Israel has continued its deadly bombardment campaign across the Gaza Strip, killing over 70 people in the past 24 hours, the majority of them being children.
In al-Mawasi, a place in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, that Israel had designated a “humanitarian zone”, women could be seen huddled around a sobbing grandmother.
Overnight, she had lost two generations: her daughter and five grandchildren.
“My dear child, my love… She [her daughter] ran after her brother and father,” she cried, recalling her previous losses during the war to Middle East Eye.
“They did nothing, they were just children,” the grief-stricken grandmother said.
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Ahmed al-Majaidah, the brother of the deceased mother of five, told MEE that his nephews ranged in age from four to 16.
“When we came to identify, I swear to God, we couldn’t recognise them,” he said, adding that one of the children, who had lost his head in the attack, was only identifiable through a birthmark on what little was left of his ear.
The rest of the children were only identifiable by the clothes they wore. Meanwhile, their sister and two other cousins remain under the rubble.
Majaidah accused the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “committing a genocide against civilians, children, women, the elderly (…) against all of Gaza’s people.”
“This goes out to all the media outlets, I swear to God that the children had no features, no faces, no heads, nothing,” Majaidah said.
‘They did nothing, they were just children’
– Grandmother of children killed in an Israeli strike
The distraught brother, who has been actively covering Israel’s war on Gaza since it began over 18 months ago on Instagram, expressed hopelessness as the world “does not listen” to what is happening in Gaza.
“We are now in shock, I had just lost my brother three months ago… his wife was pregnant with their son at the time. His son was brought into this world not knowing his father, he has never seen him, he knows nothing about him…
“Thank God for everything, sorrow travels around the world, and comes to reside here [in Gaza].”
Similar scenes unfolded throughout al-Mawasi. Standing next to the body of his infant daughter Misk, Ahmed Alyaan, a reporter from Gaza, recounted a night of horror.
They were sleeping when an Israeli strike hit the tent nearby without any warning at around 11pm, he said. Shrapnel from the attack hit his daughter and wife in the head.
While his child was killed in the attack, his wife was taken to intensive care. Recalling that his wife had lost over 40 family members in Israeli attacks, Alyaan prayed that she would recover from her wounds.
“This is who they are waging a war against,” Alyaan said, pointing at his baby.
“She’s now a bird up in heaven… It’s true that there is a lot of pain from the loss, but I am lucky, I will meet her in heaven one day… My love, she’s my soul,” he told MEE, breaking down in tears.
“[My wife] came into this world an orphan, and I hope God heals her… and [my daughter] was born during the war and was taken during the war,” he said.
New hell breaks loose in Gaza
Despite being a so-called “safe-zone”, al-Mawasi has been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli army. The area is home to thousands of displaced Palestinians, like the Majaidah and Alyaan families, who sought shelter from Israeli attacks.
Similar bombings on civilians and humanitarian zones have been reported across Gaza, leaving dozens dead and many more wounded.
In Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, at least six were killed in the bombing of a coffee shop.
Footage shows the bodies of customers, dead and wounded, lying around toppled chairs and tables in the Saftawi cafe. The floors were splattered with blood as smoke engulfed the area.
UN: Situation in Gaza ‘worst it has been’ since start of war
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On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Director General Pierre Krahenbuhl said that Israel’s resumption of its war on the enclave since 18 March had “triggered a new hell”.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Security Forum in Doha, Krahenbuhl said Gaza has been “witnessing and suffering… death, injury, repeated displacement, amputations, separation, disappearances, hunger, and deprivation of aid and dignity on a massive scale”.
“Just when the all-important ceasefire led people to believe they had escaped the worst, a new hell broke loose.
“This horror and dehumanisation will haunt us for decades to come,” Kraehenbuhl added.
Since Israel broke the ceasefire over a month ago, it has killed more than 2,222 Palestinians, and at least 52,314 since October 2023. At least 117,792 have been wounded since the start of the war 18 months ago.
Nearly one-third of deaths across Gaza since March are children, statistics published by the local health ministry show.
