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Four Young Boys Killed Playing on Gaza Beach Boys Drawn to Gaza Beach, and Into Center of Mideast Strife
(about 4 hours later)
GAZA CITY — Four young Palestinian boys were killed Wednesday when two explosions hit a jetty and beach where they were playing at the fishing port of Gaza City, an area that had been considered relatively safe from the intense Israeli bombing campaign of the past nine days. GAZA CITY — The four Bakr boys were young cousins, the children of Gaza fishermen who had ordered them to stay indoors — and especially away from the beach. But cooped up for nine days during Israeli bombardments, the children defied their parents and went to the seaside Wednesday afternoon, the eldest shooing away his little brother, telling him it was too dangerous.
The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged that it had struck the area. “Based on preliminary results, the target of this strike was Hamas terrorist operatives,” the I.D.F. said in a statement. “The reported civilian casualties from this strike are a tragic outcome.” As they clambered over a beach jetty in the late afternoon sun, a blast hit a nearby shack. One was killed instantly. The others ran. There was a second blast, and three more bodies littered the sand. One was charred, missing a leg, and another lay motionless, his curly head intact, his legs splayed at unnatural angles.
The four boys were cousins in an extended family of fishermen who kept their boats at the port. The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged later that it was responsible for the “tragic outcome” and had intended to hit Hamas militants.
The Israeli military has been hitting Gaza with bombs and missiles for more than a week, aiming to stop Hamas, the group that controls the territory, and other militants from firing rockets and other munitions into Israel. The four dead boys came quickly to symbolize how the Israeli aerial assaults in Gaza are inevitably killing innocents in this crowded, impoverished sliver of land along the Mediterranean Sea. They stood out because they were inarguably blameless, children who simply wanted play on their favorite beach, near the port where their large extended family keeps its fishing boats.
The first explosion left a small shack burning on the jetty. Several boys could be seen fleeing along the beach. About 30 seconds later came the second blast, and when the dust cleared, three figures lay motionless on the sand. One had most of a leg blown off, his body charred; a few yards away lay a smaller one with curly hair. The killings also crystallized the conundrum for the 1.7 million Gazans trapped between Israel’s powerful military machine and the militants of Hamas and its affiliates, who fire rockets into Israel with little regard for how the deadly response affects Gazans. Virtually imprisoned by the tight border controls of Israel and Egypt, most Gazans have nothing to do with the perennial conflict, but cannot escape it.
Men came running and scooped up three bodies. A fourth was found in the charred ruins of the shack on the jetty. A grown man, wounded, called for help from inside an outdoor beach cafe, and he too was carried away. More than 150 civilians, including more than 40 children, have been killed in Israel’s air assaults in Gaza to curb militant rocket fire. Civilians make up about 75 percent of the Palestinian deaths, according to a running count by the United Nations.
Israel’s military says it has taken extensive precautions to avoid killing civilians. But it has acknowledged, according to Israel Radio, that about half the people in Gaza killed so far were “not involved in terrorism.” Human Rights Watch issued a statement on Wednesday decrying the civilian casualties and demanding that Israel “end unlawful attacks that do not target military objectives.” Israel’s military says it does not deliberately target civilians and takes extensive precautions to avoid killing them, and it blames Hamas for operating among in populated areas. But it has acknowledged, according to Israel Radio, that about half the people in Gaza killed so far were “not involved in terrorism.”
A running count kept by United Nations officials shows that of the more than 200 Palestinians who have been killed so far, about 75 percent have been civilians, including more than three dozen children. One Israeli has been killed. In a report issued Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said there was a pattern of indiscriminate Israeli strikes and called on Israel to “end unlawful attacks that do not target military objectives.” Israel has struck houses, offices and farmland in Gaza with F-16 airstrikes, missiles fired from Apache helicopters and shelling from naval gunboats.
Hamas and other militant groups have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel since simmering hostilities erupted into military confrontation on July 8. Most of the Gaza rockets have fallen in open ground in Israel or were destroyed by Israel’s Iron Dome interception system. For its part, Israel has struck houses, offices and farmland in the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, missiles fired from Apache helicopters and shelling from naval gunboats. Human Rights Watch has also condemned Hamas for deliberately targeting civilians in Israel. Hamas and allied militants have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel since July 8. One Israeli civilian has been killed. Most rockets have fallen in open ground or been destroyed by Israel’s Iron Dome interception system.
An Israeli military spokesman, Motti Almoz, told Israel’s Channel 10 that Israeli forces had fired at “a target near the sea” on Wednesday and that the details were still under review. Alon Ben-David, a well-sourced Israeli military affairs analyst, said on Israeli television that the second beach blast might have been aimed at the running children, perhaps mistaken for militants. He added that given the military’s technologically advanced surveillance equipment, “it is a little hard for me to understand this, because the images show that the figures are children.”
Alon Ben-David, a senior military affairs journalist with extensive Israeli military sources, said information he had seen indicated that the military had identified the beach shack as belonging to Hamas and fired at it. The killings recalled an episode in June 2006 when seven members of a family, the Ghaliyas, were killed by a shell as they were enjoying a day at the beach. The Israelis said they had been shelling areas where militants had fired rockets into Israel, but denied the shell that killed the family was theirs. No Palestinians believed the denial, and the anger fed an escalating cycle of violence.
Mr. Ben-David speculated that the second blast had been aimed at the children running away, who might have been mistaken for militants. But he added that given the military’s technologically advanced surveillance equipment, “it is a little hard for me to understand this, because the images show that the figures are children.” At the Bakr family house on Wednesday afternoon, women wept and wailed. One cursed both Israel and Hamas. Another, Nasreen al-Bakr, noted quietly that Hamas had killed 10 of her family members in factional fighting.
The boys were part of the Bakr family, according to relatives who gathered outside the family’s apartment building, wailing and crying. One woman cursed both Israel and Hamas, and another quietly noted that Hamas had killed 10 members of the family in factional infighting. Relatives identified the boys as Mohammad, 11 or 12 — an only son with seven sisters — Ismail, 9, Zakariya, 10, and Ahed, 7 or 9. In the chaos of an extended family milling about in mourning, there was some confusion about the ages.
Relatives who witnessed what happened identified the boys as Mohammad, 11 or 12, Ismail, 9, Zakariya, 10, and Ahed, 7 or 9. In the chaos of an extended family milling about in mourning, there was some confusion about the ages. Ms. Bakr, 27, said that the day before, she had opposed a proposed cease-fire, wanting to hold out for “a solution” that would end Israel’s ban on fishing more than three kilometers from shore and allow the family to resume its livelihood.
Like many Gaza children from large families, the cousins were inseparable and traveled in a pack, playing nearly every day on the beach in normal times, relatives said. “Not today,” she said, then reconsidered, adding, “Today, too,” reasoning that her nephew’s blood should not be in vain.
But they had been cooped up during nine days of bombardment, said Nasreen al-Bakr, an aunt of Ahed, whose father had beaten him the day before for defying parents’ orders to stay off the beach. Like many Gaza children from large families, the cousins were inseparable and traveled in a pack. In relatively normal times, they went daily to catch crabs, play soccer and check on the family boats at the beach, a place where Gazans can often be found relaxing at outdoor cafes. Ahed, with standout grades, was expected to pursue higher studies, while the rest were expected to soon join their elders fishing.
Israeli gunboats patrol just offshore and have periodically fired shells landward. Still, the area near the port has generally been safe, with a row of hotels that are packed with foreign journalists. Some of the journalists gave first aid to another wounded child on the terrace of the Deira Hotel, where the bodies were initially brought. Mohammad and his brother Ramzi, 8, liked to play roles from a popular Syrian soap opera, Bab al-Hara. Mohammad was Moataz, an insurgent fugitive from French colonial authorities. Ramzi was Moataz’s brother, Issam, a neighborhood leader who stayed close to home.
“What was the fault of these children?” a woman wailed at the family home. “Are they terrorists?” They reprised those roles on Wednesday, when adventurous Mohammad sent Ramzi home. “He was always worried for me,” Ramzi said softly.
Ramzi, 8, Mohammad’s brother, said he had tried to tag along when the boys went to catch crabs and check on the family’s boats. But Mohammad apparently considered that the risk of going to the beach, while acceptable for himself, was too much for his little brother. As the afternoon turned golden, Tyler Hicks, a New York Times photographer, was in his hotel room facing the beach. He heard “a loud, close blast,” he said. From the window, he saw the shack burning, and a boy running. He turned to grab his equipment, then heard another blast. There was a body on the beach. Mr. Hicks ran.
“He made me go back to the house,” Ramzi said softly. “He was always worried for me.” “I saw that boy running,” he said, “and by the time I had reacted he was already dead. That’s the image that will stay with me.”
Men came running, the first to arrive raising his hands to his head in anguish. In such tight neighborhoods, Mr. Hicks said, “people know what family these boys are from and who their parents are.” The boys were carried to the nearby Deira Hotel, where foreign journalists gave first aid to other wounded children.
Later, a little girl with curly hair, a sister of one of the boys, wandered outside the family house, sobbing, the adults too overwhelmed to tend her.
“They were children,” Ms. Bakr, the aunt, said. “They just want to play and study and live a good life.”
Men carried the boys past on stretchers. One dead boy stared skyward, eyes still bright, his features fine and delicate. The wailing became screaming. Throughout the funeral, Mohammad’s father held the boy’s hand to his lips.
Asked what he would miss most about his brother, Ramzi looked at the ground. “Kul,” he whispered in Arabic. “Everything.”