In Gaza, ‘slaughter continues unabated’ while the world turns away
Mohammed Qaddoura holds the wedding suit of his brother-in-law, Mohannad Ferwana, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike the night before his wedding, in Khan Younis, 5 June 2026
Ahmed Dremly and Ibtisam Mahdi report in +972 on 16 June 2026:
On June 8, Jad Suliman woke up too late to receive bread at the local distribution point in Jabalia refugee camp, a lifeline for his northern Gaza neighborhood. With nothing to eat, the 8-year-old walked to school on an empty stomach, where he was handed a single packet of biscuits. But rather than eat it right away, he saved it to share with his mother and sisters.
As usual, before heading home that afternoon, Jad visited his father’s small electronics repair shop nearby. “He always came in, said hi, and kissed me with his pure smile,” Youssif Suliman, 43, said of his son. “I would give him two shekels, he’d buy snacks from a nearby market, and then he’d head home.”
That day, Jad was too hungry to stay for long. He took the pocket change and said goodbye to his father. Only a few minutes later, Suliman heard an explosion, and a thick cloud of dust immediately swallowed the street.
Jad Suliman, 8, killed by an Israeli airstrike on 8 June 2026
“My heart just dropped,” he recalled. “When the dust finally cleared, I saw my son lying in a pool of his own blood. His school bag was still strapped to his back, his face pressed to the ground. Shrapnel had struck his neck. We just started screaming.”
In a panic, Suliman scooped up his son and ran toward a nearby UNICEF malnutrition clinic, but the facility was unequipped to treat trauma injuries. By the time an ambulance brought them to Al-Shifa Hospital half an hour later, Jad had succumbed to his wounds.