出生届提出直後に空爆、生後３日の双子と母親が死亡 ガザ

【ハンユニス（パレスチナ自治区）ＡＦＰ＝時事】イスラエル軍の激しい攻撃が続くパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区で、モハメド・アブクムサンさんは、生後３日の双子の出生証明書を受け取った直後、自宅への爆撃で妻と子どもが殺害されたとの連絡を受けた。（写真は、ガザ地区中部デイルアルバラフにあるアルアクサ殉教者病院で、イスラエル軍の空爆で死亡した人々のそばに座る子ども〈資料写真〉）
　アブクムサンさんが出生証明書を持ったまま泣き崩れる映像はソーシャルメディアで広く拡散された。
　「病院で出生証明書を受け取った直後に電話があった」と話すアブクムサンさん。「電話口からは『大丈夫か。今どこにいる』との声が聞こえた。私は病院の入り口にいると答えた。そして自宅が爆撃されたことを知った」と述べた。
　中部デイルアルバラフにある集合住宅５階の自宅には、妻と男女の双子、義母がいた。
　「家族がアルアクサ殉教者病院にいると告げられ、自分も病院入り口にいると言った」
　「出生証明書を持ったまま病院に入った．．．そして家族が遺体安置所にいると聞かされた」
　爆撃についての質問にイスラエル軍報道官は「報道されている事案の詳細について、現時点でＩＤＦ（イスラエル国防軍）は把握していない」と答えた。
　１４日、家も家族も失ったアブクムサンさんは、イスラエルが人道地区に指定した沿岸地域アルマワシ地区の青いテントの外で、ピンクと黄色の新品のベビー服を畳んでいた。
　「出生証明書を取得した日に、子どもたちと妻の死亡証明書を提出しなければならなかった」
　男の子はアセル、女の子はアイサルと名付けられたが、妻が双子の名前を知ることはなかった。
　アブクムサンさんは「祝う間もなかった。服は新品だ。着せてあげることができなかった」と述べ、「見つけるのに３か月かかった」と開封済みのおむつの袋を見せた。開戦以降、ガザ地区では日用品が慢性的に不足している。
　２人が結婚したのは紛争前の昨年７月。薬剤師の妻は妊娠７か月まで各地の病院でボランティアを続けたという。
　「なぜ妻が殺されたのか知りたい。なぜ標的にされたのか知りたい。安全であるべき家の中で」とアブクムサンさん。
　「爆撃について事前に警告はなかった。私は軍事行動とは無関係だ。私たちは民間人だ」と訴えた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/15-21:10）

Mohammed Abu al-Qumsan had just collected the birth certificates of his three-day-old twins when he received the news: his Gaza apartment had been bombed, killing the babies and their mother.
Footage of a distraught Abu al-Qumsan, weeping and falling as he still holds the birth certificates, has been widely circulated on social media, becoming the latest emblem of the devastating toll of the war in the Palestinian territory.
I was in the hospital at the time when the house was targeted, he says, tears streaming down his face.
There was a call, after the birth certificates were printed.
The caller asked, 'Are you okay and where are you?' I told them I was at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and I was told that my house had been bombed.
Abu al-Qumsan had left his wife, the infants and his mother-in-law in the fifth-floor flat they shared in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, which has been relentlessly bombed by Israeli forces.
I was informed that they are in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and I told them I am at the entrance to the hospital, he says.
I went inside the hospital with the birth certificates in my hands... and they told me they are in the morgue.
An Israeli military spokesperson, when asked for comment on the strike, told AFP: The details of the incident as published are not currently known to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).
On Wednesday, with his home obliterated and his family gone, Abu al-Qumsan folded unused pink and yellow baby clothes outside a blue tent in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area that Israel has declared a humanitarian zone.
He never got the chance to show his wife that their babies had been legally named: Aser, the boy, and Aysal, the girl.
On the same day I obtained their birth certificates, I also had to submit their death certificates, for my children, and also for their mother.
I did not get the chance to celebrate their arrival. Their clothes are new, they did not wear them, he says, also showing a half-full pack of nappies.
These nappies, we had a hard time finding them. For three months, we have been trying to buy some in the Gaza Strip, where there has been a dire shortage of basic supplies since the start of the war.
- 'Living in terror' -
The Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 people, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,965 people, according to a toll from the territory's health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Abu al-Qumsan married his wife Jumana, a pharmacist, in July last year, before the war plunged their lives into chaos.
She endured a traumatic pregnancy as they fled from place to place to escape the bombardments. Despite carrying twins, she insisted on volunteering in hospitals until the seventh month.
Since the beginning of the war, I have been afraid every day, living in terror, and I was afraid that she would miscarry, Abu al-Qumsan says.
We lost friends, family, and people who were very dear to us, he adds.
We were in a lot of pain, we were very scared. We ran a lot.
I want to know why she was killed in this way. I want to know why she was targeted. In the house, in a safe area, he says.
There was no prior warning of the bombing of the house. I have nothing to do with military action. We are civilians.