Israeli military officials have confirmed that Israel was responsible for the deaths of five Palestinian children on the last day of the country’s recent bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, reports the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Quoting several defence officials the newspaper said that an army inquiry into the attack on the Falluja cemetery on August 7 had found that Israel was to blame.

At the time of the attack, the Israeli army blamed the deaths on a rogue Islamic Jihad rocket.

Cousins Jamil Nijm Jamil Nijm, four, Jamil Ihab Nijm, 13, Hamed Haidar Hamed Nijm, 16 and Muhammed Salah Nijm, 16, were killed while they sat next to their grandfather’s grave in the cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip.

The boys’ friend Nazmi Fayez Abdulhadi Abukarsh, 16, also died.

Eyewitness Mohammad Sami said at the time the boys used to frequent the cemetery.

“I was watching the boys after they bought something from the grocery store and then went to sit by the grave,” Sami said.

“They come to sit here every day. Every day. This is a safe area, they are used to being here.”

Over the course of three days, Israeli forces unleashed a wave of air strikes on Gaza, killing 49 people, including 17 children, and wounding at least 360 others.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2022