Horrifying scenes left behind by the dawn massacre in Gaza

With sadness and anger, the residents of Gaza City inspected on Saturday the extent of the damage caused by the Israeli massacre that targeted the Tabeen School, which was sheltering displaced people – during the dawn prayer – and in front of them there was rubble everywhere, bodies covered in blood and children whose bodies were torn apart.

On a completely destroyed floor, bloodied bodies and human remains lie strewn on the floor, men carry bodies covered in sheets, others use their phones to navigate the rubble, and some try to pick up charred or damaged books, including copies of the Quran.

Abu Wasim, one of the residents who arrived at the site of the massacre at dawn, told AFP: “As you can see, we don't know what to say. Safe people, women, children and young people were performing the dawn prayer and then they saw the first missile fall on them.”

“Children have been torn to pieces, children have been mutilated, women have been burned. What can we do?” he added, after more than 10 months of war and continuous bombing of the Gaza Strip.

Abu Wasim continued, “Without warning (…) none of the people inside the mosque survived, not even the floor above it, where women and children were sleeping.”

“We received the news and came to see what happened. The bodies are unrecognizable, they are scattered in pieces,” said another man who did not give his name.

The invaders are targeted

The Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip announced on Saturday that 100 people were killed and dozens were injured as a result of the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Al-Tabi’in School in Gaza City, two days after two other schools were targeted.

“Cutting bodies. Decomposed bodies. Completely amputated bodies. Crews are unable to form a complete body in this place,” Basal explained, adding, “The scene is very difficult and a tragic scene that reminds us of the war on Gaza in its early days.”

Talat Al-Ghafri, a resident of the neighborhood where the targeted school was located, considered that all Gazans are targeted.

“This school used to have about 4,000 people. What will these poor people do? Where will they go?” said the elderly man, who lost his son and wife, speaking about the displaced people who took refuge in the school.

Most of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once as fighting and shelling have intensified since the start of the war on the territory, according to the United Nations.

“For displaced people, there is no safe place,” said displaced Umm Ahmed.

“They were praying when they fired the missile at them,” cried a woman among the families mourning their martyrs at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City.

Since the attack of October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Palestinian Strip, leaving more than 131,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

In contempt of the international community, Israel continues this war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.