(17 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah, Gaza – 17 April 2024
1. Various of mourners crying around covered bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike
2. Covered bodies on sand
3. Various of people holding funeral prayers
4. Two women hugging and crying
5. Various of mourners carrying bodies, lowering into graves
6. Mourners looking on
7. People covering grave with sand
8. Relatives offering condolences
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdallah Abu al-Hanoud, relative:
"We suddenly found the whole house collapsing onto itself, a fountain of flames, shrapnel everywhere. We got out from under the rubble and debris to see what happened and we found out that it was a direct targeting of the house. By the way, the house, the people inside the house, not one of them is related to any faction and they don’t believe in what is going on from this absurdity, killings and genocide. But it is a direct targeting of civilians and everything related to humanity in the Gaza Strip."
10. Wide of destroyed building
11. Various of damaged building, people searching under rubble, children watching
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Gamalat al-Kord, neighbour:
"We woke up to the sound of screams, and the helicopter or whatever plane it was flying over us. We found rocks, the furniture from the house and pieces of flesh falling on us. We went out running with our children and grandchildren and found bodies in front of the building entrance and shops. Bodies were in parts and there was not a single body intact, the head on its own, the arm on its own and the leg on its own."
13. Various of mosque minaret seen through hole in damaged building
STORYLINE:
Mourners on Wednesday buried the victims of an Israeli strike that hit buildings in the Gazan city of Rafah overnight.
Four children, two women and one man were reported to have died and their bodies were taken to Al Najjar hospital.
The family, joined by a group of mourners, buried the bodies at Tal Al-Sultan Cemetery in Rafah on Wednesday.
Gamalat al-Kord, a neighbour of the victims said she awoke to the sound of screams.
"We found rocks, the furniture from the house and pieces of flesh falling on us. We went out running with our children and grandchildren and found bodies in front of the building entrance and shops. Bodies were in parts and there was not a single body intact, the head on its own, the arm on its own and the leg on its own," said al-Kord.
The Gaza Health Ministry says Wednesday the bodies of 56 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the last 24 hours.
That brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 33,899, the ministry said.
Another 76,664 have been injured, it said.
The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies but has said that women and children make up most of those killed.
Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, urban neighbourhoods.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel withdrew more forces from Gaza earlier this month after wrapping up its offensive in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to invade the southernmost city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.
The war erupted when Hamas launched a wide-ranging attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people that day and took around 250 hostage.
AP video shot by Mohammad Jahjouh
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