Israeli soldiers work on a tank in a staging area near the Israeli-Gaza border in southern Israel. AP
The displaced Palestinians were seen walking tens of kilometres on foot to escape the ongoing Israeli bombing and perhaps save their children and women from what they described as "hell."
On Tuesday, the Israeli army announced its ground forces had begun a delicate operation in the Bureij refugee camp.
The raids coincided with ground forces carrying out a precise operation under intelligence guidance in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip, the occupation army's spokesman said in a statement on his account on the “X” platform.
The Israeli army continued to launch air and ground attacks throughout the night on the two camps, which were already densely populated after having become shelters for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.
At least 75 Palestinians were killed, while dozens were injured and taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to a statement by the Palestinian health ministry.
The ministry explained that the only hospital in Deir Al-Balah cannot accommodate "such a large number of victims, especially in light of the lack of fuel necessary to operate electrical generators and transport beds inside the hospital as well as the medical staff needed to treat the victims."
The bodies of the dead were piled up in the hospital's courtyard as hundreds of their relatives arrived to pay their respects.
An elderly man, Abu Ahmed, carried the body of his grandson who was killed as a result of an Israeli raid that targeted their house in the Bureij camp, to be buried in one of the cemeteries near the hospital.
“What was the fault of these children that they were killed in cold blood? My grandson was sleeping when the house was targeted. I do not know if he was dreaming when he was killed or if he was afraid of death and he died," Abu Ahmed told the DPA sadly.
Another person, Jalal Al-Hato, stood in shock in front of the several corpses piled up in the hospital's yard, as he must uncover their faces to perhaps recognize his sons who were killed in an Israeli raid that targeted their neighbours’ house in the Bureij camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
“Where is the world regarding this indiscriminate killing and massive destruction that was imposed on us without any fault? We are Muslims and Arabs. Why do you not save our children from death? Why all this silence regarding these crimes?” Al-Hato told DPA.
Since the early hours of the morning, the two camps have witnessed a massive displacement of residents, especially in areas witnessing intense bombardment and ground entry by Israeli forces.
After two hours of walking, Hanadi Al-Banna, a displaced Palestinian, was able to reach the west of the Nuseirat camp and take refuge in the tent of one of her relatives to stay there until the end of the military operation in the Bureij camp.
"We are very tired of this war ... We no longer have any energy to survive or even continue life. No one has mercy on us and no one protects us," the 25-year-old woman, a mother of three children, said.
“The situation is tragic and disastrous. There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, and we do not even have hope that this disastrous war will end soon,” she exhaustedly added.
The same despair possessed Fathia Al-Arabid, a Palestinian woman displaced from Al-Maghazi camp after luckily surviving an Israeli bombing that targeted a house next to hers.
Al-Arabid said: "I may have survived this time, but I do not know what will happen in the coming days. We have been living in real hell for more than eight months without any hopes of survival."
Since 7 October, Israel has been waging a large-scale war on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 36,550 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
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