Israel has launched numerous airstrikes on Gaza City since October 7. (Representative pic)
Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian family living in the United States has claimed that they’ve lost three generations of their family in a single day in Gaza. Speaking to CNN, Tariq Hamouda and his wife Manal said that it’s been over a week since they learned that 42 relatives were killed in the ongoing war in the Middle East. They believe that it was an Israeli airstrike that killed their family members on October 19 in the Sheikh Ejleen neighborhood of Gaza City.
Tariq Hamouda and his wife Manal live in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Mr Hamouda told CNN that his wife, whose maiden name is Saqallah, lost four brothers, a sister, and most of their children when two explosions destroyed their house on October 19. “Up until last night, she is still denying [what happened],” Mr Hamousa said, referring to his wife. “She loves every member of her family. She spent the summer with them,” explained Mr Hamouda, who says he and his wife are originally from the same neighborhood in Gaza but have lived in the United States Since 2004.
“There has been fear and numerous conflicts between Israel and militant groups in Gaza since then, but nothing like this,” he said. Further, he added that he doesn’t have time to properly mourn the dead as he is still worried about those who’ve survived so far in the war-ravaged city.
Ms Manal’s cousin Eyad Abu Shaban is also equally distraught to learn about the death of his family members. Mr Shaban, who lives in South Florida, said, “It’s like your whole world stops”. “It’s not one, two, three, or four – it is 42 members, it’s really hard to cope with,” he told the outlet.
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According to Mr Shaban, the deceased ranged in age from 3 months to 77. They were all staying in a single compound. Speaking to CNN, Mr Shaban claimed that before the airstrikes, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had called to say there could be military activity in the area, but they were never asked to evacuate their home. “They have bombed houses with warnings and without warnings,” he said, lamenting there is a lot of fear, confusion and nowhere to go.
Notably, Israel has launched numerous airstrikes on Gaza City since October 7, after Hamas operatives broke through the barrier that separates Gaza from Israel and killed more than 1,400 people.
Israel has declared war on Hamas in response and launched devastating airstrikes, saying that it wants to destroy the Palestinian group that governs the territory. According to CNN, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 8,485 Palestinians and injured more than 21,000 others. Another 1.4 million people have been internally displaced, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.