Relatives at hospital in Rafah say last goodbyes to loved ones killed in Israeli strike

(14 Dec 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE: GRAPHIC++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah, Gaza Strip - 14 December 2023
1. Tilt up showing bodies of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday night in Rafah wrapped in body bags
2. Various of family members and relatives gathering near bodies in body bags placed on ground, hugging bodies and crying
3. Mourners carrying bodies, placing it into vehicle
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mervat Ashour, relative:
"They were young children who all fled from their homes. There were no resistance members or missiles or anything. A missile hit the building and it felt over them. Body remains left, they all died and suffocated, every woman died with her husband and children. The building was full of people; around 60 people were there."
5. Women crying next to bodies
6. Various of women crying
7. Man carrying a body of a child, mourners carrying bodies
8. Various of mourners performing funeral prayers
9. Mourners carrying bodies
10. Mourners burying their loved ones
11. Various of damaged building after strikes
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hassan Abdul All, neighbor:
"We heard an explosion in the area, we rushed to the place and found people in pieces. Not a single injured was rescued. They were all killed. Young children, and you know that the least congested house in the city of Rafah hosts at least 20 displaced people."
13. Various of damaged building, people looking for belongings

STORYLINE:
People gathered Thursday around the bodies of their loved ones after Israeli strikes killed at least 27 Palestinians on Wednesday night in Gaza's southern city of Rafah.

At the Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, near the Egypt border, relatives said their last goodbyes to dozens killed in an Israeli strike that hit a home housing displaced Palestinians that fled to the besieged territory's south.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians had packed into the border town that the Israeli military said was a safe-zone.

In a familiar scene in Gaza since the onset of the Israel-Hamas sparked by the militant group’s rampage in southern Israel on Oct 7, relatives searched for deceased family members, their bodies laid on the floor in white shrouds.

One woman bursts into tears after recognizing the body of her child, while another says goodbye to a nephew or niece while cradling their body in her arms.

"They are young people, children, displaced, all sitting at home," Mervat Ashour, a relative of one of the killed children said as she and others said their last goodbyes.

"There were no resistance fighters, rockets, or anything," she added.

The house stood still, though much of the ceilings and walls collapsed.

A neighbor who pulled people out of the rubble said everyone they found was killed.

The bodies were buried in a large trench, separated by concrete blocks used as makeshift gravestones. A Muslim sheikh led funeral prayers for them.

AP video shot by Mohammad Jahjouh

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