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After 11 years of marriage, hope, suffering, and prayer, Palestinian Rania Abu Anza (35 years old) gave birth to twins, and she kept dreaming of decorating her two infants with new clothes on their first Eid.

But in the middle of one night last March, an Israeli air strike ended her dream, as it killed her two infants, Naeem and Wissam (5 months old), and their father, Wissam, causing the loss of her entire family.

Rania, amid the rubble of her destroyed home in the city of Rafah, searches for memories of her two infants who were killed during the Israeli war on Gaza (Anatolia)

Naeem and Wissam clothes

Amid the rubble of her destroyed home in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, Rania searches for any memories of her two infants who were killed by Israel as part of a war it has been waging since October 7, 2023.

With her bare hands, the mother kept searching for a long time among the rubble, trying to save clothes that she dreamed of Naeem and Wissam wearing, so that they would appear in their best clothes during the upcoming Eid al-Fitr.

After hours of arduous and psychologically painful searching, she finally found new clothes for her two little ones, with the name of each of them written on their clothes. These are the clothes of Naeem, nicknamed “Abu Al-Ward,” and those are the clothes of his sister Wissam.

Carrying grief like mountains, the mother displayed the clothes in front of the camera, before continuing her search for the last remaining remains of her two infants.

After hours of searching, Rania found new clothes for her two children, with each of their names written on their clothes (Anatolia)

11 years without children

The grieving mother recalls memories of her suffering during 11 years of childlessness, during which she underwent failed artificial insemination operations and received many medical treatments, in light of her husband’s difficult financial situation.

Rania and her husband Wissam endured heavy financial costs, and in the end they had twins Naeem and Wissam, making their lives filled with joy after long patience.

Rania Abu Anza: I never imagined seeing my husband and children martyred (Anatolia)

"My children... my children"

One night last March, Rania and Wissam spent a pleasant time caressing the two children, before the family went to sleep.

While they were sleeping, an Israeli warplane bombed their house, killing the two infants and their father, while the mother survived the raid, only to be surrounded by sorrows and haunted by memories, the most painful of which was seeing her two children and her husband among the rubble.

At the top of her voice, the mother shouted: “My children, my children.” In the hope that a rescue team, neighbors, or relatives would hear her and be able to get them out, hoping that they were still alive.

Rania Abu Anza among the rubble of her destroyed house where her husband and children died (Anatolia)

"This is my destroyed house."

Standing above the ruins of her destroyed house, her eyes shining with tears, Rania said, "This is my destroyed house. We were sleeping when the house was bombed."

With regret, she added: "I never imagined seeing my husband and children martyred. We (my husband and I) spent enjoyable and beautiful years full of happy memories."

She continued: "I did not hear an explosion during the bombing, but I found myself under the rubble that fell on my husband and children as well."

The mother stressed that she was unable to enjoy enough time with her two children, whom she gave birth to after 11 years of longing and waiting.

She always wished that the first month of Ramadan and the first Eid al-Fitr would pass with her two infants in her arms, and that they would wear new clothes in innocence and joy.

Clothes of the two infants, Naeem and Wissam, who were among more than 13,000 children killed by the Israeli army during its war on Gaza (Anatolia)

13,000 children were killed in Gaza

It is noteworthy that Rafah is threatened with more massacres, as Israel insists on invading the city, claiming that it is "the last stronghold of the Hamas movement," despite mounting international warnings of catastrophic repercussions, in light of the presence of about 1.4 million displaced people.

The infants, Naeem and Wissam, are among more than 13,000 children killed in the Israeli war on Gaza, which in total left tens of thousands of civilian casualties and a famine that claimed the lives of dozens of children, according to Palestinian and UN data.

Israel continues this war, despite the issuance of a UN Security Council resolution for an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, and despite its first appearance before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing "genocide."

Source: Anadolu Agency