Translated Content:
- Children's clothes and toys were scattered throughout the area, some burned, others stuck to charred trees. - Women stood with shocked faces at the edges of deep craters created by Israeli missiles. - Search operations continued for missing persons under the sand and rubble.
In the heart of the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, southwest of the Gaza Strip, the scene resembled a slice of hell. Every corner contained painful details, telling human stories that were extinguished before they could be fully revealed due to the massacre perpetrated by the Israeli army against displaced Palestinians.
The children's clothes, which had touched their innocent bodies only yesterday, were now scattered among the rubble, some burned, others stuck to charred tree branches.
Small shoes and worn-out dolls that once adorned their simple tents were now buried under the sand, as if they held their last memories of the place.
The children's toys, which had always been a source of joy for them, were turned to ash, and the burnt-out bicycles that had once circled the tent yard where the children played were now witnesses to a painful absence.
The Israeli army perpetrated its massacre at dawn on Tuesday, leaving "40 martyrs and more than 60 wounded" after its aircraft dropped heavy bombs on the tents of displaced people in Al-Mawasi, which Israel claims is a "safe humanitarian zone."
Shock pervades the area
The scene at the site of the Israeli massacre is immersed in silence, broken by the sounds of rescue teams and the cries of children, their small eyes brimming with fear, unable to comprehend what had happened or understand the cause of this sudden devastation.
At the edges of the deep craters created by the bombs, women stand with shocked faces, their eyes speaking before words can emerge. Some stare in amazement at the destruction, as if searching for a piece of a lost memory or a trace of their loved ones, hidden under the sand by Israeli missiles.
At every step, you find scattered belongings: a small bag belonging to a child, perhaps carrying a notebook he dreamed of using for his homework, which had been lost as the war dragged on, or a simple bowl that a mother was preparing to use to feed her family. All of them are buried or burned.
Even the tents that were their only shelter have become a pile of ash, leaving nothing but miserable memories of difficult days.
Sleeping Martyrs
As the displaced survey the site of the massacre that claimed the lives of 40 people who were asleep at the time of the bombing, children weep in terror as they hide in their mothers' arms, and women stand at the edges of giant craters.
Shock and grief pervade the atmosphere in Al-Mawasi, which the Israeli army claimed were "safe humanitarian" areas, after the displaced found themselves in the midst of an inevitable nightmare.
"How could this place have turned into a graveyard like this?!" asks Reham Al-Shaer, silently wiping away her tears and pointing to the remains of a tent where she and her children had taken shelter. "We left to live, but death has followed us even here," she says.
A few steps away, Rami Ahmed, one of the displaced people who witnessed the massacre, recounts the details with a pale face and a faltering voice: "We were sleeping inside the tents, the silence of the night disturbed only by the buzzing drones we're used to. Suddenly, we heard huge explosions, as if an earthquake had struck the area."
He adds: "We ran out after the tents were blown away, and what we saw was beyond imagination. Dozens of tents had disappeared from the area, as if they had never existed, and bodies were scattered everywhere. The air was filled with smoke and the smell of burning, and there were deep holes beneath which we had no idea what had happened."
He points to a burned-out bicycle belonging to a young boy who had been playing with it the day before: "He was playing here... Where is he now?!"
Continued Search
Despite the extent of the destruction, Palestinians have not given up hope. Many have volunteered to help civil defense teams search for the missing under the sand, using their hands and simple tools to dig through the sand.
Child Mohammed, who survived the massacre, stands contemplating the spot where he played with his friends the day before. His small eyes are filled with confusion and fear: "There was a tent, we played around it a lot, and now... there's nothing here."
Women move among the rubble and destruction in a desperate attempt to salvage what they can amidst all this devastation.
The Israeli army's bombing of the Mawasi area is not the first. It has previously launched attacks on the same area, which stretches 12 kilometers along the Mediterranean coast between the cities of Deir al-Balah in the north and Rafah in the south. These attacks resulted in horrific massacres that left hundreds of children and women dead and wounded, despite the fact that it was designated a "safe zone" and forced the residents of Gaza to migrate there.
An airstrike targeting displaced persons' tents in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis on July 13th killed 90 Palestinians and injured 300 others, including dozens of children and women.
With full American support, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, leaving approximately 136,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and a devastating famine.
In defiance of the international community, Israel continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt and the International Court of Justice's orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.