Father grieves newborn twins and wife -- killed by Israel 

Gaza City, August 15 (RHC)-- Israel has now killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7th last year, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. 

Over one-third of those — more than 16,000 Palestinians — were children.  But that grim milestone is still believed to be a vast underestimate, with many buried under rubble and large numbers of Gazans facing life-threatening health emergencies.

Among the dead are twin newborns, their mother and their grandmother, who were killed in an Israeli attack this week on Deir al-Balah as their father went to pick up their birth certificates.

Their father, Mohammed Abu al-Qumsan, said: “I was going to get the birth certificates for the children.  My wife gave birth the day before yesterday.  I went to get the birth certificates.  I got two babies, twins.  I got a call telling me that the house we were staying in got bombed.  People from the neighborhood called me.  My wife is gone, with my two babies and my mother-in-law.”  Mohammed ended up getting their death certificates.

The babies were named Asser and Ayssel.  Their mother was Dr. Jumann Arfa, a pharmacist.