Gaza: The personal story behind the picture

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The front page photo on Thursday’s Washington Post tells, in a single frame, a very personal story from Wednesday’s Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic journalist who lives in Gaza, carries the body of his 11-month old son, Omar, through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

An Israeli round hit Misharawi’s four-room home in Gaza Wednesday, killing his son, according to BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who arrived in Gaza earlier Thursday.

Misharawi’s sister-in-law was also killed, and his brother wounded. Misharawi told Danahar that, when the round landed, there was no fighting in his residential neighborhood.

“We’re all one team in Gaza,” Danahar told me, saying that Misharawi is a BBC video and photo editor. After spending a “few hours” with his grieving colleague, he wrote on Twitter, ”Questioned asked here is: if Israel can kill a man riding on a moving motorbike (as they did last month) how did Jihad’s son get killed.”

Omar Misharawi (Jihad Misharawi's son).

Danahar also shared the following photo of Misharawi’s small Gaza home, which appears to have been heavily damaged. The place where the round punctured his ceiling is clearly visible.

BBC World editor Jon Williams sent a memo about the young child’s death to colleagues, according to The Telegraph:

Our thoughts are with Jihad and the rest of the team in Gaza.

This is a particularly difficult moment for the whole bureau in Gaza.

We’re fortunate to have such a committed and courageous team there. It’s a sobering reminder of the challenges facing many of our colleagues.

Reuters also had a photographer at the Gaza City hospital where Misharawi took his son. The story that these photos tell, of loss and confusion, may help inform the Palestinian reactions – and, as the photos continue to spread widely on social media, perhaps the reactions from beyond the Palestinian territories – to the violence between Israel and Gaza.

 

Jihad Misharawi’s home in Gaza
Jihad Misharawi, a Palestinian employee of BBC Arabic in Gaza, mourns over the body of his 11-month-old son Omar, who according to hospital officials was killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City November 15, 2012. The Palestinian death toll rose to 13 and the military showdown lurched closer to all-out war. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA – Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MEDIA)

 

Washington Post

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24 responses to “Gaza: The personal story behind the picture”

  1. Assad and Netanyahu share a lot in common… Killing innocent children is one of them.

  2. Assad and Netanyahu share a lot in common… Killing innocent children is one of them.

  3. Mark 13:8………..
    8 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

    1. Please……. F$off of this board!

      1. JamilW…………I pray you will come to the foot of the Cross one day, and exchange that old sin loving nature for the divine nature that Christ purchased for you on the Cross……God Bless…..

      2. ahlaaaaaan be Jamil… Say goodbye soon if you keep using foul language. Plumbline is free to say anything he wants…

        1. I said please! you really think you are hannibal – don’t commit suicide by poisoning yourself brother LOL…………..

      3. @yalibnan:disqus Just received this from this pretty girl jamila: jamilw wrote, in response to Hannibal:air feak- Then he changes it so you cannot see it… However it is still in the records… If you’d like to keep this blog civil he must be warned or banned… if not I will unleash Hell on him…

  4. Plumbline Avatar

    Mark 13:8………..
    8 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

    1. Please……. F$off of this board!

      1. Plumbline Avatar

        JamilW…………I pray you will come to the foot of the Cross one day, and exchange that old sin loving nature for the divine nature that Christ purchased for you on the Cross……God Bless…..

      2. ahlaaaaaan be Jamil… Say goodbye soon if you keep using foul language. Plumbline is free to say anything he wants…

        1. air feak- 

      3. @yalibnan:disqus Just received this from this pretty girl jamila: jamilw wrote, in response to Hannibal:air feak- Then he changes it so you cannot see it… However it is still in the records… If you’d like to keep this blog civil he must be warned or banned… if not I will unleash Hell on him…

  5. Another tragedy!Loss of innocent lives!!!!!

  6. Another tragedy!Loss of innocent lives!!!!!

  7. rossoferrari Avatar
    rossoferrari

    Indeed another tragedy.  No need for the innocents to die. The civilians are paying for the gambling price of the zionists, arabs, palestinians, chinese, russian and usa interests. The arabs have abandoned the pursuit of reclaiming palestine and adapted to the new M/E status. Every day that passes by more territory is taken by the zionists and more settlements are being erected. If that is the tacit deal made by the powers, than this should be somehow related to the citizens so they can go on with their lives.

  8. rossoferrari Avatar
    rossoferrari

    Indeed another tragedy.  No need for the innocents to die. The civilians are paying for the gambling price of the zionists, arabs, palestinians, chinese, russian and usa interests. The arabs have abandoned the pursuit of reclaiming palestine and adapted to the new M/E status. Every day that passes by more territory is taken by the zionists and more settlements are being erected. If that is the tacit deal made by the powers, than this should be somehow related to the citizen so they can go on with their lives.

  9. Leborigine Avatar

    Very sad story indeed and no one deserves this. The life of an 11 month old child has been taken away for no reason, like many of the children in the middle east. In Lebanon, syria, Iraq etc etc. This tragedy reminded me of the bombing in west Beirut in the early 1980’s when the coverage showed a torn corpse being moved of a very young girl away from the debris. A real shame that the people who cause these tragedies are never caught and dealt with accordingly!

  10. Leborigine Avatar

    Very sad story indeed and no one deserves this. The life of an 11 month old child has been taken away for no reason, like many of the children in the middle east. In Lebanon, syria, Iraq etc etc. This tragedy reminded me of the bombing in west Beirut in the early 1980’s when the coverage showed a torn corpse being moved of a very young girl away from the debris. A real shame that the people who cause these tragedies are never caught and dealt with accordingly!

  11. The persecution of the innocent indigeneous population is the mark of the terrorist Zionist regime and her supporters. Well they may be partying now, but this life s short and God will provide eternal justice for the wronged. Enjoy your life for a while sinners, because time in long and he who laughs last laughs best. Bring on the martyrs. We do not fear death.

  12. The persecution of the innocent indigeneous population is the mark of the terrorist Zionist regime and her supporters. Well they may be partying now, but this life s short and God will provide eternal justice for the wronged. Enjoy your life for a while sinners, because time in long and he who laughs last laughs best. Bring on the martyrs. We do not fear death.

  13. LEBANON101 Avatar

     you really think the millions of arabs already starving and being killed
    by their own governments give a shit whats going on in gaza. the people
    of gaza get food and water delivered to them all the time they eat
    better than half the other arabs. they get to visit the best israeli
    hospitals for free while thousands of other arabs die in the streets in
    front of hospitals every year.  forget the Palestinian cause. we arabs
    are now more worried about our own cuase and our own families and
    future.

  14. LEBANON101 Avatar

     you really think the millions of arabs already starving and being killed
    by their own governments give a shit whats going on in gaza. the people
    of gaza get food and water delivered to them all the time they eat
    better than half the other arabs. they get to visit the best israeli
    hospitals for free while thousands of other arabs die in the streets in
    front of hospitals every year.  forget the Palestinian cause. we arabs
    are now more worried about our own cuase and our own families and
    future.

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