'Bloody' Ramadan Friday As Gaza Strike Kills 36 Relatives

Gaza Strip, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Mar, 2024) Displaced by Israeli bombardment, the Tabatibi family gathered in central Gaza to eat together during the first Friday night of Ramadan, a reunion that soon turned into a bloodbath.

An air strike hit the building where they were staying as women prepared the pre-fasting meal, killing 36 members of the family, witnesses told AFP on Saturday.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which provided the same death toll, blamed Israel for the strike in Nuseirat, as did survivors.

Asked about the strike on Saturday, the Israeli military said it targeted two "terror operatives" in Nuseirat "throughout the night", without elaborating.

"The circumstances of the incident are still being reviewed," it said.

Mohammed al-Tabatibi, 19, stood in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, where the bodies of his relatives were spread out.

"This is my mother, this is my father, this is my aunt, and these are my brothers," Tabatibi, whose left hand was injured in the strike, said through tears.

"They bombed the house while we were in it. My mother and my aunt were preparing the suhoor food. They were all martyred," he added before the bodies were stacked on a truck to be driven to a cemetery.

Because there were not enough body bags, some of the dead -- including at least two children -- were wrapped in white cloth stained with blood, AFPTV footage showed.

The first Friday of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which began on Monday, passed peacefully in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, despite concerns about tensions at the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

But it was a different story in Gaza.

The strike in Nuseirat was one of 60 "deadly air strikes" reported overnight by the press office of the Hamas-run government, from Gaza City in the north to Rafah in the south.

"This is a bloody night, a very bloody night," said Salama Maarouf of the Hamas-run government media office.