Gaza’s orphans have lost everything – even the dream of growing up

Published

2 months ago

March 28, 2025

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The number of children killed in Gaza, according to the local health ministry, recently rose above 15,000.

Fatality figures in Gaza are disputed by Israel, but even allowing for miscalculation or exaggeration, it is a staggering loss of life.

Many children have been orphaned, losing not just both parents but also siblings, grandparents and other close relatives too.

Against this tragedy, the children of Gaza can’t dream of growing up.

War has robbed them of that.

‘I just want to forget’

“I’m here hanging out with my friends because I just want to forget the war,” Osama says, surrounded by other young boys, probably no older than 10.

“I look at my destroyed home there and think about the memories I had there with my mum and dad, in their room. And now it’s gone.

“We used to have fun every day, sit in the kitchen, play together at home, and now it’s all gone.

“I want to forget everything. I want to have fun.”

Israel continues to bombard Gaza

On Thursday, Egypt sent a delegation to Qatar in an attempt to push for a renewed ceasefire.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with senior security officials on Thursday night to discuss developments.

For now, Israel is continuing to attack Gaza daily and is refusing to lift a blockade on aid entering the Strip.

The United Nations has reported that cases of malnutrition among children in northern Gaza have almost doubled as a result.

Hundreds of children have also been killed since the resumption of attacks almost two weeks ago.

She danced until the war came home

Five-year-old Jenin liked to dance, like so many five-year-old girls around the world liked to dance.

She danced in the tent where her family was sheltering from the war nearby and she danced until the day that the war came home.

It was early in the morning when the missile struck – the family was getting ready for Suhoor, the Ramadan breakfast.

Twenty-five of Jenin’s relatives were killed, including her father and all of her brothers and sisters.

Her mother was already dead, killed in a previous strike.

Jenin now lies in a hospital bed, still unaware she has lost her family.

She is mostly unconscious – her skull fractured, she has bleeding on her brain and is in desperate need of surgery she cannot get in Gaza.

“She’s truly lost all sense of safety. She’s terrified by anyone who comes near her,” Jenin’s aunt told Sky News.

“Jenin has lost the ability to speak. The shock was so severe that she can no longer communicate verbally.”

She went on: “Instead, she points and gestures, but words elude her. Most of the time, she is angry and throws things around; her emotional state is drained.

“Sometimes she responds, but other times she doesn’t. When she looks at us, there’s a visible frustration in her eyes -frustration from not being able to see her mum.”

Another family that didn’t survive the night

In Gaza City, our team filmed another family that didn’t survive the night.

Rescuers searched for survivors but pulled out the bodies of four people.

Twelve-year-old Sameer was the only one to escape the strike. He sobbed in silent prayer next to the wrapped corpses of his parents and siblings. Another orphan in Gaza.

“One of my favourite memories with my family was a day at the beach,” he told us.

“We swam and played and had such a good time. I remember my brother walking back and spilling juice on himself. We laughed and told him off!”

His family was buried together, side-by-side in a shallow grave. Sameer, the one who lived, watched on, silent and lost.

“I wasn’t scared before, because I had my family around me. Right now, I am scared to lose more people. My mum and dad and everyone were martyred. I’m worried about losing more people. So now whenever I hear the planes above, I think they’re going to bomb me in my home.”

There is no word for someone who has lost so much.

But in Gaza, there are so many children who have lost everything.

Their childhood, their families, their future.

World

At least 100 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza – ‘complete families wiped out’ says health ministry

Published

31 mins ago

May 18, 2025

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At least 100 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza - 'complete families wiped out' says health ministry

At least 100 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight and into Sunday, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Local medics also report that women and children were among the dead – as Israel launches an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

“Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment,” Khalil Al-Deqran, Gaza health ministry spokesperson, told the Reuters news agency.

Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in strikes that hit houses and tents in the Muwasi area. Hamas described that as a “new brutal crime”.

In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two separate strikes, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al Balah.

Meanwhile, first responders from the health ministry and the civil defence reported at least 36 people were killed in multiple strikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the latest strikes.

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March. It is attempting to pressurise Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the whole of Gaza and controlling aid.

It comes as peace talks between Israel and Hamas take place in Qatar this weekend, although sources told Reuters there had been no breakthrough.

Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

A Palestinian official close to the talks said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”

Earlier on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry issued a statement accusing Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”.

“After putting the European Gaza Hospital out of service a few days ago, the Israeli occupation has intensified its targeting and siege of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn today,” it added.

Israel has previously denied deliberately targeting civilians and accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes.

This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.

Separately, the Israeli military said on Sunday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward Israel.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they had targeted Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with two ballistic missiles.

The Houthis have fired at Israel because of the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, while Israel has carried out airstrikes in response, including one on 6 May that damaged Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.

The conflict began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military response has seen the deaths of more than 53,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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World

Donald Trump says he has call with Putin planned – as Ukraine condemns Russia over bus attack

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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Donald Trump says he has call with Putin planned - as Ukraine condemns Russia over bus attack

Donald Trump has said he will speak to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately on Monday in a bid to secure a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The US president made the announcement on Truth Social – shortly after the Ukrainian president condemned Russia for the “deliberate killing of civilians” after a drone hit a bus in north-eastern Ukraine.

Mr Trump said he will speak to Mr Putin over the phone. He will then talk with Mr Zelenskyy and “various members of NATO”, he wrote.

In an all-caps post, he said: “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END. GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”

The Ukrainian town of Bilopillia today declared a period of mourning lasting until Monday after nine people were killed in a Russian drone attack – which occurred just hours after Kyiv and Moscow held peace talks.

Seven others were injured, Ukrainian authorities said. The bus was evacuating civilians from a frontline area when the drone hit, the country’s national police said.

A “father, mother and daughter” were among the dead, Mr Zelenskyy said, writing on Telegram: “All the deceased were civilians. And the Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting.”

The attack has also been condemned by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said he was “appalled”.

“If Putin is serious about peace, Russia must agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done,” he wrote on X.

Representatives for Kyiv and Moscow met for direct peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, just hours before the drone attack.

While the discussions – which were not attended by the Mr Putin or Mr Zelenskyy – did not result in a truce, both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners in their biggest swap yet.

Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on national television the exchange could happen as early as next week.

Russia ‘threatened eternal war’ at peace talks

After a Ukrainian official yesterday said Russia made “unacceptable” demands during the discussions, a source from the Kyiv delegation has now told Sky News that Moscow threatened “eternal war”.

Separately, a senior Kyiv official said Russia’s proposed ceasefire terms included the full withdrawal of troops from four regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk.

Moscow also called for international recognition that those regions and Crimea – annexed in 2014 – are Russian and for Ukraine to become a neutral state, with no allied troops stationed there, they said.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the matter.

Ukraine has rallied support from its allies following the talks, and a number have spoken out.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “Today, what do we have? Nothing. And so I tell you, faced with President Putin’s cynicism, I am sure that President Trump, mindful of the credibility of the United States, will react.”

The EU is working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

World

Israel and Hamas resume ceasefire talks after ‘extensive strikes’ on Gaza

Published

13 hours ago

May 17, 2025

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Israel and Hamas resume ceasefire talks after 'extensive strikes' on Gaza

Israel and Hamas said ceasefire talks have resumed in Qatar – even as Israeli forces ramped up a bombing campaign and mobilised for a massive new ground assault.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it had been “conducting extensive strikes and mobilising troops” as part of preparations to expand operations in Gaza.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said Hamas had “refused to discuss negotiations without a cessation of the war”, but after the airstrikes and the mobilisation of forces the militant group’s representatives “have agreed to sit in a room and seriously discuss the deal”.

“Israel emphasises that if the talks do not progress, the [military] operation will continue,” he added.

A Hamas source told Sky News that ceasefire talks began in Doha on Saturday morning.

Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters news agency that the two sides were involved in discussions without “pre-conditions”.

He added Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success.

More than 150 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

This week has been one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since a truce collapsed in March and marked a significant escalation in Israel’s offensive.

The Israeli military’s preparations to expand operations in Gaza have included the build-up of tanks and troops along the border.

It is part of “Operation Gideon Chariot”, which Israel says is aimed at defeating Hamas and getting its hostages back.

An Israeli defence official said earlier this month that the operation would not be launched before Donald Trump concluded his visit to the Middle East.

The US president ended his trip on Friday, with no apparent progress towards a new peace deal.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, leaders at the annual summit of the Arab League in Baghdad said they were trying to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

They also promised to contribute to the reconstruction of the territory once the war stops.

The meeting comes two months after Israel ended a ceasefire reached with the Hamas militant group.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 5 May that Israel was planning an expanded, intensive offensive against Hamas as his security cabinet approved plans that could involve seizing Gaza and controlling aid.

This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.

Israel’s goal is the elimination of Hamas, which attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and seizing about 250 hostages.

Its military response has killed more than 53,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.