Witnesses described horrific scenes after an Israeli airstrike on a tent camp in the al-Aqsa Hospital compound in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, early Monday morning.  The attack ignited a fire that went through the temporary shelters, resulting in at least four fatalities and injuring dozens, primarily women and children, the Hamas-run health ministry reported.

A mother remembered an experience, saying it was “one of the worst scenes we’ve witnessed.” An injured girl reported that she heard screams of people desperately trying to save themselves from the fire.  A man also said that he was helpless as he “broke down” seeing people burn.

The Israeli army claimed to have hit Hamas fighters allegedly stationed in a command center in the hospital’s car park.  They stated secondary explosions from the resultant fire probably triggered the conflagration.  Doctors Without Borders – MSF, which operates al-Aqsa, said it has no knowledge of the hospital having a Hamas center and insisted that only a hospital is run at the site.

The UN humanitarian agency condemned the incident, saying people were burnt to death and called for an end to the atrocities.  A White House National Security Council spokesperson described the footage of the aftermath as “disturbing,” pointing out that Israel has to do more to avoid civilian casualties.

Different witnesses recounted explosions at 01:15 local time, within which the area with makeshift shelters was littered with chaos and confusion.  A mother, who lived in a tent just right behind the hospital, said that she heard explosions and fires closing to her tent that broke the night’s rest.  She could not believe the levels of destruction as they had never seen that kind of destruction before.

Atia Darwish, a photographer of the episodes, admitted to being stunned and powerless over all who got burned.  He described himself as being so weakened by seeing people being burned.  Another resident, Um Yaser Abdel Hamid Daher, said that the sight of all those people burning scared them about losing their lives.

She was one of the wounded, and along with her shrapnel injuries, Lina, who is 11 years old, noted that there were screams, and she lost several of her neighbors as a result of the strike.  After the attack, the tolls kept rising, with five deaths and over 65 injuries, reported the health ministry, with most of those victims suffering severe burns.

MSF said, “The chances for survival are meager for the burn victims; the psychological impact on the staff who had to treat the victims needs no elaboration.” It was the seventh incident at this hospital site since March and the third in two weeks.

In the aftermath of the attack, crowds trooped through the debris, looking for whatever salvageable belongings the attack might have left.  For one mother who had evacuated from northern Gaza, the strike left her with nothing.

The acting head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted that this attack occurred in an area from where people were to be evacuated.  Thus, no safe places exist in Gaza for the internally displaced who run from one peril to another.  The situation generally remains terrible in Gaza, as escalation exacerbates the humanitarian crisis.

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