The Israeli army bombed a warehouse housing displaced Palestinians in the az-Zawayda area of central Gaza, killing 15 members of a family, including nine children.
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said Saturday that 15 people were killed in last night’s attack, including three women. The total death toll from the attack stands at 16.
According to Tel Aviv Tribune’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, based in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, three Israeli missiles hit the warehouse, located a few kilometers south of the Nuseirat refugee camp.
“A massive fire broke out, burning everything in the warehouse while children were torn to pieces. Rescue efforts are continuing to try to recover more bodies,” he said.
“The frustration and grief are immense. Bodies are now lined up at the Al-Aqsa Hospital morgue as the family prepares to bury them.”
The attack killed the family patriarch, Sami, as well as his wife, mother and all his children, according to Abdalhadi al-Ejlah, a cousin of the victims.
Al-Ejlah told Tel Aviv Tribune from Stockholm, Sweden, that Sami was an “honorable man” who ran a small frozen meat business and was active in charity work, stressing that the family was not involved in politics.
He added that the family fled Gaza City to the az-Zawayda warehouse, which Sami owned and used for his business.
“We are literally talking about a gradual genocide, a slow-motion genocide, not only through killing, but also using other tools… including food shortages,” al-Ejlah said of the overall situation in Gaza, which he described as “hell on earth.”
The attack came after international mediators – the United States, Qatar and Egypt – concluded ceasefire negotiations in Doha on Friday that they described as “serious and constructive”.
The negotiations aim to end the war and secure the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
“What did they do to deserve this?” Ahmed Abu al-Ghoul, a resident who witnessed the latest Israeli attack, told AFP news agency.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Abu Azzoum reported that Israel carried out new airstrikes, mainly against residential homes in the enclave, with one killing at least seven Palestinians from the same family on the western side of the Nuseirat refugee camp.
“We see that the latest Israeli strikes have wiped out entire families,” he said.
Other evacuations
Israel issued a new round of evacuation orders on Saturday, this time for neighborhoods in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israeli army Arab spokesman Avichay Adraee made the announcement in a social media post, listing the Maghazi blocs, as well as several other neighborhoods in central Gaza, from which residents are expected to flee.
He said the Palestinian group Hamas had fired rockets from those areas and that the Israeli army would respond “with force.”
“For your own safety, go to the humanitarian zone immediately,” Adraee said.
This is the third time Israel has ordered the evacuation of new neighborhoods in Gaza in as many days, displacing tens of thousands of people.
According to Abu Azzoum, families are fleeing to Deir el-Balah, an area “already overwhelmed by displaced families.” The “humanitarian zone is shrinking,” he added.
Israeli forces also ordered residents to flee the area around Beit Hanoon, a town in northern Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to travel to Israel on Saturday to continue diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement.
The day before, President Joe Biden had said a deal was in sight and warned parties in the Middle East not to jeopardize negotiations.
A senior Hamas official denied Biden’s optimism. “To say we are getting closer to an agreement is an illusion,” Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement sent to AFP.
“We are not facing an agreement or real negotiations, but rather the imposition of American dictates.”
Blinken is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday.
On Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli attacks had killed 69 people and injured 136 in the past 48 hours.
This brings the death toll in the enclave since October 7 to 40,074 dead and 92,537 injured, he said.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel in the Hamas attacks on October 7, and more than 200 were taken prisoner.