Photojournalist tweets heartbreaking picture of Syrian child

IT puts a devastating war into perspective.

Palestinian-based photojoualist Nadia Abu Shaban has tweeted a heartbreaking picture of a young child with her hands raised, thinking a gun was being aimed at her head.

"Thought he has a weapon not a camera so she gave up” reads the caption, with the hashtag #surrended (sic).

Although the story behind the picture cannot be verified, the touching image has struck a chord online. It"s been retweeted more than 8200 times and received dozens of comments from people around the world.

"Shame on humanity, UN and our so called leaders of the free world,” wrote one Twitter user., while others called it "heart wrenching” and "unbelievably sad”.

The photograph cuts to the heart of the reality for children inside Syria, where a five-year civil war has plunged the country into what the UN refers to as the "world"s worst humanitarian catastrophe”. An estimated 220,000 people have died and 12.2 million are thought to be in need of humanitarian assistance, with ordinary people facing daily threats of rape, torture and murder at the hands of both govement and rebel groups.

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