She was killed while rollerblading in Gaza. Her father hopes she'll be the last child killed in the war
CBC
WARNING: This story contains a graphic image of death
Hussam Abu Ajwa, 43, holds two bloodstained pink rollerskates in his hands. They're the last gift he ever bought his daughter, Tala.
The 10-year-old died on Sept. 4 in Gaza City while rollerblading in her neighbourhood. Her father says she was killed by an Israeli airstrike on a residential building near where the family lives.
An image of the child, wrapped in a white shroud with pink skates sticking out, went viral online soon after.
"That day, she insisted [on playing outside] and I agreed," Abu Ajwa said in a video that was shared with CBC.
"But … the [Israeli] occupation's missiles are faster than the kids who want to play and be happy."
Over 10,000 children have been killed in the last 11 months of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which uses the Gaza Health Ministry's figures. The numbers aren't broken out by cause of death.
The Israel Defence Forces said it was "unaware of a specific strike" in the co-ordinates that CBC provided, but it did say it struck a "Hamas sniper from the Zeitoun battalion" that day in the general vicinity of that area.
"I hope to God that Tala's blood has a role in stopping the war," Abu Ajwa said.
"And Tala will be the last child to die without reason."
Tala is the latest of the casualties of the war, which started after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed 1,200 people and saw 250 hostages taken into Gaza, by Israeli figures. Israel's subsequent offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 41,000 people, according to Palestinian counts.
Abu Ajwa lamented his decision to cave and let Tala go outside and play, but he told El Saife that they were in a safe area in the north, and he didn't want to add to the child's burdens as she lived through the war.
While Tala was outside, Abu Ajwa said he heard an explosion, sending him running to find her. Along with a crowd that had formed to help, he pulled his daughter out of a pile of rubble.
"I went out … all I could see was blood on her skates."
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