Five Members Of The Gaza Family Perish In Israeli Attacks

Young brothers Ibrahim and Marwan were filling sacks of straw in northern Gaza when an Israeli strike came from the skies. In an instant, they and three other relatives were killed.

Bloodstains could still be seen on Tuesday outside their house in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, close to a barrier separating the Palestinian territory from Israel.

The boys had been packing straw to sell at a local livestock market, said their cousin, also called Ibrahim.

He and the two brothers, aged 10 and 14, “had prepared three sacks, and I had just left to take one to put on the cart,” he disclosed this

“We were laughing and having fun, when suddenly they began to bomb us, everything around us caught fire.“

“I saw my cousins set alight, and torn into pieces,” said the 14-year-old, breaking down in tears.

“Why did they leave me? I would have wanted to die as a martyr like them.”

Another family member, 22-year-old Ahmad, died later Tuesday from his injuries. He had been due to be married on Saturday.

None had had enough time to take shelter when the first Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Monday evening in retaliation for a volley of rockets launched from the Palestinian territory into southern Israel.