Israeli shelling.
Joumana Arafa, a pharmacist, had given birth by Cesarean section over the weekend and announced the twins’ arrival on Facebook.
On Tuesday, her husband Mohammad Abu Al-Qumsan went to register the births at a local government office. While he was there, neighbors called to say the home where he was sheltering, near central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, had been bombed.
Along with his wife and newborns — a boy, Asser, and a girl, Ayssel — the alleged strike also killed the twins’ maternal grandmother.
In response to a query on the incident, the Israeli military says that “the details of the incident as published are currently not known to the IDF.”
Mohammad Abu Al-Qumsan (center), prays next to the bodies of his 4-day-old twin children, killed in the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, August 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
“The IDF is fighting the murderous Hamas terror organization in Gaza after the massacre on October 7. Unlike the Hamas terror organization, the IDF operates against military targets only and employs various measures to reduce harm to civilians,” the military adds.
AP contributed to this report.
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Wednesday, August 14, 2024
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