1 of 4 Many residents became homeless Photo: BBC Many residents became homeless Photo: BBC
In an instant, the buildings of Al Zahra, in the heart of the Gaza Strip, were transformed from a residential neighborhood into a pile of rubble.
At least 25 residential buildings in this city were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes that targeted a mostly quiet and affluent neighborhood.
The Israeli offensive is in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attacks in which 1,400 people were killed by members of the Islamic group. Around 6,400 people were killed in the attacks in Israel.
Umm Salim al Saafin lost his home. She cried a lot when she said that the Israeli army had ordered the residents of the neighborhood to evacuate their homes at 8:30 p.m. on October 19th.
She says the area was then bombarded continuously from 9pm to 7am on Friday.
There were 20 apartments in his building, each occupied by a family, none of whom knew where to go.
“We are civilians living peacefully in our homes. Why are they bombing us? “What have we done?” said Umm Mohammed, another woman who also lost her home.
The attack on Al Zahra left around 5,000 people homeless. This figure is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of Gazans who have been forced to leave their homes.
2 of 4 Entire buildings were destroyed in Al Zahra Photo: Portal Entire buildings were destroyed in Al Zahra Photo: Portal
He says some families did not leave and were buried under the rubble, but it was extremely difficult to recover the bodies or even search for survivors because ambulances and other emergency teams were unable to reach the site, and they lack the necessary equipment.
“Everything we had is gone,” residents who returned to inspect the destruction and search for belongings in the rubble told the BBC.
They collected some clothes wrapped in sheets and left with pillows, mattresses and blankets.
But the search for belongings had to be stopped.
While the BBC team was still in the neighborhood, a resident said he received a call from the Israeli army ordering people to leave the area: the military was going to destroy one of the remaining towers.
This led to the immediate evacuation of the area.
The BBC asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the specific attacks in Al Zahra.
In retaliation for their “barbaric attacks,” Israel is responding “with force to dismantle Hamas’s military and administrative capabilities,” it said.
“In stark contrast to Hamas’s deliberate attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes practical precautions to reduce harm to civilians.”
3 out of 4 residents say people are buried under the rubble Photo: GETTY IMAGES Residents say people are buried under the rubble Photo: GETTY IMAGES
A “refuge” from the 90s
The city of Al Zahra was built on undeveloped land in the late 1990s.
Former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ordered the construction to prevent the expansion of the Nitzarim settlement, which bordered the city to the north.
The city’s buildings and streets were relatively modern, with around 60 residential towers housing up to 10,000 people.
The place housed public institutions, universities and schools.
Hamza, a resident of Al Zahra, says the town has been far removed from recent military operations and has not been the target of attacks in previous wars. This sense of security made the place a refuge for people displaced from other areas.
When the war began, Al Zahra residents opened their homes to their families, and it was common for each apartment to house two or more families.
When the towers were destroyed, the residents and their families were left homeless.
Even those whose homes were not attacked cannot return for fear of being bombed at any moment.
Hamza, who lives with his relatives, describes the situation as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
“The warning to leave came five minutes before the attack,” he said.
4 of 4 Israel said it attacked the building block to fight Hamas Photo: GETTY IMAGES Israel said it attacked the building block to fight Hamas Photo: GETTY IMAGES