Article Author:
Reuters
Nidal Al-Mughrabi
GAZA — When Israeli rockets slammed into the neighborhood of a crowded refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night, 9-year-old Lean Matar Said. She was so frightened that she began to recite the final Islamic prayer.
"We were at my grandfather's house when suddenly debris started falling on us." she told Reuters from her hospital bed. "We started crying until our neighbors arrived and helped us." I didn't know I was alive until the moment they saved me," she said. “We sat like this for 10 minutes until they broke down the door.”
A Gaza militant injured in an Israeli attack that killed a senior commander of an Islamic Jihad group in Palestine late Saturday night on Day 1.
Gaza authorities said five of her civilians were killed in an attack at Rafah refugee camp, along with the commander-in-chief Khaled Mansour and two of his associates.
A senior Israeli officer said Israel had attacked Mansur and several commanders. He said the military did not know exactly how many civilians had been killed, but denied it was five. . It is a maze of alleyways, homes of Palestinians whose families fled or were expelled from towns and villages in his 1948 during the Israeli War.
Some took away small bicycles and books. Another piece of furniture was dragged out. Some searched for family papers and photo albums.
Casualties add to the toll of her most severe escalation in over a year among Israeli and Palestinian militants.
The two sides agreed to abide by Egypt's proposed ceasefire from Sunday night, sources said.
Israel launched airstrikes on Friday against alleged Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza. About 30 Palestinians were killed, a third of them civilians. Israel claims it does not target civilians.
Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of missiles at Israel. Anti-missile defenses prevent casualties in Israel, but people are still forced into shelters.
"A terrible sight"
A Palestinian resident said six of his homes had been destroyed in Rafah. A senior Israeli officer said Israel destroyed the house Mansur lived in, not the surrounding houses, and the strike was timed to minimize "collateral damage." Ahmed Temraz said six missiles hit the area and there was no warning of an attack.
"It was a terrifying sight. Words cannot describe it. Injustice, fear, fear of children and women," Temuraz, 46, told Reuters. ``It was very scary.
Ashraf al-Qaysi, whose home was about 50 meters away from the target area, described a chaotic scene as residents tried to escape while helping victims.
"They attacked the area without prior warning. I ran with my children. My daughter injured her hand," said Qaissi, 46.
He sat on the ruins of his own house and spoke. , he said, allowing rescue workers to bring it down so that the target area could be accessed with a bulldozer to help locate victims under the rubble. People are more precious," Kaisi told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Hugh Lawson)