‘Killing the mourners’: Israeli strike that turned Gaza funeral into a graveyard

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Mourners were queuing quietly to offer words of comfort to the Mubarak family in northern Gaza when the near silence was ripped apart by blasts, followed by screams.

Now, the relatives, friends and patients of Dr Wasim Mubarak, his wife and three children, who were killed in an attack on a vehicle on Wednesday, have more to grieve.

At least 15 people were killed in the Israeli air strike – one of dozens on the embattled enclave since Israel abandoned a ceasefire on Monday – on their family's funeral tent in Al Salateen, Beit Lahia.

"The [Israeli] occupation isn't satisfied with just killing people, it even kills those who come to mourn them," said Ibrahim Mubarak, 26.

He was there to support his cousin's family whose loss was still raw and yet Israel's actions have turned a place of condolence into a bloodbath in an area already destroyed by Israeli fire earlier in the war.

Beit Lahia, on the northern tip of the strip, has been at the forefront of Israel's wave of attacks on Gaza. A week into the ceasefire, the first phase of which began on January 19, those who had fled the city were able to return after the reopening of the Netzarim Corridor by Israel. The corridor intersects the enclave, separating north from south, and is controlled by the Israeli military.

Families were reunited but shocked by the level of destruction in the area and forced to use tents pitched among the rubble to sleep and for shelter.

These offered little protection once the bombs began to fall once more this week. Footage shared online from across the strip showed melted tents and burnt belongings strewn across various encampments hit by Israel strikes.

The number of deaths from the Israeli strike on the tent has been tentatively put at 15 – a figure that could rise as casualties arrive at hospitals faster than they can be counted or treated. An unofficial list shared by news outlets shows at least two children, aged 11 and 16, were among the dead in the Mubarak funeral strike.

Israel has now begun splitting Gaza – closing off the main Salah Al Din road that connects north and south, isolating medical resources.

“We started calling the ambulances but unfortunately, they were delayed in arriving," said Mohammad Al Toum, who was at the funeral. "Only two ambulances arrived quickly and we began transferring the martyrs and the injured in civilian cars and tuk-tuks."

He was sitting with the family's relatives and neighbours after the call to Maghrib prayer – when Muslims break their fast during Ramadan – when he had a close brush with death. A column separated him from deadly shrapnel that could have killed him, he said. "Had it not been for God's protection, I would have been pierced."

While he tried to understand how close he had come to losing his life, Mr Al Toum began to realise many of his friends and neighbours had. "There was blood everywhere," he told The National.

Almost 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, sparked by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which more than 1,200 people were killed and about 250 hostages taken back to the enclave. More than 40 per cent of those killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza were children, the Ministry of Health said.

The resumption of the war by Israel was "only the beginning", Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Hamas fired retaliatory rockets towards Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Israel not only blocked all supplies from entering Gaza two weeks ago but also cut off electricity to the territory's main desalination plant last week. That has again created scarcities in medicine, food, fuel and fresh water for Gaza's population of more than 2 million.