Gaza- Sami Shahtot (66 years old) is still living in shock, after losing his wife, 5 of his children, and 4 of his grandchildren, in the Nuseirat camp massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces, on Saturday, in the central Gaza Strip.
Shahtot had left his home and headed to the camp market to buy some supplies, before the occupation army began its bloody attack, which resulted in the death and injury of more than 960 Palestinians. After he returned, he was surprised by the loss of most of his family members, as a result of a missile fired by the occupation army, which destroyed his house.
He was also saddened by the martyrdom of all members of his brother Iyad’s family, who lived in a house next to him. Iyad lost his wife, four children, and two grandchildren, and was left alone.
A horrific massacre
While he was leaning on a crutch, trying to comprehend what happened, Shahtot told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “The neighborhood was quiet, God bless you. I was in the market. The bombing began, and then we found bodies thrown in the streets.”
After the Israeli attack ended, Shahtot returned to his home to check on his family. He was surprised by one of his sons telling him, “O father, may God compensate you. My wife, my mother, my brothers, and their children were martyred.” His eldest daughter, Reem, was also seriously injured, after losing two of her children.
The occupation army had committed its massacre in the camp under the pretext of “rescuing 4 detainees” held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), since the seventh of last October.
The government media office in Gaza announced that the number of martyrs killed in the massacre reached 274, including 64 children, 57 women and 37 elderly people, while the number of casualties reached 698 wounded, including 153 children, 161 women and 54 elderly people.
The office stated – in a statement – that the occupation army launched more than 250 raids and bombed 89 homes during the hours of the horrific massacre.
horror
Close to Shahtot’s house, Anwar Al-Gharam and his sons are working to extract some belongings from the rubble of their completely destroyed house. He told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that his house is adjacent to the house that was attacked by the occupation special forces, and accounts say that they freed an Israeli prisoner who was there.
After he and his family lived for about two hours of terror inside the house, they succeeded in leaving before the occupation forces bombed it and completely destroyed it, leaving him and his family of 8 people homeless. He continues, “Charcoalized, headless bodies were scattered on the streets, and the wounded were thrown on the roads.”
In the house opposite Al-Gharam, Muhammad Mazhar was trying to extract the remains of the completely destroyed furniture of his house. He told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “We were sitting in the safety of God, when suddenly special forces entered the house opposite us, Quadcopter planes and Apache helicopters… all of them were hitting us with fire, bombs and bullets. Everyone in the street was martyred, here and in 3 or 4 other areas in Nusseirat.”
The shooting at them continued two hours after the operation. After the occupation forces withdrew, they immediately left the house after learning that Israeli intelligence had informed the residents that they would destroy the residential square, “which is what actually happened.” Mazhar is still living in shock, he says, and does not know what he will do after the destruction of his home.
The occupation army mainly targeted two houses approximately 500 meters away from each other, in which it said detainees were located, but it carried out a widespread attack on other areas in the camp, in an attempt to cover up its aggression.
Bloody day
Many of the streets and alleys of the Nuseirat camp looked like a war zone, as the aggression destroyed many homes, completely or partially, and also caused massive damage to the infrastructure, as electricity poles collapsed and sewage spilled in the streets.
The scene is not much different in the second area targeted by the occupation, which is about 500 meters to the east. Abd al-Rahman al-Tahrawi, who lives in a house opposite the apartment that the occupation attacked, said that Arabized special forces raided the street using a large transport vehicle, and their members climbed into it using stairs, then killed all the residents of the house.
He added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net that circulating stories say that the apartment contained 3 Israeli detainees, and “the occupation forces succeeded in liberating them.” After the withdrawal of the invading forces, the occupation army began destroying the area and bombing it with aircraft.
Al-Tahrawi was hit in the head by fragments of rubble from the bombed house. He says that most of the people who were passing through the area were killed, as he saw about 50 martyrs on the ground after the operation ended. He complains that the occupation forces sabotaged his private project, which consists of refrigerators to cool water for the residents.
His father, Khalil Al-Tahrawi, narrates the details of those horrific hours, and says that he and his family members took shelter on the ground for fear of being hit by the bullets fired by the planes in every direction.
He added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “Since Saturday, I have been almost unconscious and unable to comprehend what happened. We were all going to die. There was less than 10 meters between us and the targeted house. I saw very horrific scenes, torn body parts, a body with its head cut off, destruction everywhere.” “It was an extremely difficult and bloody day.”
