The photojournalist A burn victim

Confronting the pain of others is central to the career of Mohammed al-aloul, 36, a photojournalist who for years has framed Gaza’s strife in his viewfinder.

But Nov. 5, the pain came for him.

It was etched on al-aloul’s face as he clutched the swaddled remains of his son, killed in what Gaza authorities said was an Israeli airstrike. And that pain roared through him again that same day when he stood over the bodies of three of his other children who, it turned out, had died in the same attack.

Falling to his knees, he wept. “God help me endure this pain,” he said.

After Oct. 7, he hardly saw his own family, dashing from the scene of one bombing to another, shooting video for the Turkish state-run media agency, Anadolu. But he missed his five children badly, he said.

Before the war, they would join him after work to watch soccer games on television at home, cheering and screaming “Gooaal!” along with the commentators. Once fighting started, he wore his son Ahmed’s baseball cap to work.

“It carried his smell,” he said.

On Nov. 4, after spending a rare night at home, al-aloul said his 6-year-old son, Kenan, had begged him not to go. But he left, and as he was documenting displaced families the next day, a friend called.

There had been a strike near his home in central Gaza. What followed was a frantic blur, al-aloul said.

He scrolled through social media and called friends as fragments of news came through. Finally, at the hospital, he learned that Kenan and three of his other children — Ahmad, 13; Rahaf, 11; and Qais, 4 — were dead, as were four of his brothers and some of their children and neighbors. His wife was seriously wounded.

The sole survivor among his children was his youngest son, 1-year-old Adam, whose face was lashed by shrapnel. He’s all I have left,” al-aloul said days later, clutching the child to his chest. Now, al-aloul’s family is in Turkey, where his wife is undergoing treatment for her extensive wounds.

Mohamed Abu Rteinah, 12, doesn’t remember much of what happened when a blast crushed his home Oct. 24. One minute, he was having tea for breakfast as his grandmother read the Quran. The next minute, he was running and screaming, his limbs seemingly on fire, he said.

His mother, Ula Faraj, 33, said she recoiled in horror when she first saw the burns that cover about 30% of his legs. His 8-year-old sister, Batool, had similar injuries.

It was unclear who fired the munition that struck their home in the southern city of Rafah, although Gaza authorities and The Associated Press reported Israeli airstrikes in the area at the time.

Many of the tens of thousands of bombs dropped by Israel since Oct. 7 were supplied by the United States, including 2,000-pound “bunker busters” that have killed hundreds in densely populated areas.

Human rights groups say those weapons could implicate U.S. officials in war crimes. Israel says it respects the laws of war and takes precautions to limit civilian casualties in its war against Hamas. U.S. President Joe Biden, who once warned Israel that it was losing support for its “indiscriminate bombing,” says he is urging Israeli forces to minimize those casualties.

Veteran doctors say the extent of pediatric burns in Gaza is distressing, especially when the territory’s collapsed health system can barely treat them. Only basic painkillers were available to treat Mohamed and Batool, their mother said at a hospital in Khan Younis. Gauze, ointment and clean water were in short supply.

She could barely watch, she said, as her children wept when doctors tried to clean their wounds.

Weeks later, the family managed to leave Gaza for emergency surgery in Cairo — and Wednesday, they were evacuated to the United Arab Emirates with other wounded children from Gaza for further treatment.

Mohamed Abu Rteinah, 12, who was hurt by a munition that struck his home in the city of Rafah, gets medical attention in the Gaza Strip in November. He has since been evacuated with his family to the United Arab Emirates.