UNICEF denounces Israeli airstrike killing newborn twins, mother in Gaza

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) highlighted the toll on families in Gaza from Israel’s war Thursday, describing a recent Israeli airstrike that killed four-day-old twins and their mother as "heartbreaking."

"How many more children will be killed in Gaza or undergo indescribable suffering before the nightmare ends?" the agency’s executive director, Catherine Russell, said in a post on X.

Citing the incident Tuesday involving the twins, who were killed as their father, Mohammad Abu al-Qumsan, went to collect their birth certificates, Russell said: "Heartbreaking to hear that newborn twins and their mother were among the latest casualties."

"It's past time for a cease-fire, and the unconditional release of hostages," she added.

The attack was part of Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 40,000 people since Oct. 7 last year.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed more than 40,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,400, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 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 (ICJ), which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.