October 19, 2024
Killed | Wounded | Missing |
42,500 | 99,546 | 10,000 |
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that
at least a drone launched from Lebanon directly hit Benjamin Netanyahu’s house
in Caesarea. According to the office, Netanyahu and his wife were not in their
residence, but military censorship is banning the publication of news.
The Director of Health in Gaza, Dr. Munir al-Barsh, said that the situation in
northern Gaza is catastrophic and the bodies of more than 450 Palestinians
arrived at the hospitals.
Dozens of rockets were launched towards Haifa, its
bay and over 20 locations in northern Israel.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry (Gaza),
42,500 Palestinians have been killed, and 99,546 wounded in Israel’s ongoing
genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Sat, Oct 19, 6:30 PM (Palestine
Time)
Death Toll in
Lebanon Rises
LEBANESE HEALTH
MINISTRY: The death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on Lebanon has
risen to 2,448 dead and 11,471 wounded.
Sat, Oct 19, 6:30 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah
Targets Israeli Soldiers
HEZBOLLAH: We
fired rockets at a gathering of Israeli soldiers at the Beit Hillel barracks
and another at the Marj site.
Sat, Oct 19, 6:30 PM (Palestine
Time)
Top Hamas
Official Says Complete Genocide is Happening in Gaza
TOP HAMAS
OFFICIAL SAMI ABU ZUHRI:
For the 15th
consecutive day, the Zionist occupation continues its fascist campaign in the
northern Gaza Strip.
The occupation
destroys dozens of homes daily and prevents the arrival of fuel and food to the
northern Gaza Strip.
The
international community must take effective and serious action to impose
sanctions on the fascist Israeli government.
What is
happening in the northern Gaza Strip is complete genocide.
The criminal
occupation’s cutting off of communications with the northern Gaza Strip aims to
cover up its crimes.
Sat, Oct 19, 6:30 PM (Palestine
Time)
Qassam Brigades
Target Tanks in Jabaliya
AL-QASSAM
BRIGADES: We targeted two Israeli Merkava tanks with a Shawaaz bomb and a
high-explosive bomb in Tel al-Zaatar, east of Jabaliya camp, north of the Gaza
Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 6:30 PM (Palestine
Time)
Four Killed in
Lebanon
LEBANESE HEALTH
MINISTRY: Four people were killed and 13 injured in an Israeli raid on the town
of Baaloul in the Bekaa Valley, east of the country.
Sat, Oct 19, 6:30 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah
Targets Israeli Soldiers in Safad
HEZBOLLAH: We
targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the settlement of Zar’it in
northern Israel with rockets, and also bombarded the occupied city of Safed
with a barrage of rockets.
Sat, Oct 19, 6:30 PM (Palestine
Time)
Killed, Wounded
in Nuseirat
AL-JAZEERA: A
young man and the injury of others in an Israeli drone attack on the Nuseirat
camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Israel Targets
Ambulance in Jabaliya
AL-JAZEERA:
Israeli artillery shelling targeted an ambulance while transporting wounded
people in Jabaliya camp, north of the Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Al-Quds Brigades
Target Two Tanks in Jabaliya
AL-QUDS
BRIGADES: We targeted two Israeli Merkava tanks in the Al-Qassasib area in the
middle of Jabaliya camp, north of the Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Rockets from
Lebanon
ISRAELI MEDIA:
Rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards the Galilee Finger in northern
Israel, while Israeli media reported that air raid sirens sounded in towns in
the Galilee Finger.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah
Targets Israeli Soldiers
HEZBOLLAH: We
fired a barrage of rockets at a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity
of the town of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Two Israeli
Raids on Lebanon
LEBANESE MEDIA:
A new Israeli raid targeted the Choueifat area in the southern suburbs of
Beirut after Israeli orders to evacuate a building in the area.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Two Shelters in
Jabaliya Besieged, Stormed
AL-JAZEERA:
Israeli occupation forces are besieging the wounded inside the shelter center
of the Al-Yaman Al-Saeed hospital in Jabaliya camp, north of the Gaza Strip.
Moreover, the Israeli army stormed a school and took up positions in front of
the gate of Hafsa School in Jabaliya camp, north of Gaza.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Al-Quds Brigades
Shoot down Drone in Gaza
AL-QUDS
BRIGADES: We shot down an Israeli quadcopter drone and took control of it while
it was carrying out intelligence missions in Gaza City.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Israel Faces
Difficulties in Confronting Hezbollah Drones
WSJ (citing
Israeli intelligence official): The drone attacks launched by Hezbollah have
returned in force after a relatively long period of calm, indicating that
Israel is facing difficulty in confronting them.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Al-Quds Brigades
Blow Up Vehicles in Gaza
AL-QUDS
BRIGADES: We blew up two Israeli military vehicles with two explosive devices
in the vicinity of Musab bin Omair Mosque, east of Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in
Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
New Israeli
Raids on Lebanon
LEBANESE MEDIA:
Israeli raids targeted the towns of
Ansar and Bouday in the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon.
Two explosions were reported in the
southern suburbs of Beirut.
https://twitter.com/PalestineChron/status/1847635842828788207
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah
Announces New Operations
HEZBOLLAH:
We targeted the occupied city of Safed
with a barrage of rockets.
We bombed a gathering of Israeli
soldiers in the settlement of Avivim with a barrage of rockets.
We targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy
soldiers at the Al-Malikiyah site with a barrage of rockets.
We bombed the Rosh Pina settlement,
southeast of Safed, with a barrage of rockets.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Al-Qassam
Targets Merkava, Military Bulldozer
AL-QASSAM
BRIGADES: We targeted a Zionist Merkava tank and a military bulldozer with
Yassin 105 shells in Al-Faluja, west of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
US Sent Military
Personnel to Israel
NYT (citing US
officials): The Pentagon secretly sent commandos to Israel to advise on hostage
recovery efforts.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
150 Rockets from
Lebanon
YEDIOTH
AHRONOTH: 150 rockets were launched from Lebanon since this morning on areas in
Safed and Haifa.
Sat, Oct 19, 5:09 PM (Palestine
Time)
Clashes with PA
Forces in Tubas
AL-JAZEERA:
Armed clashes took place between resistance fighters and Palestinian security
forces besieging a house in Tubas in the West Bank.
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
'We Cannot Count
the Number of Casualties'
GAZA HEALTH
OFFICIAL: We cannot count the number of martyrs, as the numbers are terrifying,
and what we announce is for those we are able to rescue.
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
Fires Break Out
in Jabaliya
AL-JAZEERA:
Fires broke out in the displacement schools in Jabalia camp after they were
bombed by the occupation forces.
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah
Targets Merkava Tank
HEZBOLLAH: Our
fighters targeted a Merkava tank in the settlement of Zar’it with a guided
missile, causing it to burn and killing and wounding its crew.
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
Killed, Wounded
in Gaza
PALESTINIAN
MEDIA:
Five people were killed and a number of
wounded, including children, in an Israeli bombardment of homes in Jabaliya
al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli artillery shelling targeted Abu
Hussein School in Jabalia camp, north of the Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah Can
Quickly Mobilize Its Forces
NYT: Hezbollah
can quickly mobilize its forces depending on the developments of the battle.
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
Three Killed in
Nuseirat
PALESTINIAN
MEDIA: Three Palestinians were killed in Israeli artillery shelling west of the
Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
Netanyahu: 'We
Will Continue'
NETANYAHU (in a
comment on the targeting of his home in Caesarea): “We will continue until the
end and nothing will deter us.”
Sat, Oct 19, 2:34 PM (Palestine
Time)
60 Rockets from
Lebanon
ISRAELI ARMY
RADIO: The Israeli army detected the launch of about 60 rockets from Lebanon
towards the northern regions in the last hour, and that some of them had been
intercepted.
Sat, Oct 19, 1:19 PM (Palestine
Time)
Israeli Killed
in Akka
ISRAELI ARMY
RADIO: One person was killed and 14 others were injured when a rocket was fired
from Lebanon towards the Acre area.
Sat, Oct 19, 1:19 PM (Palestine
Time)
Death Toll Rises
in Gaza
GAZA HEALTH
MINISTRY: 42,519 Palestinians have been killed, and 99,637 wounded in Israel’s
ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Sat, Oct 19, 1:19 PM (Palestine
Time)
Seven Killed in
Israeli Targeting of School in Al-Shati
AL-JAZEERA:
Seven Palestinians were killed and a number of others were injured in an
Israeli bombardment of a school housing displaced persons in the Al-Shati camp,
west of Gaza City.
Sat, Oct 19, 1:19 PM (Palestine
Time)
Second Rocket
Barrage from Lebanon
ISRAELI MEDIA: A
second barrage of rockets was launched from southern Lebanon towards Israeli
positions in the Galilee.
https://twitter.com/PalestineChron/status/1847581265425260605
Sat, Oct 19, 1:19 PM (Palestine
Time)
Sirens in Akka,
Galilee
HOME FRONT
COMMAND: Sirens sounded in Safed, Zar’it, Shtula and Shomera in the Galilee.
Sirens also sounded in towns in the Upper Galilee, Akka and its surroundings.
Sat, Oct 19, 1:19 PM (Palestine
Time)
Killed, Wounded
in Al-Shati
AL-JAZEERA:
Several people were killed and wounded in an Israeli bombardment that targeted
a school housing displaced people in the Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City.
Sat, Oct 19, 12:27 PM (Palestine
Time)
Israeli
Government Official Says Iran Tried to Assassinate Netanyahu
CHANNEL 12
(citing Israeli government official): Iran tried to assassinate the Israeli
Prime Minister.
Sat, Oct 19, 12:27 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah
Targets Israeli Soldiers in Shlomi
HEZBOLLAH: We
targeted a gathering of Israeli occupation soldiers in the settlement of Shlomi
with a large barrage of rockets.
https://twitter.com/PalestineChron/status/1847569913881280680
Sat, Oct 19, 12:27 PM (Palestine
Time)
Iran: Ready for
All Scenarios
IRANIAN FM:
We consulted with the Turkish side
regarding the Zionist regime’s attempts to spread war in the region.
We are prepared for all scenarios in the
face of the aggressive behavior of the Zionist regime.
We condemn in the strongest terms the
assassination of Commander Sinwar, and the operation will not curb the
resistance’s work.
The countries of the region and the
international community must mobilize efforts to stop the crimes of the Zionist
entity.
Sat, Oct 19, 12:27 PM (Palestine
Time)
13 Israelis
Injured by Rockets
ISRAELI ARMY
RADIO: 13 people were injured by rockets fired from Lebanon since the morning.
Sat, Oct 19, 12:27 PM (Palestine
Time)
Raising State of
Alert in Israel
YEDIOTH
AHRONOTH: The state of alert was raised around all symbols of authority in
Israel after Netanyahu’s house was targeted by a drone from Lebanon.
Sat, Oct 19, 12:27 PM (Palestine
Time)
Hezbollah Bombs
Haifa
HEZBOLLAH: We
bombarded the Krayot north of Haifa with a large barrage of rockets.
Sat, Oct 19, 11:45 AM (Palestine
Time)
More Raids in
Jabaliya
AL-MAYADEEN:
Israeli raids and artillery shelling on the western areas of Jabalia camp,
north of the Gaza Strip
Sat, Oct 19, 11:45 AM (Palestine
Time)
Attempted
Ramming Attack near Ofra
PALESTINIAN
MEDIA: An attempted ramming operation too place near the settlement of Ofra,
north of Ramallah.
Sat, Oct 19, 11:18 AM (Palestine
Time)
Al-Quds Brigades
Destroy Merkava in Jabaliya
AL-QUDS
BRIGADES: Our forces destroyed an Israeli Merkava tank by detonating a highly
explosive device in the Tel Al-Zaatar area, east of Jabalia camp.
Sat, Oct 19, 11:18 AM (Palestine
Time)
Israelis Injured
in Haifa, Shlomi
ISRAELI MEDIA:
More than 20
rockets were fired towards the Krayot area in Haifa Bay.
Two people were injured and several
others suffered panic attacks following the shelling of Kiryat Ata, northeast
of Haifa.
An Israeli was injured when a rocket
fired from Lebanon hit a building in the town of Shlomi, northern Israel.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Direct Hits in
Northern Israel
ISRAELI MEDIA:
Direct hits were reported on buildings in Haifa as a result of the latest
rocket barrage launched from Lebanon.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Sirens Sound in
Haifa, 20 Locations in Norhtern Israel
HOME FRONT
COMMAND: Sirens sounded in the city of Haifa, its bay, and about 20 locations
in northern Israel.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Four
Palestinians Killed in Khan Yunis
AL-JAZEERA: Four
Palestinians were killed in the bombing of a car in the town of Khuza’a, east
of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Large Explosion
in Ceasarea
ISRAELI MEDIA:
The explosion of the drone at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in
Caesarea caused a huge noise.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Israel Confirms
Netanyahu's Home Targeted
ISRAELI PRIME
MINISTER’S OFFICE: A drone was launched from Lebanon and directly hit Benjamin
Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Netanyahu Was
Not Home
CHANNEL 12
(citing source in Netanyahu’s office): The prime minister and his wife were not
at their home in Caesarea at the time of the explosion.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Two Killed in
Kamal Adwan Hospital Square
AL-JAZEERA: Two people were killed and others were
injured in an Israeli bombardment that targeted Kamal Adwan Hospital Square in
northern Gaza.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
More than 450
Bodies Arrived at Hospitals
GAZA HEALTH
DIRECTOR AL-BARSH:
The situation is catastrophic in
hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip.
The bodies of more than 450 martyrs
arrived at the hospitals, and our estimates indicate 500 martyrs.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Military
Censorship on Drone Targeting Netanyahu's Home
ISRAELI MEDIA:
Military censorship is banning the publication of news of the targeting of
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, even though everyone
knows about it.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Qassam Brigades
Carry Out Two Operations in Jabaliya
AL-QASSAM
BRIGADES: Our fighters targeted a military bulldozer with a tandem missile and
detonated a Shawaaz bomb in a Merkava while it was pulling the targeted
bulldozer west of Jabaliya.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Iran: Anyone Who
Supports Israel Will Be Held Accountable
IRANIAN FM:
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, referring to the United States,
that anyone who knows “how and when Israel will attack Iran” will be held
accountable.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
Third Drone in a
Week
MAARIV: For the
third time in about a week, a drone launched from Lebanon has succeeded in
reaching deep inside Israel.
Sat, Oct 19, 10:58 AM (Palestine
Time)
One Killed at
Kamal Adwan Hospital
GAZA HEALTH
MINISTRY: One person was killed and a number of people were injured when the
occupation forces bombed the entrance to the Kamal Adwan Hospital laboratory in
the northern Gaza Strip.
October
19, 2024
A
drone has hit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s holiday home in the
country’s north, Al Jazeera has confirmed, triggering air raid sirens across
Israel, including the main city of Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu’s
spokesman said one of three drones launched from Lebanon hit Netanyahu’s
residence in the town of Caesarea on Saturday, adding that he was not in the
vicinity and there were no casualties.
The
two other drones were intercepted, the Israeli military said, adding that a
total of more than 100 rockets were fired across northern Israel from Lebanon,
killing one person and injuring at least 13 others.
Iran-aligned
Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel since last October last year.
Al
Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan because Al Jazeera has been
banned in Israel, said the Israeli authorities are treating the attack on
Netanyahu’s house as an “assassination attempt”.
“Of
course, there is no way to verify that or to say for sure that this was an
assassination attempt, but that’s how gravely the Israeli security
establishment is viewing this incident,” she said.
“The
fact that a drone was able to go undetected 70km from the Lebanese border, no
sirens went off, and it struck the intended target, that has caused a lot of
concern in Israel and in the Israeli security establishment.”
She
said “a large volley of rockets” from Lebanon were used as decoys to launch the
drone attack on Netanyahu’s house. Sirens were activated across northern
Israel, including the cities of Galilee and Haifa, she said.
Haifa
is the largest city in northern Israel and is seen as a strategic port city
that is home to 300,000 people and the country’s naval headquarters.
“The
sirens went off just right after we got confirmation that a drone attack
actually succeeded in targeting and striking the house of the Israeli prime
minister in Caesarea,” Odeh said.
Israeli
strikes
Later
on Saturday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that four people had been
killed, and another 13 were injured in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment
building in the eastern town of Baaloul in Western Bekaa.
Israeli
airstrikes also hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanese state media said,
shortly after Israel ordered residents to evacuate, marking the first attacks
in three days on Hezbollah’s main stronghold.
AFP
footage showed plumes of smoke rising over the area, less than an hour after
the Israeli military issued an evacuation order.
Lebanon’s
official National News Agency reported two Israeli strikes on the same building
in the neighbourhood of Haret Hreik, and later added that “Israeli warplanes”
had struck the Al-Umara neighbourhood in nearby Choueifat.
Israeli
military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued an “urgent warning to residents of the
southern suburb (of Dahiyeh), specifically those in… Haret Hreik
neighbourhood”.
“You
are located near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, against which
the IDF (Israeli military) will be operating in the near future,” he wrote in
Arabic on X.
He
later also issued warnings for the Burj al-Barajneh and Choueifat
neighbourhoods.
On
September 23, Israel launched an intense air campaign on Lebanon and later sent
in ground forces after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah
over the Gaza war.
Since
late September, the war has left at least 1,418 people dead in Lebanon,
according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real
toll is likely higher.
Ibtisam
Mahdi
October
18, 2024
It
was a few minutes past 1 a.m. on Oct. 14 when an Israeli warplane launched an
airstrike into the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah,
where hundreds of displaced Palestinian families were sleeping in their tents.
The attack set off a fire that quickly spread throughout the courtyard,
consuming 40 tents in total — most made of highly flammable nylon and fabrics —
before Gazan civil defense crews managed to bring it under control.
Four
people, including a woman and a child, burned to death that night, and over 40
others suffered second- and third-degree burns. Among those killed were Alaa
al-Dalou, 38, and her son Sha’ban, 19. Alaa’s 10-year-old son, Abd el-Rahman,
was badly burned in the attack, and succumbed to his wounds on Friday.
A
software engineering student, Sha’ban had been caught just a week prior in an
Israeli airstrike that hit a nearby mosque, where Sha’ban was reading the
Quran. He made it out with minor injuries and was recovering in his family’s
tent on Monday night, when the blaze engulfed the courtyard and burned him
alive.
According
to Ahmed Al-Dalou, Sha’ban’s and Abd el-Rahman’s father, when the fire started
to spread through the tent, he moved quickly to evacuate his family. “I took
out my other three children who were badly burned and brought them to a safer
place,” he told +972, “and returned to make sure that my wife and son Sha’ban
came out.” Before leaving the tent, Ahmed recalls, “my wife and son told me
that they would try to save some pieces of clothing. But they didn’t expect the
fire to spread so fast.”
Ahmed
doesn’t know what happened in those moments, but when he returned to the tent,
Alaa and Sha’ban’s bodies had been consumed by the fire, and he could no longer
recognize them. “I cannot forget the smell of their burning bodies,” he said.
“It is stuck in my nose and mind. Every time I close my eyes, I see my wife and
son burning.”
“Sha’ban
used to narrate the Quran every night with a number of young people at the
mosque. He used to sleep there in order to make more space for us inside the
tent. He returned to our tent after the targeting of the mosque, only to be
burnt here.
“Abd
el-Rahman was badly injured and he died today [Oct. 18], while my other two
daughters, Farah and Rahaf, are still in hospital. My son Mohammad survived the
attack because he was sleeping in another tent with his friends. Now, I am
staying at a tent of our relatives, because we lost everything.”
Originally
from Gaza City, the Al-Dalou family had been displaced six times since the
beginning of the war. “I was hoping Al-Aqsa Hospital would be our last
displacement — I can’t afford to move again,” Ahmed told +972. “But this place
turned out to be catastrophic.”
Raeda
Wadi, a 47-year-old Palestinian and mother to seven girls, also spoke with +972
about the airstrike on the hospital courtyard, describing the scene as “the
horrors of the Day of Judgment.” She and her daughters were sleeping in their
tent when the missile landed just seven meters away. Raeda awoke to the sound
of screaming, and her confusion quickly gave way to the realization that the
“fire was devouring everything.”
As
her tent burned down, she rushed out with her daughters and sought shelter in
the hospital’s emergency department. But despite her quick reaction, she told
+972 that “the flames injured my daughters Rawda and Shahd in different parts
of their bodies.” They were transferred to the American Field Hospital,
“because Al-Aqsa Hospital is unable to accommodate the large number of injuries
with the lack of medical materials for burns.”
Raeda
decided to take refuge in the hospital courtyard after being displaced from the
Shuja’iya neighborhood, east of Gaza City. Her only son, 18-year-old Mohammad,
was killed in an Israeli raid on Shuj’aiya on Dec. 12. She thought that Al-Aqsa
would be safe because “all international conventions prohibit attacks on
hospitals, but all these conventions were blown up by the Israeli army.”
Now,
in the wake of Monday’s attack, Raeda doesn’t know how she’ll proceed. “I lost
everything,” she told +972. “My daughters’ clothes, mattresses, blankets,
kitchen items — everything I own.”
‘No
one could say goodbye to my husband, because he no longer has a body’
Since
the beginning of the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled to
Deir Al-Balah, which has long been part of the so-called “humanitarian zone”
where Israel had pushed Palestinian civilians to seek shelter.
According
to Fakher Al-Kurd, Director of the Projects Department for the Deir Al-Balah
Municipality, the city was home to 100,000 Palestinians before the war. But
now, after repeated waves of displacement, and as the army lays siege to
northern Gaza, Deir Al-Balah hosts more than “800,000 displaced people — and
sometimes up to one million displaced if nearby [refugee camps] and Khan Younis
get evacuation orders.”
This
massive influx of displaced Palestinians, who have erected tents throughout
Deir Al-Balah’s 16-square kilometers, has added an additional strain to a city
that has sustained massive infrastructural damage over the course of the war.
“Eight
out of the 21 water wells owned by the municipality were completely destroyed,
as well as two of the municipality’s four main water tank reservoirs,” Al-Kurd
noted. “This has caused a 50 percent shortage of water needed to meet the
minimum needs of the population and the displaced.” Al-Kurd added that the
sewage system has been severely damaged due to repeated shelling in the city,
leading to “a continuous flow of sewage in different areas.”
Monday’s
airstrike was only the latest in a line of Israeli attacks on civilian
buildings in Deir Al-Balah — further proof that, despite any claims about
humanitarian areas, safety is nowhere to be found in Gaza. According to medical
sources at Al-Aqsa Hospital, 200 people have been killed across Deir Al-Balah
and registered at the hospital since the beginning of this month.
The
Rufaida School in the city’s center had been serving as a shelter for displaced
Palestinian families when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 10,
killing 32 people, including 17 women and children, and injuring nearly 70.
Among
those who were killed in this attack was Ahmed Adel Hammouda, 58, a father of
seven from Beit Lahiya, who was displaced to the school on the fifth day of the
war. As one of the first to arrive, Hammouda became well-known among other
displaced families at the school, and was appointed as an administrator to help
manage the needs of those sheltering there. According to his wife, when the
school was hit, the rocket barreled through three floors before exploding in
the administration room, where her husband was “busy registering new residents
of the school, trying to obtain an appointment to fill gas, and receiving food
parcels.”
“No
one could say goodbye to my husband, because he no longer has a body: after the
attack, only his feet remained,” Hammouda’s wife told +972, in tears. “How can
I go on with my life? He was responsible for us, especially to meet the needs
of our three girls with disabilities.” She fainted before the interview could
be completed.
Dr.
Mahmoud Kamel Suleiman Abu Taym, 28, and Dr. Ghaida Yousef Muhammad Abu Rahma,
24, were also killed in that airstrike. They were part of a volunteer medical
team who came regularly to the school to treat the wounded and sick, to
transfer patients who needed more intensive care to the hospital, and to
distribute hygiene materials, sterilizers, diapers, and special food for
malnourished children.
In
the same attack, 14-year-old Sahar Raed al-Asmar was severely injured. Sahar, a
displaced girl from Al-Shati Camp in western Gaza City, had been living in a
tent with her family at Al-Nakheel camp in Deir Al-Balah, and traveled to the
school daily to collect their food parcels. When Sahar’s parents heard the
explosion, they rushed to the school, frantically searching for her for over
two hours. Unable to find her, they went to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where
they were told their daughter was seriously injured and undergoing surgery.
“She
was always so active, always helping us,” her father told +972. “Now she’s in a
coma with severe brain injuries. She needs treatment outside Gaza; the
hospitals in Gaza can’t provide what she needs.”
Nesma
Zeidan, 34, had also gone to the Rufaida School last Thursday when she was
alerted that she could pick up a parcel of hygiene products there. “My family
were very happy when we got this message. My kids haven’t bathed with shampoo
for a long time — they all suffer from skin diseases.” But this joy did not
last: a few minutes after she entered the school and asked about the location
of the administration room, “there was a strong explosion. I flew from the
power of the explosion and felt that I was burning.”
“I
have shrapnel in my body and burns. The doctor told me that the shrapnel will
come out on its own, but I have to buy creams for the burns, and I don’t have
the money.” Nesma also lost her phone in the attack, and was unable to contact
her family to let them know that she had survived.
Sha’ban and Abd El-Rahman Al-Dalou. (Courtesy of the Al-Dalou family)
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