More than 500 Palestinian families have been completely wiped out in the Gaza war

Jerusalem/Gaza, Jul 11 ​​(EFE).- More than 500 Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip have been completely wiped out as a result of intense Israeli bombing in nine months of war, such as the Salem family, whose more than 85 members died in several attacks in Gaza City in December.

In early December, an attack on the Salem family home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City killed 85 of its members, while the rest died days later in successive bombings in the Rimal and Tal al Hawa neighbourhoods, where they fled.

“The documentation process for families whose members were all martyred continues despite the difficulties caused by the bombings, continued displacement, attacks on civil defence teams and lack of internet to document them electronically,” explained the head of the documentation and monitoring committee of the Gaza Civil Defence, Muhamad al Mughir.

According to records, 12 families were completely wiped out in Israel’s military operation last month in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which was heavily bombed for several days, culminating in the rescue operation of four Israeli hostages on June 8, which sparked a real battle with militants in which more than 270 Palestinians were killed, according to the Hamas government.

Mughir claimed that most of the weapons used to kill these families were American, and accused “the occupation of deliberately targeting the entire neighborhood or residential area that the person they are targeting, thereby increasing the number of victims.”

“The Civil Defense is working to register all cases so that legal teams can receive this information to be used as evidence of Israel’s crimes before international courts,” he stressed.

Among the families that were completely wiped out was the Al Astal family, which lost more than 64 members in an attack on their home in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, last November.

Also in Khan Yunin, during search operations for bodies, the Civil Defence found 37 bodies of the Muanmar family, who died in a bombing that targeted journalist Alaa Muanmar, right at the European Hospital. This attack resulted in the elimination of five entire families from the Civil Registry.

“Israel also killed the entire Abu Qouta family following razing the residential area where they lived in the Al Shabura neighborhood in Rafah,” Mughir said.

The war in the Gaza Strip has continued for 279 consecutive days, more than nine months, during which some 38,300 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive and more than 88,200 have been wounded, while an estimated 10,000 bodies remain trapped under the rubble, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health.

The war began on October 7 following a Hamas attack in Israel that left some 1,200 dead – more than 700 civilians – and 250 kidnapped, of which 116 are still held captive in the enclave.