Photos: With Gaza under attack, children pay the price

Text and photos by Anne Paq

A Palestinian man from Al Zeitoun holding his one-year-old son, Omar Jihad Mashrawi, who died from his injuries, at Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Gaza is under attack from all sides, including the sea.

There are news of eight killed and dozens injured, some of them very serious.

As I write now, I am back in my home. While I was editing pictures, I could hear the frightening sound of the bombs. The street emptied of cars, and there is almost no light. I moved far away from the window, which can get easily smashed by some of the explosions from nearby.In Al Shifa Hospital, there was total chaos, with so many injured people constantly coming in. When I reached the section where they treated burn injuries, some women collapsed in grief. They had just found out that one-year-old Omar Jihad Masharawi had just died of his wounds. One of the women was his mother.

A relative of Omar Jihad Mashrawi, shortly after the announcement of his death, at the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

I had arrived with other photographers. I cannot describe in words what I saw, nor can I post the grim pictures of a burned baby. It is just too horrific.

Later, the father carried Omar to the morgue, sobbing. I went home. I feel nervous, with news coming in about more attacks, more injured. There is nowhere to escape in Gaza.

The body of a child in the Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Israel is attacking a civilian population that has committed no crimes other than being Palestinian. Don’t talk to me about rockets. Palestinians have been dispossessed of most of their lands since 1948. The occupation started in 1967. The rockets started in 2001.

Now is the time to act. With major international pressure, Israel might still back down.

I cant sleep and I cant take the image of Omar out of my head. Why did Omar have to die?

The intensive care unit at the Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

A dead Palestinian child is taken away from the intensive care unit, at the Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

A man suffering from burns in an intensive care unit at Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Al Shifa Hospital struggles with casualties following Israeli military attacks all over the Gaza Strip, which killed eight Palestinians and injured over 30, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

A crowd surrounds the morgue at Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, November 14, 2012. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)