It’s early on Monday, May 26th. The airstrikes that Israel aims to be a control centre for extremists just hit a former school where dozens of families were evacuated. According to local emergency services, 18 children were killed in the attack. And this scene – it looks like it will become a new symbol of the war sacrifice against Gaza’s youngest girl trying to escape the flames. We interviewed witnesses and obtained an unreleased video of the aftermath of the attack. And we found a girl. Her name is Hanin Al Wadi. According to other relatives, the five-year-old survived, but lost both her parents and sister in the attack. Her body part is burning badly. Hussein Mohsen, who runs one of Gaza’s ambulance services, was the one who helped rescue Hanin and confirm her identity. Mohsen said a red hot metal door separated him from the burnt heat. Hanin has been found to have recovered from second and third degree burns at Alarirab Hospital in northern Gaza. She and her family were evacuated at school last month when Israeli military operations intensified. Hannin’s uncle, a trained nurse, is now looking after her. Another young girl, Ward Al Sheikh Khalil, was wrong in several media reports to run through the flames, but was injured in the attack. Mohsen said he rescued her from a mountain of tile rubs. Ward, 5, was interviewed later that day by a journalist working for the Turkish provincial news agency. She spoke about how her mother and five brothers were killed on strike. According to Gaza emergency services, they were one of a total of 31 casualties. It is unclear whether the deaths include fighter jets and extremists. Hamas has previously been hidden among civilians. Israeli forces did not elaborate on the attack when contacted by the New York Times. It mentioned the only official statement on the attack, saying it had taken many steps to reduce the risk of harming civilians, including accurate munitions, to attack extremist commanders and control centres. An analysis of images from the aftermath showed fragments of a guided American bomb that Israeli forces have used consistently in Gaza. The GBU-39 is designed to hit targets more accurately. On the school’s website, more than half of the victims are children, and the rate of deaths is increasing among the youngest generation in Gaza. The Israeli military also declined to provide further details on weapon selection and the number of casualties among children. Hanin is facing a long recovery. For now, she continues to heal with her uncle.
