Father mourns newborn twins, wife killed at home in Gaza attack

Mohammed Abu Qumsan had just received birth certificates for his three-day-old twins when he received the news: his Gaza apartment had been bombed, killing the babies and their mother.

The video of Abu Qumsan, distraught and sobbing, falling to the ground with his birth certificate still clutched in his hand, was widely circulated on social media, becoming the latest symbol of the devastating toll of the war in the Palestinian territories.

“I was in the hospital when the house was attacked,” he said through tears.

“After the birth certificate was printed, I received a call.

“The caller asked, ‘Are you OK? Where are you?’ I told them I was at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and they told me my house had been bombed.”

Abu Qumsan left his wife, baby and mother-in-law in the fifth-floor apartment they shared in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, which had been under relentless bombing by Israeli forces.

“I was told they were at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and I told them I was at the hospital gate,” he said.

“I walked into the hospital with my birth certificate in my hand… and they told me it was in the morgue.”

When asked to comment on the attack, an Israeli military spokesman told AFP: “The IDF is currently unaware of the details of the incident that have been released.”

With homes destroyed and family members missing, Abu Qumsan folded unworn pink and yellow baby clothes Wednesday outside a blue tent in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area Israel has declared a humanitarian zone.

He never had a chance to reveal to his wife that their children already had legal names: Aser for the boy and Aysal for the girl.

“The same day I got their birth certificates, I also had to submit their death certificates, both for my children and their mother.

“I didn’t get a chance to celebrate their arrival. Their clothes are new, they haven’t worn them,” he said, showing off a half-pack of diapers.

“It’s very difficult for us to find these diapers. For three months we have been trying to buy some” in the Gaza Strip, where there has been a severe shortage of basic supplies since the start of the war.

‘Living in fear’

The Gaza war, which began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, has killed 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

The militants also captured 251 people, 111 of whom remain in Gaza, and the military said 39 had died.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive on Gaza has killed at least 39,965 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which did not provide specific details on civilian and militant deaths.

Abu Kumsan married his wife Jumana, a pharmacist, in July last year, but the war has thrown their lives into turmoil.

She endured a traumatic pregnancy as they had to flee to avoid bombings, but despite being pregnant with twins, she continued to volunteer at the hospital until she was seven months pregnant.

“I have lived in fear every day since the war began, worried that she would miscarry,” Abu Kumsan said.

He added: “We have lost friends, family and people that were very dear to us.”

“We were in so much pain and so scared. We ran as fast as we could.”

“I want to know why she was killed in this way. I want to know why she was targeted. Right at home, in a safe place,” he said.

“There was no warning before the bombing of this house. I have nothing to do with the military operation. We are all civilians.”