Batoul Bsharat was playing with her eight-year-old brother Reda in their village in the occupied West Bank. Moments later an Israeli drone strike killed him and two of their cousins, AFP reports.

“It was the first time in our lives that we played without arguing. It meant so much to me,” the 10-year-old said as she sat on the concrete ledge outside the family home in the northern village of Tammun where they had been playing on Wednesday.

At her feet, a crater no wider than two fists marked where the missile hit. The wall behind her is pockmarked with shrapnel impacts and streaks of blood still stain the ledge.

Besides Reda, Hamza, 10, and Adam, 23, were also killed.

“Just before he was martyred, he started kissing and hugging me,” Batoul said. “I miss my brother so much. He was the best thing in the world.”

Her cousin Obay, 16, brother of Adam, was the first to come out and find the bodies, before Israeli soldiers came to take them away. “I went outside and saw the three of them lying on the ground,” he said. “I tried to lift them, but the army came and didn’t allow us to get close.”

 An elderly Palestinian man walks by as Israeli army armoured vehicles move along a road in the Palestinian village of Qabatiyah, in the north of the occupied West Bank, on January 10, 2025. — AFP
An elderly Palestinian man walks by as Israeli army armoured vehicles move along a road in the Palestinian village of Qabatiyah, in the north of the occupied West Bank, on January 10, 2025. — AFP

Opinion

Editorial

Spoiler alert
17 Jun, 2026

Spoiler alert

AFTER the temporary peace deal between the US and Iran is physically signed in Geneva on Friday, an arduous process...
Storm-tested cities
17 Jun, 2026

Storm-tested cities

THE deaths caused by the latest spell of monsoon rains in KP and Punjab illustrate how quickly severe weather can...
Chakwal tragedy
17 Jun, 2026

Chakwal tragedy

A NINE-year-old girl is dead because a Punjab Crime Control Department gunman mistook her family’s car for a...
A new deal
Updated 16 Jun, 2026

A new deal

AFTER three and a half months of war between US-Israel and Iran and an acrimonious temporary ceasefire, a genuine...
Charter of economy
16 Jun, 2026

Charter of economy

NO one expected the PTI to accept the government’s invitation to sign a charter of economy; just as few expected...
Hostage seamen
16 Jun, 2026

Hostage seamen

SOME 50 days on, 11 Pakistani nationals are still in Somali pirates’ captivity. Their appeals to the Pakistani and...