'They went out hungry, came back dead': Gaza parents mourn starving children killed at aid site

A routine trip to collect food in Gaza has turned into a tragedy for the family of Palestinian father Hatem al-Nouri. 

His two-year-old son Seraj went with his two brothers and a niece to a US-run aid distribution point in central Gaza last week in the hope of getting some food for the family.

As they reached the site, an Israeli warplane hit the four and other aid-seeking Palestinians, severely wounding Seraj while his two brothers, Omar and Amir, and niece Sama died, all under the age of 10.

"What was the crime of these children?" Hatem asked, holding back his tears. "They were just hungry."

The helpless father and his wife, Iman, sit by their son's side at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, consumed with fear and heartbreak.

"They were hungry, just hoping for something sweet to eat," said Iman, recounting how the four children left their home in Deir al-Balah to collect food and nutritional supplements from the aid site, run by US-based NGO Project HOPE.

"Seraj was crying for something sweet," Iman said. "Five minutes later, they were bombed."

Israeli-made famine

Gaza has been teetering on the brink of famine under Israel's stifling blockade.

According to Gaza's government media office, over 650,000 children under five are now at risk of death by starvation amid the ongoing Israeli blockade, which has cut off food, fuel, and medical aid for months.

Due to fuel shortages, no ambulances could reach the four children after the Israeli attack. Instead, neighbours loaded their shattered bodies onto donkey carts to take them to the hospital.

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, fuel shortages have forced hospitals to cut electricity to entire departments, and blood bank refrigerators have stopped working, threatening the lives of patients in need of urgent transfusions.

"When we brought Omar in, he was still breathing," recalled his mother. "But no ambulance, no blood, and no emergency team could reach him in time."

She believes her son could have been saved.

"They went to get food. That's all. They came back as martyrs," said their father, Hatem. "Seraj is between life and death… for the sake of something sweet-tasting."

'My heart can't take losing another'

The family are now pleading for their two-year-old son to be included in evacuation lists for medical treatment abroad, as Gaza's few remaining hospitals are overwhelmed and critically under-equipped.

"I can't lose him, too," said Iman. "Omar and Amir are already gone. My heart can't take losing another."

According to eyewitnesses and relatives, the children were sitting on the sidewalk outside the aid point when they were struck.

"They were clearly children," Iman said. "The Israeli military could see that. But they didn't hesitate."

The attack was the latest in a pattern of Israeli strikes that have hit crowds of civilians waiting for food aid as famine and disease spread rapidly across besieged Gaza.

According to official sources, the total death toll of those killed while seeking humanitarian aid has reached 922, with over 5,861 others wounded since May 27.

With Israel's blockade choking off essential supplies and its continued bombardment devastating civilian life, calls for international intervention are growing louder, but Gaza's families say help is coming too late.

Israel's genocide in Gaza

Israel has killed nearly 59,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in its genocide in the blockaded enclave.

Some 11,000 Palestinians are feared buried under rubble of annihilated homes, according to Palestine's official WAFA news agency.

Experts, however, contend that the actual death toll significantly exceeds what the Gaza authorities have reported, estimating it could be around 200,000.

Over the course of the genocide, Israel has reduced most of the blockaded enclave to ruins, and practically displaced all of its population.

It has also blocked the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid, and only allowed a controversial US-backed aid group that was established to bypass the UN aid work and condemned as a "death trap."

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

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Source: TRT