Palestinians in Gaza deplore loved ones killed in Israeli airstrikes in the new conflict

Gaza City – When Mohammad Saad heard that an Israeli airstrike had killed his cousin Reema Saad, the news says that the family had been hit “like lightning”.

Reema, 31, Mohammed Telbani, her husband, 29, and her two children were at their home in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City in the early hours of Wednesday when an air attack struck the apartment building, destroying their home.

Reema, who was four months pregnant, and five-year-old Zeid died immediately, and Mohammed later died in the intensive care unit, but the body of their daughter, three-year-old Maryam, has not yet been recovered from the site. of the attack. Saad said the family had not received any warnings before the airstrike.

“I am communicating with Gaza firefighters and civil defense equipment to help Maryam find and rest and bury her next to her mother, whoever wanted that,” Saad said.

The day before the air strike was gratifying, Reem visited his family to congratulate his brother on his commitment. “The next day, they went home and were targeted,” Saad said.

The family is hiding news of the murders of Mohammed Telbani’s mother, fearing she may have a heart attack.

The death toll is rising

Since the airstrikes on the Gaza Strip attacked by Israel on Monday evening, the Gaza health ministry says at least 103 people have been killed, including 27 children, and another 580 injured.

At least seven Israelis have been killed in a rocket attack by Hamas armed groups in Gaza, including one child.

The latest escalation of violence comes after weeks of tensions in East Jerusalem over a delayed court hearing over the forced eviction of several Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district.

The friction in the city also spread to the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, which Israeli forces searched three days in a row in the last week of Ramadan, throwing tear gas and stunning grenades at worshipers inside the mosque.

Hamas issued an ultimatum on Monday to demand that Israel withdraw its forces, the third holiest site in Islam as well as worshiped by Jews.

Shortly after the deadline, Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem, and Israel launched airstrikes shortly thereafter.

The Israeli military says about 1,600 rockets have been fired from Gaza into various parts of Israel since Monday.

Spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters on Thursday that the attacks on Gaza will continue as Israel prepares for “multiple scenarios.”

“The ground units are ready and are in different stages of preparing for ground operations,” he said. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved the mobilization of 9,000 more reserve troops.

Eid chapel

Thursday was the first day of Eid al-Fitr, a religious holiday for Muslims when the holy month of Ramadan ended. But instead of joyful celebrations and gatherings for families and friends, the funeral was held when Hamas sent more rockets to Israel and continued to attack the enclave besieged by Israeli fighter jets, including Rafah, near the Egyptian border.

Salt smoke in the south as a result of an explosion after an Israeli air strike in Rafah [Said Khatib/AFP]

In Gaza City, the dead were taken from the Al-Omar mosque to the cemetery on the eastern end of the city on Thursday morning. During the procession, bombardments and rockets from airstrikes were almost constantly heard.

Due to the airstrikes, the mourning of the dead was shared only by telephone.

‘I hope I don’t feel anything’

Some Palestinians have been sharing news of the deaths of relatives on social media, highlighting their status as civilians.

See Israel’s goals: the home of civilians.
They were killed here.#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/Y7rclNWsNu

– Mrs. ???? (@BayanPalestine) May 12, 2021

Bayan AbuSultan, 25, said his cousin Miami Arafa and 27-year-old aunt, Hadeel, a four-year-old mother, were killed as they prepared for Eid at a home in the Khan Younis Amal neighborhood when an Israeli airstrike struck at around 3 p.m.

There was no warning of a preliminary strike, as Hadeel’s brother had called with him a few minutes before the bombing. Abu Sultan said he and Miami were planning to go shopping together after Ramadan because Eid al-Fitr was to be married a few days later.

The last thing he heard from his cousin was when he shared the status quo on Facebook, praying for the dead.

“Little did he know that we would soon want the same thing,” Abu Sultan said. “I tremble every time I think they were terrified. I hope I don’t feel anything. “

Israeli airstrikes have included police headquarters and government buildings, three high-rise buildings, an ice cream factory in eastern Gaza and the Al-Salah Deir Al-Balah school on the Gaza Strip list.

On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Al-Shorouq tower, which was home to media organizations. Its ruins covered Remal Street, the busiest shopping street in Gaza City.

The Israeli military has said it only targets multi-storey buildings that are “military targets”. He said the other buildings he received were “strategically significant” in Hamas.

The rights group has denounced the “collective punishment”

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (EMHRM) said that Israel’s “widespread bombing, without respecting the principle of proportionality of civilian objects … is appalling.”

Israeli forces have “spread the answer that targeting eleven civilian objects, women and children, and bombing high-density gatherings, according to the Rome Statute, is a war crime,” he said, adding that targeting civilian objects exceeds military needs. .

Even if there is a military need to target certain areas #Gaza, is a responsibility #Israel as an occupying power to comply with other provisions of international humanitarian law to prevent the harm of civilians.

Press release: https://t.co/oOv7zvCqty pic.twitter.com/tUGxf5N3jw

– Euro-Med Monitor in OPT (@EuroMedoPt) May 12, 2021

In one of the airstrikes, Israeli forces killed Amira Abdel Fattah Subuh, 58, and her son Abd al-Rahman Yusef Subuh, 19, a disabled young man with cerebral palsy, the group said.

While the Israeli army announced that it was directing the house of a battalion commander, field investigations confirmed that no one was targeted at the time of the bombing, according to the EMHRM.

“This incident is an example of Israel’s bombing policy that does not take into account the principle of proportionality. Israel deliberately acts against civilian objects to inflict damage on victims and to leave material losses as collective revenge and punishment, prohibited by international humanitarian law.”