Two girls shot at Gaza

The BBC World Service has gathered Layan Al-Majdalawi’s stories, two, and Mira Tanbou, six, and both killed in Gaza in individual incidents in November 2023, in areas where Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) work.

In response to our discoveries, IDF said the details of Lyan and Mira’s cases were recorded and “will be considered by the competent authorities”. He added: “The intentional harm of civilians, especially children, is strictly forbidden.”

Leyon and Mira are only two of more than 160 cases of children shot in the Gaza war, for which we have collected bills.

We found that in 95 of these cases the child was shot in the head or chest. In 59 of them, we received evidence from eyewitnesses, directly or through human rights and medical rights organizations. Witnesses say 57 of these children were shot by IDF and two were shot by Palestinians – one in festive shooting and the other in conflict with a gang.

For the remaining 36 out of 95 cases, we do not mean what happened. Israel prohibits foreign reporters from entering the gas independently, and destruction and displacement make it difficult to collect details.

The International Committee of the Red Cross told the BBC that the world cannot accept as a “new normal” type of war that allows so many children to be shot.