Gaza residents who have lost family fear more destruction as ground assault looms

GAZA — As Israel prepared on Sunday for a ground assault on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Palestinians who have lost numerous family members in air strikes were bracing for more destruction if Israel hits back on an unprecedented scale on its territory. Um Mohammad Al-Laham sat next to her 4-year-old granddaughter Fulla Al-Laham, who lay in a Gaza hospital which like others is operating on low supplies of medicine and fuel. She said an Israeli airstrike hit the family home, killing 14 people including Fulla’s parents, siblings and members of her extended family. “All of a sudden and without warning, they bombed the house on top of the residents inside. No-one survived except my grandchild Fulla. May God cure her and give her strength,” said the grandmother, who has witnessed many wars between Hamas and the Israeli army over the years. She says this is the toughest. “Fourteen people martyred, no-one was left except Fulla Saeed Al-Laham. She doesn’t talk, nothing, just lays in her bed and they give medicine.” One other 4-year-old child in the family had also been left with almost no relatives, the grandmother said. Israel has unleashed the heaviest air strikes ever on Gaza in retaliation for the biggest attack on the country one week ago by the Palestinian militant group Hamas since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Israel has vowed to annihilate the militant group Hamas in retaliation for a rampage by its fighters in Israeli towns eight days ago in which its militants shot men, women and children and seized hostages in the worst attack on civilians in the country’s history. Some 1,300 people were killed in the unexpected onslaught, which shook the country, with graphic mobile phone video footage and reports from medical and emergency services of atrocities in the overrun towns and kibbutzes. Israel has responded with the most intense bombardment Gaza has ever seen, putting the small enclave, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under siege and destroying much of its infrastructure. Israel has told Palestinian to leave their homes and move south. Hamas urged people not to leave, saying roads out were unsafe. It said dozens of people had been killed in strikes on cars and trucks carrying refugees on Friday, while medics, Hamas media and relatives say whole families have been killed in the air strikes. Reuters could not independently verify these claims. Some residents said they would not leave, remembering Read more at: inquirer

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