The attack was aimed at the Ejlah family in Zawaida, central to the Gaza Strip, says a spokesman for the Palestinian civil defense, Mahmud Bassal.
A journalist from the AP news agency, who was present at the al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah where the victims were taken, confirms that the hospital has received 18 members of the family, who have been confirmed killed.
A large number were also injured in the attack, and the condition of several of them is serious.
Peaceful man
The Palestinian businessman Sami Jawad al-Ejlah, with permission from the Israeli army, has been importing meat and fish into Gaza for a long time.
Both he, his two wives and eleven children aged 2 to 22 were killed in the attack. So did the children’s grandmother and three other family members.
– He was a peaceful man, says neighbor Abu Ahmed, who was slightly wounded in the attack.
– They were sleeping in their beds, children and babies. There are no military activities there at all, says the neighbor to the Reuters news agency.
The Israeli army (IDF) rarely comments on individual attacks it carries out in Gaza. On Saturday night, the army said it had attacked “terrorist infrastructure” in central Gaza from which rockets have been fired at Israel in recent weeks. The attacks against militants in central Gaza continue, the IDF says, adding that the attack in Zawaida will be investigated.
Internally displaced persons
Over 40 Palestinian internally displaced persons were also in the buildings that were attacked, and on Saturday it was still unclear whether there were more in the ruins.
– The houses were hit by three rockets, says Abu Ahmed.
– There were many children and women there, what have they done to deserve this, he asks.
Civilian casualties
On Saturday, the IDF ordered a new mass evacuation of Palestinian civilians in central Gaza, warning of a new military offensive as a result of the rocket attacks.
The civilians in the area have now been ordered to seek refuge in what Israel refers to as humanitarian zones. But these areas are constantly shrinking and are also regularly attacked.
Over 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants are now living on the run, and many families have had to flee time and time again on orders from Israel.
– Most comprehensive to date
Saturday’s order covers Palestinians in parts of central Gaza, including the Maghazi district, which is near Zawaida. Residents say thousands poured out of Maghazi on Saturday.
The day before, the army also ordered the evacuation of parts of the southern city of Khan Younis, in areas that Israel has described as humanitarian zones. There, too, the rationale is that militant Palestinians fire rockets from there.
The UN estimates that Israel has forcibly evacuated 84 percent of the Gaza Strip. Friday’s order includes 170,000 internally displaced persons, estimates the UN emergency aid office OCHA.
– This is one of the most extensive evacuation orders to date, and it shrinks the so-called humanitarian areas to around 41 square kilometers or 11 percent of the Gaza Strip’s total area, OCHA states.
Over 40,000 killed
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 40,074 Palestinians have been killed and 92,537 injured in Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip in the last ten months.
According to the Ministry of Health, nearly 70 percent of those killed are children and women.
Thousands of victims are also missing and it is feared that many of them are buried in the ruins of bombed buildings.
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2024-08-19 12:58:47
