Young Gaza Artist Was among Those Killed in Israeli Strikes

Drawings by Duniana al-Amour are seen in her damaged bedroom which was hit by Israeli strike, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 10, 2022. (AP)
Drawings by Duniana al-Amour are seen in her damaged bedroom which was hit by Israeli strike, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 10, 2022. (AP)
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Young Gaza Artist Was among Those Killed in Israeli Strikes

Drawings by Duniana al-Amour are seen in her damaged bedroom which was hit by Israeli strike, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 10, 2022. (AP)
Drawings by Duniana al-Amour are seen in her damaged bedroom which was hit by Israeli strike, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 10, 2022. (AP)

When Israeli bombs began falling last week, 22-year-old Duniana al-Amour ran into her room and tried to escape into her art and drawing, just as she had during Gaza's past wars.

But this time around, her pencil never met the paper.

An Israeli shell struck outside her home on Friday, making her one of the first of at least 47 Palestinians — including 16 children — who were killed during three days of heavy fighting between Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group. She was killed during Israel's surprise opening salvo, hours before militants had fired any rockets.

Her drawings, mostly black and white portraits of relatives, some killed in previous rounds of fighting in Gaza, can be seen in the shattered bedroom where she died. Her mother, her brother and two sisters-in-law were in another room baking bread and suffered only minor injuries. Days later, the bread sits out on a wooden tray — a still-life from the moment the shell hit.

One of her sisters-in-law, Simone, said al-Amour's life revolved around her art. "She painted whether she was happy or sad. She would bring a chair to the backyard, sit and draw. She drew all of us," Simone said.

Her death underscores the vulnerability of Palestinian civilians during the frequent conflicts, including four wars fought between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers since they seized power in Gaza 15 years ago. The wars have killed more than 4,000 Palestinians, over half of whom were civilians, according to the United Nations.

More than 100 people have been killed on the Israeli side.

Those killed during the latest violence include two senior Islamic Jihad commanders, one of whom Israel said it targeted in order to foil an imminent attack. But many civilians also perished, including as many as 16 who might have been killed by rockets misfired by Palestinian militants.

Islamic Jihad fired some 1,100 rockets, but the Israeli military said some 200 fell short and most of the rest were intercepted or fell in open areas. No Israelis were killed or seriously wounded in the latest round of fighting.

An Egyptian brokered ceasefire ended the violence late Sunday, but grief still hangs over the impoverished territory.

Gaza has also been under a crippling Israeli blockade since the Hamas takeover, which Israel says is needed to keep the fighters from re-arming. Critics view the blockade, which severely limits movement in and out of the narrow seaside territory — home to more than 2 million Palestinians — as collective punishment.

Al-Amour had tried to escape Gaza's tribulations through art. Her relatives said she had little interest in politics and dreamed of making a Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia.

Her family home, nestled among farmland and olive groves near the border, was a bucolic escape from Gaza's densely-packed cities and refugee camps. It was also on the front line whenever a new round of fighting broke out.

The Israeli military said it "precisely attacked legitimate military targets" during the latest operation and made "every effort to prevent and minimize harm to civilians." It did not immediately comment on the strike near al-Amour's home.

Israel destroyed several guard towers manned by Palestinian gunmen near the border, apparently with artillery or tank shells, including one about 500 meters (yards) from al-Amour's family home. The military distributed video showing some of the hits — the towers going up in smoke and the men inside vanishing in a flash.

All the family knows is that the shell that killed al-Amour came from the direction of the border fence. Mohammed al-Amour, Duniana's grieving brother, said that Israel, with its sophisticated surveillance and targeting capabilities, had to have known what it was aiming at.

"They brag about this technology," he said. "They know who is a civilian or not."



Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)

They may be the most powerful people on earth, but for the seating arrangement at Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday, all foreign leaders will play second fiddle to the Argentines and Italians and surrender to the whims of the French alphabet.

About 130 foreign delegations had so far expressed their desire to attend the funeral, the Vatican said on Friday, and more were expected to do so throughout the day. Those include around 50 heads of state who have been confirmed as attending, among them US President Donald Trump and 10 reigning monarchs.

Apart from the VIPs, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral in St. Peter's Square, which starts at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Saturday. Italian police have laid on one of the most complex security operations in decades.

The official delegations will sit at a section to the right of the altar at the top of the steps leading toward St. Peter's Basilica.

Pride of place goes to Argentina, Francis' native country, whose president, Javier Milei, will sit in the front row. Milei, a maverick right-wing libertarian, had heaped insults on Francis while he was campaigning in 2023, calling him an "imbecile who defends social justice". But the president shifted his tone after he took office that year.

Next comes Italy, the country that surrounds the Vatican and which agreed in 1929 to recognize its sovereignty as the world's smallest state. It gets the second-best seats in the VIP section also because the pope is bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy.

That is when the alphabet in French – still considered the language of diplomacy – kicks in for the other delegations. The countries following Italy are ordered according to their names in French and not in their native languages.

So, it is Etats Unis and not United States, Allemagne instead of Deutschland (Germany), and Pays-Bas instead of Nederland (The Netherlands).

Royalty will take precedence. Reigning monarchs -- expected to include royalty such as the kings and queens of Spain and Belgium and Prince Albert of Monaco -- will be seated in front of other heads of state.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Friday that no distinction would be made between Catholic and non-Catholic royalty for the seating order. After the royals come the remaining heads of state. Trump, who attracted criticism from Francis because of his immigration policies, will sit ahead of many other leaders because Etats Unis begins with an "E".

That alphabetic logic means that Trump - currently engaged in trying to get a peace deal in the war in Ukraine - will not be sitting near Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Former US President Joe Biden, who has been the target of constant criticism by Trump, is attending the funeral, but will not be part of the official US delegation, a diplomatic source said. This means Biden, a lifelong Catholic, should be sitting further back, with other VIPs.