Palestinians woke on Wednesday to the aftermath of a devastating Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis that killed 13 members of the same family, including women and children, as they slept in their home.
Rida Al-Jabour, a displaced Palestinian living near the targeted house, was woken at 4 am local time (0200 GMT) by a massive explosion that reduced the area to rubble. Thick black smoke and ash clouded visibility, while the smell of explosives and fear filled the air. As the haze cleared, scattered bodies and body parts, including those of women and children, were found littering the site.
“We didn’t find a single intact body,” Jabour told Anadolu, her voice trembling with panic. “Not one had a head.”
Among the grim discoveries, the Palestinian woman said that the headless body of a three-month-old infant was hurled onto a nearby tent by the force of the blast. She found the child’s foot amid furniture in her own home, along with other fragments of flesh.
The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said that they had retrieved 13 bodies, including children and women, from the ruins of the Abdul Bari family home.
The strike marked a sharp escalation in Israel’s military assault, which has targeted homes and displacement tents sheltering displaced civilians.
Israel began a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza on 18 March, and has since killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and wounded over 2,500, shattering a January ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
More than 50,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s military onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
READ: Israel to expand Gaza military offensive with large-scale forced displacement