Four-day-old twins killed in Gaza along with mother as father went to collect birth certificates

Newborn twins in Gaza were killed with their mother and grandmother as their father went to collect birth certificates earlier today.

Aysal, a girl, and brother Aser were born over the weekend and were just four days old when father Mohammed Abu al Qumsan left their home in Deir al Balah, central Gaza.

By the time he returned on Tuesday morning, with the certificates, his family had been killed in an airstrike.

According to local media, the family had been displaced from northern Gaza and had sheltered further south.

Video shared on social media shows the hysterical father being consoled by others, as someone holds what look like birth certificates.

His cries grow quieter and he appears to faint while two other men try to hold him up.

‘I don’t know what happened’

His wife, pharmacist Joumana Arafa, had given birth by Cesarean section and announced the twins’ arrival on Facebook.

On Tuesday, he had gone to register the births at a local government office – but while he was there neighbours called to say his temporary home had been bombed.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I am told it was a shell that hit the house.”

The couple had heeded orders to evacuate Gaza City in the opening weeks of the war, seeking shelter in the centre of the territory as the army had instructed, the Associated Press reports.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames deaths on Hamas operating in dense residential areas, sometimes launching attacks from homes and schools.

But the army rarely comments on individual strikes.

The enclave’s Hamas-run health minister claims at least 39,929 Palestinians have been killed and 92,240 wounded in that time, with 32 dead in the past 24 hours.

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On Saturday, at least 80 people were killed and 50 others wounded in a strike on a school compound, Palestinian health authorities said – though Israel disputes the figure and said Hamas was operating there.

Israeli hostage killed

Gaza has been bombarded by Israel since 7 October, when Hamas – which controls the territory – stormed into southern Israel, killed around 1,200 people and took around 250 people hostage.

Hamas said on Monday an Israeli male hostage held in Gaza had been shot dead by his guard, with two women being held seriously wounded in a separate incident.

Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s armed al-Qassam Brigades, said a committee has been formed to investigate what happened in both incidents.

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It is the first time al-Qassam has said its guards have killed hostages. It has previously often attributed hostage deaths to Israeli bombardments on Gaza.

While hopes for de-escalation hinged on a potential ceasefire deal, Israeli intelligence expects Hezbollah and Iran to attack the country to avenge the assassination of two of their leaders.

In a bid to defuse tensions, Sir Keir Starmer has spoken with Iran’s president to urge all parties to “avoid further regional confrontation”, according to Downing Street.

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