DaysofPal- Israeli airstrikes on shelters for displaced civilians in the Gaza Strip killed at least 23 people, mostly women and children, in what Palestinians are referring to as the “Night of the Tent Holocaust.”
Among the victims was Ahmed Zuhair Abu al-Rous, a 12-year-old boy with disabilities, who burned to death while sitting in his wheelchair after a missile struck his family’s tent.
The attack occurred in the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, where Ahmed’s family, like many others, had fled in search of safety from the relentless bombardment on Rafah.
“His smile is like the moon. He used to smile at everyone,” said a family friend of Ahmed, recalling the boy’s gentle nature.
Ahmed, unable to move on his own, died inside the tent with several family members as fire engulfed their temporary shelter. His wheelchair, found charred and partially melted, stood as a silent witness to what rescuers described as one of the most horrific war crimes of the ongoing conflict.
“Their bodies were completely charred. Mothers and children. Among them was a disabled child, Ahmed, and children aged one, two, and even ten years old. What did these children do to them?” said Um Mohammed Abu al-Rous, Ahmed’s grandmother, in anguish.
“The families that were burned had been displaced from Tal al-Sultan in Rafah to Khan Younis to escape the shelling, only to find death while they were sleeping in their tents.”
Ten members of the Abu al-Rous family were killed in the strike, including five children and four women. Their funeral was held today, west of Khan Younis, in scenes of deep mourning.
North Gaza: Entire families erased
Parallel strikes hit northern Gaza, where six members of the al-Atal family were killed in Beit Lahia, and seven members of the Asaliya family were incinerated inside a tent in Jabalia refugee camp. Medical sources said these attacks effectively “erased” three families from the Palestinian civil registry overnight.
In another area of Mawasi Khan Younis, the Civil Defense recovered over 15 bodies from tents burned by Israeli airstrikes.
“The tongues of fire thrown by the Israeli planes raided the tents of unarmed displaced people in Mawasi Khan Younis in the last hours of the night and devoured their weak bodies, leaving many dead and injured,” the Civil Defense said in a statement.
The majority of the victims were women and children who had sought refuge in what they believed were safer areas.
These massacres took place just weeks after Israel resumed its military campaign and complete siege on Gaza on March 18, 2025, effectively ending a two-month ceasefire that had begun on January 19. Despite the formal ceasefire, Israel violated its terms throughout the truce period, according to Palestinian officials.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that the overall death toll from the war, which began on October 7, 2023, has reached 51,065, with 116,505 wounded. Since March 18 alone, 1,691 Palestinians have been killed and 4,464 injured.
What was meant to be a temporary shelter for the most vulnerable, including children with disabilities like Ahmed, has become yet another graveyard. His story, and the stories of countless others like him, are now part of Gaza’s ever-growing list of tragedies, written in fire and ash.
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