By Hosni Nedim and Gulsen Topcu
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – A newborn baby was the only survivor in an Israeli airstrike that killed her entire family in the northern Gaza Strip this month.
Asma Ajour is one of 17,000 Palestinian children orphaned by Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 39,000 people since Oct. 7, 2023.
“Asma was pulled out of debris after staying for over 12 hours in her mother’s arms,” her grandmother Um Ramzi Quweidar told Anadolu on Sunday.
The Palestinian baby is now hospitalized at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia city in northern Gaza.
Um Ramzi said the family was forced to leave their home in Al-Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City following Israeli evacuation orders.
“When the family arrived at a house west of Gaza City, they were surprised when Israeli warplanes shelled the city’s western areas and launched a surprise military operation in Tel al-Hawa and al-Sina'a neighborhoods,” she recalled.
The family appealed for help after Israeli forces besieged the building where they lived.
“An Israeli drone fired a missile at the family’s apartment, killing Asma’s father, mother and two siblings,” the grandmother said.
"Israel has orphaned an entire generation and taken away all their life chances for many years to come."
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Yasin Gungor in Istanbul