CAIRO: Relatives of Palestinians killed by Israel in Khan Yunis gathered around their white-shrouded bodies on Monday before carrying them to their graves.

Palestinian health officials said on Sunday at least 20 people, including children, were killed in a strike at a school sheltering displaced families in the city in the southern Gaza Strip.

Women wept as the bodies of the family members were carried away on medical stretchers by men who laid them on the ground to perform funeral prayers.

“People were safe, staying in their homes (shelters) after they prayed the dinner prayer. They were sitting, sleeping, and staying put in their places,” said Manal Tafesh, whose brother and his children were among those killed. “Our children are gone, our children are gone. Our youth are gone. Our children are gone, and our lineage ended. When will this darkness end?” she said outside the morgue.

Israeli bombardment continued on Monday. Palestinian health officials said strikes across the enclave had killed at least 10 people.

Medics said four people were killed in an airstrike in Beit Lahiya town in the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, where the army has operated since October, while three were killed in Israeli tank shelling that hit near the cemetery of Nuseirat camp in central areas and three others in Rafah in the south.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024