GAZA: The four children sat down to dinner with their grandmother, Ibtisam, and their mother, Iman, in their grandmother’s house. Their uncle, Hassan, hugged the youngest, Alma, kissed her, and tucked her into the bed prepared by her mother before a missile struck, claiming the lives of the grandmother, children, parents, and turning the house into a heap of rubble.
The home of the Abu al-Hanoud family in the Yibna refugee camp, south of Rafah City, was targeted in an airstrike the evening before yesterday, resulting in the killing of Iman Abu al-Hanoud, 31, her husband Mohammed Abu Qamar, 32, and their children: Alma, 2 years old, Karam, 5, Lana, 6, and Talin, 8, along with their grandmother (Iman’s mother) Ibtisam al-Nairab, 57, the wife of Saeed Abu al-Hanoud, who was killed by Israeli forces during the First Intifada in 1987.
Hassan Abu al-Hanoud, 33, Ibtisam’s son and Iman’s brother, who was present in the house during the attack, witnessed the crime, buried the martyrs, and wonders why the Israeli occ
upation targeted their home, which harbored children fleeing from death.
“I don’t understand why they targeted our house. We are a family whose only concern is to live in peace. Our sister and her children sought refuge with us from the Shati refugee camp in Gaza, fleeing from death. Why did they bomb our house?” wondered Hassan, perplexed.
Abu al-Hanoud revealed that he noticed the presence of drones in the area but paid them no mind, considering it evidence that they did not fear them, otherwise they would have fled.
Hassan heard a loud mess and people shouting and calling on each other to leave their homes hastily before an expected bombardment, then heard a child crying. He went out to investigate and found the street quiet, with some young men sitting on the roadside. The source of the noise was a small drone known as a “quadcopter,” he said.
Locals stated that the “quadcopter” emits sounds that confuse residents, resembling the sounds of crying or laughing children, barking dogs, or citizens calling
for help and screaming.
Hassan reassured his mother and went to his room when he heard gunfire, a single shot that he paid no attention to, followed by a loud explosion.
“I didn’t know the bombing was on our house. I thought it was the nearby Sheikh Abu al-Hanoud Mosque, especially since it was bombed two months ago, and God saved us then,” he said.
Hassan and his wife rose from under the rubble, deafened for minutes after concrete columns formed a barrier around them. He searched for his mother and found her lying on her back, surrounded by neighbors who had thrown a blanket over her. They informed him that he and his wife were fine. She shook her head, trying to rise but failed, then he searched among the rubble for his sister and her children.
He found the upper half of Iman and barely recognized her features due to the dust and blood. As for the children, they were “severed” fragments. “I could barely recognize the children. Karam and Talin were dismembered, and Lana was taking her last breaths. As fo
r their father, Mohammed, all I found were shreds of his clothes,” he said.
Hassan did not know his mother was killed until he reached Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah. She and her daughter and grandchildren were transferred to the morgue of Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital. He remembers his mother, Ibtisam, who was widowed at the age of 22 after the martyrdom of her husband, Hassan, in the first Intifada.
“My mother refused to remarry and dedicated her life to taking care of us. She had no concern except for us to live in dignity, complete our education, and live like any normal human being,” he said.
“Iman, my sister and friend, never saw my father as she was orphaned at the age of three months. Here she goes, departing with her children, ” Hassan continued.
Iman had moved from the Shati refugee camp in Gaza to the Nasr neighborhood west of Gaza City to escape the Israeli bombardment of the camp. She then headed to the southern Gaza Strip with her husband and children.
Duaa Abu al-Hanoud said she remembers the l
ast moments before the massacre: “We had falafel for dinner and made tea. The children drank it with some biscuits. Their mother took them to relieve themselves before bed, as she did every night. The children went to their beds, Karam came and hugged me and kissed me before going to sleep.”
She added, “The phone slipped from my hand when the explosion occurred, and the walls collapsed, and the wardrobe flew when the neighbors. I got up to search for my aunt amid the darkness and dust. The neighbors searched for us using the light of mobile phones that barely penetrated the dust.”
Duaa revealed that Iman had packed her belongings to evacuate from Rafah after hearing threats from the occupation to invade the city.
Duaa couldn’t hold back her tears as she recalled Talin, the “photography lover,” and Karam, who considered her his mother and loved to sleep next to her.
“They were innocent, like all children in the world, but they didn’t live like children in the world. I wish I knew why Israel killed them aft
er their lives had been troubled enough,” said Duaa.
Israeli occupation forces continue their airstrikes on Rafah City, which hosts nearly 1.5 million displaced persons from various parts of the Strip. Eight members of the Ayyad family were killed yesterday evening in an airstrike that targeted a house housing displaced persons in the Salam neighborhood, east of southern Rafah City.
Israeli occupation forces have committed 3,002 massacres in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of nearly 15,000 children and 10,000 women out of a total of approximately 34,000 martyrs.
The occupation continues to threaten a ground assault on Rafah City, placing its residents and the displaced population in a state of tension and instability. Dozens of families have fled Rafah to the central Gaza Strip area to avoid the expected Israeli attack, while some families continue to migrate to Rafah due to the ongoing airstrikes in the central Gaza Strip area.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA