GazaThe child Raghad Al-Ajl (15 years old) and her cousin Jana (5 years old) have the same feeling that they are the only ones remaining alive from their families that were exterminated by the Israeli occupation army in its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
On November 5, 2023, occupation aircraft bombed the house where the family was located in the city of Deir al-Balah, resulting in the death of dozens, including members of the two girls’ families.
Raghad’s parents, Ramzi and Sherine, and all her 9 siblings (7 girls and 2 boys) were killed immediately, and Raghad remained the only survivor. Hamza and Nawal, the parents of her cousin Jana and her two only sisters (Jannat, 3 years old, and Fatima, 1 and a half years old), were also martyred.
Raghad and Jana are currently living under the care of their uncle in a tent in the middle of the Strip, in conditions that lack the minimum requirements of life.
The two girls are a living example of the Israeli massacres that targeted Palestinian families during the war that began after October 7, 2023, and caused either their complete or partial obliteration.
What is meant by annihilation of families?
Israel’s annihilation of Palestinian families means killing all family members without leaving any of them alive, or killing all family members except one or more who survived a massacre.
The “extermination of families” is one of the most important phenomena of the Israeli war on Gaza, as thousands of families were erased from the Palestinian civil registry due to the ongoing Israeli massacres.
How many families were completely or partially exterminated?
According to special data obtained by Tel Aviv Tribune Net from the Health Information Unit of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, the number of families that were completely wiped out, or one or two individuals remained, as a result of the occupation’s massacres, reached 6,644 families.
In detail, the number of families that were completely wiped out is 901, while the number of families with one member remaining is 2,270, while the number of families with two members remaining is 3,473 families.
The same data indicates that the number of families that were completely wiped out and their number of members was 2 to 5 is 712, while the number of families that were completely wiped out and their number of members was more than 6 is 189 families.
Regarding the number of families of which one member remained and whose number of members ranged from 2 to 5, it reached 1941, while the number of families of which one member remained and whose number of members was more than 6 reached 329.
The number of families in which two members remained and whose number of members ranged from 2 to 5 was 3113, while the number of families in which two members remained and whose number of members was more than 6 was 360.
What days witnessed the largest Israeli massacres?
The Director of the Supply and Equipment Department of the Civil Defense Service in the Gaza Strip, Muhammad Al-Mughair, explains that the majority of families who were completely or partially exterminated were victims of major massacres committed by the occupation forces, especially in the first months of the war.
Al-Mughir stated, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, that the occupation forces at the beginning of the war deliberately attacked large residential squares, resulting in the martyrdom of hundreds, including many families.
The government media office says that Israel committed 3,628 massacres during the war, resulting in the martyrdom of more than 41,600.
Data from the Health Information Unit at the Ministry of Health, which was obtained by Tel Aviv Tribune Net, showed that the largest massacres committed in the war were in the months of October, November and December 2023.
The data stated that the 24th of last October was the bloodiest day, as the number of martyrs who fell during it reached 626, followed by the 23rd of the same month, when the number of martyrs reached 579. The number on the 27th of last October reached 554 martyrs, and on the 4th In November it reached 575, on December 8 it reached 532, and on December 6 last it reached 491 martyrs.
What causes the annihilation of families?
The head of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory, Rami Abdo, explains that the reason for the annihilation of families during the current aggression is the occupation army’s policy of bombing homes on the heads of their residents without any prior warning.
Abdo added, “The occupation kills families by crushing them under the rubble using multiple projectiles of missiles and bombs, some of which weigh more than a ton.”
He gave an example of the occupation’s bombing on November 1, 2023, of a residential square belonging to the “Abu Eida” family, causing the death of about 120 people.
What weapons are used to exterminate families?
Gaza Civil Defense official Muhammad al-Mughayir explains that the occupation uses blind bombs, American-made, weighing 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) to bomb citizens’ homes, which are the largest of the Mark 80 series of bombs, which caused such a large number of families to be exterminated. .
Speaking to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, Al-Mughir added that Israel dropped 16 bombs of this type (900 kilograms) on the Taj Building in Gaza City on October 25, which led to the martyrdom of about 400 people, half of whom are still under the rubble until now.
As for Rami Abdo, he explains that the American “fortification-penetrating” bombs, including the BLU-109 missile produced by the American company General Dynamics, were among the most prominent missiles used by the Israeli occupation to bomb residential buildings, which led to the annihilation of… Such a large number of families.
What are the most prominent family massacres?
The following are examples of family massacres, arranged according to the number of martyrs:
- Abu Eida family (November 5, 2023): 120 martyrs.
- Daghmush family (November 17 and December 17, 2023): 109 martyrs.
- Juha family (December 6, 2023): 117 martyrs.
- Salem family (December 19, 2023): 85 martyrs.
- Al-Maghrabi family (December 23, 2023): 70 martyrs.
- Abu Alba family (January 7, 2024): 70 martyrs.
- Qaddoura family (November 22, 2024): 55 martyrs.
- Al-Sawaf family (November 18, 2024): 50 martyrs.
- Shihab family (October 12, 2023): 50 Palestinians.
- Abu Safi family (December 5, 2023): 49 martyrs.
- Batniji family (October 7, 2023): 43 martyrs.
- Malika family (November 19, 2023): 40 martyrs.
- Aslim family (December 30, 2023): 40 martyrs.
- Abdul Ghafour family (December 7, 2023): 35 martyrs.