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Photos:
Mohammed Abu al-Qumsan shows the birth certificates of his twins after learning they were killed in a strike. Source: Getty Images. Published by BBC
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Alon-Lee Green - ألون-لي جرين - אלון-לי גרין ????
@AlonLeeGreen
התאומים שלו נולדו לפני ארבעה ימים. אתמול הוא יצא לאסוף את תעודת הלידה שלהם וכשהוא חזר הוא גילה שהם נהרגו ביחד עם אשתו בהפצצה של הצבא שלנו.

אם יש מישהו אחד שיכול לטעון שזה משרת את הביטחון שלנו, הוא משקר.

Translated from Hebrew by Google:

His twins were born four days ago. Yesterday he went out to collect their birth certificate and when he returned he found out that they were killed together with his wife in a bombing by our army.

If there is one person who can claim that this serves our security, they are lying.
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Newborn twins killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza as their dad went to get their birth certificates

Mohammed Abu al-Qumsan told NBC News of his grief after learning his days-old twins and wife had been killed in an Israeli strike.

By Chantal Da Silva, Richard Engel and Charlotte Gardiner for NBC News

It was supposed to be a joyful affirmation of new life in Gaza’s ruins.

Instead, as Mohamed Abu Al-Qomasan waited to collect the birth certificates of his days-old twins, he learned the newborns and his wife had been killed in what local officials said was an Israeli strike.

Holding up the birth certificates of Ayssel and Asser with tears in his eyes, he said how he had been racing to retrieve the precious documents Tuesday when he received the gut-wrenching call.

"Someone told me, 'the apartment you were living in was shelled,'" Abu Al-Qomasan told NBC News' crew on the ground in Gaza.

He was speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where he and his family had sought shelter in an apartment building during Israel's monthslong military offensive in the Palestinian enclave.

Abu Al-Qomasan said he was initially only told that his wife and children were at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

But there, the worst awaited him: That the children he and his wife had welcomed to the world just four days ago had been killed, along with their mother, Joumana Arafa, and the twins' maternal grandmother.

In video shared on social media, the father can be seen wailing as he falls into the arms of a companion, still gripping the twins' birth certificates as others gather around, trying to console him.

Later that day, he could be seen mourning with loved ones over the covered bodies of his family in video captured by NBC News' crew.

"I swear they preceded you to heaven," one man can be heard telling the grieving father. "Today we buried a woman and her husband."

Arafa, a pharmacist, had given birth to the twins by cesarean section Saturday, The Associated Press reported.

Al-Qomasan told NBC News that he and his wife had done everything they could to stay safe during Israel's offensive in hopes of seeing their twins born safely.

On a Facebook page appearing to belong to Arafa, the last post, dated Aug. 10, announces the arrival of her newborn twins with heart emojis around their names.

Since Tuesday, the post has been shared more than 21,000 times with friends of the family and social media users mourning their deaths.

The Gaza Civil Defense Agency said in a statement that Israeli shelling had hit a group of apartment buildings in the area Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces told NBC News in a statement Wednesday that the "details of the incident as published are not currently known to the IDF."