HELL THAT IS GAZA
Anguished mother cradles her dead baby, a tiny victim of tear gas
WEEPING helplessly, a mother cradles her lifeless eight-month-old daughter yesterday, an apparent victim of Israeli tear gas.
It came as shocking pictures also emerged of a Palestinian double amputee using a slingshot against Israeli troops.
Mariam al-Ghandour, 17, said her daughter Leila died after a mix-up led to her being taken to a flashpoint in Gaza during protests. Leila was believed to be the youngest victim of Monday’s bloodbath and one of eight children under 16 who were reportedly among 58 Palestinians killed in demonstrations.
In Gaza City, hundreds marched in the funeral of the baby, whose body was wrapped in a Palestinian flag. Mrs al-Ghandour said: ‘The Israelis killed her.’ The pictures of slingshot demonstrator Saber al-Ashkar, 29, emerged on social media yesterday. They were taken on Friday as the protests gained in fury.
Health officials in Gaza said two more Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire during protests near the border yesterday. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded by live fire during a series of weekly protests led by Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza. The Palestinian health ministry said yesterday that Leila had died from tear gas inhalation during protests against the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem. But a doctor in Gaza told Associated Press the infant may have had a pre-existing medical condition. Ms al-Ghandour said she had left Leila with her brothers at home while she went to the dentist. But her brother Ammar, 11, took the baby to the border – a flashpoint for violence – after mistakenly thinking Ms alGhandour was there with the child’s grandmother, Heyam.
He eventually found his mother close to the border and handed Leila over to her. Within minutes they were engulfed in tear gas.
‘I could barely breathe,’ Heyam said. ‘We got away... She was crying a lot, then she went silent.’
When her skin turned blue, they took her to hospital, where doctors said the infant had been dead for an hour.
The shootings in Gaza have received international condemnation. However, Israel has defended its actions, blaming Hamas for fomenting violence and insisting it had to protect neighbouring Jewish settlements from protesters getting through the border fence.