Infant twins Wissam and Naim Abu Anza, born within weeks of the Gaza war, were laid to rest on Sunday, the youngest of a family of 14, according to Gaza health officials. It is said that they was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah overnight.
Their mother, Rania Abu Anzah, picked up the body of one of the twins, wrapped in a small white shroud, against her cheek and stroked his head during the last rites on Sunday. A mourner held another child nearby, whose pale blue pajamas were visible from under a shroud.
Abu Anza, whose husband had also died, cried, “My heart is no longer with me,” as mourners comforted her. When asked to release the body of a child before burial, she resisted. “Leave him to me,” she said in a low voice.
The twins – a boy and a girl – were among five children killed in an attack on a home in Rafah, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Abu Anza said that they had their babies after 11 years of marriage.
Abu Anza said, “We were sleeping, we were not shooting, we were not fighting. What is their fault?”
How am I going to live now?
Relatives said the twins were born about four months ago, about a month before the war began on October 7.
According to Gaza health officials, more than 30,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli offensive, the area has been devastated and most of its population has been displaced.
The dead bodies of Abu Anza’s family members who died in the attack were lined up in black body bags. A man was crying over the body of one of the dead children who was wearing pajamas. The other man comforted him. “God have mercy on him.”
Abu Anza said she was hoping for a ceasefire before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins around March 10.
US President Joe Biden has expressed hope that a ceasefire will be agreed upon by then. She used to say. “We were preparing for Ramadan. How should I live my life? How?”
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry says that the solution to the conflict is not possible without the establishment of a Palestinian state, while the Gaza crisis can lead to another dangerous regional
conflict.
The 159th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council was held in Riyadh on Sunday. Joint ministerial meetings were held between the Gulf Cooperation Council and
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.
Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassim Muhammad Al-Badawi, reiterated the collective position of the GCC countries in condemning Israel’s grave violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, especially the continuous and direct targeting of civilians.
The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council also emphasized the urgent need for a ceasefire.
