Gaza War 2023: The Deir El-Balah massacre on 5 December in video and photos (+18 Graphic content)

 Describing the current situation involves recounting how I was focusing to work on this post on what happened to Deir El-Balah, only to discover that the Israeli army has committed at least two massacres, resulting in the loss of numerous civilian lives.

Regrettably, the international media appears indifferent to the ongoing casualties over the past 24 hours.

On Tuesday, the Israeli Occupation Army once again perpetrated a series of massacres against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

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This time it was in Deir El-Balah, in central Gaza.

The Israeli shelling targeted a street in Deir El-Balah, precisely next to the home of Palestinian Photographer Motaz Azaiza. He captured the immediate aftermath of the shelling in both video and photos.

I compiled the videos that he shared on Instagram into an 11-minute unedited video, which I strongly recommend watching until the end. You can watch it on YouTube because it is restricted due to the graphic content. 

This footage provides an unfiltered glimpse into the current situation in Gaza.

Motaz Azaiza, despite being named GQ Middle East Man of the Year, couldn't even celebrate for a moment as he searched for his brother. 

Deir El-Balah's street after the Israeli shelling. 

Fortunately, his brother survived, but sadly, his neighbour and friend, Mohamed, lost his life.

Mohamed, Motaz's late neighbour, was killed
in the Israeli shelling on Deir El-Balah's street.

The lucky ones are the ones whose bodies were found. 

Here are the victims at the hospital and blogger Ismail Jood asks the world "Till when !?" and "What else is needed ?" so the world can stop this ongoing genocide. 

According to Jood, there were 50 bodies including the remains of certain people as written on the burial bags.

They were buried in a makeshift mass grave. 

A makeshift mass grave made in Gaza's Deir El-Balah to 
burry the victims found following the Israeli shelling on Tuesday

This is how the Palestinians bury their victims in a mass grave.

The mass graves are covered with tin roofs to protect 
them from rainwater.

FYI, a baby girl called Layan survived the shelling. She was the sole survivor in her house as the Israeli shelling killed ten other people including her parents.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army persisted in its devastating actions against the Palestinian people. It once again targeted the family of another Al-Jazeera reporter in Gaza, conducting an airstrike on a residential block in Jabaliya Refugee Camp.

This time, the affected family is that of Al-Jazeera Correspondent Momen Al-Sharafi, who has become one of the familiar faces in this ongoing conflict.

Al-Sharafi has already experienced profound tragedy, having lost 22 family members, including his parents, Mahmoud and Amina. The list of casualties includes his brother, Dr. Ayman, and Dr. Khetam, along with their children: Pharmacy student Mohamed, Medical student Amina, as well as Maria, Fatima, and Haneen.

Additionally, he mourned the loss of another brother, his brother's wife, his aunts and their spouses, his cousin Ahmed, and Ahmed's son. Al-Sharafi shared the harrowing account on Al-Jazeera, his eyes reflecting a mix of deep sadness and anger.

مراسل #الجزيرة مؤمن الشرافي في ظهوره الأول بعد استشهاد 21 شخصا من أسرته من بينهم والده ووالداته وعدد من أشقائه ويقول: نحن نحرم من النظرة الأخيرة لمن يستشهد من أقاربنا ونحرم من دفنهم#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/GLwuyvuUbZ

— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) December 6, 2023

He played the final voice message from his mother on air, and there was a sense that she somehow knew it would be her last message. 

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, Moamen Al Sharafi, has found out that his father, mother, and 20 other family members were killed in an Israeli bombing at the Jabalia camp. Just days before, his mother sent him a message, hoping they would see each other soon ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/P9JWpstHMl

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 6, 2023

In the message, she prayed for his well-being and the safety of the family, anticipating the challenges of the war.

Momen Al-Sharafi shared that he didn't get the chance to see them again or bid them a proper farewell. Tragically, he couldn't conduct a proper burial because they were technically beneath the rubble.

The Sharafi house after the Israeli shelling on Wednesday
in Jabaliya Refugee Camp in Gaza by Anas El-Sherif

His immediate family had sought refuge in the building of their relatives when it became the unfortunate target of an Israeli airstrike in the early morning, catching most people unaware in their sleep.

Based on early estimates from local sources, we are looking at a staggering toll of at least 150 people killed, most of them trapped under the debris.

Aside from the Jabaliya massacre on Wednesday, there was another massacre that took in the El-Meghazi refugee camp and the victims including children.

A Palestinian child, a girl was killed in the Israeli shelling
to El-Meghazi Refugee Camp on Wednesday in Gaza

I don't see how flattening Gaza, re-occupying it, and causing widespread destruction will bring peace to Israel or compel Hamas to release captives who are military officers, conscripts, or reserves in the Israeli army.

Hamas has sought the release of these captives in exchange for Palestinian activists and members of militant groups currently held in Israeli prisons. 

The Israeli military has resisted this swap, and its operations in Gaza have not yet achieved the official goal of annihilating Hamas.

Even if the Israeli army manages to secure the release of captives and eliminate key figures like Yahia Sinwar and Mohamed El-Deif, there's a risk that, within a decade or decade and a half, a new, potentially more formidable militant group could emerge. 

This group might comprise individuals who, as children, were affected by the injuries, orphanhood, and displacement resulting from the conflict. 

It's worth noting that current Hamas fighters reportedly come from the younger generations that survived the 2008-2009 Gaza war.