Alaa Qadoum, 5, was outside a relative’s house in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday when an Israeli air strike hit a nearby street without warning, killing the little girl, he said. of the little girl and a neighbor witnessed the scene.
Hours later, Alaa was wrapped in a white shroud and a Palestinian flag, her face covered so loved ones could place a few final kisses on her forehead before she was laid to rest. A bright pink bow ties most of her hair back.
“She was an innocent little girl,” her grandfather said. “Is she launching missiles at the border? She was a child who wanted to see her whole life ahead of her.”
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said Alaa’s father, Abdullah Qadoum, was a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad, but did not say whether he was targeted in the strike. are not. The family would not comment on whether he was involved in jihad.
Alaa was among about two dozen people killed in two days of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip that began Friday afternoon and continued into Saturday. Israeli officials said the strikes targeted the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas.
According to doctors at the hospital where he is being treated, her father was injured in the same airstrike and is in critical condition. Alaa’s brother was also injured, the grandfather said.
A senior Israeli military official who briefed reporters on Saturday said he was aware of reports of Alaa’s death, adding that any civilian deaths will be investigated.
Last year, in 11 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas, at least 67 children was killed in Gaza. Two children were killed in Israel during the war.
Fady Hanona contributed reporting from Gaza City.
