Moments after this photograph was taken, these four boys were dead - wiped out by an Israeli shell as they ran for their lives.The
children were killed in Gaza yesterday as more than 100,000
Palestinians were urged to evacuate their homes ahead of a possible
ground offensive and new air attacks.
A
second picture also emerged on Twitter that is believed to show a
different view of the boys as they scrambled across the sand.
Officials said the boys were members
of a well-known local fishing family and died in shelling from an
Israeli gunboat off Gaza’s Mediterranean coast that also injured several
others, including another child.
They
were named as Ahed Bakr, aged 10, Zakaria, 10, and two other boys from
the Bakr family, both named Mohammad, aged 11 and nine.
The boys’ uncle, Abdel Kareem Baker,
41, described it as ‘a cold blooded massacre’ and mocked Israel’s use of
advanced technology in failing to identify children playing.
Witnesses
told how shells had hit the beach and then a pier strutting into the
sea as a group of injured men and boys tried to flee to safety.
A graphic showing where the boys were
killed by an Israeli gunboat off Gaza's Mediterranean coast and
explaining how Israel's missile defence system works
While the boys were killed on the beach, several others were hit as they ran near tents and chairs set out on the beach area.
The
pictures emerged as Israel began firing shells at what it calls 'terror
targets' inside the Gaza Strip within 20 minutes of the UN-brokered
ceasefire ending.
Palestinian militants responded by launching their homemade rockets across the border into southern Israel.
Earlier,
the Israeli army said three mortar shells fired from Gaza hit southern
Israel today just over two hours after the ceasefire took effect.
Police
had said two rockets fell in open areas in southern Israel, causing no
damage or injuries, two hours after the ceasefire began.
It
came after Israel and Hamas started observing a five-hour humanitarian
ceasefire following a request by the United Nations so supplies could be
delivered to Gaza.
Palestinians hurry to withdraw money from a bank that has been closed
for the past 10 days so they can buy food, water and other supplies
during the five-hour halt in Israeli shelling
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