💔 The 3 Year Old Girl They Called a “Terrorist”
Ahd Tareq Al-Buyuk was three years old. Israel killed her during a “ceasefire” — then lied about who she was.
A Message From Me to You
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The Moment I Saw Ahd’s Body
This morning, I watched a video I will never forget.
A tiny Palestinian girl — just three years old — lying on a metal morgue table, wrapped in a white shroud soaked through with blood.
Her name was Ahd Tareq Al-Buyuk.
A baby.
A toddler.
Still in the softest years of life.
And Israel shot her dead during a ceasefire.
Then told the world they had “eliminated a terrorist.”
I don’t know how to explain the feeling of watching that video.
It is grief that settles in the bones.
It is anger that rises from a place deeper than speech.
It is the unimaginable truth that the world keeps accepting the murder of Palestinian children as routine.
Who She Was — and Where She Died
Ahd was standing near her family’s tent in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.
A strip of coastal land where tens of thousands have been displaced.
A place where families are told to go for safety — even though no such place exists anymore.
Ahd’s world was small:
her parents, her siblings, the tent they slept in, the dirt beneath her feet.
And that is where Israeli soldiers shot her.
A three-year-old.
Killed in front of her family.
The Lie They Told the World
Immediately after killing her, the Israeli military published this statement:
“IDF troops identified a terrorist who approached the troops.
The troops eliminated the terrorist.”
They were talking about Ahd.
Three years old.
Pink shirt.
Tiny frame wrapped in a white burial cloth.
This is the language of genocide:
turn the child into a threat, so her death becomes a statistic instead of a crime.
Ahd never held a weapon.
She never crossed a battle line.
She never stepped onto a military base.
The only “line” she crossed was the invisible boundary between being alive… and being killed by a soldier with absolute impunity.
The Ceasefire That Never Existed
In the past year, Israel has violated every ceasefire it has signed.
Every single one.
The United Nations has documented thousands of violations, and still the world pretends these agreements have meaning.
A ceasefire is supposed to be a promise of safety — even temporary safety.
But in Gaza, a ceasefire is often nothing more than a pause in the pace of death.
Not the end of it.
Ahd’s killing is not an exception.
It is the pattern.
It is the truth of what “ceasefire” means under occupation.
What International Law Says About What Happened
Let me state this as plainly as possible:
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, the deliberate killing of a civilian child is a grave breach, which is international law’s way of saying one of the most serious war crimes in existence.
Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, intentionally targeting civilians is a crime against humanity.
Under the Genocide Convention, the systematic killing of children within a national, ethnic, or religious group is one of the legal definitions of genocide.
What happened to Ahd was not a “misidentification.”
It was not “self-defense.”
It was a war crime.
A crime against humanity.
And part of an unfolding genocide the entire world is witnessing in real time.
What the IDF Statement Actually Means
Here is the real meaning of the military’s announcement, stripped of propaganda:
They saw a child.
They shot her.
They killed her.
And they called her a terrorist to justify it.
This is why language is one of the tools of genocide.
Change the word, erase the crime.
Change the story, erase the victim.
Change the label, erase the truth.
But we will not erase Ahd.
We will not let them bury her humanity beneath their lies.
Carrying the Weight of This Loss
Family, I have written thousands of reports on injustice.
I have seen more trauma than I ever wanted to see.
But there is something about the death of a child that breaks the soul differently.
Ahd wasn’t a symbol.
She was somebody’s daughter.
She was somebody’s joy.
She was a part of the world that deserved to grow, to play, to dream, to live.
The photos show her wrapped carefully, lovingly, even after death — a child cared for by a community that never had the chance to protect her.
And as I watched the video of her little body lying on that cold steel table, I found myself whispering,
“Ya Allah… how many more?”
What Our Faith Requires From Us
In our tradition, the death of one child shakes the Throne of Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ told us that the believers are like a single body — and when one part suffers, the entire body aches.
Gaza aches.
Sudan aches.
Our Ummah aches.
The world aches.
And Allah has commanded us not just to feel this ache, but to respond to it — with truth, with action, with support, with justice.
A child’s death is not a political talking point.
It is a divine test.
What will we do in the face of this injustice?
Who will we be when history looks back on this moment?
This Is Why I Keep Writing
Because the United States is not a neutral party.
It funds this violence.
It shields Israel diplomatically.
It supplies the weapons that kill children like Ahd.
Silence is not innocence.
Silence is not neutrality.
Silence is participation.
We must not be silent.
A Final Ask From Me to You
Family, if you believe this truth matters — if you believe Ahd’s life deserved dignity and that her story deserves to be told with honesty and courage — then please click here to become a member today.
Your membership keeps this reporting free for the entire world, especially for those who need it most.
Please click here to join as a monthly, annual, or founding member.
Love and appreciate each of you.
Your friend and brother,
Shaun
I am sorry that you must see this, but I need the world to know that the genocide continues.
So so painful and invokes so much anger. Cannot believe they’re still doing this… but then again, could we expect any better of complete monsters? A tough way to start the day but we only have to read about it, while they’re the ones having to live it. We continue to advocate. Thanks Shaun, for reminding us why we can’t stop.