By Kouthar Sambo

Tragic scenes played out on Tuesday at the Maghazi refugee camp when the Israeli occupation rained down missiles from its drones. A Palestinian resident in Gaza, Rafat Jawwad, told VOC News that the children were playing right outside their camp after Asr prayer when they were suddenly targeted by the occupation forces all at once, leading to a total number of 23 martyrs.

“Among the martyred was my granddaughter along with her sister, while the other children were in ICU, severely injured,” said Jawwad.

“The worst part of all of this is that the media will spread propaganda, saying that these martyred children were terrorists planning to attack Israel. No, we (Palestinians) are the victims, and we want our freedom of movement and our peace back,” asserted Jawwad.

The children need to be relieved by the tension caused by the war, so we allow them to play and still be children, said Jawwad, but at 16:15, my granddaughter’s childhood was gone.

“Without any reason, a horrible explosion went off, resulting in the martyrdom of mostly children. The only thing we can say is Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un (Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed, to Him, we return),” remarked Jawwad.

He further described that he an additional five other rushed to Al Aqsa Hospital because it is the only hospital operating to help those injured. He added that Al Shifa Medical Complex as well as Nasser Hospital is already out of service.

“We risked going to the cemetery and hurry to cover and bury my granddaughter after collecting her body. This was dangerous because the drones were above our heads, and we could be targeted anytime,” explained Jawwad.

“My daughter is very hurt, but she knows that this is Allah’s will because Allah (SWT) chose her daughter to become a martyr. This is our concept in Gaza, where we almost compete over which family has more martyrs than the other family because we are honoured,” said Jawwad.

“We have moved towards Deir al-Balah city as a result of the attack, but the situation in the Gaza Strip is worsening. I have lost many loved ones at our shelter before this one at the Maghazi camp that was targeted by four missiles, three exploded, and the fourth one did not explode. I then lost my youngest brother, who is a programming producer for Palestine Satellite Channel, as he was also martyred,” detailed Jawwad.

He added that the only way forward is to find shelter at his daughter’s husband’s family house, as they could not sleep last night due to the Israeli aggression. According to Jawwad, all families and relatives are now together to give their condolences and support each other.

Photo: Supplied