Newborn twins were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip as their father went to collect their birth certificates, Anadolu reports.

The two babies were born on Saturday in the city of Deir al-Balah, but an Israeli strike on their apartment shattered the family’s joy of their newborns.

“I have just obtained the birth certificates for my newborn babies Aysel and Asser,” their father Mohammad Abu al-Qumsan told Anadolu as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“They were born on August 10. I was outside the house, finalising the paperwork, and then I got the call… I didn’t expect to find them all gone.”

Mohammad and his wife, Jumana Arafa, who had been displaced from northern Gaza, welcomed their twins into the world after a challenging cesarean delivery. Their hearts brimmed with joy, and the couple looked forward to the future with their two little ones.