“All the bodies were torn to pieces”: horror scene in Gaza

The Allouche family was going to have breakfast when an Israeli strike hit their house in the early hours of Sunday morning in the north of the Gaza Strip, leaving “torn up” bodies, says one of the only relatives still alive.

According to the Palestinian Civil Defense, 13 children were killed in a strike on a family home which left “at least” 25 dead in Jabalia, one of the most densely populated areas of the Palestinian territory.

The building was completely razed and transformed into a shapeless pile of stones, noted an AFP correspondent on site.

The bombing occurred around 6 a.m. “at a time when residents here wake up and have breakfast,” family member Abdallah al-Najjar testified. “There was a big explosion to the point that, when we arrived, all the bodies were torn to pieces,” he added.

For its part, the Israeli army assured that it had targeted a site in an area of ​​Jabalia “where terrorists were operating”, representing “a threat” to its troops. “Before the strike, numerous measures were taken to limit the risk of injuring civilians,” a military spokesperson told AFP.

Since October 6, the Israeli army has been carrying out a new ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas fighters from regaining a foothold there.

Women and children

“The house served as a refuge for people during intense bombardments,” Abdallah Al-Najjar added at the site of Sunday’s strike. “And there they all died. There is no one left, only my mother and me.”

“This is the bread they wanted to eat for breakfast,” he said, waving a piece of pita. “What is the point of a piece of bread if there is no security and no peace?” Around him, volunteers were clearing the rubble with their bare hands. A stuffed mouse lay among the stones.

Wrapped in bloodstained white shrouds, the victims' bodies were transported aboard a van to be buried in a cemetery in Jabalia. “Children, women and innocent people represent a breeding ground of targets for the Israeli enemy,” commented a neighbor of the Allouche family, Mohammed al-Barch.

Hamas condemned the Jabalia “massacre” in a statement, saying the Allouche family home “was filled with more than 50 innocent civilians.”

The majority were children and women, including people “who had been forcibly displaced by the occupation from the Jabalia refugee camp,” according to the movement.

The Palestinian Civil Defense also reported on Sunday another Israeli strike on a house in the al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, also in the north, which left five people dead and others missing.

Since October 7, more than 43,600 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign of reprisals on the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government's Health Ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the 'UN.

ATS