Pleas of surviving relatives: A surviving uncle of the al-Qulaq children said after their burial: “We carried them out one after another from the rubble — Hala, Yara, Rola, Lana. They were just children. They should have been carrying school bags, not shrouds. What crime did they commit to be buried this way?” Another relative of the al-Qulaq family, mourning the loss of 17 family members that night, pleaded: “From the baby who was one year old to our grandfather who was 90, they are all gone. We only ask the world to see us, to protect us, and to stop these massacres.” A neighbor who helped with the rescue said: “When we found them, the sisters were still close together. They died hugging each other. Their family is destroyed. We beg for justice. This cannot be allowed to happen again.” A surviving cousin of the children expressed despair: “We are not numbers. We are families, children, mothers, fathers. Today it is us — tomorrow it could be anyone. Where is the justice for Lana and her sisters?”

Pleas of surviving relatives: A surviving cousin of the al-Qulaq family told journalists in tears after the burials: “We buried children in pieces. Entire families have vanished under the rubble. We only ask the world: why did they bomb our houses without warning? Why our children?” Extended relatives of Yara’s family said they had to identify small bodies, some burned and crushed: “We pulled them out with our own hands, one after another—Hala, Yara, Rola, Lana. They were all so young. How can anyone justify this?” A neighbor who joined in the rescue work said: “They targeted us while we were sleeping. The girls were hugging each other when we found them. Their family is destroyed. We beg the international community—don’t let this crime pass without justice.” Relatives of the al-Qulaq family publicly appealed for accountability: “We lost seventeen members of our family in one night. From a baby of one year to our grandfather of ninety. What law in the world allows this? We want the world to protect us and to hold the killers responsible.”

Pleas of surviving relatives: Riyad Hasan Shkontana, who was pulled alive from under the rubble but learned that his wife and five children had all been killed, cried in anguish at al-Shifa Hospital: “They told me my whole family was gone. Why did they kill them? What did my children do? What did we do to deserve this?” Relatives of the Abu al-Auf family, many of whom were wiped out, pleaded for international protection. One surviving family member said: “We lost entire generations in a single night. Where is the world? Where is justice? We want those responsible to be held accountable.” cousin of the victims stated: “We pulled children from the rubble, lifeless. They bombed us in our homes without warning. We only ask: why our children? Why our families?”

Pleas of surviving relatives: “What was their crime? They were sleeping in our home. I buried them all with my own hands.” He begged that no other parent should be left to bury all their children and pleaded for the killing of families in Gaza to stop.

Pleas of surviving relatives: “They are now gone, killed with their families, buried with their dreams and the nightmares that haunted them.”