The Last Farewell: Palestinians Bid Adieu to their Loved Ones with Tears and Pain

These are the scenes on the streets of the besieged Gaza Strip these days as the death toll from the Israeli regime’s unchecked aggression continues to mount – surpassing the mark of 29,000.

Amid the carnage unfolding in the coastal Palestinian territory, the hashtag ‘The Last Farewell’ has been trending in the past few days, showing families bidding tearful adieu to their loved ones.

In one of the posts on X, formerly Twitter, Palestinian journalist Aya Isleem shares a clip of a man bidding the last farewell to his niece Layan Madoukh who was murdered by the regime.

In the short clip, the man wearing a red-colored t-shirt is seen chasing a stretcher with a dead body on it outside a hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, crying and wailing inconsolably.

“A Palestinian uncle bids the last farewell to his niece Layan Madoukh who was murdered in an Israeli occupation airstrike on Gaza Strip,” Isleem tweeted.

A Palestinian uncle bids the last farewell to his niece Layan Madoukh who was murdered in an Israeli occupation airstrike on Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/yjHNl30Y2v

— Aya Isleem 🇵🇸 #Gaza (@AyaIsleemEn) May 10, 2023

A page by the name ‘The Fact Finder’ shared another graphic video on X, which showed a young boy with a bandaged head and bruised legs bidding farewell to his mother, who lay on the stretcher.

“The injured boy, Mahmoud Al-Khatib, bids farewell to his mother, who died as a result of the occupation’s bombing of civilian homes in the Gaza Strip,” read the post.

“This is the last farewell in Gaza."

"This is the last farewell in Gaza."

The injured boy, Mahmoud Al-Khatib, bids farewell to his mother, who died as a result of the occupation’s bombing of civilian homes in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/9LHLrAuiwc

— The Fact Finder (@FactualNarrator) November 5, 2023

A page named ‘The Palestinian’ shared a picture of a woman sitting on the stairs next to a dead wrapped in a blood-stained coffin, visibly gutted and hopeless.

The picture had a caption in Arabic, which translated into ‘The Last Farewell.’

The last farewell! #Gaza pic.twitter.com/jwuT52kTd6

— The Palestinian (@InsiderWorld_1) December 20, 2023

In another tweet, Karim Wafa Al-Hussaini, a historian and poet, shared a video in which a mother and a grandfather were crying and beating their chest in a state of unutterable sorrow.

“Heartbreaking: Palestinians in Gaza bid the last farewell to their sons and relatives, who were murdered by Israeli airstrikes, last night,” he wrote.

Heartbreaking: Palestinians in Gaza bid the last farewell to their sons and relatives, who were murdered by Israeli airstrikes, last night.pic.twitter.com/1d3Uexlz8E

— Karim Wafa Al-Hussaini (@DrKarimWafa) May 10, 2023

Sarah, a mother and teacher from Palestine, in a post on X, shared a video of a heartbroken father rubbing the back of his tender-aged daughter who was murdered in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

“Oh, my heart! A Palestinian father hugs his baby daughter, bidding her a last farewell after being killed by an Israeli occupation airstrike in the Gaza Strip,” she wrote.

Oh, my heart!
A Palestinian father hugs his baby daughter, bidding her a last farewell after being killed by an Israeli occupation airstrike in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/6nRCLbk3Tw

— S A R A H 👑✌️🇵🇸 (@Sarah_Hassan94) October 9, 2023

Wafa News Agency, a state-affiliated news agency in Palestine, shared a post on X in which a Palestinian father was seen fondly caressing his son after pulling off the shroud from his blood-stained face.

Many other dead bodies were scattered around him.

“A Palestinian father kisses his baby while bidding the last farewell to him after being killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza,” read the tweet.

A Palestinian father kisses his baby while bidding the last farewell to him after being killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. #GazaGenocide #StrikeForGaza pic.twitter.com/drtSjDYlR7

— Wafa News Agency - English (@WAFANewsEnglish) December 11, 2023

In another post shared by social media activist Javeria Sultan, a bereaved father, struggling to hold back his tears, caressed the face of his teenage son killed by the marauding Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

“The last farewell between a father and his son in Gaza,” read the post.

Gaza| The last farewell between a father and his son in Gaza.. pic.twitter.com/nxpSuJUPA6

— Javeria Sultan (@javeria_sultan1) February 16, 2024

In a similar clip shared on social media, a young father sitting in a wheelchair, nursing an injury, was seen firmly hugging his little son covered in a white shroud as his relatives tried to pacify him.

“The last farewell...a painful scene from the Gaza Strip,” wrote the social media user Abdullah Omar.

The last farewell...a painful scene from the #Gaza Strip.💔🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/G5ms4JuPpP

— Abdullah Omar🇵🇸 (@Abdullah_Om3r03) October 15, 2023

An X user by the name of Islam shared an evocative clip of a young boy grabbing his murdered father tightly after uncovering his face, bidding the final farewell, and not letting him go.

“The last farewell between a child and his father in Gaza Palestine,” wrote the X user.

The last farewell between a child and his father in Gaza Palestine.😢😭 pic.twitter.com/OeM0FEPJpl

— Islam (@AqssssFajr) November 10, 2023

Another user by the name of Zaahra shared a clip of a devastated mother quietly and emotionally conversing with her little son drowned in blood while holding him tightly in her embrace.

“The last hug and the last farewell. A scene that repeats itself every day in Gaza,” she wrote.

The last hug and the last farewell

A scene that repeats itself every day in Gaza😭#Gaza_Geniocide#وینکن_یاعرب pic.twitter.com/91J8nx7A8j

— zaahra_95 (@ZAAHRA_95) November 8, 2023

Only days after the Israeli regime launched its bombardment of the Gaza Strip in October, a user by the name ‘Motherland’ shared a picture of a little boy staring curiously at his slain mother.

The tweet was widely shared at the time.

A painful scene of a Palestinian child giving the last farewell to his mother who was murdered in an Isr**eli airstrike in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/aXNxahtYPZ

— Motherland (@Motherl28134473) October 15, 2023

So far, at least 29,200 Palestinians have been killed with more than 69,000 others injured in the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Thousands of others are still trapped under the rubble and unaccounted for, especially in the north.

In the last 24 hours alone, Israeli forces committed nine massacres in various parts of the territory, according to the health ministry, killing at least 103 Palestinians and injuring 124 others.