Tormented and defenceless: The Palestinian victims of Israel’s north Gaza onslaught
Nearly six weeks have passed since Yasmin al-Masri last saw or heard from her husband, Ahmed.
The two were separated after Israeli forces raided north Gaza early last month and kidnapped Ahmed to an unknown location.
When the assault began on 5 October under the cover of heavy bombardment, the couple were holding their seven-month-old baby boy Omar close.
"It felt like doomsday,” the 21-year-old mother told Middle East Eye.
For two days, the family remained trapped inside their home as tanks advanced into their neighbourhood in Beit Hanoun.
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Then Israeli drones equipped with loudspeakers hovered over them, blaring orders for everyone to flee southward through one road monitored by a military crossing point.
Troops instructed women and children to leave and separated husbands and fathers from their families.
“They separated men from their families at gunpoint. Ahmed, my husband, looked at me with fear in his eyes and told me to take care of our son,” al-Masri said.
'My only son is dying in front of my eyes, and I’m helpless'
- Yasmin al-Masri, Palestinian mother
Exhausted, she walked for 10 kilometres alongside other women under the blistering sun, carrying Omar but without water, food, or belongings.
“My son slipped from my arms twice because I was dizzy. We couldn’t pause to rest as the soldiers revved the engines of their tanks to terrify us.”
The only shelter al-Masri could find for herself and her baby was a corner of a classroom at an Unrwa school in Gaza City, where countless displaced families from the north of the Strip have sought shelter.
Omar, who was born during the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza with two holes in his heart, now faces a life-threatening crisis. He needs supplemental oxygen and heart-repair surgery, but both are unavailable in Gaza due to Israel’s siege and bombardment.
"His skin is pale, he cries constantly, and he won’t even breastfeed," al-Masri explained.
“I don’t even have money to buy him powdered milk. Whenever a charity or someone gives me food, I sell it to buy milk for Omar.
When she went to Al-Ahli Hospital to get him oxygen, because she couldn’t carry his oxygen tank while fleeing, she was turned away and told the few oxygen tanks they have are being used for people in even worse condition.
“My only son is dying in front of my eyes, and I’m helpless. I am begging for help to save my son.”
No hospitals, no rescue services
Since Israel launched the latest offensive in north Gaza, the military has been accused of the mass killing of civilians, blocking off aid and preventing medical and rescue crews from working in the area.
Many say it as the most vicious campaign since the war began over a year ago.
The Israeli military says it is working to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.
However, rights experts have accused Israel of attempting to ethnically cleanse the area of Palestinians as part of a plan that would eventually see north Gaza declared a closed military zone.
Like Omar, many patients and wounded people in north Gaza are struggling to find healthcare after Israeli troops raided hospitals and forced each one of them to cease operations.
Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, told MEE his crew had been prevented by Israeli force since 23 October from rescuing the wounded in the north.
On that date, Israeli forces attacked civil defence teams and seized the only fire truck remaining in the north.
“They kidnapped nine civil defence personnel, and forced the other rescue personnel to flee to central and southern Gaza, ordering them never to return,” Basal said.
“We are receiving calls for help from people trapped under the rubble of their homes, like the Abu Naser and Al-Kafarna families, but we can’t help.
“Over 100,000 people in northern Gaza are now without food, humanitarian aid, or medical care.”
Booby-trapped robots
In addition to bombs, snipers and tanks, tens of thousands of people who refuse to leave north Gaza are now contending with a new danger: armed robots.
Israeli forces have been sending mobile units packed with heavy explosives into buildings and then detonating them, causing massive damage.
On the night of 17 October, an explosion from a booby-trapped robot obliterated the neighbourhood of Iman Salha, a mother of five.
“I was hugging my children, praying, when everything blew up around us,” she told MEE.
Wounded but alive, her family escaped barefoot and bleeding to a neighbour’s house before heading to Al-Awda Hospital the next morning.
Salha was at the hospital when she heard the Israeli drones ordering people to evacuate south, just like al-Masri.
Salha said men and teenage boys were also separated from their families at gunpoint there.
“I and other women wanted to wait for our husbands while they were interrogated, but a soldier started to shoot around us from the top of the tank beside us and said ‘Move or I will kill you,” she recalled.
“People threw away their belongings to keep moving. Hundreds of tanks lined the roads, intimidating us with their presence."
‘He just wanted to play football’
In Gaza City, where many are forced to flee the Israeli ground assault, daily air strikes have not stopped.
Maher al-Shorafa, 11, was playing football with his eight-year-old brother, Karam, in their house’s entryway in the city’s eastern al-Tuffah neighbourhood when a quadcopter opened fire at them.
A bullet pierced through Maher’s head, leaving him seriously wounded.
'Maher was just a beautiful child. What was his fault for being killed like this? He just wanted to play football. Now his dream is buried with him'
- Waseem al-Shorafa, uncle, north Gaza
“We rushed out when we heard the gunfire and Karam screaming,” Waseem al-Shorafa, Maher’s uncle, told MEE.
“Maher was lying on the ground, bleeding heavily,”
Due to the destruction of Gaza City’s roads, ambulances struggled to respond. Waseem carried Maher in his arms and ran on foot toward Al-Ahly Hospital, some two kilometres away.
“I collapsed after a while,” Waseem said.
Then, a neighbour carried the boy until exhaustion set in.
Eventually, a passerby on an electric scooter transported Maher until they encountered the ambulance.
The bullet had lodged in Maher’s head. He needed urgent surgery, but no neurosurgeon was available due to a lack of resources and medical staff caused by the Israeli killing and detention of doctors.
By the time Maher reached the hospital, it was too late.
“They placed gauze on his head and gave him a blood transfusion, but by morning, he succumbed to his wounds,” Waseem said.
Maher’s death has devastated his family. As the first grandson, he was cherished by his parents, grandmother, uncles, and neighbours.
His father remains in shock, unable to walk without support. “They still can’t believe he’s gone,” said Mahmoud al-Shorafa, another uncle.
Mahmoud said Karam, who witnessed the tragedy, clung to his sibling’s body during the burial and asked: “Why did you die and leave me? Who will bring wood with me? Who will play football with me?”
Maher was passionate about football and dreamed of becoming a prominent player. Mahmoud recounted how Maher had saved 15 shekels to purchase a 45-shekel ball.
“I bought it for him,” Mahmoud said. “But who will play with it now?”
Mahmoud noted that their neighbourhood was not part of the Israeli expulsion orders. Yet, violence reached their doorstep.
The family buried Maher in their backyard, as ongoing air strikes and the blockade make traditional funerals nearly impossible.
“Maher was just a beautiful child,” Waseem said. “What was his fault for being killed like this?
“He just wanted to play football,” he added. “Now his dream is buried with him.”
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