‘My children, my children’: The Gaza family killed minutes before ceasefire

Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip — The al-Zidra family had planned to return home, unaware that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas had been postponed. They had previously endured 15 months of Israeli attacks, multiple displacements, and living in tents. More than 46,900 Palestinians, including their relatives, had been killed by Israel.

Despite their hardships, the al-Zidra family had survived, and they were eager to return to their home. Ahmed al-Zidra placed his seven children on a donkey cart, heading towards eastern Khan Yunis. At the time, they believed the situation was safe, and that the bombing should have stopped.

However, the family was unaware that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas had been delayed. They also did not know that, even during these extra hours, Israeli planes were still circling over Gaza, ready to drop bombs. The explosions were deafening, and Hanan, Ahmed's wife, heard them. She had stayed behind in the city center at a relative's house, organizing their belongings, planning to join her husband and children in a few hours.

“The explosion felt like it hit my heart,” Hanan said. She instinctively felt something had happened to her children, whom she had just said goodbye to. “My children, my children!” she screamed. The donkey cart had been hit, and Hanan's eldest son, 16-year-old Adly, and her youngest daughter, 6-year-old Sama, were killed instantly. 12-year-old Yasmin explained that a four-wheel drive vehicle was in front of the donkey cart, carrying people celebrating the ceasefire, which may be why the missile hit them.

“I saw Sama and Adly lying on the ground, and my father was bleeding and unconscious on the donkey cart,” Yasmin said. She pulled her eight-year-old sister, Asel, out of the area where they had been, just before a second missile struck. 11-year-old Mohammed also survived. However, Ahmed, Hanan's partner, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Hanan sat by the bedside of her injured daughter, Iman, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, still in shock. “Where is the ceasefire?” she asked. They were eager to return home, but had missed the news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced that Hamas had not yet submitted a list of the three Israeli captives who were supposed to be released on Sunday.

They also did not know that Hamas explained the delay was due to technical reasons, and that the list would eventually be provided. They would not know that during the three-hour delay before the ceasefire finally began, three members of their family would be killed. According to Gaza’s civil defense, they were among 19 Palestinians killed by Israel in the final hours.

Hanan was in tears. She now has to face life without her husband and two of her children. Losing Sama, who she described using an Arabic proverb as “the last one,” was particularly painful. “Sama was my youngest and most spoiled. Whenever I talked about having another child, she would get angry.” Adly was her “pillar.” Her children were her whole world.

“We went through the entire war, facing the harshest conditions of displacement and bombing,” Hanan said. “My children experienced hunger, a lack of food, and basic necessities.” “We survived this war for more than a year, only to be killed in the final minutes. How could this have happened?”

What was supposed to be a joyful day turned into a nightmare. The family had celebrated the end of the war the night before. “Haven't the Israeli forces had enough of our blood, and the atrocities they committed over 15 months?” Hanan asked. Then, she thought about her future. Her husband and two children had been taken from her, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, she asked, “What is left?”