Residents of the Tal al-Sultan displacement camp in western Rafah have recounted to CNN the horrifying scenes that followed an Israeli strike Tuesday, which according to Palestinian and UN officials killed eight people.
Video of the aftermath from a CNN stringer shows torn up tents, burnt sheets of metal and a clutter of furniture and clothing thrown on the ground. Walls are pierced with holes and the wooden structures holding up the tents are completely damaged.
CNN has reached out to the IDF regarding the strike, but has not received a response.
One resident, Hind Al-Ashqar, told CNN she was asleep with her family when she awoke to the sound of her neighbors screaming.
“Our children were terrified; I have a 5-year-old that was so horrified. We were all scared, children and adults,” she said.
Al-Ashqar’s daughter Ayat said she ran out of their tent to check on their neighbors, some of whom were her relatives, only to find them dead on the ground.
“I was so terrified to see the remains of people. We have been displaced and living in nylon tents. We see remains and body parts of martyrs, we see the strikes and shrapnel hitting us. If we were in our homes, we wouldn’t be afraid of shrapnel. But inside tents, any shrapnel can hit us and even burn us,” Ayat continued.
Another resident, Imad, pulled out the remains of a person while rummaging through the torn-up tents, saying “this is the safe place they talk about.”
Another resident, Mohammed, told CNN people were asleep when they were killed, including his cousin. He said he has been picking up dead bodies of children and body parts since the morning, pointing to his blood-stained shirt.
“Instead of waking up and saying thank God, we woke up and picked up body parts…. every day there is a war. Enough is enough…the whole world is living freely and happily except us. Why? How is the whole world unable to stop Israel and Netanyahu?” he said.
A displaced woman Suhad told a CNN stringer she had been sheltering in a nearby camp when she heard there had been a strike on her brother’s camp.
“I didn’t sleep all night. I was told he was martyred, then he wasn’t. He was martyred, then he wasn’t.
She said her brother’s four daughters, the youngest three months old, survived but were injured.
CNN stringer video from the scene shows dozens of people dismantling the remains of their makeshift tents, gathering what’s left of their belongings and loading them onto trucks and donkey carts. They told a CNN stringer on the ground that they are forced to flee again, some for the sixth time, out of fear of being killed.
“We were in the North, they struck our home, and my dad was martyred. They said go east of the valley, we went to Nuseirat. They hit Nuseirat, we fled to Khan Younis. They entered Khan Younis, we fled to Rafah. After they entered Rafah, we wanted to go back to Khan Younis. God knows where we shall go next. There is no safe place in Gaza,” Mohammed said.
Another man, wearing a gray baseball cap, said, “For God’s sake, look at us, show us some respect. We want nothing from you. We want to live like in all other countries. We want freedom. We want stability… We are not beggars waiting for aid. The people of Palestine are not a field for experimentation. Enough, enough.”
