GAZA CITY/RAFAH, Gaza Strip — All one can do in the Gaza Strip these days is count how many children have been killed by Israel’s attacks. Four such children — Ismail Bakr, 9, Atef Bakr, 10, Zachariah Bakr, 10, and Mohammed Bakr, 11 — were killed on July 16 as they were playing on the beach. The number of children killed stands, at the time of writing, at 53 from a total number of 237 martyrs and more than 1,700 injured since Israel launched its war on July 8.

Al-Monitor arrived at the scene as soon as the shelling of the beach was heard. We were close to the area where the children were playing and saw the ambulances transporting their bodies, which had been lying on the sand scattered like broken dolls minutes before.

Soon after, international press reporters gathered to take photos and videos. They were nearby as this area of the beach is located in between hotels where hundreds of foreign journalists who have come to cover the war on Gaza are staying and working from.

Eyewitness Mohammed Bakr, 17, told Al-Monitor, “First, they bombed the marine police site close to where the children were playing. When they started running, a second bomb was fired, killing four of them and injuring a fifth.”