TEL AVIV — It was a moment of elation amid tragedy in December as baby Tala Rouqa was pulled from the rubble, unconscious but miraculously alive, after an airstrike crushed the home in Rafah where she and her family had hoped to find refuge from the war.
“She’s alive!” rescuers cheered, as a neighbor bundled her in his arms and raced her to the nearby hospital, in a scene captured by NBC News’ crew on the ground.
Her mother’s limp hand could be seen nearby in the rubble — perhaps reaching out towards, perhaps slipping from, her daughter. The mother was killed in the strike, along with at least 20 people, according to Palestinian health officials.
Tala’s sister Toleen, her brother, Youssef, her grandmother and several other relatives were among those killed.
For Tala’s father, Ahmad Rouqa, who was seriously injured, but survived the Dec. 28 attack, her rescue was a “glimmer of hope.”
But more than two weeks later, in the early hours of Jan. 15, Tala died too, plunging the grieving father into a new depth of despair.
The exact cause of Tala’s death is not clear, but she’s believed to have succumbed to her injuries, for which she was still receiving treatment.
“I hoped that she would remain with me in this life, as a memory of her mother and her siblings, her aunts and her uncles,” Rouqa said. “But praise Allah, she died. She is with God; it’s better than anything.”
Israel’s military previously did not say what it was targeting in the strike that killed the Rouqa family, but has said its bombing campaign is aimed at dismantling Hamas’ military abilities and rescuing hostages. The Israel Defense Forces did not respond to a request for further comment from NBC News.
Tala, who had suffered deep burn wounds and a broken leg, died just days before her first birthday, her father said. She was meant to undergo surgery for injuries she sustained in the strike, but doctors had urged her family to wait until she was at least a year old for her own safety during…
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