A couple of days after Israel’s conflict on the Gaza Strip started, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari admitted freely that the emphasis of the heavy bombardment of the besieged coastal enclave “is on injury and never accuracy”.
A day later, on October 11, the Israeli military boasted that 6,000 bombs weighing a mixed 4,000 tonnes had been dropped on Gaza, one of many world’s most densely populated areas the place 2.2 million individuals dwell on a 365sq-km (140sq-mile) strip of land.
That’s practically the equal of the bombs dropped on Afghanistan by NATO in a single 12 months, in response to former United Nations conflict crimes investigator, Marc Galasco.
Folks fled, terrified, from the bombs, both as a result of their houses had been hit or as a result of their neighbours have been killed in a bombing and so they have been apprehensive they have been subsequent.
In the midst of the bombs raining down on Gaza and other people making an attempt to get away from them, the Israeli military issued an ultimatum on October 13: Everybody in northern Gaza was advised to maneuver south.
A big motion of individuals started, in automobiles, in vehicles, and on foot, individuals have been making an attempt to get away, hoping to seek out security.
However that very day, convoys of individuals shifting south have been bombed, killing no less than 70 individuals and wounding greater than 200.
Gaza Metropolis [Abdelkarim Hana/Al Jazeera]
‘Yousef was bleeding a lot’
The Palestinian well being ministry mentioned one Palestinian has been killed in Gaza each 5 minutes within the present assaults.
Not less than 45 three-generation households have been killed, wiped from the civil registry, the ministry added.
The air in Gaza, Palestinians have mentioned, is full of the scent of spent ordnance and the stench of rotting our bodies buried beneath the rubble of bombed houses.
Greater than 2,700 Palestinians have been killed, and no less than 8,700 others injured since October 7.
A lot of the eight refugee camps within the Gaza Strip, the place greater than 1.1 million registered refugees dwell, have been focused by Israeli warplanes, massacring total households.
The camps have been extra densely populated than typical, as individuals fled there to stick with pals or family, believing that Israel wouldn’t goal such densely populated areas the place refugees lived.
The Jabaliya refugee camp – inhabitants 35,000 – has been bombed a number of instances, two of which are actually referred to as the Ternis and Sikka Massacres.
On Monday, on the vigorous market intersection referred to as al-Ternis, two Israeli missiles killed dozens of individuals.
Survivors spoke of limbs flung about and the dying toll, in response to media, ranged from 60 to 70 individuals killed.
Iyad Islim had fled his dwelling in Beit Hanoun, within the northern Gaza Strip and had come to stick with family in Jabaliya.
Gaza Metropolis [Abdelkarim Hana/Al Jazeera]
On that Monday, Islim went to the market to purchase meals and different requirements for his youngsters. He was speaking to a pal in regards to the heavy bombardment Beit Hanoun was going through when an enormous explosion ripped via the bottom.
Thick heavy smoke coated the sky, and the sounds of individuals screaming crammed the air.
“I noticed terrifying scenes of dismembered our bodies,” Islim recalled. “Males, girls, and kids. I couldn’t bear it … I broke down.”
The whole camp got here working to the market, with screams and shouts rising every time somebody recognized the physique of their family members, a few of them collapsing and fainting on the spot.
Rana Rajab was a kind of individuals. She ran from her dwelling trying to find her three sons Mohammed, Khaled, and Louay who have been available in the market on the time of the explosion.
She discovered Mohammed making an attempt to offer first assist to his pal Yousef, who was badly injured.
“I attempted to consolation him, however Mohammed stored saying ‘Let me go, I wish to go together with Yousef,’” she mentioned.
The location of al-Karameh Towers within the northern Gaza Strip [Abdelkarim Hana/Al Jazeera]
“I cried, there was a lot blood … Yousef was bleeding a lot.”
Her different two sons Khaled and Louay, visibly shaken, discovered Rajab and advised her that they had seen dying.
“I’ve by no means felt such intense concern,” Raja mentioned. “I didn’t anticipate this bombing. Everybody within the camp is shell-shocked.”
On Wednesday, Israel air raids focused al-Sikka in Jabaliya, killing dozens of individuals.
“The camp was nonetheless reeling from the Ternis bloodbath,” mentioned Ahmad Salem, whose neighbours have been all killed within the assault.
“My household is in shock,” he mentioned. “We misplaced our pals, our neighbours, the gorgeous recollections we shared collectively.”
“They worn out the whole lot … the buildings are all destroyed. Do the Israelis suppose all this destruction will displace us once more?
“I’ll by no means depart my dwelling. My youngsters and I are staying right here.”
Shati (Seaside) refugee camp west of Gaza Metropolis, has been focused by Israeli raids a number of instances, terrifying the 90,000 refugees dwelling on 0.52sq km (0.2sq miles).
Adel Khalaf, 63, was left bewildered by the Israeli planes concentrating on the camp’s mosques, the al-Sousi, al-Gharbi and the Ahmad Yasin.
“These are homes of worship,” he mentioned.
“Why have been they focused? This started with Jewish settlers violating Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, and now they’re bombing mosques in Gaza.”
Al-Karameh Towers within the northern Gaza Strip [Abdelkarim Hana/Al Jazeera]
The mosques stood in the midst of the camp, leading to numerous injury to the encompassing houses, which stand carefully packed collectively due to how densely populated the camp is.
“The bombings have terrorised the youngsters,” Khalaf mentioned. “We picked up all of the burned copies of the Quran off the bottom and it was clear that the Israeli goal is inflicting as a lot destruction as attainable.”
One other Shati resident, Saeed Lulu, mentioned, “The assault knocked my spouse to the ground from the drive of the explosion.”
He added that it was painful to see the mosques being bombed.
“Israel has focused our camp in earlier wars,” he continued, “however this one is especially devastating. All of us wrestle with this psychological trauma, as do our households. However we are going to persevere and are assured of victory.”
The southern Gaza refugee camp of Khan Younis – inhabitants 35,000 – has swollen in numbers in latest days as hundreds of individuals streamed in from the north of the Strip.
“My household and I have been displaced to family’ home within the camp,” Mohammed Rabie mentioned. “On the fourth night time, Wednesday, the home instantly throughout the slender lane from ours was hit.”
Gaza Metropolis [Abdelkarim Hana/Al Jazeera]
The bombing was so intense that the door to the home Rabie and his prolonged household have been in was welded shut and so they couldn’t get out.
“We known as our family to come back rescue us, however they didn’t hear us as a result of everybody was screaming that our neighbours, the Abu al-Rish household, have been beneath the rubble of their dwelling. Not less than seven of them have been killed.”
Rabie’s household lastly managed to go away the home after neighbours broke down the door.
“There’s greater than 40 of us,” he mentioned. “We’re nonetheless in disbelief that we survived this assault. That very same night time, we divided one another up and stayed with completely different family, so if there was one other assault, we wouldn’t all be killed.”
“The scariest factor is the warplanes returning to focus on the identical place when ambulances and other people collect,” mentioned Amal Barbakh, one other neighbour of the Abu Rish household.
There isn’t any secure place within the Gaza Strip, she mentioned sadly.
Al-Sikka intersection in Jabaliya refugee camp [Abdelkarim Hana/Al Jazeera]