ALBAWABA - Western media was heavily blasted by activists and pro-Palestinians over their coverage of the story of the twins who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday.
BBC and Sky News, both British, have covered the story of the newborn twins however they received heavy backlash on social media.
BBC wrote: "Baby twins killed in Gaza as father registered births," meanwhile, Sky News also posted the news under the headline: "Gaza: Four-day-old twins killed in airstrike as father went to get birth certificates."
On the other hand, BBC mentioned in the first paragraph that the strike was carried out by the Israeli army. After this widespread controversy, the BBC republished the article under the title “Father says baby twins killed by Israeli strike in Gaza as he registered births.”
Mohamed Abu Al-Qomsan left home to get his twins Aser and Aysel's birth certificates, only to return to discover his family dead from an Israeli bombing. The twins and their mother died four days after their birth when a strike targeted their home in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.
"I don’t understand what happened," Mohamed told the BBC, shocked. "A shell hit our house, I was informed. I never got to celebrate their birth."
Mohamed and his family evacuated Gaza City early in the fighting after Israeli military evacuation orders and sought sanctuary in Deir al-Balah, believing it was safer.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that Mohamed's babies are among 115 infants killed in the violence.
The Israeli military has not responded to the BBC's airstrike inquiry. Israel claims to avoid civilian casualties and blames Hamas for operating in densely populated areas and utilizing residential buildings as cover.
Multiple Gaza shelters were attacked in recent weeks. An attack on Al-Tabeen School in eastern Gaza City's Al-Daraj district killed at least 100 Palestinians. The Israeli military claimed the attack hit a "active military site for Hamas and Islamic Jihad," which Hamas denies. The BBC has not verified either side's casualties.
Many social media users have shared footage of Mohamed Abu Al-Qomsan collecting his wife and children's remains from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Others have tweeted images of the infants, including one of their mother celebrating it on August 10.
The UN said in March that "the number of children killed in Gaza over four months exceeds the total number of child deaths during four years of wars around the world." The UNRWA Commissioner-General called the fighting a "war on children, on their childhood, and on their future," calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to save lives.
