At Gaza funeral for three children, lost dreams and condemnation of US and Arab states

As Areej al-Qadi tearfully kisses the bodies of her three young children killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, another mourner lashed out at the United States and Arab leaders for not ending the war.

Gazans attending one funeral after another after more than a year of devastating conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas feel abandoned and angry that their pleas for help have gone largely unanswered.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251. Ninety-seven of those remain in captivity in Gaza. Over 44,000 Palestinians have been killed since, according to Hamas health authorities. Israel says the ratio of civilians to combatants killed is roughly two to one.

Qadi says her son Abdul Aziz, 7, killed along with his brother Hamza, 5, and sister Laila, 3, while they played outside in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, had wanted to be an astronaut.

“He said to me ‘I hope a rocket comes and I can go to the moon.’ He didn’t realize that the rocket would come and tear him up into pieces,” she says.

Israel says it goes to great lengths to protect civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields.

“What right does America have, talking about democracy, justice and equality? says displaced mourner Ra’fat al-Shaer. “Also a message to the Arab world, to the heads of the Arab nations. How long will this continue?”

People like Mahmoud Bin Hassan al-Thalatha, the father of the three children he said were killed along with other innocent people on a bustling street, say their only recourse is prayer.

“My children were martyred, the people walking were martyred, and the stall vendor was martyred while he was sitting down, they were all martyred. May God have mercy on them.”