Posted on 06/20/2024 8:20:37 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie
It began without warning. “Planes were bombing. Tanks were firing. Quadcopter drones were shooting. People were running and screaming. It felt like Judgment Day, as if we were living our last moments.”
This was the scene at around 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 8 in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. Aerial bombardment, as described by a journalist in the camp who preferred to remain anonymous, was accompanied by the entry of dozens of Israeli military and police special forces personnel who emerged from aid trucks. “We couldn’t understand what was happening,” the journalist added.
As later became clear, a major Israeli military operation was underway to retrieve four hostages whom Hamas had kidnapped from the Nova music festival almost exactly eight months prior. In doing so, Israeli forces unleashed devastation on Nuseirat camp, killing at least 276 Palestinians and wounding approximately 700 more.
“The intensity of the bombing felt like an earthquake,” Enas Al-Louh, a 45-year-old from Gaza City who had sought refuge in the camp, recounted. “I thought my life would end right there. I was screaming at my children not to leave my side so that we could die together. For more than an hour, we lived through the horror of nonstop bombing and shelling.”
For Amjad Al-Majdalawi, a 40-year-old who had been staying in Nuseirat camp with his family since the start of the war, the sound of explosions and people screaming in the market jolted him into a state of panic. “My mind stopped, and I ran to check on my family,” he told +972. “While running, I saw the martyrs and the wounded lying on the ground, and the survivors begging for help.
“I arrived home to find my children and my family screaming in fear,” he continued. “We tried to find some relief from the shock of the event, but it continued to become more and more violent. The occupation deceived the camp through the state of calm in which we lived for several days [prior to the operation], without hearing the sound of reconnaissance planes. Then came the attack, with such brutality. Everyone in the camp lost someone from their family.”
‘We are cheap blood in this hypocritical world’
As hundreds of wounded Palestinians began arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, the Israeli army called the hospital staff and ordered them to evacuate, threatening to bomb the hospital. Staff passed on the warning to those it could, but most were too desperate to pay heed. The attack didn’t materialize, and it appears that the threat was intended to sow further chaos and confusion as Israel’s operation unfolded.
“All the photographers and journalists chose to stay,” the journalist recounted. “By covering the events inside the hospital — which continued to receive countless numbers of injured patients — we fulfilled our work. We didn’t care about the evacuation order, because what we experienced was more terrible than any other thought or feeling. The crying of mothers and children was so intense.”
Khalil Al-Dakran, the hospital’s spokesperson, told +972 that most of the wounded who arrived that day were women and children. But due to the Israeli army’s continuous attacks on central Gaza in the previous weeks, he explained, the hospital was unable to receive such large numbers.
“We treated the injured on the floor of the corridors and outside in the tents, because there were no empty beds to receive the wounded,” Al-Dakran continued. “They arrived in ambulances, civilian cars, and animal-drawn vehicles.” The situation was so dire that the hospital was forced to send patients to Al-Awda Maternity Hospital, which was closer to the massacre in Nuseirat, despite it being ill-equipped to accommodate patients with severe injuries.
Al-Aqsa’s dwindling resources further limited the hospital’s ability to admit the influx of patients. “Some medical delegations come to Gaza with supplies that can help our patients, but the Israeli army confiscates these and prevents them from entering Gaza,” Al-Dakran explained. “It inhibits the entry of fuel and medical equipment into hospitals and keeps the wounded from seeking life-saving treatment abroad.”
The Nuseirat operation marked only the third time since October 7 that Israeli forces have freed hostages alive. The second, on Feb. 12, also came at a high cost to Palestinian lives, killing at least 74 in Rafah’s Shaboura refugee camp in order to create a “diversion.”
Al-Louh is still struggling to make sense of what he witnessed. “How is it reasonable to kill over 200 people for the sake of four? We are cheap blood in this hypocritical world that does not know the meaning of humanity, does not speak about the hundreds of martyrs and wounded, and does not express its anger at this massacre.”
How is it reasonable to kill over 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7th, just for “the fun of it”?
... and the 4th little pig built his house out of wolf skulls.
It wasn’t strong, but it sent a message.
His comment about “ ... the martyrs and the wounded lying on the ground, and the survivors begging for help.” tells me all I need to know about where he stands. he supports his “martyrs” and deserves no mercy. Period.
If hamas wants their body count to drop, release all the hostages.
As long as they are holding them, take the consequences.
The answer is the same as the government official of Mexico when asked about how many students were killed during the Olympic Games protests in Mexico City in 1968: “We would have killed as many as we needed to kill.”
Because those 200 know who those four are. They live alongside them, might even be related to them. They know what they do, and remain silent. I have no problem taking out 200 individuals who condone terrorist acts to get four terrorists.
Reminds me of the German townsfolk that knew what was going on in the concentration camps.
FAFO!
When the 200 are terrorists and war criminals as well as their supporters, its quite justifiable to kill 200 for 4.
Hell, I’d kill 200 for the hell of it. Make it 2000. Killing them is a moral good. It should be celebrated.
When you have a fire ant nest, you don’t kill just one ant for every bite you got. You wipe out the nest so your wife, your kids, your parents, your neighbors, your pets, and you friends don’t get bit.
That's willful ignorance.
Didn’t they blow him into next week?
That is rather puzzling bro, that the people of Earth, will actually try to take on God, with physical weapons of war. That isn’t going to work out well for them.
Killing all of these Sand Uyghurs seems Reasonable to me, rescue or not.
Well, they got F-15’s (cool plane) and nuclear weapons
They can should LGBTQ+ slogans at Him too.
Should work out well.
DumbSchiff Ruwaida it’s called FAFO
AFAIC, they are completely complicit in the attacks of October and rightfully are bearing the full impact of retribution.
They, ALL OF THEM, KNEW! They knew and did nothing. They aided the attacks by their direct and indirect support to Hamas and by their silence. They are lucky that the entirety of Gaza isn’t a molten pile of glass right now.
Very easily. The 4 are your own the 200 your enemy.
How is it reasonable to butcher, raoe, behead 1200 people who had done nothing to you?
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