Tribute to children in conflict zones highlights the real tragedy of war

In a week where 300 people were lost in a plane accident and nearly the same amount in the on-going Israel-Gaza conflict, it can be hard to quantify the true tragedy of the loss of human life.

A simple number so often sanitises the terrible reality of death. When you consider that every single one of those lost has a network of family, friends and loved ones whose lives have also been changed forever, the impact is suddenly amplified.

And perhaps that is why this tribute by Israeli artist Amir Schiby to the four innocent boys who were inexplicably killed on a Gaza beach on Wednesday has struck a chord with so many.

Schiby explains on his Facebook page that this photograph is not just to remember those four boys – Ismael Mohammed Bakr, Zakaria Ahed Bakr, Ahed Atif Bakr and Mohammed Ramiz Bakr– but it is also “a tribute to all children living in war zones around the world”.