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In Shujaiya, a neighbourhood of Gaza City already scarred by several rounds of war, men passed around coffee and dates under the shade of a colourful mourning tent while Palestinian Islamic Jihad battle songs blared from sound systems.
About a dozen men carrying AK-47s, their faces shielded by black balaclavas, lined the entrance to the tent, and the militant group’s black and yellow flag flew overhead.
Five-year-old Alaa Qaddoum was one of the first casualties of Operation Breaking Dawn, a surprise Israeli attack targeting Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant organisation in the Gaza Strip after Hamas.
Israel’s military said Alaa’s father, Abdullah, is a senior Islamic Jihad commander, but did not comment on whether he was the target of the strike. He was also badly injured in the attack, along with Alaa’s seven-year-old brother. The Israeli military said it was aware of the five-year-old’s death and civilian casualties would be investigated.
A 60-year-old civilian sitting on the steps of a mosque and an Islamic Jihad fighter on a motorbike were also killed on Friday afternoon, in the opening salvo of Israel’s three-day campaign.
The motorcyclist was named by Islamic Jihad as Yusuf Qaddoum, Alaa’s distant relative.
“They were aiming at the motorbike, but it was obvious there were children and people at the mosque,” said Alaa’s grandfather, Riad, gesturing at the shrapnel marks and streaks of dried blood at the spot the girl died. “The rest of the street was empty. They could have waited.”
According to the Gaza health ministry, 44 people, including 15 children and several members of Islamic Jihad, were killed and 350 civilians wounded during three days of airstrikes before a Egypt-mediated ceasefire came into effect late on Sunday night. Sixty people in southern Israel were treated for minor injuries as hundreds of retaliatory rockets were fired across the Gaza frontier towards the south of the country.
