‘Why did you leave me?’ Palestinian father searches rubble of Gaza home for four children

A heartbreaking video showing a Palestinian father searching the rubble of his destroyed Gaza home for his four children has gone viral, showing the horrific consequences on children of Israel’s brutal bombardment. 

In the video, a cameraman consoles the Palestinian father, referred to as "Sayed", who was found using a mallet to break rubble as he tries to rescue his children.

"Why did you leave me?" he cries out, as the cameraman consoles him.

It is not clear what the fate of his four children was, but more than 3,826 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since 7 October. 

The Gaza health ministry reported that as of 26 October, 2,001 children aged 12 and under had been killed, including 615 who were below the age of three, AP reported.

📺At least 15 people were killed, and many are still missing after an Israeli airstrike targeted the Bureij Refugee Camp in in the middle of Gaza. Over the past several days, Israel has carried out several attacks on refugee camps inside Gaza.#GazaGenocide #GazaUnderFire pic.twitter.com/AMPukpLyy3

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) November 3, 2023

More children have been killed in just over three weeks in Gaza than in all of the world's conflicts combined in each of the past three years, according to the global charity Save the Children.  

"Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children," said James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF, the UN children’s agency. 

Images and footage of shell-shocked children being pulled from rubble in Gaza or writhing on dirty hospital gurneys have become commonplace and have fueled protests around the world.  

The UN child rights committee said on Wednesday there were "no winners in a war where thousands of children are killed", as they condemned mounting "grave human rights violations" in the Gaza Strip. 

The committee, which monitors countries' adherence to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, expressed its "outrage at the profound suffering of children" as they called for an immediate ceasefire amid the horrific scenes in Gaza. 

"Grave human rights violations against children are mounting by the minute in the Gaza Strip, and there are no winners in a war where thousands of children are killed," the committee said in a statement. 

"The ceasefire should be the beginning of discussions aimed at establishing a just and lasting peace in the region so that all children can fully enjoy all their rights." 

Around half of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants aged under 18, with hundreds of thousands forced from their destroyed or damaged homes.