A father opens a plastic bag: ‘This is my son,’ he says, killed by an Israeli shell

‘Salem Antez, 29, approached with a purple plastic bag and opened it, its contents terrible.

“This is my son,” he said and nothing else, tears tracking down his face. Mohammad, another family member explained, was two. The other dead were Abed Ali, 24, and Mohammad Ibrahim, 13. Salem bent back to his task – his bag becoming a little heavier. “They hit us at 8.45pm,” an uncle said. “We had just finished our Iftar meal and were gathered here for safety.”

The morning after the night of the artillery barrage that launched Israel’s ground offensive into Gaza drew back the veil on the consequences – a bleak procession of the dead and injured from the coastal enclave’s south through its eastern border regions up to the north.’ Read more