'She was martyred': The girl who died still wearing her rollerskates after Gaza missile strike

Ten-year-old Tala had begged her mum to let her play outside before being struck by falling rubble, as ITV News' Rachel Younger reports

Words by Olivia Mustafa, ITV News Producer

After eleven months of Palestinians in Gaza being bombed, displaced and having to bury their dead, it's understandable why Hadeel Abu Ajwa didn't want her daughter to go out to play.

Tala was just ten years old when she begged her mum to let her go rollerblading with her friends on Tuesday evening.

Hadeel eventually agreed, but just hours later, Tala was dead.

She was struck by falling rubble from an Israeli missile strike, and hurried to hospital. Doctors rushed to help, but there was nothing they could do to save her.

Medics didn't even have time to remove the pink rollerblades on Tala's feet.

Her father Husam Abu Ajwa clutched onto them as he called relatives to tell them of his little daughter's fate.

"She was martyred," he sobbed. "Killed on the front door of our home."

An Israeli missile had struck the lower part of the building where the family lived. One of the friends she was playing with was injured, and another - just three years old - was also killed.

Her mother Hadeel recounted how she was hesitant to let Tala play outside.

"My neighbour told me, 'My children are downstairs, let her go play with them'. I said okay, go down for a bit, then come back," she said.

"Tala shouted, 'yay', she was so happy. So she went down, and the strike came."

In any normal September, Tala would be getting ready to go back to school. But this year, no students are returning to the classroom in Gaza.

"Her ambition was to go back to school and for her backpack to be filled with books again, instead of clothes for every time we're displaced," Hadeel said.

"I bought her a new backpack, but she just put clothes in it again."

Israel's attacks have displaced 85% of Gaza's population, according to the region's health ministry.

The conflict was triggered by an attack by proscribed terror group Hamas on Israel, which saw 1,200 people in Israel killed and around 250 taken as hostages into Gaza.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since vowed to destroy Hamas and rescue those taken hostage.

An Israeli military operation into the Gaza Strip has now killed more than 40,000 people - many of them women and children - according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health ministry.

Tala's death is just the latest in the long list of children who have succumbed to Israeli fire - and a growing number of parents mourning their lost sons and daughters.

"She always prayed that the war would be over and we would leave Gaza, and I would say God willing, when the war is over," her father said.

"Well the war is over for her, and she is in heaven."

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