A charity worker has shared with Yahoo News UK footage of his destroyed neighbourhood in the besieged area of Gaza.
Mahmoud Shalabi, a senior programme manager in Gaza for Medical Aid for Palestinians, described the moment “one simple rocket” reduced his neighbourhood in the city in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to rubble.
In a voice note sent to Yahoo via WhatsApp on Sunday - which you can listen to with the video Shalabi also sent above - he describes the aftermath of a “vicious” bomb that killed 10 of his neighbours, including children, and left many others injured.
“My neighbourhood is full of the colour grey,” he told Yahoo. “I hate the colour grey now. Everything is covered in rubble, everything is covered in particles of cement and gunpowder and it's very dangerous to walk right now in my neighbourhood.
“It's really devastating. The aerial bombardments continued all around us in the north of Gaza, we couldn't manage to sleep.
It is unknown whether the rocket described by Shalabi was targeting the Beit Lahia region, or who fired it, but Israel has fired thousands of rockets into the area in what they describe as an attempt to wipe out Hamas.
Shalabi says the sound of the airstrikes were like no other.
In the footage, the camera pans over grey debris of the collapsed buildings, which were once homes to the residents of Beit Lahia.
Shalabi also describes living in a “total electricity, internet and telecommunication blackout”, making it even more challenging to reach the civil defence and the ambulance services.
He adds: “We weren't actually aware of what was happening around us.
“This was all coupled with rumours that Israelis were about to have a very vast ground invasion, so you can imagine the level of anxiety that the people were living in.”
As Shalabi walks through his neighbourhood, footage of broken cars covered with gunpowder and aerial wires lie on the ground as residents come to terms with the events.
He adds says: “As a humanitarian, I am unable to do my work because of the lack of communication, but also due to the fact that suppliers in the north of Gaza have no items available,” says the aid worker.
Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians, hospitals and schools as shields to hide militants and launch sites for rockets. It has vowed to destroyed the proscribed terror group following the brutal incursion on 7 October in which some 1,400 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed, sparking the current violence.
MAP’s work involves supporting medical facilities, providing essential supplies, and ensuring the health and wellbeing of those affected by the latest events in Gaza.
