Advertisement

'Only survivor': Tragic story behind this heartbreaking photo of baby

More tragic stories are emerging from Gaza as the Israel-Palestinian conflict continues to escalate.

Israeli planes renewed air strikes in Gaza early on Saturday (local time) and Hamas militants responded by firing rockets into Israel as their battle entered a fifth night, and US and Arab diplomats sought an end to the violence.

Palestinian medics said at least four people were killed in one of several air strikes in northern Gaza.

A nurse at at Al-Shifa Hospital holds a baby who was pulled alive from under the rubble while seven other family members perished after an Israeli air strike at Al-Shati Refugee Camp on May 15, 2021.
A baby was pulled alive from under the rubble while seven other family members died after an Israeli air strike struck Al-Shati Refugee Camp. Source: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Residents said Israeli naval boats fired shells from the Mediterranean though none may have hit the strip.

At least 132 people have been killed in Gaza since Monday, including 32 children and 21 women, and 950 others wounded, Palestinian medical officials said.

A baby boy, who was pulled alive from the rubble of a house at Al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza which was hit by Israeli air strikes late on Friday, was photographed being held by nurses at Al-Shifa Hospital.

Seven other members of his family died.

The baby boy, named as Omar, in the arms of two nurses wearing face masks.
A baby boy is nursed after he was pulled from rubbled at the Al-Shati Refugee Camp. Source: Getty Images

The Al-Shati camp houses more than 103,000 people, according to Al Jazeera reporter Linah Alsaafin.

She named the boy as Omar, who is reportedly months old, and tweeted “medics tried to save as many body parts as possible for the five children and two women killed so they could be buried”.

The baby was the "only survivor", Safa Press Agency reported.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem called the attack “a full-fledged war crime”.

Twitter reacts to 'horrifying' photo of baby

Said Alghoul, who lives nearby, said Israeli warplanes dropped at least three bombs on the three-storey house without warning its residents in advance.

“I saw the bodies of four people, including children, being rushed to the hospital,” he said.

“I could not endure and ran back to my home.”

He said rescuers called a bulldozer to dig up the rubble as they looked for survivors or bodies.

Shortly afterward, Hamas said it fired a salvo of rockets at southern Israel in response to the air strike.

A child's bed seen at the site of destroyed house in the aftermath of Israeli air and artillery strikes as cross-border violence between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants continues in the northern Gaza Strip.
A torched child's bed seen at the site of a house in Gaza destroyed by Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza strip. Source: AAP
A man is seen carrying a child in his arms in Beit Lahiya, Gaza.
Palestinian civil defence teams perform work to recover a body from the rubble of a building belonging to a Palestinian family in Beit Lahiya, Gaza earlier this week. Source: AAP

Images of little Omar were shared on Twitter much to the horror of viewers who shared their heartbreak.

“Sick to my stomach,” one woman tweeted.

One man tweeted his “heart breaks for this baby”.

“Such a cruel, cruel world,” he tweeted.

Another woman called it “horrifying”.

“Just imagine being born into this world,” another man tweeted.

“The trauma the children face... It's unimaginable.”

with Reuters and The Associated Press

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.