Khuzaa’s holocaust continues on Eid day

Khuzaa’s holocaust continues on Eid day

[ 29/07/2014 - 04:51 PM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Israeli war machine continued to target Khuzaa town, east of Khan Younis to the south of the Gaza Strip, on the first day of Eid al–Fitr, which resulted in hundreds of martyrs, wounded, homeless, and missing and trapped people, in addition to dozens of destroyed homes. In scenes reminiscent of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe), Abdul Rahim Kudaih, 65, resorted to one of the UNRWA schools in Khan Younis refugee camp which turned into shelter centers for those who were displaced from their homes due to the ongoing Israeli aggression. Kudaih was forced to leave his home last Wednesday following the Israeli invasion of the town amid heavy shelling of artillery shells and tear gas grenades. Dozens of suffocation cases were reported. Khuzaa town, a home to 13 thousand citizens, is located in the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis, its residents were forced to leave their homes in groups as what had been previously witnessed by their grandfathers. Kudaih told the Palestinian Information Center’s correspondent that Israeli attacks started on July 22, after midnight targeting empty lands at first. The attacks were then escalated bombing civilian neighborhoods and homes. According to local sources, IOF special forces raided a number of civilian homes and turned them into military watchtowers. Continued suffering On the Eid day, Khuzaa residents were either receiving treatment in hospitals, homeless, or buried in cemeteries not familiar to them, while large numbers of bodies are still unaccounted for and buried under the rubble after failure of the ambulance crews to evacuate them. Khuzaa residents, frustrated by the Red Cross for not pressuring the Israeli occupation into allowing evacuation of the bodies of the martyrs, attacked and destroyed the headquarters of the international committee. Hussein Radhwan, a resident of Khuzaa, said that dozens of homes were totally destroyed once the Israeli occupation forces raided the town. Most of the destroyed homes’ owners were either killed, wounded, went missing, or detained. “We managed to pull four bodies from the rubble; however the number of missing people is much higher”, he said. Samahar Kudaih, who survived the bombing and managed to escape, has lost her husband Suleiman, while one of her brothers was detained by the IOF soldiers. Khuzaa’s massacre has deepened the grief of the town’s residents who are still suffering from the impacts of the previous Israeli aggressions and attacks.