How many young lives in Gaza were tragically lost due to misfired Palestinian rockets during Hamas' recent assault on Israel? How many of them were involved with terror groups, and how many died because they were in close proximity to senior Hamas targets?
“They Were Only Children,” was the headline of the unprecedented and pilloried front-page New York Times feature last week. The piece included pictures of the dozens of children killed in the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas, and drove home the message that these kids had wanted to be “doctors, artists and leaders.”
According to the Times’ own belated reporting, it turns out that at least one of them wanted to be a terrorist. Moreover, by the tender age of 17, he had fulfilled his aspiration. In their article yesterday, Adam Rasgon (one of the three writers of “They Were Only Children”) and Iyad Abuheweila reported:
“After a 17-year-old was killed in the Gaza conflict this month—one of 69 children killed in fighting between Israel and militants — a militant group claimed him as a member, though would not say whether he was killed while fighting.
“The teenager, Khaled al-Qanou, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on May 13, according to a statement from the militant group, the Mujahideen Brigades. It is against international law to recruit or use minors in armed conflicts.