Four children killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza beach become symbols of assault

The four cousins, children of Gaza fishermen, were playing hide and seek at the beach despite their parents' warnings. They were killed after two blasts hit the seashore as Israel described the deaths as 'tragic' As the Israeli operation on Gaza entered in its 9th day, the strikes caused the most revolting deaths so far by killing four children of the same family as they were playing at the Palestinian enclave’s beach July 16.

Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra gave names of the four, all cousins and children of fishermen: Ahed Atef Bakr, aged 10, Zakaria Ahed Bakr, also 10, Mohamed Ramez Bakr, 9, and Ismail Mohamed Bakr, 11. One of their father’s had ordered them to stay indoors and away from the beach, according to a New York Times report. But the young children defied their parents “the eldest shooing away his little brother, telling him it was too dangerous.”

One of the children was killed instantly, the report says. The three others died after a second blast. One of the bodies was completely burned, while another was missing a leg.

“In the space of 40 seconds, four boys who had been playing hide-and-seek among fishermen’s shacks on the wall were dead,” writes Peter Beaumont, The Guardian’s correspondent in Gaza describing the scene.

Other children, who also were playing nearby and ran for safety in a hotel as two Israeli blasts hit the surroundings of the beach, had been severely injured. They were helped by hotel staff and journalists, like 13-year-old Hamed Bakr, who was hit by shrapnel in his chest, the AFP reported.

It was unclear if the strikes were the result of naval shelling, but several hours later, the Israeli military...