He is among the very last survivors of his Gaza family, a clan so close they knew without thinking how blood and marriage bound them across generations and city blocks.
Then, branch by branch, 173 of Youssef Salem’s relatives were killed in Israeli airstrikes in a matter of days in December.
By spring that toll had risen to 270.
Bones and flesh strewn over the ruins of family homes. Blond curls of a young cousin peeking through bricks. Unrecognizable bodies piled on a donkey cart.
Lines of burial shrouds.
These images are what survivors are left with from hundreds of families in Gaza like the al-Aghas, Salems and Abu Najas.
To a degree never seen before, Israel is killing entire Palestinian families, a loss even more devastating than the physical destruction and the massive displacement.
An Associated Press investigation identified at least 60 Palestinian families where at least 25 people were killed — sometimes four generations from the same bloodline — in bombings between October and December, the deadliest and most destructive period of the war.
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@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
Can you imagine a world where the loss of entire families becomes a common consequence of war, and how might it affect societies?
@9PDB3WF2yrs2Y
That would be awful and be very negative for societies
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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