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."



Israel Says It Will Keep Troops in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria Indefinitely. What Does that Mean?

Israeli soldiers gather next to a military post on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli soldiers gather next to a military post on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
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Israel Says It Will Keep Troops in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria Indefinitely. What Does that Mean?

Israeli soldiers gather next to a military post on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli soldiers gather next to a military post on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The Israeli defense minister says his country's troops will stay in “security zones” in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, after Israel unilaterally expanded its frontiers in the war unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to hold on to the zones to prevent similar attacks, but the takeovers appear to meet the dictionary definition of military occupation, The Associated Press said.

The acquisition of territory by force is universally seen as a violation of international law, something Western allies of Israel have repeatedly invoked with regard to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Israel, which has captured territory during wars with its Arab neighbors going back to the country's establishment in 1948, says this is a special case. For decades, Israeli governments said they must hold such lands for self-defense but would return them in peace agreements, as when Israel restored the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in the Camp David Accords.

Israel has formally annexed east Jerusalem, as well as the Golan Heights captured from Syria. It has occupied the West Bank, home to some 3 million Palestinians, for more than half a century and built settlements there that today house more than 500,000 Jewish settlers.

Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but imposed a blockade, along with Egypt, after Hamas took power two years later.

In a statement Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli troops would remain in the so-called security zones in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon “in any temporary or permanent situation.”

What are the ‘security zones’?

Israel launched a massive offensive after the 2023 attack and carved out a wide buffer zone along the border. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last month and has since expanded the buffer zone, established corridors across the strip and encircled the southern city of Rafah.

Israel now controls over 50% of Gaza, according to experts. Katz did not specify which territories he was referring to.

Israel was supposed to withdraw from Lebanon under the ceasefire it reached with the Hezbollah militant group in November after more than a year of fighting. But troops have remained in five strategic locations along the border and have continued to carry out strikes against what Israel says are militant targets.

When opposition factions overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad in December, Israeli forces advanced from the Golan Heights into the Syrian side of a buffer zone established after the 1973 war. Israel has since expanded its zone of control to nearby villages, setting off clashes with residents last month.

Israel has also repeatedly bombed Syrian military bases and other targets, and has said it will not allow Syrian security forces to operate south of Damascus.

How have Israel's neighbors responded?

Lebanon and Syria have condemned Israel's seizure of their territory as a blatant violation of their sovereignty and of international law. But neither country's armed forces are capable of defending their borders against Israel.

Hezbollah, which was established during the early years of Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon, has threatened to renew hostilities if Israel does not complete its withdrawal, but its military capabilities have been severely depleted by the war and the fall of Assad, who had been a close ally.

While Hezbollah seems unlikely to return to war, an ongoing Israeli occupation could complicate Lebanese efforts to negotiate the group's disarmament.

The Palestinians seek an independent state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. A two-state solution is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict, but the last serious peace talks broke down more than 15 years ago.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages held in Gaza — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a lasting ceasefire. Israel's vow to remain in Gaza could further complicate slow-moving talks on a new ceasefire.

What is the Trump administration's position?

The United States has not yet commented on Katz's remarks.

But the Trump administration has expressed full support for Israel's actions in Gaza, including its decision to end the ceasefire, renew military operations with a surprise bombardment that killed hundreds of people, and seal off the territory from all food, fuel or other supplies.

During his first term, President Donald Trump gave unprecedented support to Israel's acquisition of territory by force, at times upending decades of US foreign policy.

Under Trump, the US became the first and so far only state to recognize Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights. Trump also relocated the US Embassy to Jerusalem, lending support to Israel's claims to the entire city. Both policies continued under the Biden administration.

Trump has proposed that the US take ownership of Gaza after the war and redevelop it as a tourist destination. He has called for the Palestinian population to be resettled in other countries, a plan that has been rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to implement the plan after Hamas is defeated, saying Israel supports the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from a territory it largely controls, much of which has been rendered uninhabitable by its offensive.