“I Want His Shirt, I Want His Scent”: A Child in Gaza Cries for His Father’s Blood-Soaked Shirt

What do we do with the fact that millions are dying because of the colonial occupation of a few countries? And not just people; children, at a terrifying scale. Gaza has been heading toward a famine-like situation for weeks, and the world is watching.

The airdrops of supplies feel less like help and more like mockery. As Israel seizes Palestine’s borders to choke off life-saving aid, Gaza’s situation worsens by the day.

Comrawire reported that “airdrops are humiliating,” echoing the voices of people in Gaza and international humanitarian organizations demanding an end to the siege and the full reopening of border crossings for proper aid distribution. Jordan, Egypt, and the UAE have been allowed to carry out airdrops, an approach condemned as “costly, inefficient, and dangerous.” UNRWA has even warned that these drops can kill the very civilians they are meant to save.

What strikes hardest is this: children are bearing the brunt of this catastrophe. At least 151 people have already died from Israeli-enforced starvation, including 89 children and the numbers keep climbing. UNICEF reported on July 16 that around 17,000 children have died in Gaza so far. Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s Executive Director, stated that every one of Gaza’s one million children has suffered from starvation or injury, with nearly 33,000 wounded. Many of them were killed or injured while simply lining up for food.

On July 30, a video went viral, a small boy crying for his dead father, begging for his blood-soaked shirt as a keepsake, because it still carried his father’s scent. The clip, barely a minute long, is one of the most haunting pieces of war documentation in recent memory.

An average of 28 children die in Gaza every day. This can’t be reduced to a statistic. It has to be a stain carried by everyone who supported this war;  and by those who looked away, distracted by their Happy Meals and Coca-Cola, scrolling past the suffering before moving on with their lives.

Right now, it feels like the occupation isn’t just destroying Gaza. It’s mocking anyone who once claimed to care, anyone whose outrage has dulled into silence.

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