The Palestinian Red Crescent described the attacks against the city of Rafah on the night of Monday 12 February as violent.
Around 100 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes against the city.
Two of them who is on the death list from that night, the girls are Sidra Hassouna (7) and Jinan Abdullah Hassan Abu Jazar (13).
– The world is shocked
Both had the same fate. Both were found in the ruins of Rafah.
After the Israeli attack on the city, a photo went viral on social media. The picture shows a dead girl hanging on a wall in the ruins wearing a pink sweater.
The explosion was so powerful that the little child’s legs were amputated in the attack.
MAJOR DESTRUCTION: Monday 12 February in Rafah after Israeli airstrikes against the city throughout the night. Photo: Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP/NTB Show more
I think it’s Sidra
A few days after the picture began to spread around the world, more people started putting the picture of the child on the wall together with the picture of Sidra Hassouna (7).
Surviving relatives of the girl are among those who believe that it is the body of Sidra that is depicted hanging on the wall.
Sources: Pressured to turn
One of them is Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to Great Britain, who wrote on X on Wednesday that his wife is related to Sidra and the rest of the family who were also killed.
– The pressure wave from the Israeli missile was so powerful that it knocked her out, leaving her mutilated body hanging and dangling in the ruins of the destroyed building, he writes.
Recently, the ambassador also spoke to the British newspaper, The Guardianwhich says that eight of his relatives were killed in the Israeli airstrike.
Among them was Sidra’s twin sister, Suzan.
A video of them smiling and playing in the streets of Gaza is now spreading on social media.
The video is said to have been filmed just 12 days before they died in Rafah.
Dagbladet has contacted Zomlot to hear how he got confirmation that it is actually Sidra hanging on the wall. He has not yet responded to Dagbladet’s inquiry.
Another’s fate?
However, the photographer who took the picture in Rafah, Ezzedine Muasher, claims to Dagbladet that it was not seven-year-old Sidra he took a picture of that night.
According to him, it was Jinan Abdullah Hassan Abu Jazar (13).
– The girl’s name is Jinan Abdullah Hassan Abu Jazar, but on social media the identity of the girl in the photo has circulated under the name Sidra. This is never something I have said, but something activists on social media claim, he says to Dagbladet.
He says that he has been informed of the girl’s identity by neighbors at the site and surviving family members.
Dagbladet can neither verify whether it is seven-year-old Sidra or thirteen-year-old Jinan that the photographer took a picture of this night in Rafah.
Nor has Dagbladet succeeded in finding information about who Jinan was, or in getting in touch with her family members. In lists of people killed in the airstrikes this night in Rafah, there are eleven other people with the same surname as Jinan.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Journalist and photographer Ezzedine Muasher lives and reports from Rafah. Among other things, he shares videos and photos on social media of the war in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Ezzedine Muasher Show more
Muasher also tells Dagbladet what he experienced as a photographer on the night of 12 February.
– I was sleeping when I suddenly woke up from violent attacks, he says and adds:
– When I went out I saw that houses in my neighborhood were in ruins. I found body parts on the ground, heads were separated from the bodies. I also saw a girl without legs.
Desperate prayers: – Save us from the bombs
It was on this night that he filmed a video and took a picture of the mutilated girl who had been thrown up against the wall by the pressure waves after the air raids.
– I was terribly scared when I saw the girl who had amputated legs and was covered in blood. This was not the only heartbreaking sight. We also saw infants who had been killed, he says.
AIR ATTACKS: Several buildings were bombed in Rafah on the night of 12 February. Photo: SAID KHATIB / AFP/NTB Show more
Fears ground invasion
Over 1.2 million people have been driven to flee from Israeli attacks further north. The city has been the last relatively safe place in the Gaza Strip.
This is how Dagbladet Krigen covers it
Does Dagbladet take a position in the conflict between Hamas and Israel?
No. Journalism in Dagbladet must be objective. We strive for balanced coverage in the news space where we try to present several sides of the case, whether it is from Israel, Gaza or the West Bank.
Dagbladet also covers the issue in opinion space. Avisa’s view is expressed in leadership positions. The political editor is responsible for this. We also print expressions of opinion in the comment and chronicle space. These are clearly marked, and express the sender’s personal opinion.
Dagbladet’s view on opinion does not affect our news coverage.
How does Dagbladet work with presence?
Physical presence with its own reporters in a war situation is very important for Dagbladet. This gives us the opportunity to speak to first-hand sources, and convey what we see to readers without intermediaries. Dagbladet has so far reported on the conflict with its own reporters from a number of locations in Israel and the West Bank.
Why isn’t Dagbladet in Gaza?
Lack of presence in Gaza is a challenge for both Norwegian and international media. The border is controlled by the authorities on the Israeli and Egyptian sides. They have very strict restrictions on entry and exit.
How do you then work to bring out stories from Gaza?
Since the outbreak of the war, Dagbladet has worked actively to give readers as broad a picture as possible of the case. Since we are not present in Gaza ourselves, we have worked with local journalists and spoken to a number of people who stay in Gaza, including a number of Norwegians. We also get pictures, video and information from the international news agencies, some of which have journalists on site. In addition, information comes from, for example, authorities, organizations and private individuals in social media and directly to the media.
How does Dagbladet work with the coverage of the war?
In covering the war, Dagbladet uses a wide range of sources and methods. Providing our readers with correct information is our most important priority. Physical presence in the areas, interviews with first-hand sources and the use of credible sources are some of the things we work towards in the coverage of this and other cases.
Dagbladet’s employees are also well trained to verify and fact-check content from, among other things, social media.
Dagbladet must be open about where the information comes from. We must also write clearly if we pass on information that we consider to be relevant, but where we cannot confirm all information. When Dagbladet makes a mistake, we must mark this clearly in the article and enter it in the correction log.
Why do you show such strong images from the war?
Strong images from conflicts may be necessary to document the facts and what is happening. We believe it is important to show the consequences of the war, for example how it affects civilians. Images are important for our understanding of what is happening. It is also the media’s job to convey what actually happens in a war situation, even if for some it will be perceived as too strong. Dagbladet is aware of what we publish and why. We don’t want to publish strong impressions just for the sake of showing it. There must be an editorial reason behind it, and we take necessary press ethical considerations, for example towards next of kin. We can have a stronger impression inside an article than on the front page of Dagbladet. There we like to mark an article with a warning. This is to show consideration for readers who do not want these impressions.
Sea view
The population of Gaza was urged by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to flee the northern part of Gaza when they launched several airstrikes and a large-scale ground invasion in northern Gaza.
Now the world is holding its breath in anticipation of an Israeli ground invasion in overpopulated Rafah.
BEFORE AND AFTER: The satellite images show how Rafah’s streets looked before and after the flow of refugees to the border town. The picture on the left was taken on 15 October 2023. The picture on the right was taken on 14 January 2024. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Reuters/NTB Show more
Both Jinan and Sidra are just two of the children who enter the statistics of those killed in Gaza since 7 October.
So far, almost 30,000 people are said to have been killed in the Gaza Strip, and almost 13,000 of them are said to be children. Around 70 per cent of all victims are said to be women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
There were 1,140 people killed in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, and around 240 people, both Israelis and foreigners, were abducted to the Gaza Strip. 110 have since been released in a prisoner exchange.
IN MOURNING: Around 100 people were killed in the Gaza Strip on the night of 12 February. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Show more
– Everyone cried and screamed
The photographer Muasher says that the night of 12 February has turned out to be a bad nightmare for both him and others in Rafah.
– It was difficult and terrifying. Everyone was crying and screaming because of the explosions and the number of people killed. We therefore hope that everyone is aware of the seriousness of what happened, because this is against humanity and human rights, he says.
Holding your breath
Muasher also says that he fears what will happen in the future to the residents of the border town.
RUINS: Several neighborhoods were bombed apart and together in Rafah. Now they wait in fear for a ground invasion in the overpopulated city. Photo: AP Photo/Fatima Shbair/NTB Show more
– The people in Rafah and the displaced are panicking in anticipation of a ground invasion. This means that Israel intends to commit massacres against civilians, as it did in the north, but the difference is that a ground invasion in Rafah will increase the number of victims, he says.
2024-02-19 20:44:34
#girl #wall
