13 gün önce

Palestinian boy Zein Oroq survives Israeli air strike, dies retrieving aid

Last week, during an air drop of aid, 13-year-old Zein Oroq was fatally struck by one of the packages as he rushed to try to get a can of fava beans, some rice or flour.

Reuters

Ali, the grandfather, and Mahmoud, the father of Palestinian boy Zein Oroq, who was wounded after he was hit by aid airdropped on Gaza and later succumbed to his wounds, stand near their house / Photo: Reuters

When an Israeli air strike destroyed his family's home in November, Zein Oroq was pinned under rubble. He was wounded but survived, while 17 members of his extended family died.

But Zein, 13, would later suffer a cruel fate in Gaza, where Palestinians face severe shortages of medicine, food and water in a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Last week, during an air drop of aid, the teenager was struck by one of the packages as he rushed to try to get a can of fava beans, some rice or flour.

"The first time, when the house was hit by a strike, he came out from under the rubble with wounds in his head, hand and leg, God saved him," said Zein's grandfather, Ali Oroq.

The grandfather, standing by a large pool of wastewater, recalled how Zein would swim in a pond to get a meal from the air drops, and how he should have been sitting at a desk in school getting an education instead.

But, with mediators failing to secure a truce and Israel and Hamas braced for more war in Gaza, which has been rendered a wasteland by the fighting, his luck eventually ran out.

Succumbed to his wounds

"While parachutes were falling, an aid box hit his head, also the stampede of people who were heading towards the box did not pay attention to the boy — they were also hungry," said his father Mahmoud.

"So, his head was cut and wounded, he got fractures in the pelvis, skull and abdomen and with the flow of people, the pressure increased on him."

Zein was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds on Sunday in the chaos of the war.

"My son is so precious, he was my support, my entire life, my first joy in this world, my biggest child, may he rest in peace," said Mahmoud.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an October 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 33,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 76,500 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.