Gaza Infant Twin Clings To Life After Israeli Attack Kills Brother

Life and Death: Surviving members of the al-Ghoul family mourn a 24-day-old baby who was killed in an Israel strike, along with nine other family members. Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen August 7, 2014

The 3-week-old baby boy who survived a missile strike which killed nine family members — including his identical twin — in Gaza on Sunday, seems to be on the mend.

Post by Asmaa Alghoul.

Journalist Asmaa al-Ghoul, a columnist for Al-Monitor, posted a photo of her nephew Ibrahim al-Ghoul to her Facebook page with the message (translated): “This is the twin who survived, Ibrahim Wael al-Ghoul, doing well, praise be to Allah.”

Asmaa al-Ghoul’s uncle Ismail, 60, and his sons Muhammad, 32, and Wael, 35, along with Wael’s three children Malak, 5, Ismail, 11, and baby Mustafa — Ibrahim’s twin — were killed when a missile struck their home in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip.

In a column called “Never Ask Me About Peace Again,” published in Al-Monitor, Asmaa al-Ghoul remembered first seeing the twins after their birth on the fifth day of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, calling them “two tiny angels, harbingers of hope and joy.”

She also warned Israel of the consequences of the rising toll of civilian deaths:

“If it is Hamas that you hate, let me tell you that the people you are killing have nothing to do with Hamas. They are women, children, men and senior citizens whose only concern was for the war to end, so they can return to their lives and daily routines. But let me assure you that you have now created thousands — no, millions — of Hamas loyalists, for we all become Hamas if Hamas, to you, is women, children and innocent families. If Hamas, in your eyes, is ordinary civilians and families, then I am Hamas, they are Hamas and we are all Hamas.”

As of this morning, the Facebook post showing baby Ibrahim had received over 600 likes and more than 60 comments praying for his recovery.

UNICEF reported on Wednesday that more than 400 children have been killed in Israel’s military operation in Gaza, while thousands are traumatized and face an “extraordinarily bleak” future. By August 4, 408 Palestinian children were reported dead, 31 percent of all civilian casualties, while thousands more are traumatized.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

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