A day after the Israeli army rescued four hostages held by Hamas militants in Nuseirat, Gazans described intense shelling during the raid, followed by chaos in the streets after an operation that killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians.
Bayan Abu Amr, 32, was carrying her 18-month-old son Mohammad on the edge of Nuseirat’s main market when she was surrounded by the loud booms of airstrikes, which the Israeli military said were targeting militants in an effort to ensure safe extraction. of hostages and special forces.
“The people hurried as on the day of judgment; I didn’t know where to run,” said Ms. Abu Amr, who was on her way to pay condolences to her uncle’s family after the death of two of her children. “Children were screaming, women were falling as they ran.”
Along with other Gazans, he managed to get on a passing van that was trying to get people out safely amid the attacks, he recalled. A little girl was separated from her mother in the confusion, while an elderly man broke free and fell from the truck to the ground, she said.
Mrs. Abu Amr finally arrived home with her son hours later, surprised that he was still alive. “I will never take my son out of the house again,” she said.
To rescue the hostages, Israeli troops entered two residential buildings where they were being held, according to Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman. Admiral Hagari said there were families living in the apartments, as well as armed Hamas militants guarding the hostages, making it “impossible to reach them without harming Gaza civilians.”
The exact death toll remained unclear as health officials tried to compile statistics amid chaotic scenes at hospitals. Gaza health officials reported that more than 200 people were killed in the raid; The Israeli military said it was aware of fewer than 100 casualties, without specifying whether they were killed, wounded or both. Neither side provided a breakdown of combatants and civilians.
On Sunday, the hallways and corridors of the last major medical center in central Gaza, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, remained “densely packed” with new patients, after they had been brought in on Saturday. there more than 100 corpses. said Khalil Daqran, a hospital official. Most of the bodies have already been buried or claimed by relatives, he added.
Medical facilities, already overcrowded before the Israeli rescue mission in nearby Nuseirat, were overflowing, said Abdelkarim al-Harazin, 28, a doctor who works there.
“The bombardment was unimaginably intense,” Dr. al-Harazin said. “The entire hospital became one giant emergency room, even when people came to look for their deceased relatives.”
When Al-Aqsa was overwhelmed, many of the wounded were sent to a nearby field hospital operated by the International Medical Corps, according to Javed Ali, an official with the aid group.
Diana Abu Shaban, 28, first heard gunshots when she was about to hang clothes near the tent where she was sheltering in Nuseirat. As the assault intensified, she told her daughters to hide before realizing that the flimsy tent could not protect them. She gathered her children and ran to the nearby Al-Awda medical center in a desperate search for safety.
She said her husband, Saeed, had left early that morning for the market, where Palestinian residents said the strikes were particularly intense.
“I heard a lot of missiles,” Abu Shaban said. “I thought my husband would die or be injured.”
After two hours, the shelling stopped and she and her children left the hospital, she said. They later discovered that her husband had survived by hiding in a nearby store.
Abd Al-Rahman Basem al-Masri, 25, who lives on the northern edge of Deir al-Balah, said Saturday was the worst day he had seen since the start of the war.
Al-Masri said he, his mother and younger brother had returned from his uncle’s house and were approaching his house when an airstrike hit the ground next to it.
In a video recorded by a friend who was also in the car, a cloud of smoke can be seen rising behind the building. “At that moment I lost hope that we could continue living here,” al-Masri said.
Another Gazan living in Nuseirat, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said he and more than 10 family members hid inside for hours as heavy airstrikes rocked the neighborhood. He said he had no idea there were hostages in the area.
After the shelling subsided, he headed to the devastated market area, where he said he saw the street covered in blood and bodies. Gazans were cursing not only Israel, but also Hamas, she said, blaming them for bringing this disaster on them.
He said neither Israel nor Hamas cared about the destruction as they sought to attack each other. Ordinary people, he added, were the victims.