'Merciless, brutal, terrifying':Palestinians recount tent massacre in Rafah

Soon after the jumble of hastily pitched tents in Rafah was struck by Israeli bombs on late Sunday, Tel Aviv began painting the killings as an ‘unfortunate’ incident.

The pictures and videos of dismembered and charred bodies, some of them belonging to babies, raised an international hue and cry as tens of thousands of people took to streets in Western cities to protest.

Bilal, a 20-year-old student, lives some 500 metres from the camp of tents in Rafah’s Tal al Sultan area where Palestinians displaced from elsewhere in Gaza have sought refuge.

At least 45 people were killed, and dozens more injured in the Israeli strike, which reportedly involved use of 2,000-pound bombs.

“The sound was unnervingly close, almost as if it had happened in our neighbours’ house, and we witnessed flames erupting from the site,” Bilal, who lives with a family of eight, tells TRT World.

“We saw children and women suffering from burns, with no one able to assist them due to the limited medical resources. The field hospitals were overwhelmed by the sheer number of casualties.

When US-made bombs exploded in the congested tent city, it was inevitable for the plastic canopies to catch fire, which spread quickly, killing many trapped people.

The 'crammed' safe zones

Rafah is in the southern part of the besieged Gaza. Israel has itself designated the south as a “safe area” or the so-called humanitarian zone.

Since October 7, when Israel launched its own war on Gaza after the Hamas attack, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the mid and northern parts have had to evacuate numerous times to the south.

But the south is now overcrowded and also under attack from the Israeli military despite international pleas to spare the region on humanitarian grounds.

“The Palestinians have dragged their families and few possessions onward to new locations for the seventh, eighth, ninth time in seven months of war. But as far as we can see, there is nothing ‘humanitarian’ about these areas,” said Suze van Meegen, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)’s head of operations in Gaza.

Israel launched an indiscriminate air and ground military operation in the south at the start of May, displacing approximately 800,000 people from Rafah, as reported by the UN.

After the Sunday attack, the war-battered civilians are now inching their way to Al Mawasi town further in the south along Gaza’s coast.

Islam and his family, including seven children, are among thousands of Palestinians, who were forced to flee Rafah after the deadly bombing on the tents. They are en route to Al Mawasi, praying they are not targeted by the Israeli jets on their way.

Islam, 33, who previously worked as a humanitarian worker, describes the bombing on the tents as “merciless.”

“The fire from the bombing? Oh, it was intense. We witnessed flames soaring high. It was truly terrifying, extremely brutal. The attacks were merciless, and there were many children,” he tells TRT World.

“Many of them have not received the required treatment, and have suffered amputations, whether of lower or upper limbs.”

Al Mawasi, which was home to more than 400,000 people before the escalation, is now “crammed and cannot absorb more people”, says Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)

It's a sandy agricultural area of 14 square kilometres, with few buildings, leaving people exposed to the climate, according to UNRWA.

'Dire and utterly bleak'

Despite half of Rafah's 1.3 million population currently evacuating, the extreme crowds in the small area make meeting even the basic necessities of life challenging.

The 20-year-old Bilal says there’s human waste and garbage everywhere in Rafah.

“People don’t have money to buy things for their daily needs,” he says.

Since May 6th, when the Israeli military launched an operation in Rafah, only 33 aid trucks managed to reach the southern regions of Gaza. Meanwhile, 2,000 trucks remained stranded on the Egyptian side of the border crossing.

“The situation is dire and utterly bleak; we lack even the most fundamental services,” Islam says.

"As men, we strive to provide our families with the essentials: water, food, and clothing. Most of our time is spent on the streets, procuring food and water for the family. This is a typical day for us now."

Bilal describes his mornings as waking up after restless nights "disrupted by the sounds of warplanes, reconnaissance planes, and bombings echoing throughout."

“We then embark on a quest to find food and water for the day, as well as a place to charge our phones,” he adds.

It was his second year studying medicine at Al Azhar University-Gaza, one of the first universities in Gaza deliberately targeted by Israeli airstrikes.

As of January this year, all 12 universities in Gaza have been heavily damaged or completely destroyed by the Israeli army.

"I cannot stop thinking about my studies and my uncertain future. Right now, I feel powerless, unable to do anything to fulfil my dream of becoming a doctor," Bilal says.

Even though Bilal’s family has decided to stay back in Rafah, Bilal has set up a tent in one of the safe zones designated by the Israeli army. "In case they compel us to leave, we'll have the tent as a refuge."

But there are currently no safe zones left in Gaza.