GAZA CITY, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Palestinian girls Saba and Sana kissed their parents goodnight and went to bed in Gaza City. In just moments, an Israeli missile cut their lives short at the young age of 4.

“The strike hit the house at 1 am,” a relative who declined to give her name told Anadolu.

“The girls screamed for their father for help before breathing their last.”

Israeli warplanes hit the house in the Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City early Wednesday as the Abu Seif family was sleeping.

Several people were injured in the attack, including both parents, but the 4-year-old twins lost their lives in the assault.

“There were no gunmen in the house; there were only sleeping children. What have they done to be killed?” the relative asked.

Scores of mourners gathered outside the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to bid farewell to the two girls. The two small bodies were wrapped in white shrouds to take them to their final rest.

Ironically, Saba and Sana wore similar outfits before the Israeli attack that killed them.

According to figures from Gaza’s government media office, more than 18,000 children have been killed in the Israeli onslaught since October 2023.

The Israeli army resumed its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip this March 18 and has since killed nearly 2,000 people and injured 5,400 others, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.