Frontline Gaza: The Tragic Fate of the Al-Kilany Family Should Make The World Take Notice

"Dad, I don't want to die. Let us leave here," six-year old Yasmin Al-Kilany screamed to her father while she was sitting on his lap, terrified. Then her 8-year-old brother, Yasir, also started nagging his father to leave. The children's ability to cope with the horrors of life in the northern Gazan city of Beit-Lahya had clearly been extinguished, so their father, Ibrahim, decided to move.

Beit-Lahya, which is under continuous and random shelling from missiles, F16s and tanks, is almost empty now. A huge number of Palestinian families fled to the UNRWA schools, which have suffered a growing humanitarian crisis as a result. Almost 102,000 people have taken shelter in 69 schools, according to UNRWA.

The Al-Kilany family fled to Al-Shijaeyya, but the circle of Israel's brutal attack continued to expand. On 20 July, Israel committed an atrocious Sabra-and-Shatilla-like massacre against the innocent people of Al-Shijaeyya, killing at least 66 people, including 26 children.

What the Al-Kilany family witnessed in Al-Shijaeyya forced the family to flee, again, along with all the residents who were running barefoot while shells and tank fire chased them. Amidst the bodies that were scattered everywhere between the rubble of the houses, they managed to survive.

They rented an apartment in the Al-Israa building in the neighbourhood of Al-Remal, a supposedly safer place. The children calmed down a little. In an attempt to restore a normal family atmosphere after days of horror, the mother, Taghrid, started preparing a dining table for the family to break their fast.

Around sunset, while the Al-Kilany clan were sitting around the table, waiting to hear the call for prayer that would allow them to eat, an F16 war-plane suddenly shelled the Al-Israa building. The family simply ceased to exist; Ibrahim and his wife Taghrid, and their five children aged between four and 12, were wiped out in seconds. Like many other families, nothing now remains of the Al-Kilanies except for rubble and makeshift graves.

'Why doesn't the world do something?'

The painful story of the Al-Kilany family was painstakingly narrated by Ahmad, brother of Taghrid, to Ola Atallah, a reporter from Gaza working for the Anadul agency. Ahmad was trying hard to suppress his pain while narrating the story.

He eventually burst in tears, asking "what did Taghrid and her children do? Why isn't the international community shouldering the responsibility and taking serious actions to stop the Palestinian bloodshed? They escaped twice from death but death chased them to wherever they sought refuge. Israel is fighting children, targeting families everywhere."

The father, Ibrahim Al-Kilany, held a German passport after living there 20 years. He completed his studies as a civil engineer in a German university and worked as an engineer there for over a decade. He returned to Gaza in 2001 to get married and raise a family.

Earlier this year Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, was awarded Israel's "presidential medal of distinction." The German chancellor deserved this honor, some journalists dutifully reported, because of her "unwavering commitment to Israel's security." This might explain why Germany has shown little concern over the killing of so many families by Israel.

The statement issued by the European Union on 22 July shows a clear bias towards Israel. They condemned "the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and militant groups in the Gaza Strip, directly harming civilians." On the other hand, they repeatedly asserted that they recognise "Israel's legitimate right to defend itself against any attacks."

But the EU didn't recognise our people's right, guaranteed by UN resolutions, to use force in the struggle for "liberation from colonial and foreign domination." General Assembly Resolution A/RES/33/24 of 29 November 1978 "reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, particularly armed struggle."

More than 800 people have been brutally killed so far, 90% of them innocent civilians. Recognising Israel's "legitimate right to defend itsel"' gives Israel a justification to kill them, and kill more. So any "concern" over the human cost caused by Israel in Palestine is meaningless. Our Palestinian people know very well that the EU, and the international Community, is as guilty as Israel as their silence is what gives Israel the impunity and the green light to carry out its massacres.

Ibrahim Al-Kilany's cousin made this point powerfully, saying: "No German nor American nationality stops Israel from murdering us. Israel is like a monster that destroys everything it encounters. Residential buildings collapse over its residents. This is genocide."

With plumes of black smoke still spiralling into Gaza's sky, and Israeli shells from land, sea and sky still raining down on the coastal Palestinian enclave, threatening death for the 1.8 million Palestinians living under the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the western governments are still watching and barely doing anything to stop the Palestinian bloodshed, but repeatedly asserting their commitment to Israel's security.

The international media, and international politicians, continue to show a clear bias to the Israeli narrative, which makes them complicit in the ongoing crimes against humanity that Israel is committing against the civilians of Gaza.

Shahd Abusalama was born and raised in Gaza but moved to Turkey 7 months ago to study. Her family still live there, and four other families are now living in her home.