DaysofPal – An Israeli airstrike that ignited a massive fire in a residential apartment in Gaza City wiped out an entire Palestinian family, including four young siblings, in the early hours of Tuesday, marking another devastating tragedy in Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The victims were Naeem, 14; Ferial, 12; Salma, 10; and Amira, 6. The children became trapped inside their home after the strike sparked a fast-moving fire that engulfed the apartment near Al-Samer Junction at around 3:00 a.m. on July 21.
Their uncle, Mohammed al-Masri, who lived in another section of the same building, said the children survived the initial explosion and could be heard desperately calling for help from behind a separating wall.
“The fire was intense. The flames were overwhelming,” he said, recalling how family members tried to extinguish the blaze with buckets of water.
“We only had six buckets, and they were no match for the flames.”
Despite repeated attempts to reach the children, the fire spread rapidly through the apartment, fueled by furniture and other household belongings.
As the flames closed in on his own room, al-Masri said he was forced to make an impossible choice to save the rest of his family.
“I threw my children out of the window to save them,” he said.
His wife and mother also escaped through the window, suffering minor injuries.
“It was the only chance we had,” he said.
Civil defense crews eventually arrived but struggled to bring the fire under control. The blaze burned for hours before firefighters managed to extinguish it. Rescue teams later recovered the bodies of the four children, which had been severely burned.
At Al-Shifa Hospital, al-Masri faced the agonizing task of identifying his nieces and nephew.
“It was a heartbreaking moment,” he said. “I recognized them only by the size of their bodies.”
Relatives remembered the children as bright and full of dreams. Naeem had memorized the Quran and hoped to become an engineer. Ferial loved drawing, Salma enjoyed making bead crafts, and Amira had recently graduated from kindergarten and was preparing to begin school.
According to the family, the children’s parents, Firas al-Masri, 33, and his wife, were also killed in the strike.
The attack adds to the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza, where continued Israeli attacks have devastated families, destroyed homes, and severely damaged civilian infrastructure.
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