The bodies of three children lie on a steel tray inside what appears to be a Gaza hospital morgue, one leg of their trousers pushed up to reveal writing in black ink on their skin.

“We received some cases where the parents wrote the names of their children on the legs and abdomen,” Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Masri, the head of the emergency department Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, told CNN.

He said parents were worried that “anything could happen,” and no one would be able to identify their children.

“This means that they feel they are targeted at any moment and can be injured or martyred,” Al Masri added.

The black ink is a small sign of the fear and desperation felt by parents in the densely populated enclave as Israel continues to pound it with relentless airstrikes in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attacks.