Families mourn as Israeli airstrike on Rafah apartment kills at least four, including a child

16 Apr 2024)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah - 16 April 2024
1. Mourners standing around the covered dead bodies of the four people killed in an Israeli airstrike
2. Woman kneels to say goodbye to the 10-year-old boy who was killed with his father
3. Sobheye Shabat, the grandmother of the child, hugging another woman
4. Sobheye Shabat crying by the bodies, UPSOUND (Arabic) Sobheye Shabat, grandmother of the killed child: "I told you to sleep at our place but you refused, my grandchild. You wanted to go with your father. One of you would have stayed alive instead of losing both of you, my grandchild."
5. Wide of people standing by the covered bodies
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sobheye Shabat, displaced from Beit Hanoun and grandmother of the killed child:
"They (Israeli Army) struck the apartment at 1 am. These four were killed and now we are here. What happened? This is what happened. I swear they are civilians, displaced. We came through the crossing and they had nothing on them."
7. Covered bodies on the ground
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sobheye Shabat, displaced from Beit Hanoun and grandmother of the killed child:
"They say there is safety in Rafah. There is no safety. It is only safe by God's side. Is there any safety? There is no safety."
9. Various of a mourners saying goodbye to their loved ones
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dalia Abu Amsha, displaced Palestinian from Beit Hanoun and a relative of the killed men and child:
"We came through the crossing and they (the killed) gave their IDs to the Jews (Israeli Army). They investigated them for four or five hours. They let them go and told them 'Go to the South, you have nothing on you.' They have been here for five months."
11. Abu Amsha hugging a woman who is crying
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dalia Abu Amsha, displaced Palestinian from Beit Hanoun and a relative of the killed men and child:
"They worked on a market stall, and they earned their living from it. They had nothing on them. I swear to God they had nothing on them, no relation with the resistance or any relation to any organization."
13. Covered dead bodies on the ground
14. Various of a group of people holding funeral prayer by the dead bodies
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dalia Abu Amsha, displaced Palestinian from Beit Hanoun and a relative of the killed men and child:
"It's enough! You (Israeli military) told us Rafah is a safe zone, go there. We are living a life of humiliation and indignity, and everyday we say goodbye to martyrs. Children, elderly and young."
16. Various of aftermath of airstrike on apartment
STORYLINE:
Mourners on Tuesday in Rafah grieved their relatives killed by an overnight Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s southernmost city.

At least four Palestinians were killed by the strike, including a child, hospital authorities said.

They were all displaced from northern Gaza.

The Israeli strike hit their apartment in the Tal Sultan, a neighborhood west of Rafah, according to hospital records.

The bodies were taken to the Abu Youssed al-Najjar hospital, the facility’s records showed.

Sobheye Shabat, grandmother of the child killed, sat by the bodies weeping and talking to her dead loved ones.

"I asked you to sleep in our apartment, but you wanted to go with your father," she said, addressing her grandchild.

"One of you would have stayed alive instead of losing both of you my grandchild," she added.

She told the Associated Press that her 10-year-old grandchild joined his father since their apartment was overpacked.

"Everyday we say goodbye to martyrs. Children, elderly and young."