The inhabitants of Al Maghazi continued this Monday (25) to search for survivors among the rubble after Sunday’s Israeli bombing of this Palestinian refugee camp in the central region of the Gaza Strip.
The attack left at least 70 dead and destroyed “a block of houses”, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. This balance could not be confirmed by an independent source.
The Israeli Army said it “analyzes” the information it received about this “incident” and repeated that it takes “possible measures to minimize harm to civilians”.
This military body has been bombing the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which left around 1,140 dead, mainly civilians, according to Israeli authorities. According to the Hamas government, more than 20,600 people died in the Israeli reprisal.
In the bombed refugee camp, on the remains of collapsed houses, you can see destroyed water tanks, tangled electrical cables and uprooted trees, according to images from AFPTV.
A group of men search for any surviving parts under the rubble. Others try to comfort a crying man.
Ziad Awad escaped the attack, whose damage he compared to “an earthquake”. “I survived the massacre. I was inside and safe with my children,” he told AFP.
“They bombed a house next door. My son asks me to protect him, but even I can’t protect myself”, adds the dejected family man.
Like many, I was “surprised by the bombing of houses”, stating that I received “no warning”.
-“No place is safe”-
House by house, the camp’s inhabitants inspect the damage caused by the night’s bombing. The small store called “Supermercado dos martires” threatens to collapse after being hit by the impact.
Many displaced Palestinians who fled fighting in the north between the Israeli army
This is the case of Rawan Manasra, a native of Beit Hanoun, who saw his life fall apart due to the war.
“They (the Israeli army) killed my five brothers. I don’t have any more brothers. They killed them, their children and wives”, he laments.
“Every day there are bombings. No place is safe. They tell us to move from the north to the south, but they persecute and attack us,” she denounces.
Dozens of bodies recovered from the Al Maghazi refugee camp were taken to the overcrowded hospital in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, and placed on the floor of the institution’s courtyard.
The emergency service is full of lonely injured people, without family members or doctors to care for them.
Hamas Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra denounced “a massacre” the day after the Israeli attack.
“Dozens die as martyrs due to the impossibility of treating them immediately”, he assures. “Doctors are forced to select from among the injured.”
Civilians “are amputated due to the lack of doctors, operating rooms, medicines, materials”, says the spokesperson.