Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Palestinian Ministry of Health: Two were martyred in Israeli shelling that targeted a besieged house in the town of Qabatiya in Jenin
At least 68 dead in migrant shipwreck off Yemen: IOM
Trump: We want to feed the people in Gaza, we do not want them to starve.
US President Donald Trump: We will impose sanctions on Russia if it does not end the war on Ukraine.
Israeli media: Polls show that 52% oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while only 29% support him.
Israeli media: 32% of Americans still support "Israel's" war on Hamas, while 60% oppose it.
Israeli media: Core US support for "Israel" hits its lowest, while support for Palestine reaches its highest levels.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent reports martyrs, injuries in Israeli bombardment of home in Heker al-Jame area in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
Al-Quds Governorate: Today, the spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque began in a public and dangerous manner, and we warn of a religious war in the region
The Ministry of Health in Gaza: This brings the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition to 175, including 93 children

From the eldest to the youngest: Gaza’s heartbreaking toll

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: The Guardian
  • 8 Oct 2024 09:05
6 Min Read

The Guardian traces the families of a 101-year-old great-great-grandfather and a two-hour old baby girl killed by "Israel".

Listen
  • x
  • From the eldest to the youngest: Gaza’s heartbreaking toll
    Blood can be seen in the aftermath of the Israeli occupation airstrike on a UN-run school that killed dozens of Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, on July 6, 2024. (AP)

Around September 17, Gaza's Health Ministry identified 34,344 Palestinians killed by Israeli and released a detailed list with names, ages, genders, and ID numbers, covering over 80% of the victims thus far.

The Guardian used this list to trace the families of two of the victims: the oldest, a 101-year-old man, and one of the youngest, a newborn baby girl who lived for two hours only.

A century of resilience under the Israeli occupation

Ahmed al-Tahrawi, born in 1922 in al-Masmiyya—a village now reduced to ruins and marked only by an Israeli road junction—had his life profoundly changed by the Nakba of 1948. At the age of 26, he and his family were forcibly displaced during the catastrophe, which forced around 700,000 Palestinians from their homes.

“They left on foot, carrying little more than the key to the village home they would never see again,” said his grandson, Abd al-Rahman al-Tahrawi. Tragically, his two young sons did not survive the flight into exile. Ahmed and his wife rebuilt their lives from scratch in the al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza, always keeping the key to their old home as a symbol of their lost life.

Tahrawi worked as a tailor and eventually opened a small shop, raising generations of his family. He lived long enough to meet his great-great-grandchildren and remained sharp until his final days. In a family video recorded just months before the war, at the age of 100, he is seen trying to say “I love you” in English to his wife. As he repeats the unfamiliar words with a smile, laughter fills the room. Behind him, the key to their lost home still hangs on the wall.

“He was going to leave us soon, but he did not go the normal way,” his grandson reflected.

Tahrawi lived in a modest single-storey home in al-Bureij, with a corrugated asbestos roof. When the Israeli war on Gaza began, he sought refuge at his daughter’s house, believing its concrete roof would offer better protection from Israeli airstrikes. However, on 23 October, "Israel" bombed her home, killing 12 people instantly and injuiring eight others, including Tahrawi. He was taken to the hospital with internal bleeding, but due to the overwhelming number of patients and scarce medical supplies, doctors prioritized treating the young.

He passed away a week later, leaving his family devastated. “My grandfather did not belong to any military organisation, and he wasn’t guilty of any crime,” his grandson said. “He was just an old man who couldn’t harm anybody.”

At the start of the brutal Israeli war, Tahrawi had 126 living descendants, but only 90 remain alive this year. When he died, his oldest grandchild was 53 and his eldest great-great-grandchild was five.

Related News

Poland condemns Gaza starvation

Al-Qassam: We’ll allow aid to Israeli captives if Gaza siege ends

Abd al-Rahman al-Tahrawi, the 26-year-old grandson, is in the middle of the large family, the same age his grandfather was when he was forcibly displaced to Gaza. The horrors his grandfather spoke of in old stories have now become Abd al-Rahman’s reality. The family has been displaced six times within Gaza, and he no longer has his grandfather for comfort or guidance.

“When I lost my grandfather, I felt very sad, an extreme emptiness,” he said. “I was his favourite. I’ll miss him and his stories of adventures, his gatherings, and the sound of his laughter.”

A mother's final embrace and her daughter's brief life

Waad had not yet been born when an Israeli airstrike struck, burying her mother, Salam al-Sabah, beneath a mountain of debris. On February 15, "Israel" bombed a neighbor’s home, but the blast was so powerful that it also destroyed parts of the Sabah family house.

Rescue teams hurried to the scene, but without heavy machinery, it took over an hour to free Salam, who was nine months pregnant. Already a mother to four boys, she had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her first daughter in just a few days.

Eid Sabah, her uncle by marriage and the director of nursing at Kamal Adwan hospital, was on duty when the injured family members arrived, so caked in dust and ash from the explosion that he didn’t initially recognize them.

“I only realized who they were when some of them began screaming my name. I froze in shock for a moment, but then gathered myself enough to start checking on them,” he recalled.

It was too late for Salam, but her unborn daughter, Waad, was still holding on. Doctors performed an emergency caesarean and rushed Waad to intensive care, where she survived for only two hours.

“What saddened me the most was receiving both Waad's birth certificate and her death certificate at the same time,” Eid Sabah said. He added that both mother and daughter might have survived if they had received medical attention sooner.

They were laid to rest together, wrapped in a single shroud, with Salam cradling Waad, and buried in a shared grave beside Salam’s 11-year-old son, Asid.

The family had initially forcibly displaced from their home in northern Tal al-Zaatar. They spent months moving between relatives' homes and shelters for displaced people, a struggle that mirrored the stories Salam heard from her grandparents, who had been forcibly displaced from the village of Burayr in 1948 and settled in Jabaliya refugee camp.

Salam was five months pregnant with Waad when the Israeli war broke out, and the constant moving became increasingly difficult. After Israeli invading forces pulled out of their area, the family returned to their damaged home, believing it would be safer to stay.

Then, on 15 February, an Israeli bomb struck a nearby property without warning. "The house they hit was empty," Eid said. "They could have warned the neighboring homes to evacuate. If they had, my relatives would still be alive, and Waad would have been filling the house with the sounds of her laughter and crying."

  • Gaza Strip
  • Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
  • Israel
  • Gaza genocide
  • Israeli occupation
  • Gaza
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

A rescued crew member from the ETERNITY C vessel in a video released by the Yemeni Armed Forces on July 28, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemen Navy reveals fate of targeted Eternity C ship crew

  • Politics
  • 28 Jul 2025
An Israeli tank explodes following an ambush by al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, Occupied Palestine, undated (Al-Qassam Military Media)

Al-Qassam strikes Israeli vehicles in Gaza, inflicts casualties

  • Politics
  • 30 Jul 2025
UAE lodges complaint against Israeli ambassador over 'misbehavior'

UAE lodges complaint against Israeli ambassador over 'misbehavior'

  • Politics
  • 1 Aug 2025
Protesters chant anti-Israeli slogans as they carry a banner that reads:" Freedom for Palestine, Alliance stop the war," during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, outside the Israeli embassy, in Athens, Monday, June 9, 2025 (AP)

Athens mayor slams Israeli ambassador over Gaza war, graffiti claim

  • Politics
  • 3 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, takes part in a parade as he celebrates a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israeli regime in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, January 19, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Al-Qassam: We’ll allow aid to Israeli captives if Gaza siege ends

Freed Lebanese freedom fighter Georges Abdallah during an interview on Al Mayadeen, which aired on Sunday, August 3, 2025 (Al Mayadeen screengrab)
Politics

Exclusive: Resistance key to building state, Georges Abdallah says

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres gives a statement about the situation in Gaza at UN headquarters, Friday, June 27, 2025 (AP)
Politics

UN warns Gaza faces water crisis, looming famine under Israeli siege

Israeli soldiers drive their armored personnel carrier along the Gaza Strip, in southern occupied Palestine, Wednesday, July 30, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ex-Israeli general says Gaza starvation campaign isolated 'Israel'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS