Eyewitnesses describe charred remains of children after Israeli shelling in Mawasi sets tent shelters ablaze

Israel shelled one of the very few areas of the Gaza Strip still designated as a safe zone, striking a group of tents sheltering displaced Palestinians, including several children, as they slept on Wednesday night in the coastal Mawasi area. 

Eyewitnesses described attempting to respond in the aftermath of the strike, which has become an increasingly common occurrence as the strip’s emergency services are hampered by constant targeting and a severe lack of resources. Flames spread so rapidly through the tented area that there was  little they could do to prevent the fire from engulfing those who had taken shelter there, they said.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry field hospitals director, Marwan al-Homs, 23 bodies were retrieved from the scene, and dozens of wounded individuals were transferred to Khan Younis’s hospitals.

Mahmoud Diab, who was at the scene at the time of the explosion, described hearing a “massive” sound and feeling a sense of horror as the tents were engulfed in flames with people still inside them. "Some tents were burning with people alive, trapped inside — they were burned alive. Their screams were loud. But within seconds, the fire had silenced them,” he said.

Nader Samaha also witnessed the aftermath of the strike. He described rushing to the site after hearing the explosion, only to see the tents burning with everyone still inside.

People struggled to respond to the disaster unfolding around them. "We saw body parts scattered around the site as the fire consumed the tents,” Diab said. “We tried to extinguish it with whatever we had. When the flames finally died down, we found the bodies of the children completely charred."

Samaha said he was personally acquainted with the Abul Rous family, all of whom were killed in the strike. "All of them, including their women and children — were entirely wiped out,” he told Mada Masr. The family included a pregnant woman, who was “burned alive along with her unborn baby,” he said. Images of the fetus were shared on social media on Thursday after the deceased and injured from the strike were taken to medical facilities, including the Nasser Medical Complex and the Kuwaiti Hospital. 

“There was a child with disabilities in their tent. He died in the fire too,” according to Samaha.

Diab was among those who transferred bodies to the hospital. “I carried a completely burnt child in my arms. I’m sure he wasn’t older than two. Smoke was still rising from his body. I don’t know how I kept going or how my legs carried me to the hospital while holding him in my arms."

Homs told Mada Masr that most of those killed in the Mawasi massacre had arrived at medical facilities either as charred or dismembered body parts.

The severity of the burns and injuries suggested highly explosive missiles were used, Homs said, noting that the damage was so severe it made it difficult to identify the victims.

The bodies arrived with smoke still rising from them, he said, describing the scene as harrowing, one that “no ordinary person could bear to witness.” Most of the victims were children, he said.

Both Samaha and Diab also described the damage to the bodies rendering them unrecognizable. 

Homs stressed that hospitals' ability to handle the scale and nature of these injuries is extremely limited, especially with Israel continuing to block the entry of essential medicines and medical supplies  while targeting health centers and medical teams.

Israel imposed a full blockade on the strip at the beginning of March, seeking to pressure Hamas to release the remaining Israeli prisoners it still holds in the strip outside the framework of the ceasefire deal signed in January. 

Since the resumption of  its war on Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has displaced almost 350,000 people, according to the United Nations. 

Evacuation orders and heavy bombardment have killed hundreds of Palestinians and pushed others out of the northeast and southernmost governorates and into an increasingly dwindling area of land along the coast.