Palestinians in Rafah described an evening of worry as Israeli strikes pummeled the world early Monday, killing and wounding dozens, in line with the Gazan well being ministry, and highlighting the price of Israel’s navy operation to free its hostages.
“I swear to God it was an indescribable night,” mentioned Ghada al-Kurd, 37, who’s amongst greater than 1,000,000 folks sheltering within the southern Gaza metropolis. “The bombing was everywhere — we were convinced that the Israeli army was invading Rafah.”
Israel’s navy mentioned early Monday that it had performed a “wave of attacks” on Rafah to offer cowl for troopers who freed two hostages held by Hamas. The well being ministry in Gaza mentioned that at the least 67 folks had been killed within the strikes, and that the toll was prone to rise. The ministry’s figures don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Dr. Marwan al-Hamase, the director of Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, mentioned that the hospital had acquired 100 injured folks in a single day, together with the our bodies of 52 who had been killed.
Maher Abu Arar, a spokesman for the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, mentioned the hospital had taken in at the least 15 our bodies and 50 wounded folks. “There were a lot of body parts,” mentioned Mr. Abu Arar, following “successive and sudden” Israeli strikes.
Ms. al-Kurd mentioned that folks in Rafah had been panicking and regarded evacuating throughout the evening, however “no one knew where to even go.” She added in a voice message that her younger nieces “were crying and I was trying to calm them down,” despite the fact that she was additionally “very scared.”
Gazans in Rafah have been questioning if they need to evacuate forward of an expected Israeli ground offensive into the town. However many who’ve already been displaced multiple times because the begin of the struggle have mentioned that they’ve nowhere else to go.
Ms. al-Kurd despatched 5 brief voice messages she recorded throughout the evening wherein the sound of intense bombing and machine weapons could be heard clearly. Within the background of one of many recordings, a younger woman cries and requires her mom. In one other message, Ms. al-Kurd says: “The bombing was very close.”
“To simply put it, it was a night full of horror, strikes, death and destruction,” mentioned Akram al-Satri, 47, who’s staying within the Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah. He mentioned strikes there started at round 1 a.m. and that there have been “very violent clashes.” He added in a voice message on Monday morning that a number of homes and a mosque within the space had been destroyed.
“The explosions caused a state of panic among men, women and children alike,” Mr. al-Satri mentioned. “The state of panic pushed everyone to pack whatever they had, thinking that the ground invasion of Rafah had begun and that they would live what others have in Khan Younis, Gaza City and the north,” he added, itemizing areas of Gaza that Israeli floor troops have invaded over the previous 4 months of struggle.
Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting from Istanbul.
