‘Death and darkness’: Gazans’ night of terror as Israel strikes
Muhammad Abu Fares’ family and relatives endured the most terrifying night of their lives on Thursday when Israeli artillery launched a devastating bombardment on towns in the northern Gaza Strip.
“I heard shells exploding and people screaming,” Abu Fares, 27, who lives in the Bedouin village, told Arab News.
“I went out quickly to see what was happening. The house next to ours was hit and some neighbors helped remove the bodies and the wounded.
“The scene was terrible with several bodies lying there and the injured crying out for help. I carried six bodies out to the street,” he said.
Israeli artillery targeted border areas in the northern Gaza Strip, including the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia as well as the Bedouin village, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes and seek shelter in UN schools.
Abu Fares went with his family to an UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) school in Beit Lahia after accompanying three wounded people in an ambulance to hospital.
The UN aid organization said in a statement: “As of last night hundreds of people, many Palestine refugees, are seeking refuge and safe shelter in UNRWA schools, especially in the northern part of the strip and Gaza city. “UNRWA has to quickly turn identified schools into properly managed shelters. In 2021, the situation is slightly different in that we now have to consider the
COVID-19 pandemic and how to minimize the risk of people crowding in a confined space and spreading the virus.”
The Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, especially the northern areas, began shortly after midnight and lasted more than 30 minutes, leaving residents terrified.
Lubna Younis, 37, told Arab News: “We endured a night during which we saw death more than once. We did not know what was happening or where the shelling was coming from. We thought this would be the end. The shelling had become indiscriminate and Israeli warplanes bombed homes everywhere.”
The Israeli strikes raised the death toll to 122, including 31 children and 20 women, while more than 900 others were wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. On Friday, the streets were
empty of people, and shops remained closed, except for some grocery stores.
Mamdouh Mutair, 42, sat at the entrance to his house with some of his neighbors after six houses nearby were destroyed by Israeli shelling late on Wednesday.
“My mind cannot understand what happened and is still happening. It is beyond comprehension and without logic. In a quarter of an hour, there was death, there was smoke and darkness everywhere,” Mutair told Arab News.
“Dozens of rockets fell suddenly at midnight, destroying all the houses in front of us. Broken glass was everywhere, the cars under the houses were destroyed, children were terrified, I embraced my children and my wife, and we began crying and kissing them as if it was the end of our lives,” he said.