Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Baha Abu al-Atta during his funeral in Gaza City, Nov.12, 2019. (Xinhua/Yasser Qudih)
Grief and fear overwhelm Gaza Strip in the last 2 days as at least 24 Palestinians were killed in the worst violence between Israel and Gaza in months.
GAZA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Marquees of condolence were erected in different areas in the Gaza Strip for 24 Palestinians who were killed in the new wave of violence between Israel and the Islamic Jihad that has lasted two days.
Feelings of grief and sadness have overwhelmed hundreds of mourners who joined the funerals, which were held in a hurry for fear of the endless Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
The families of the victims wrapped the bodies in Palestinian flags and carried them on their shoulders while chanting revenge for the deceased.
Relatives of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Baha Abu al-Atta mourn during his funeral in Gaza City, Nov.12, 2019. (Xinhua/Rizek Abdeljawad)
Local Palestinian media published videos showing the sad farewell to the victims before their burial, where solidarity and sympathy were expressed to the bereaved families who were traumatized by the loss of their loved ones, especially children.
One of the videos was for the daughter of Baha Abu al-Atta, the senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who was killed with his wife in an Israeli air attack on their home in eastern Gaza early Tuesday morning.
The video showed the young girl crying with pain during the farewell and screaming "let me go with them."
Heavy tears were rolling down from the eyes of a grieved wife, whose husband Abdulsalam Ahmad, 28, was killed in one of the Israeli airstrikes.
"What did they do to you sweetheart. You were martyred, and you had left me to nobody," she said during the farewell.
The Health Ministry in Gaza announced that 14 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday and 10 more on Tuesday during the new wave of violence between militant groups and Israel in the Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian inspects the damaged house of Islamic Jihad leader Baha Abu al-Atta after an Israeli attack in Gaza City, Nov. 12, 2019. (Xinhua/Mohammed Dahman)
A sadder life was for the family of Rafat Ayyad, 52, who was killed with two of his sons in an Israeli airstrike next to their home in eastern Gaza City.
A shocking video showed the blood and body parts of a child and charred bodies of others in front of the family home where the father and his two sons were killed on Wednesday.
Ayyad's wife told reporters that she heard an explosion and went out of the house and found the torn bodies of her husband and two of her sons.
The Gaza Strip has witnessed 15 rounds of violence with Israel since the last large-scale Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave in the summer of 2014, leaving more than 2,000 dead.
A Palestinian source said Egypt and the United Nations have moved to prevent the tension from sliding into a broad confrontation similar to the 2014 war.
A Palestinian mourns her relatives who were killed in Israeli airstrikes at a hospital morgue in Gaza City, Nov. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Rizek Abdeljawad)
The source told Xinhua that Egyptian officials and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov are holding contacts with the parties concerned to renew the cease-fire understandings that were reached in Gaza last year.
Due to the growing tensions in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, it was announced that schools and universities will be kept closed on Thursday in fear that students might be hurt.
Streets in the Gaza Strip seemed almost empty of pedestrians and cars except for ambulances and civil defense, amid hopes of an end to this round of escalation and no more loss of the loved ones. ■
