Family of 13 Killed in IDF Strike in Gaza Filmed Trying to Survive Under Rubble
Haaretz
According to relatives of the family that was killed in Gaza, which included seven children, the Israeli army prevented rescuers from reaching them for roughly eight hours.
Thirteen family members, including seven children, were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City. According to local rescue authorities and relatives of the victims, the IDF prevented their rescue for roughly eight hours. Any attempt to get close to the scene was met with a drone strike, they said.
Throughout Tuesday, some of the victims were filmed under the rubble of the building, but by the time rescue workers managed to arrive at the scene, they were all dead.
Anas Arafat, a relative of the family killed, spoke with Haaretz as he was waiting to receive permission from the IDF to enter the scene at Al-Tuffah. "My father, my mother, my two brothers and their wives, my nephews and nieces – all of them are under the rubble," he said, "It was a five-story house, and last year it was struck and we were left with two stories that were more or less okay. The family went back there because they didn't have anywhere to live, I'm only asking that we receive permission to get them out of there."
Shortly before the strike, Anas' brother managed to make it to the rubble and film his sister-in-law, 35-year-old Hala, who was wounded and trying to survive. In the video, one of her relatives can be heard on the phone speaking with rescue authorities.
"There's someone trapped under the rubble, come here," he said before turning to Hala and telling her to speak. "Rescue me," she says in response, "I'm tired, I can't go on."
The relative was forced to flee minutes later due to an IDF drone strike.
The Palestinian Civil Defense, which evacuated the bodies of the Arafat family, said on Tuesday afternoon that it was allowed to enter the area to attempt to rescue the family, only to find that all 13 had died.
"Mrs. Hala Arafat died many hours after she was filmed speaking under the rubble," the group said, "We were shocked to learn that she had died with her family that was trapped under the rubble, without any response to the thousands of pleas for help."
Haaretz reached out to the IDF to receive an urgent response, while at least some of the Arafat family was still alive. The army has yet to respond.
According to relatives of the family that was killed in Gaza, which included seven children, the Israeli army prevented rescuers from reaching them for roughly eight hours.
Thirteen family members, including seven children, were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City. According to local rescue authorities and relatives of the victims, the IDF prevented their rescue for roughly eight hours. Any attempt to get close to the scene was met with a drone strike, they said.
Throughout Tuesday, some of the victims were filmed under the rubble of the building, but by the time rescue workers managed to arrive at the scene, they were all dead.
Anas Arafat, a relative of the family killed, spoke with Haaretz as he was waiting to receive permission from the IDF to enter the scene at Al-Tuffah. "My father, my mother, my two brothers and their wives, my nephews and nieces – all of them are under the rubble," he said, "It was a five-story house, and last year it was struck and we were left with two stories that were more or less okay. The family went back there because they didn't have anywhere to live, I'm only asking that we receive permission to get them out of there."
Shortly before the strike, Anas' brother managed to make it to the rubble and film his sister-in-law, 35-year-old Hala, who was wounded and trying to survive. In the video, one of her relatives can be heard on the phone speaking with rescue authorities.
"There's someone trapped under the rubble, come here," he said before turning to Hala and telling her to speak. "Rescue me," she says in response, "I'm tired, I can't go on."
The relative was forced to flee minutes later due to an IDF drone strike.
The Palestinian Civil Defense, which evacuated the bodies of the Arafat family, said on Tuesday afternoon that it was allowed to enter the area to attempt to rescue the family, only to find that all 13 had died.
"Mrs. Hala Arafat died many hours after she was filmed speaking under the rubble," the group said, "We were shocked to learn that she had died with her family that was trapped under the rubble, without any response to the thousands of pleas for help."
Haaretz reached out to the IDF to receive an urgent response, while at least some of the Arafat family was still alive. The army has yet to respond.
