Friday evening, Israeli air force and Navy gunships fired missiles at the Gaza Beach in Al Soudaniyya area, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, killing at least ten residents, including women and children, after shelling the beach with from ground, sea and air. At least forty residents were injured in the attack, most of the injured are children playing on the beach.
The Palestinian Television reported that eight brothers and sisters were among the casualties when the Israeli Naval force fired two shells towards the family while vacationing at the beach.
Dr. Mahmoud Al Asaly, head of Kamal Adwan hospital, reported that the number of casualties might increase since more residents are being transferred to the hospital as the rescue teams are still on the scene in an attempt to evacuate the wounded.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the incident as described it as an “Israeli bloody massacre" that targeted civilians and children vacationing on the beach.
"No doubt what’s going on in Gaza is a bloody massacre against our people, our civilians, without
discrimination," Abbas said. "I call upon the international community, Security Council, the Quartet, to put an end to this Israeli crimes".
Palestinian legislator, Mohammad Dahlan, called on the international community to condemn Israel and realize the brutality of the Israeli army that targets innocent civilians and children.
“The international community must move in order to rescue the Palestinian people” Dahlan stated, “The world must see this Israeli terrorism and expose these bloody crimes”.
He also called on the Palestinian factions and people to unite against the Israeli aggression and massacre.
“If it was a settler who was killed, the whole world will condemn us and accuse us of committing crimes”, he added, “Israel is killing children and women, shelling homes and innocent civilians and nobody is saying or doing anything to stop these massacres”
The bloody attack against innocent civilians comes several hours after the Israeli air force assassinated three Palestinians from Al Za’aneen family, the residents are fighters of the Popular Resistance Committees.
The Palestinian Television broadcasted live scenes from the attacked beach showing children searching fro their family, and an scene of a Palestinian child girl crying beside the body of her father.
Meanwhile, after the women, men and children were killed in the attack, the Israeli army claimed that it will investigate the incident.
Israeli army head of the southern command, Major General Yoav Galant, said on Friday evening that the army is looking into the circumstances of the explosion.
“One possibility under examination is that a military shell strayed from its path, or that a work accident caused the explosion”, he claimed.
