Palestinian children return to school for the first time since Israel’s latest attack on Gaza but not all students made it back. Sarah Al-Dalou had to be excused from class as she — along with 9 other members of her family and 2 neighbors [graphic] — were killed by an Israeli airstrike when F-16 fighter jets reduced their house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza to rubble.

A sign now occupies her seat instead, calling her a ‘martyr’. She was one of 34 children killed by the Israeli Army during their week-long assault on the blockaded coastal enclave, with 161 Palestinians dead in total.

(Photo source: @mohammednazmi)

Bottom photo: Palestinian children return to school in January 2009 after Israel’s massacre in Gaza, named ‘Operation Cast Lead’, when over 300 children were killed by the Israeli Army, and 1,400 Palestinians in all.

Signs replaced the once-occupied seats at al-Fakhura School in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza; names of victims written under the word in red: ‘Martyr’, 24 January, 2009.

(Photo credit: Anja Niedringhaus / AP)