Daijiworld Media Network - Gaza

Gaza, Dec 3: A tragic incident shook a displaced Palestinian family in Bani Suheila, Khan Younis, when two young brothers were killed in an Israeli drone strike on Saturday morning while collecting firewood for their paralyzed father.

Their father, Tamer Abu Assi, who is wheelchair-bound, had asked his sons Fadi, 8, and Jumaa, 10, to fetch wood as he was preparing breakfast. Minutes later, neighbours rushed to inform him that two children had been targeted nearby. In a heart-rending moment, Abu Assi later identified their remains. Struggling to contain his grief, he said that Jumaa’s head and arms had been blown off while Fadi had lost his limbs in the attack.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike, claiming the children were “two suspects” who had crossed the restricted “yellow line” and posed an immediate threat to the troops stationed in southern Gaza. The family, however, maintains they were simply gathering firewood near their shelter.

Bani Suheila lies close to an invisible boundary set by Israeli forces, and since the ceasefire began in October, several Palestinians have been killed in similar circumstances along this unmarked zone. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has stated that more than 70,000 Palestinians, including over 20,000 children, have been killed since the conflict escalated in 2023, with the toll continuing to rise even under ceasefire as bodies are recovered from the rubble.

A recent report by a coalition of Israeli human rights groups described 2025 as a year of “unprecedented harm” to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, alleging that extreme violations had become routine.

Abu Assi recalled how a day earlier his son Jumaa had asked him to sing his favourite song. He had promised to do so after a medical check-up, never imagining that would be their final conversation. Tears streaming down his face, he said he only wished he had sung for him then.