Palestinian children write their names on their hands so their bodies can be identified if they are killed
- Palestinian children write names on hands so they can be identified if they die in air strikes
Palestinian children have resorted to writing their names on their arms so that their bodies can be identified if they are killed in airstrikes.
A video widely circulated on social media shows older children writing their friends’ names in Arabic script with felt-tip pen.
In the footage, posted on X by news organization TRT World, one of the young people can be heard saying: “No, I’m not dying.”
Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Masri, head of the emergency department at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, told CNN that parents were worried that “anything could happen” and that no one would be able to identify their children.
Desperate: A boy helps his friend by writing his name on his arm in Gaza so their bodies can be identified if they die in airstrikes
A video widely circulated on social media shows older children writing their friends’ names in Arabic script with felt-tip pen
Another colleague at the hospital said: ‘What we noticed today is that many parents write their children’s names on their legs so that they can be identified after air raids or if they get lost.
“This is a new phenomenon that has just started in Gaza.”
Dr. Al Masri added that many of the children brought to the hospital are so injured “that it is impossible to identify them, only through that writing they are identified.”
According to UNICEF, more than 400 children have reportedly been killed or injured every day since the bombardment of Gaza began 18 days ago.
Rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a building hit by an Israeli airstrike on October 24 in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.