Days of Palestine – Gaza

An entire Palestinian family living in northern Gaza fell victim to Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign targeting the blockaded strip.

The Tanani family, which consisted of a father, a pregnant mother, and four children, were in their home near Beit Hanoun town late Thursday when Israeli warplanes bombed the area without any warning. The entire residential square was destroyed, including the family’s home.

Ra’fat Tanani, 38, his pregnant wife Rawiye, 35, and their children Ismail, 6, Ameer, 5, Adham, 4, and Mohammad, 3, were all killed.

According to Hatem, the brother of Ra’fat Tanani who spoke to the Anadolu Agency (AA), he was speaking with his brother at the time his house was hit by the airstrike.

Before dawn Friday, Israeli tanks and warplanes carried out an intense barrage on the northern end of the Gaza Strip. In the darkness, Houda Ouda and her extended family ran frantically inside their home in the town of Beit Hanoun, trying to find shelter as the earth shook for two and half hours, Ouda recalled.

“We did not even dare look from the window to see what was being hit,” she told the Associated Press (AP). When daylight came, she saw the swath of destruction outside – streets cratered, buildings crushed, their facades torn off, an olive tree burned bare, dust and powdered concrete covering everything.

Four strikes hit the building at 11 p.m., just before the family was going to sleep, Rafat’s brother Fadi said. The building’s owner and his wife were also killed.

“It was a massacre,” said Sadallah Tanani, another relative. “My feelings are indescribable.”