“I did not find our house, there was only a huge hole”, Sawarkah children speak about a massacre they survived

Gaza (QNN)- Some children, who survived the massacre in which an Israeli strike killed 8 of the Abu Malhous “Sawarkah” family, including five children and two women, spoke about what happened with them last Thursday.

That night, Noor Sawarkah (12 years old) could not sleep. She was scared hearing the Israeli drones hovering over the area.

“I couldn’t sleep that night. I was scared of the sounds of the Israeli drones”, said Noor, who lives now with her grandmother and who was on a visit to her wounded siblings.

Noor also stated that her family used to live inside a plastic room in their shanty house. They were asleep when Noor spotted a red light and heard a massive explosion.

“I rushed out of the house and couldn’t wake my family up. I stood in a land near the house, shaking and crying”, Noor said. When the explosions stopped Noor went back to her house and saw what made her absolutely thunderstruck.

“I did not find the house but there was only a huge hole while everything was thrown here and there and my family was buried in the sands”, Noor said.

Other members of Noor’s family survived the Israeli massacre. Noor’s siblings Nermin (10 years old) has broken legs, Reem (8 years old) has a broken nose, and Salem (3 years old) has a fractured pelvis. Her father Muhammad (40 years old) also survived but he is still in the ICU. Noor’s mother, Yusra (39 years old) and her brothers Muath (7 year sold) and waseem (13 years old) were killed in the strike.

Noor now has only her Grandmother’s house, where she sleeps, left but she prefers to spend her day at hospital comforting her siblings, who keep asking about their mother, as they don’t know that she is gone.

Several Palestinian families and mothers spend their time with the survivors to alleviate their grief.

Diaa Sawarkah (13 years old) is another survivor, who is still in shock of what he witnissed.

He was wounded in the face as a result of shrapnel while he was escaping towards the house of his grandmother, which became his only refuge.

“I was lying in the house when everything turned to red and I heard an explosion in my uncle’s house. I rushed out to my grandmother’s house (500 meters away)”, AA quoted him.

“Then other explosions took place while I was running. I reached my grandmother and asked her to call an ambulance because our house was bombed. My grandmother did not know that our house was bombed”, said Diaa, whose relatives describe him as daring and strong hearted.

“I went back with my brother Muhammad and a neighbor to the place of the explosion to find many people there. I saw my brother Muhannad (12 years old) buried in the sand and his legs outside. I saw my cousin Nermin (10 years old) as well buried in the sand”, he added.

“I tried to pull Nermin out. she was crying. Then they took me with them to the hospital and I don’t know what happened. They told me that my dad and Muhannad died”.

The bereaved grandmother Silmiyyah Sawarkah (70 years old) spoke out about the new concerns that she will have to face.

“The children will live with me. My sons, both the martyr and the wounded one, suffered from financial straits. They lived in shanty and plastic houses. They even could not send all their children to school.”

“I don’t know how to provide food and the basic needs for them. This is too much for me!”, she said.

She added that when the massacre happened, Diaa came yelling “we want an ambulance.. my family and my uncle got killed”.

“I’m very old. I couldn’t do anything, so I called the neighbors and asked them to call an ambulance. Shortly afterwards, they told me that eight of my sons and their families were killed.. It was a shock!”, she explained.

Awatef Sawarkah (35 years old), the aunt of the children, seemed to be the strongest among the bereaved family members.

“What happened with the families of my brothers Rasmi and Muhammad is unbelievable and beyond description and logic. How would they use bombs that weigh tons to bombard a shanty house, which would burn in few minutes if it is set on fire”, she said.

“They bombarded the house on the heads of women and children, who were inside, all of a sudden. I don’t know, where is the international law and the conscientious people around the world to see what happened? Why did they bombard our houses?”

On the dawn of Thursday, Israeli warplanes bombarded two houses of the Sawarkah family, murdering eight of them, including five children and two ladies. The Israeli army claimed responsibility of the massacre and claimed that it was a mistake.