The day he received his birth certificate A Palestinian father loses his twins and his wife in a bombing in central Gaza

The young man, Mohammed Abu Al-Qumsan, did not imagine that his joy over his twins would turn into indescribable sadness and grief, after an Israeli bombardment shed their blood while they were in their cradle, targeting a residential apartment in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Mohammed and his wife Jumana Arafa, displaced from the northern Gaza Strip to the city of Deir al-Balah, welcomed their twins, Aysal (female) and Aser (male), just three days ago, after a difficult caesarean section. The couple and their families were filled with joy at the arrival of the twins, especially since they were anticipating their new life that would be filled with the laughter of children, before the Israeli army took away this joy too early.

As Mohammed rushed out of his house on Tuesday morning, happy about the date of receiving his children’s birth certificates, he received a phone call informing him that the Israeli artillery stationed east of Deir al-Balah city had targeted the apartment that was housing his displaced family.

A quick call turned Mohammed's life upside down, prompting him to rush to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, his heart throbbing with fear and worry for the fate of his family. Mohammed arrived at the hospital with a pale face and a rapidly beating heart, holding his two children's birth certificates in his hands, hoping to hear news that would deny what had happened to him, quench the fire in his heart, and reassure him about the fate of his wife and children.

As soon as he saw his family standing at the doors of the morgue inside the hospital, he broke down crying bitterly and could not control himself and lost his nerves from the shock that was greater than his mind and heart could bear.

"I just issued the birth certificate for Aysal and Aser, they were born only two days ago," Abu Al-Qumsan says, looking at the official certificate that would prove the arrival of his two newborns. "I swear I'm not lucky."

He added, crying bitterly: “Two days ago, Jumana gave birth to them. I was outside the house to complete the official procedures and bring the birth certificate. Aser and Aysal were born on August 10. Yesterday, I officially registered them at the Palestinian Ministry of Interior. Today is the date to receive the birth certificate.”

Muhammad collapsed crying and fainted from the shock. He continued saying after he regained his composure and gathered his strength: “I went to receive the certificate, and I received a call saying that the apartment had been targeted. I did not expect to find them all martyred.”

One moment changed Mohammed's life forever. His joy over his twins was not complete, and his wife was not happy with them as she had dreamed. Mohammed only had very short memories in which he lived the most beautiful moments of his life with his two children, his wife, and his family.

In a tone full of shock and sadness, the young man concluded his speech by saying: “Aysal and Asr are my first and last joy. Even my joy was incomplete and incomplete. God is sufficient for me, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.”

On the other side, his wife Jumana's brother was also crying over the body of his mother, Reem Jamal Al-Batrawi (50 years old), who was also killed in the Israeli raid while she was taking care of her daughter and twins.

The young man says, as he hugs his mother's body and looks at the bodies of his sister and her two children: "These are our first grandchildren, our first joy in the house. We are not happy about their arrival yet. They were born only two days ago." He asks: "What is their fault?! Why did the Israeli army bomb them?!"

On Tuesday morning, Jumana Farid Arafa, her newborn twins, Aysal and Aser Abu al-Qumsan, and her mother, Reem al-Batrawi, were killed in an Israeli artillery attack on a residential apartment in the Qastal Towers, east of Deir al-Balah, without prior warning.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced today, Tuesday, that the death toll from the Israeli war on the Strip since October 7 has approached 40,000.

A father from Gaza went to receive the birth certificates of his twins... only to return and find them killed with their mother in an Israeli bombing