There was little shelter and barely any services in al-Mawasi when the Abu Hatab family arrived seeking sanctuary from the intensifying bombardment around their homes in Khan Yunis.
But al-Mawasi was the one place they had been told they would be safe. From early November Israel urged the civilian population of Gaza evacuate to the narrow, sandy coastal strip the size of Heathrow airport.
On Wednesday night, the bombardment followed them to the so-called safe zone, when shelling rained down on their flimsy tents as they slept.
“They dropped leaflets and told us to come here, that this was truly the one safe place,” Bahaa Abu Hatab, one of the survivors said. “My brother took his children to protect them from the occupation’s missiles, but here they were martyred anyway, in this ‘safe’ place, in the tent that my brother set up in this field.”
At least 14 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed in strikes on al-Mawasi early on Thursday, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza.
What about all the deaths before they got any hostages? Before Hamas?
What about what is happening in the west bank where there is no Hamas? Hamas was created because of what Israel has done and keep on doing. Giving up won’t change anything
What is the strategic goal of continued fighting?
What’s the strategic goal of giving up? It’s not like Israel wasn’t murdering Palestinians before hostages were taken, so why do you think they’d stop?
Maybe the strategic goal is to force the world to see what’s happening.
Further erode relations between Israel and other ME countries.
Turn international political option against Israel.
The only path to any kind of resolution in which Gaza gets sovereignty is if Israel is forced to the table by the international community.
To do that, Hamas has to get Israel to kill as many Gaza citizens as they can