US, Nov 2: A Palestinian American family claimed their 42 relatives were killed in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Tariq Hamouda and his wife Manal said they lost three generations of their family over a week and they were unable to comprehend the news, CNN reported.
Tariq told the news organisation his wife lost four brothers, a sister, and most of their children in two explosions that annihilated their house on October 19.
“Up until last night, she is still denying (what happened),” Tariq said about his wife. “She loves every member of her family. She spent the summer with them,” he added stating that they used to live in the same neighbourhood in Gaza but shifted to the United States in 2004.
Hamza expressed grief for not even properly mourning the death of his relatives and is still apprehensive about the ones who survived in war-torn territory.
Manal’s cousin Eyad Abu Shaban is equally distraught over the demise of their relatives. The deceased ranged in age from 3 months to 77, she said.
Shaban claimed that before the airstrikes, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) apprised them that there could be military action in the area but at the same time did not ask them to evacuate their houses.
Israel launched a massive counteroffensive in Gaza after Hamas fired as many as 5,000 missiles unbridled in the former’s territory on October 7. Hamas militants rampaged across cities in Israel and abducted over 222 civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas and since then, Israel has been turning the entire infrastructure of Gaza into rubble.
According to CNN, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 8,485 Palestinians and injured more than 21,000 others. Another 1.4 million people have been internally displaced, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
