‘I see my wife and son burning every time I close my eyes’

/al-aqsa-hospital-airstrike-deir-al-bala

  • ‘I see my wife and son burning every time I close my eyes’
    By Ibtisam Mahdi October 18, 2024 | +972 mag
    https://www.972mag.com/al-aqsa-hospital-airstrike-deir-al-balah

    It was a few minutes past 1 a.m. on Oct. 14 when an Israeli warplane launched an airstrike into the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of displaced Palestinian families were sleeping in their tents. The attack set off a fire that quickly spread throughout the courtyard, consuming 40 tents in total — most made of highly flammable nylon and fabrics — before Gazan civil defense crews managed to bring it under control.

    Four people, including a woman and a child, burned to death that night, and over 40 others suffered second- and third-degree burns. Among those killed were Alaa al-Dalou, 38, and her son Sha’ban, 19. Alaa’s 10-year-old son, Abd el-Rahman, was badly burned in the attack, and succumbed to his wounds on Friday.

    A software engineering student, Sha’ban had been caught just a week prior in an Israeli airstrike that hit a nearby mosque, where Sha’ban was reading the Quran. He made it out with minor injuries and was recovering in his family’s tent on Monday night, when the blaze engulfed the courtyard and burned him alive. (...)