Family with disabled children among hundreds of Gaza's homeless after latest fighting with Israel

When Najah Nabhan learned that her home was about to be bombed by Israel, she knew she h to get out quickly. What she didn’t know was how she would get her four children with special needs out of building in time.

With help of neighbors, her children, who are unable to walk on ir own, were carried to safety. But airstrike flattened three-story building, leaving 42 members of Nabhan’s extended family homeless and leaving her children without wheelchairs, crutches and medical equipment y need to move about.

"I needed time to think what to take and what to leave. We have important documents and reports of children's conditions and history, medications and tools. All of m are gone," said Najah, sitting on a mat in debris-strewn front yard of what used to be her home in norrn Gaza.

On Sunday morning, entire family gared in yard, sitting under show of a tree and receiving visitors who came to show solidarity.

Nabhan’s home was destroyed by Israeli strike only hours before a cease-fire took effect late Saturday. At least 11 or residential buildings were destroyed by Israeli aircraft in five days of fighting. It was latest in a long line of armed battles between military and rocket-firing Palestinian militant groups over past 15 years.

At start of offensive, aircraft targeted apartments and homes of three Islamic Jih commanders without warning, killing m. But some members of ir families, including women and children, as well as neighbors were also killed. Human rights groups say a total of 60 housing units were destroyed, displacing about 400 people during campaign.

Israel says all of buildings it targeted were used as command centers by Islamic Jih.

An Israeli military official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity under briefing guidelines, said se command centers were usually hidden in residential buildings of one to three stories. He said Israel called inhabitants and ordered m to evacuate ahe of time. Israel says such calls are meant to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians.

“ Islamic Jih terror organizations deliberately operates and embeds its military assets in densely populated civilian areas,” army said.

But Nabhan and or residents said y were surprised by sudden phone call.

“I was at home, just finished having lunch and was making tea,” she said. “I did not believe it’s our house that is being targeted.”

“My feet could not hold me. I sat helpless until people took us out,” she recounted.

In a video circulated on social media, a relative is seen pleing with military not to carry out strike. man, a neighbor and distant relative, eventually asked military to limit airstrike “to apartment of guilty” rar than wiping out entire building. It was unclear if he was referring to someone specific or speaking in hypotical terms.

With minutes to spare, neighbors carried Nabhan's 24-year-old daughter, Ayat, who can’t walk, Areej, 18, who suffers from epilepsy and walking difficulties, and 14-year-old Haneen, who has a chronic illness and movement issues, from ground-floor apartment. y went upstairs and carried out her son Jalal, who also uses a wheelchair.

After bombing, family worked late into night sifting through rubble, but was unable to recover Ayat’s and Jalal’s wheelchairs, Haneen’s crutches or correction belt of a 3-year-old niece, who has a deformity in her leg.

Jalal Nabhan, 30, angrily dismissed Israeli allegations. “Can people like me fire a rocket?" he said, pointing toward his legs and at his disabled sisters. "No one from us can fire a rocket toward Israel.”

fighting erupted last Tuesday when Israeli airstrikes killed three senior Islamic Jih commanders in what it said was a response to intense rocket fire previous week following death of an Islamic Jih activist from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

five-day battle left 33 Palestinians de, according to Palestinian health officials. Among m were 13 civilians, including four women and six children. At least three of civilians, including two children, were killed by misfired Islamic Jih rockets, according to rights groups.

Eighteen militants, including six senior Islamic Jih members, were killed, according to Palestinian officials, while two people were killed in Israel from Palestinian rocket fire. Islamic Jih fired nearly 1,500 rockets toward Israel, according to army.

After airstrike, Nabhan family, including Najah and her husband, ir children and grandchildren, spent night at homes of neighbors, friends and in-laws. Some slept in front yard next to rubble.

Neighbors denied Israeli claims that family was connected to a militant group. “y are simple people who do menial, intermittent jobs to earn whatever,” said Mohammmed al-Arabid, a neighbor.

One was a taxi driver, anor was a construction worker, a third owned a donkey-drawn cart he would use to help people move garbage or furniture.

family, among Gaza’s poorest, built home just four years ago with donations from charities. Before that, y lived in makeshift structures with tin roofs.

Falasteen Nabhan, 30, lived on third floor with her husband and four children. Her home was last to be completed, just last year.

“My apartment h windows, painted walls, and tile. It was a palace for me,” she said.

But rebuilding will not be easy. family now joins long list of displaced Gazans seeking aid from Hamas government, United Nations or international non-governmental organizations to rebuild homes lost in conflict.

Some of houses destroyed in broer conflicts in 2021 and even 2014 still have not been rebuilt.

Najah Nabhan says she will wait as long as it takes. “We can live in yard, on ground, eat tree leaves, for sake of getting our house rebuilt,” she said.