One morning in Deir Al Balah, Gaza, Eman Al Noori sent her three youngest sons to a nearby clinic.
They heard a delivery of food supplements was being distributed, supplies that are precious in a place where empty shelves and growling stomachs have become part of daily life.
Amir, only five years old, clutched his older brother Omar’s hand, while three-year-old Siraj followed close behind with their cousin. The clinic was not far, a short walk from their home, but for children who had not eaten properly for days, it felt like a journey of hope.
It was cut short when, moments later, they were among eight children – including a one-year-old – who were killed in an Israeli strike outside the clinic.
“I remember Amir’s face before he left,” the boys' mother told The National. “He asked for food when he woke up, so he went to get some food supplements.”
Not long after they left, a terrifying sound split the morning air, a thunderclap that no mother in Gaza ever grows used to. Ms Al Noori's heart dropped.
She turned to her husband with panic in her voice. “I told him 'I’m scared'. Maybe it hit where the children went. And I just ran.”
The streets were chaotic. People were screaming. She followed the dust and smoke to the clinic, where she saw a donkey cart being loaded with small, broken bodies. The ambulance had not yet arrived.
“I saw Amir … my baby … he was already gone. His cousin, too. They were lying side by side, not moving. And Omar … Omar was still alive, but bleeding so much. They tried to save him, but the shrapnel hit the back of his head. He died before they could help him.”
Siraj, her youngest, is barely clinging on to life. Shrapnel has torn through his small head and one of his eyes is destroyed. At the hospital, he lies still, connected to machines that hum and blink, his mother keeping vigil by his side.
“I lost two of my sons in one morning,” she said, her voice raw. “They just wanted to eat. That’s why they left the house. They thought they’d come back with food. Now I will never hear Amir laugh again. Omar used to play with his younger brothers. They were waiting for a truce so they could go back outside to play again. But what does a truce mean now?”
“I have Ahmad, 13, and Mohammed, 12 … and Siraj. Siraj now. He’s my last little one. I don’t want him to lose his eye. I want to take him out, to somewhere he can be treated properly. He deserves to see the world with both eyes. He deserves a chance.”
Her voice steadied for a moment. “I will put everything I have into saving him. He’s my last hope. My heart is shattered but for Siraj, I have to stay standing.”
One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza is malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.
"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on March 2," said UNRWA's director of communications, Juliette Touma.
Officials in Gaza say Israel's war has killed about 58,400 Palestinians and injured more than 139,000 – many of them women and children – since the war began after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The%20specs
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Royal wedding inspired menu
Ginger, citrus and orange blossom iced tea
Avocado ranch dip with crudites
Cucumber, smoked salmon and cream cheese mini club sandwiches
Elderflower and lemon syllabub meringue
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
Fiorentina v Torino (8pm)
Hellas Verona v Roma (10.45pm)
Sunday
Parma v Napoli (2.30pm)
Genoa v Crotone (5pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (8pm)
Juventus v Sampdoria (10.45pm)
Monday
AC Milan v Bologna (10.45om)
Playing September 30
Benevento v Inter Milan (8pm)
Udinese v Spezia (8pm)
Lazio v Atalanta (10.45pm)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The Gandhi Murder
- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
- 7 - million dollars, the film's budget
