Israeli attack kills 19 people from the same family in the Gaza Strip

UA Palestinian family was almost completely killed by Israeli forces after an attack on Sunday night directly hit the house where they lived, despite the Israelis warning that the target was a house hundreds of meters away.

In total, 19 members of Nasser Abu Quta’s family, in the southern part of the small enclave in the Gaza Strip, died when a missile hit the 57-year-old man’s house, located on the ground floor of a four-story building. floors.

The only one to survive was the man, who said that his extended family took shelter together, thinking that they would be safe from the bombings promised by Israel, as the announced target was far from his home.

The Israeli government has warned Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that it will continue to attack Hamas targets, declaring this Monday that the bombings will continue even though there is a risk of hitting Israeli hostages taken to the enclave. However, despite reiterating that it only hits military targets, several organizations on the ground have reported attacks against residential and civilian structures.

“This was a safe house, with children and women. First the dust shook the house. Then there were screams. We had no walls, everything was open,” said Abu Quta, quoted by the Associated Press, still in a state of shock after having lost everything the family.

Abu Quta also regretted the decision due to the fact that no militants from Hamas or any other armed resistance group lived in the house, and assured that he was not informed.

This Sunday, the bodies of the Abu Quta family were taken to a mosque for funeral celebrations. [Alertamos que a imagem abaixo pode ferir suscetibilidades].

Of the 19 victims, the man recognized 14, and the bodies of four children were so unrecognizable from the attack that they had to remain in the morgue. One person is missing.

© Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images

The air strike, which took place in the city of Rafah, which is in the Gaza Strip close to the border with Egypt, also killed five of Nasser Abu Quta’s neighbors who were in the enclave’s narrow, overcrowded streets.

According to Palestinian authorities, the number of civilians killed following Israeli counterattacks is already more than 560, according to the balance made at 4 pm (Lisbon time), with around 2,900 people injured. However, authorities also warned that there are hundreds of people trapped in the rubble, some already dead, and hospitals are not having the capacity to respond to the needs of the population.

On Saturday, Benjamin Netanyahu warned “that the population of Gaza must leave the places where Hamas militants are located, despite the fact that, due to restrictions imposed almost 20 years ago, the population does not actually have a way out.

This Monday, the government announced a “total siege” on the Palestinian enclave, cutting off the supply of electricity and water to the region’s two million inhabitants. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, expressed concern about this decision, due to the impact on civilians who already live under difficult conditions.

On the Israeli side, authorities point to at least 800 deaths following the Hamas attacks, which include 260 people killed at a music festival that was taking place near the barricade that separates the Gaza Strip from the rest of Palestinian territory.

Read Also: Palestinians register 560 deaths and bring the total on both sides to 1,260