Gruesome images of a young Palestinian boy with part of his head blown off in what witnesses described as an Israeli tank strike last week have shocked even hardened observers of the war in Gaza.
Videos and photos showing a grief-stricken man holding up a boy, the flesh of his face hanging loose to reveal what appeared to be his hollowed out cranium, began to spread on social media on Wednesday.
NBC News’ crew in Gaza captured the moments that the body of the boy, eight-year-old Abdullah Samour, was carried into Nasser hospital in Khan Younis after the shelling. The violence unfolded in the area of nearby Bani Suheila on Wednesday afternoon, witnesses who said they survived the strike and Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency said.
Ahmed Harb Ahamed Samour, the man pictured carrying the child, said he was a relative of the devastated family and identified the young boy to NBC News.
At least nine people, including five children, two women and two men, were killed in the incident, the Civil Defense told NBC News.
The Israel Defense Forces said it could not comment on the specific incident without exact coordinates for the strike, which NBC News was unable to determine in the devastated tent camp. But it said its troops were “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks in which some 1,200 people, including hundreds of soldiers, were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
On Wednesday, the IDF said in a statement that its troops were operating in the area of Khan Younis, the center of which is less than 1.5 miles from Bani Suheila. The IDF has not said exactly where its forces were when the tent encampment was hit.
Video captured by NBC News’ crew on the ground of the aftermath of the incident showed frantic scenes outside Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, with Palestinians racing to get victims into the medical facility.
Several bodies wrapped in blankets are lifted off the backs of multiple trucks and carried into the hospital, while children with serious injuries are also rushed into the hospital. One boy is pushed on a stretcher as blood pools around his head, while another can be seen with a severe wound below his chin.
Later, Abdullah is laid down on a steel table, his head, arms, torso and feet spattered with blood. Pink bulbous tissue the size of a small fist sticks out of his left side, and flies circle his body. The child’s arms are flung up above a mangled but recognizable face.
NBC News is not sharing the images of Abdullah due to their graphic nature.
Five witnesses of Wednesday’s strikes told NBC News that Israeli tanks had shelled the Palestinian encampment. Some also said “missiles” fell in the area.
