Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib was at home in San Francisco when the terrifying calls started. An Israeli airstrike on Thursday hit his family’s home in Rafah, in the so-called safe zone of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge from the war.
Soon, his phone is flooded with news footage of the home, where he goes for family barbecues and to play with his grandmother’s ducks. He watched as neighbors scrambled through its smoking ruins, searching for survivors.
Instead, they found at least 31 bodies, he said, including two women in their 70s, several people in their 60s, and nine children between the ages of 3 months and 9 years. Many more are missing. He learned the names of the dead from texts and Facebook updates, spread over hours and days.
“It’s sickening and sickening,” said Mr. Alkhatib, 33, a writer and vocal critic of Hamas who was granted asylum in the United States after the armed group seized power in Gaza in 2007. “My heart is out of control worry and fear. These are the people I grew up with. This is a family home.”
The strike that killed many members of the family of Mr. Alkhatib is one of several in recent weeks who have hit zones where the Israeli military has told people to go to avoid airstrikes, questioning the advice and safety of those who follow it.
The war began on October 7, when Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. Since then, the Israeli military has carried out a massive air campaign and ground offensive that has displaced 1.9 million people, about 85 percent of Gaza’s population, the United Nations said. The campaign killed nearly 20,000 people, according to Gazan health officials, wiping out entire branches of family trees. It also destroyed the strip’s civilian infrastructure and economy and crippled hospitals.
Azmi Keshawi, a Rafah-based researcher for the International Crisis Group, an independent research organization, said he witnessed three airstrikes there last week: one on Sunday that killed 21 people, one on Monday that killed 11 and one on Tuesday that killed 15.
“The situation on the ground in Rafah is not very calm,” he said.
Nir Dinar, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said Israel had taken “significant steps to encourage civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to move to safer areas in southern Gaza, as well as taking possible measures to minimize accidental damage to civilians and civilian property during its operation.”
He declined to answer questions about the Rafah airstrikes, but said “unfortunately Hamas is also putting itself in safer places, choosing to do so at the expense of the safety of Gaza residents.”
Before the war, Rafah Province – which is about a third the size of Brooklyn – had a population of about 260,000. But in recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of people from towns to the north have fled there, and now there are signs that public order has begun to break down.
Last week, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, told reporters that during a recent visit to Rafah he watched Gazans stop aid trucks, attack their food and devour it on the spot .
“They are so desperate and hungry,” he said. “Everywhere you go, people are hungry, desperate and scared.”
Mr. Keshawi, the researcher, said he fled his home in Gaza City north of the enclave and now lives in a tent on a Rafah sidewalk with his family. No one in Rafah, which borders Egypt, seemed “ready to receive this amount of people,” he said.
“The living conditions in the shelters are really miserable,” he said. “They have a lot of pain. You have to stand in line for hours to go to the bathroom. There is a lack of sanitation, a lack of UN services to clean up garbage. Dirty water flows between the tents.”
When the airstrike hit the family home of Mr. As of December 14, dozens of people were inside, and more were in the backyard. He said that was a reflection of the dire situation in Rafah and the generosity of his uncle, Dr. Abdullah Shehada, 69, and his aunt, Zainab, 73. Both were killed in the strike.
“He opened the house to dozens of people,” said Mr. Alkhatib, “If there is a building left, people crowd, and that is a common feature of what is happening now in southern Gaza.”
His aunt is a retired teacher at a UN school, and his uncle is a renowned physician, he said. Also among the dead were his two other aunts, Fatma Nassman, 76, and Hind Nassman and another uncle, Hassan Nassman, both in their 60s. Several children, including her 3-month-old cousin, Ellen, and her 4-month-old cousin, Iyla, were also among the dead.
Mr. Alkhatib said he knew of no justification for the strike: the house was not being used by Hamas.
“I tell you from my heart, nothing is happening there,” said Mr. Alkhatib. “Even if a Hamas man passes by, don’t destroy a whole house and kill everyone there.”