Watan-“I want to die in my father’s embrace… I want to die in my father’s embrace.” With these words, infused with the sorrow and pain of separation, a Palestinian girl bid farewell to her father with tears. He had become a martyr in the Israeli occupation’s bombardment during its ongoing war on Gaza for the 37th consecutive day.
In the video captured by Palestinian journalist Maryam Duqa, the Palestinian girl’s screams echo as she bids farewell to her martyr father inside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in the heart of the Gaza Strip, saying, “I want to die in my father’s embrace.”
I want to die in my father’s embrace
These sorrowful emotions have become a recurring reality, a result of the Israeli occupation’s brutal machinery during its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. Civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, bear the brunt of indiscriminate bombings targeting residential areas, homes, mosques, hospitals, and schools, often without prior warning.
Gaza has been under the most intense Israeli war in the history of the conflict since October 7th of last year. This comes in response to the operation carried out by Palestinian resistance against settlements near the Gaza Strip.
Siege on Gaza Hospitals
The Israeli occupation committed more than 1,130 massacres against civilians in various parts of the Gaza Strip during its ongoing war. Among the most prominent are the massacres in Jabaliya, Al-Bureij, Al-Maghazi, the beach, Al-Maamadani Hospital, and the shelling of schools where displaced civilians sought refuge.
Israeli forces continue to besiege several major hospitals, rendering them non-functional due to a lack of medical supplies and fuel shortages. These hospitals include Al-Rantisi, Al-Nasser, and Al-Ayoun. Israeli tanks also attempted to reach Al-Shifa Hospital west of Gaza City amid ongoing clashes with resistance forces within city neighborhoods.
More than 11,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, the majority of whom were civilians, and over 28,000 have sustained various injuries during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, according to the latest report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.