The victims of Israel’s bombing of Gaza, several thousand of them children and many more ordinary men and women, have all but been ignored by Australia’s legacy media.

These were not Hamas fighters but mums, dads and grandparents, school teachers, doctors and tradies. Most were killed in their homes, with an estimated 6,500 still buried under rubble and local rescuers unable to get to them amid Israel’s constant air strikes.

Their stories are being told on social media sites like X and Telegram, and by independent news outlets and a few digital publishers, but almost never mentioned by Australian newspapers or broadcasters.

Sites such as They Have Names, Martyrs of Gaza and We Are Not Numbers are documenting their stories.

Central News looks at some of the lives brought to an end in Gaza where neighbourhoods have been flattened and the population has been deliberately starved of food, water and medicine.

Rawan Abu Hussein was holding her two-year-old daughter Julia in her arms when shrapnel from an Israeli bomb burst through their kitchen killing the child (above, top right). They were in a section of Khan Yunis refugee camp in Southern Gaza, an area supposedly not being targeted, when bombs obliterated eight family homes nearby. While Rawan escaped alive an estimated 49 people were killed in the attack on October 26.

Third year medical student Bisan Hassan Shaaban Halasa, 19, was killed by a bomb dropped on her home. She died alongside her mother, sister Mara and brother Omar.

Before her death she wrote: “I have dreams that I have not yet achieved. I have a life I have not yet fully lived. I have a family that I love and fear for.”

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Bisan Hassan Shaaban Halasa, 19, with her pet cat. Bisan and her family were killed in an air strike on her house. Photo: Supplied.

 

Sisters Viola and Yara Amash were among 18 people killed in a missile strike as they sought shelter with hundreds of people in the grounds of Gaza’s St Porphyrius Greek Orthodox church on October 19. Both young women had previously been baptised at the church and had recently married there.

Ramez al-Souri, who lost his three children and 10 other relatives in a missile strike on the nearby al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, that killed 471 people, was also sheltering in the church.

“My heart died with my children that evening,” he said. “All my children were killed: Majid, 11, Julie, 12, and Suhail, 14. I have nothing left. I should have died with my children.

“We left our homes and came to stay at the church because we thought we would be protected here. We have nowhere else to go… The church was full of peaceful people, only peaceful people. There is nowhere safe in Gaza during this war. Bombardment’s everywhere, day and night. Every day, more and more civilians are killed. We pray for peace, but our hearts are broken.”

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Viola and Yara Amash were killed sheltering in a church. Photo: supplied.

 

Physics teacher Hadeel Abu Al-Roos (main image, bottom left) thought she would be safe in the south of the Gaza Strip. She and her husband Bassel Al-Khayyat, their four children and nine other relatives, were killed in an air strike in Rafah, where the IDF had told Palestinians to flee, on October 13.

Her younger brother Karim said: “She raised me, walked me to school, organised my toys. Later she bought me books when I could not afford them. Hadeel was always there for me in good and bad days.”

Writer Mohammed Hammo, was killed along with his entire family, in an Israeli airstrike on their home. A spokesman for his employer, We Are Not Numbers (WANN), said: “May Mahmoud Hammo and his family rest in peace, and may their memories be a source of strength during these dark times.”

The death of three-year-old Reem Nabhan received global attention in November when a video of her grandfather Khaled cradling her dead body went viral. She died under the rubble of her home, which was partially destroyed in an Israeli missile strike on the Al Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza. Her brother Tarek, five, was also killed.

From the ruins of his home, Nabhan told CNN: “I used to kiss her on her cheeks, on her nose and she would giggle. I kissed her but she wouldn’t wake up.

“I combed his (Tarek’s) hair like he would always ask me to, like a photo he would always show me.

“I was wishing, hoping that they were only sleeping. But they weren’t sleeping, they are gone.”

 

On October 17, brother and sister Aya and Abdullah Al-Maghari (main image, top left) were killed in an Israeli air strike on their home.

Their mother wrote after their deaths: “It’s you who survived, not me. I remained in a world that became more cruel and mean, depriving me of you in a treacherous moment.

“I accepted, by God, I accepted God’s decree, but my back was broken… and it won’t be easy for me.

“The day before, you used to tell me, ‘Oh Lord, Mama, may the missile not separate us. Oh Lord, may our home not be destroyed, and may we not die.'”

Palestinian scientist Professor Sufian Tayeh and his family were killed in an Israeli air strike on their home in Jabalia in Northern Gaza on December 2, the Palestinian Higher Education Ministry said. Prof Tayeh was a distinguished figure in physics and applied mathematics and the president of the Islamic University of Gaza. He was recognised globally, with UNESCO acknowledging his work.

According to Human Rights Watch more than 183 Palestinian teachers have been killed by Israeli attacks.

Misk al-Sousi (main image, bottom right), the daughter of Imad Al-Sousi, Gaza’s most famous falafel seller, was shot dead by the IDF in November.

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Professor Sufian Tayeh was killed alongside his whole family. Photo: Supplied.

 

Israel has hit Gaza with 22,000 shells, missile and bombs, more than three times the number used by the US in the worst year of the Afghanistan War. Satellite images estimate at least 60,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed, and the United Nations has warned that Israel’s blanket bombing of civilians and infrastructure are rendering the Gaza Strip uninhabitable.

Since October 7, over 18,800 Palestinians have been killed, the overwhelming majority of them civilians – among them more than 7,000 children. An additional 50,787 Palestinians were reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza as wounded as of December 14.

Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people in its October 7 attack on Israel, while around 139 hostages remain in captivity. The IDF said 116 of its soldiers had been killed fighting in Gaza.

Main image: clockwise from top left, Aya and Abdullah Al-Maghari, Lina Al-Muqayed, Julia Abu Hussein and mum Rawan, Bassel Al-Khayyat and Hadeel Abu Al-Roos, Mohammed Hammo, Misk Imad Alsousi, 12, were all killed in Israeli missile strikes. Photos: supplied.

Due to some Australian media organisations penalising or discriminating against reporters for complaining about an anti-Palestinian bias in reporting on the conflict, as well as online trolling of student social media accounts, the author of this story has chosen to remain anonymous.

Central News provides a platform for students to write stories they want to write. If any students want to report on the Israeli perspective then we welcome that too. This platform is driven by the students and is for the students. Our aim is to support but also protect all our students.