Rafah (Gaza Strip) – The evacuation warning came shortly after dark. The Israeli army fired the shot a short distance from Nasser Abu Qatta’s home in the southern Gaza Strip, a precautionary measure intended to allow people to evacuate before airstrikes.
Abu Qatta (57 years old) believed that he and his large family would be safe hundreds of meters away from the house that had been alerted of the impending strike. He gathered with his relatives on the ground floor of the four-story building, preparing for an impact in the area.
But Abu Qatta’s neighbor’s house was never bombed. He added that in an instant, an explosion occurred in his house, killing 19 members of his family, including his wife and cousins. The airstrike also killed five of his neighbors who were standing outside in the crowded refugee camp, a jumble of buildings and alleys.
The air strike on Rafah, a southern town on the border with Egypt, came as Israeli forces intensified their bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip following a major multi-front attack launched by Hamas fighters on Saturday that killed more than 700 people in Israel as of Sunday evening. . Hamas also held dozens of Israelis hostage and fired thousands of rockets toward Israeli population centers, although the country’s Iron Dome defense system intercepted most of them.
Health officials reported on Sunday that waves of air strikes have so far killed more than 400 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children. There appear to have been several similar deadly air strikes on crowded residential buildings.
The Israeli army said late Saturday that it had bombed several Hamas offices and command centers in multi-storey buildings.
But Abu Qatta does not understand why Israel bombed his house. He insisted that there were no armed men in the building where he lived, and that his family had not been warned. His relative Khaled added that they would not have stayed in their home if they had.
Abu Qatta, who was still in shock, said as he recalled the tragedy in detail: “This is a safe house, with children and women in it.”
“The house was covered in dust. There were screams,” he said. “There were no walls. “Everything was open.”
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the raid on Abu Qatta’s home.
The army says it launches precision strikes targeting militant leaders or operational sites, and does not target civilians. It also points to its adversaries’ practice of planting militants in civilian areas throughout the impoverished coastal enclave of 2.3 million people, which is under a severe land, air and sea blockade by Israel and Egypt.
But human rights groups have previously said that Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on residential homes shows a disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, and said it may amount to murder. war crimes.
In past wars and rounds of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants, individual Israeli airstrikes have killed large numbers of civilians – e.g. 22 members of the same family In one fell swoop in the bloody war of 2021.
Abu Quta was overcome with grief on Sunday as he prepared for the burial process with 24 of his surviving relatives, including wounded children and grandchildren. He added that many of the bodies recovered from the rubble were charred and mutilated.
While he was able to identify the bodies of 14 family members, the bodies of at least four children remained in the morgue, unrecognizable. One body was missing.
He said: “Maybe tomorrow we will put them in one grave.” “He may be at peace.”
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