Sunday, July 13

Family who fled after 'warning call' killed outside home

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- When their next-door neighbors received a "warning call" from Israel to evacuate a home in Jabaliya refugee camp, Yousef Qandil and his son Anas fled their property, fearing that they could be killed or injured by shrapnel.

Both men took refuge under a tree near the site, awaiting the imminent airstrike which they expected to hit the house, or neighboring properties.

Yousef had already sent his wife and younger children to their parents' house to protect them from harm.

Moments later, both Yousef and Anas were killed in an airstrike that targeted a group of Gazans sheltering under a tree for protection.

Neither their neighbors' home, nor theirs, was hit.

"Anas was a high school student and Yousef was a tailor. What threat or danger were they to Israel sitting under a tree?" Yousef's brother told Ma'an.

Anas was expecting to collect his exam results on Saturday.

According to friends, the last thing Anas wrote on his Facebook page was: "Oh God! Have mercy on me, I haven't slept since yesterday… Let them bombard our house so we can be relieved."

Israel's military has been using a "knock on the roof" procedure while targeting sites in Gaza, usually involving firing a small missile at the house it aims to hit, or calling the family and instructing them to leave the house.

On July 8, eight members of the al-Kaware family were killed after forming a human shield to protect their home.

Witnesses said an Israeli drone fired a warning flare, prompting relatives and neighbors to gather at the house as a human shield and that, shortly afterwards, an F-16 warplane fired a missile that leveled the building.

Six children were killed in the attack.

On Friday, the UN's human rights office said Israel could be violating the laws of war by bombing Palestinian homes in Gaza.




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