GAZA — In the heart of Gaza’s Al-Bureij refugee camp, a small boy woke to a nightmare no child should ever endure.
Ahmed Abu Bakr Al-Maqadmah went to sleep cradled by the comfort of his family. By morning, he was buried under the rubble of his home, his world reduced to dust and silence.
At around 1 a.m., Israeli airstrikes flattened Al-Maqadmah family home. Ahmed’s parents and siblings died instantly under the collapsed walls. Rescue teams could not reach them. Neighbors, powerless against the destruction, believed everyone inside had perished.
But at first light, a miracle appeared. Ahmed emerged from the wreckage—alone, wounded, and dazed.
Today, he carries a new title, born of loss: the only survivor.
Ahmed, the grandson of slain scholar Dr. Ibrahim Al-Maqadmah, had fallen asleep that night in the living room, separated from his family who had gathered in a single bedroom. When the missiles struck, a heavy stone struck Ahmed’s head, knocking him unconscious.
Hours later, he awoke, disoriented and alone under the ruins.
In the confusion, Ahmed spotted his kindergarten backpack lying nearby. Believing it was an ordinary morning, he tried to prepare for kindergarten, unaware that his home—and his family—were gone.
An Alkofiya correspondent bursts into tears after interviewing Ahmad Al-Magadma, the sole survivor of his family. Ahmad lost his mother, father, and siblings in a deadly Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in Al-Buraij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 28, 2025
Ahmad continues… pic.twitter.com/q58VLObpJL
Neighbors digging frantically through the wreckage found Ahmed clawing his way out with his bare hands.
“I kept digging all night,” Ahmed said softly.
Asked if he had been afraid, the boy shook his head:
“I wasn’t afraid.”
He said he never even heard the explosion. He simply woke up to darkness and rubble.
The first thing he did was search for his mother.
“I looked for Mama,” he said.
But there was no answer.
Now, every few minutes, Ahmed asks the same heartbreaking question:
“Where is Mama? I want Mama.”
He does not yet understand that his mother, father, and siblings still lie beneath the ruins. Rescue teams are still trying to recover their bodies. Their fate remains heartbreakingly uncertain.
Ahmed’s story mirrors a devastating new reality across Gaza—what humanitarian workers now call “Wounded Child, No Surviving Family” (WCNSF). These are children pulled alive from beneath the rubble, only to face a world where no parent, no sibling, no grandparent remains to comfort them.
Doctors and aid organizations warn that the number of WCNSF cases is soaring to unprecedented levels. Each child represents a life permanently scarred not only by physical injuries, but by a loss so complete that it defies healing.
Ahmed is one of them. A small boy who will now walk a lonely road few can imagine.
Across Gaza, the scale of the disaster is staggering. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 39,384 children in Gaza have become orphans since the start of the Israeli genocide until the start of this month. Among them, nearly 17,000 have lost both parents—marking the largest orphan crisis in modern history.
The toll is heartbreaking. At least 17,954 children have been killed, including 274 newborns and 876 infants under one year old. Seventeen children have died from the cold in tents, while 52 others succumbed to hunger and malnutrition.
In the occupied West Bank, Israel killed 188 children, and kidnapped approximately 1,055 children.
As the Israeli war against children grinds on, the danger deepens. Gaza now faces severe vaccine shortages, leading to the return of diseases like polio. Nearly 60,000 children are at risk of acute famine and severe malnutrition.
Little Ahmed, standing alone amid the ruins, carrying his small backpack and calling for a mother he cannot find, has become the face of this devastated generation. A generation of wounded souls, buried under rubble and forgotten by a world that has looked away.
C. QNN
