These shocking pictures show the child victims of Gaza as Israeli air strikes flatten homes in the territory.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that 31 children are among the 119 Palestinian civilians killed in recent days.
Israel started its bombardment of the Gaza Strip after Hamas, the enclave’s ruling group, fired rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Monday.
One soldier and six civilians have died in Israel as a result of the violence this week, although Gaza has suffered the vast majority of fatalities.
Horrific images show the corpses of toddlers lying on the ground before their burial in the Gaza’s northern city of Beit Lahia.
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
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In other haunting photographs, men can be seen carrying the bloodied bodies of children to the hospital.
Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, head of the largest hospital in Gaza, said the ‘torn apart’ bodies of children were arriving at the facility.
He told Al Jazeera: “There are children who had legs or arms amputated. There are children who came torn apart. Some of the children were taken for urgent surgery due to injuries in the liver and bowels.
(Image: Mahmoud Issa/Quds Net News via ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock)
(Image: Mahmoud Issa/Quds Net News via ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock)
“More than 50% of the injuries are serious or critical.”
Atallah Al-Masri, whose brother is being treated at Al-Shifa Hospital, described how a young girl and two of his cousins were ‘torn to pieces’ in one strike.
Footage shared on social media also shows children and their families cowering in fear inside their homes as they are shaken by nearby explosions.
One heartbreaking picture shows a Palestinian boy pulling a cart carrying his brother and their belongings as they flee their home in Gaza City.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
A 10-year-old girl who lives in the territory told Save the Children that she was ‘living in fear, stress and horror all the time’.
She said: “There are sounds of loud explosions all the time. They are very sudden. We’re living in fear, stress and horror all the time.
“Even during Eid, we are not celebrating or wearing nice clothes, we haven’t visited anyone, they took the joy of Eid from us.”
(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(Image: REUTERS)
Mazen Naim, who works for Save the Children in Gaza, has been sheltering in his home with his wife and three young children since Monday.
He said: “Earlier this morning my children and I left the room to stretch our legs when suddenly the next-door building was hit. I heard a loud explosion, and the kids were screaming.
“They were so frightened. We ran and hid in our bedroom and the explosions carried on. We heard a second and a third and maybe more, I lost count.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
“Debris was falling and we could hear the neighbours screaming as well. After the dust settled, we saw the ambulances come for them. Who knows what will happen next?”
Mothers in the territory have told the BBC they cannot sleep because they fear any moment could be their last.
Mum-of-five Najwa told the broadcaster: “Everything is shaking around us. And we are shaking too because we are so afraid.”
(Image: REUTERS)
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
It comes after a video on Tuesday showed an Israeli bombardment destroying a 13-storey residential and commercial tower block in the enclave.
Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Monday in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
US President Joe Biden yesterday called for a de-escalation of the violence, saying he wanted to see a significant reduction in rocket attacks.