Gaza war: Mother in disbelief as child survives Israeli bombing

There has been a rare moment of relief in the Gaza Strip after a mother was reunited with a child she thought was lost in Israel's brutal bombing of the Palestinian enclave.

In a video shared via local media Tuesday, the mother is overcome with emotion as she is reunited with her son, still covered in dust, at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

While crying, she rushes to embrace her child, repeatedly saying "Oh my love" and checking his arms, legs, and face for injuries. The child asks if his grandfather is okay, to which she responds "yes".

That the mother could not believe her child had survived is understandable, given that more than 4,000 children have been killed in Gaza since Israel began pounding the besieged enclave on 7 October.

The local health ministry had previously said that one child is killed in Gaza every 10 minutes.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the bombing began, while 2,000 people are missing, according to ministry figures, meaning the real death toll is likely to be far higher.

Much of Gaza has been turned to rubble by Israel's assault, and almost half of all hospitals in Gaza are now out of action, according to the health ministry.