When the explosions began on Saturday, many Gazans were sitting down to meager breakfasts, or drinking tea. They were waking up their children, or walking down the road. Suddenly, the sound of destruction was booming through Al-Mawasi, the once sparsely populated part of southern Gaza where tens of thousands of Palestinians had fled to after the Israeli military declared it safe for civilians. Despite that designation, Israel struck the area with a barrage of airstrikes on Saturday morning, saying that it had targeted Hamas’s top military commander and another military leader. During the attack, sand flew high up in the air and came down “like winter rain,” said Ahmed Youssef Khadra, 38, who was having breakfast with his family in their shared tent.

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Persons: ”, Ahmed Youssef Khadra Organizations: Al Locations: Gaza, Israel