AP PHOTOS: Grief, devastation overwhelm region in second week of Israel-Hamas war
A wounded Palestinian child, crying and clutching onto adults carrying him into a hospital. A deceased Israeli soldier’s loved ones, their faces wracked with grief as they mourn. Dozens of small posters, each one picturing a missing Israeli, as another sign blares just one word, scribbled in bright red: “Pain.”
The images tell a story of unspeakable tragedy and palpable fear, as the war between Israel and Hamas prepares to enter its third week. The deadliest of the five Gaza wars, it has left more than 1,400 people in Israel dead, as well as more than 4,100 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Palestinians look for survivors after Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
The destruction is clear throughout Gaza, as Palestinians desperately search for survivors and are forced to walk through rubble left behind after Israeli bombardments. And anguish continues to ripple throughout Israel, as mothers bury their children, flags and flowers line even more graves, and couples become separated as one partner heads into combat.
Others, meanwhile, are trying to rush to safe harbor. A little girl, pacifier in mouth, is among many who on Friday had evacuated the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, after three of its residents were injured by cross-border fire from militants in Lebanon.
A Palestinian baby wounded in Israeli strikes is treated at Al-Najar Hospital in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Israelis take cover as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza Strip in Rehovot, Israel, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Dor Kedmi)
A young girl looks through a bus window as her family departs the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, Israel, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. The Israeli military announced Friday it would evacuate the border city a day after three residents were injured by cross-border fire from militants in Lebanon. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Wounded Palestinians lie on the floor in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, after arriving from al-Ahli Hospital following an explosion there, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
Mourners attend the funeral of Shiraz Tamam, an Israeli woman killed by Hamas militants while attending a music festival, at a cemetery in Holon, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Palestinians look for survivors in a building destroyed in an Israeli bombardment in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinians try to rescue a child from under the rubble after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
Antonio Macías’ mother cries over her son’s body, covered with the Israeli flag, at Pardes Haim cemetery in Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. Macias was killed by Hamas militants while attending a music festival in southern Israel earlier this month. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel toward the Gaza Strip, in a position near the Israel-Gaza border, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Photos of Israelis missing and held captive in Gaza are displayed on a wall in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier Amitai Zvim, killed by the Hamas militants, at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Palestinian families rush out of their homes after Israeli airstrikes target their neighborhood in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
A Palestinian wounded in Israeli bombardment waits for treatment in a Hospital in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
Liyam pays respects at the grave of his fellow commander at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A shell from Israeli artillery explodes over a house in al-Bustan, a village in south Lebanon on the border with Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, Israel, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Avi Roccah)
An Israeli soldier kisses his partner as she visits him near the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli soldiers move a tank at a staging area in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestinian men look over the area of the explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
Wounded Palestinian children arrive at Shifa Hospital following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
A Palestinian woman reacts next to wounded people at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip, during an Israeli airstrike, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Palestinians evacuate wounded people from a building destroyed in an Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in a morgue in Khan Younis, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
An Israeli flag lies next to flowers on the grave of a soldier killed in the Israel-Hamas war at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Palestinians walk past buildings destroyed in the Israeli bombardment on al-Zahra, on the outskirts of Gaza City, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ali Mahmoud)
