STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have one picture of the war in Gaza. While it's hard for foreign journalists to make it into Gaza, many images have made their way out. We've seen destruction from the air and from the ground. We've seen children in peril, people alive and dead. And now we have the story behind a single image from this week, which some people will find disturbing. This report is just a little over two minutes. NPR's Aya Batrawy has the story of the girl in the pink roller skates.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Tala Abu Ajwa was heading out to play with her brother when a bomb hit their building in Gaza City. Shrapnel went flying through the air, piercing her neck. The 10-year-old died within minutes. The photo of her in her pink roller skates quickly spread online.
HUSSAM ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: I reached Tala's father, Hussam Abu Ajwa, by phone in Gaza City. He says his daughter was bubbly and ambitious.
ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: He tells me the day before she was killed, she told him, Baba, I want to become a dentist and go back to school. She told her dad she wanted to celebrate her brother's birthday and forget about the war.
ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: He promised to try. Abu Ajwa, a high school chemistry teacher before the war, sends me photos of how the family once lived. Tala's arms are wrapped around his neck in a pool. In other photos, she's hugging her siblings, dolled up in dresses, headbands, a Daisy Duck sweater. She loved taking selfies. This last photo of her in the morgue, still wearing her skates, has gone viral on social media.
ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: Abu Ajwa says he tried his best to keep the family safe. The Israeli military says it takes precautions to limit civilian deaths in its targeting of Hamas. It did not respond to NPR's request on why this residential building was hit. Tala's father says the booms of Israeli airstrikes would scare her. She'd curl up in his arms.
ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: He says the Israeli airstrike killed her Tuesday afternoon, along with eight neighbors, including a family with young kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MOURNERS: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: My conversation with Abu Ajwa is interrupted several times by mourners paying their respects.
ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: The sound of an Israeli drone buzzes overhead as he tells me, "She was innocent."
Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Dubai, with reporting by Ahmed Abuhamda in Cairo.
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