‘There were no intact bodies, just pieces of humans’…Eyewitness testimony of Israel’s latest slaughter by a volunteer medic in Gaza

ed note–we’ll forgo the usual extended commentary for something ‘short & sweet’, as the old saying goes.

Remember, ladies and Gentile-men, nothing, repeat–NOTHING–that you are about to read below is out of place or otherwise confusing in terms of the ‘why’ of it all.

Just like watching a documentary showing what life is like for gazelles, deer and other prey living in the midst of crocodiles and watching as they are mercilessly destroyed and devoured  on a daily basis by their deadly neighbors, likewise it can’t be any other way for those living in close proximity to the Jewish state. It is the ‘human’ embodiment of crocodile morals, crocodile values and crocodile behavior, which is to kill and destroy every living thing in its environment, and anyone of whatever ‘pedigree’ that comes forth with the detached-from-reality ‘explanation’ that the Jewish state is an ‘insult’ to the morals and values of ‘authentic’ Judah-ism is either a fool or a liar, because the scriptures of that ‘authentic’ Judah-ism are in fact Kristol clear on the matter, and have been for thousands of years, to wit–

‘When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to possess and drives out the many nations larger and stronger than you, and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not save alive anything that breathes…Do not intermarry with them…Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons…Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their idols in the fire, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God who has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession…’ –Book of Deuteronomy

Mustafa al-Jaro for The Electronic Intifada

During this war, I’ve witnessed horrific massacres, especially in the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City, where I lived before being forcibly displaced. In July, I saw what we in Gaza call a firebelt, a barrage of consecutive missiles targeting one area.

That was one of the most difficult moments I’ve lived through.

But this past Saturday, 10 August, was equally horrendous. I was yet again a witness to another massacre perpetrated by Israel.

I was waiting for my father to go with me to fajr prayer, which takes place at dawn, around 4 am. My family and I have been displaced to the al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, and we were going to the Tabaeen school to pray, like we usually do, because there is a prayer area there.

Yet my elderly father was delayed during his pre-prayer ablutions.

I heard a loud and terrifying sound, and all around, people searched for the source of the noise.

I was in shock. I knew that my friend Hassan and his brother Ali, 7, had gone to the prayer area. I called Hassan on the phone and mercifully he was alive. He said that Israel had bombed the prayer area and that he couldn’t find Ali.

My father and I went to the area to see what we could do, as I am trained as a medic. The martyrs were everywhere. There were no intact bodies; just pieces of humans. I saw the remains of children and displaced people scattered everywhere.

The scene was indescribable. We know now that Israel’s bombs killed at least 100 people.

Sounds of crying and screaming filled the area around the school, which was thick with smoke. Ambulances arrived and medics began to collect the human remains and placed them in bags. We could not find Ali. Hassan asked the rescuers what he should do now and how he should inform his mother. Where did his brother go?

They gave him a 35-pound bag of human remains, presumably his brother’s.

Piles of flesh were everywhere. We managed to help some of the injured and get them to the hospital.

One boy, around 16 years old, was in bad shape. His lower body had been crushed and his limbs were mangled. I carried him to the hospital myself since the ambulances were full.

His left hand was amputated, and his other wounds were deep. Fragments of a human skull were retrieved from his shattered leg bones, as were teeth and the remnants of a lower jaw belonging to some other victim.

It is difficult to even recall and describe this scene, as it surpassed what my mind and heart could endure.

My father and I transported dozens of others with severe injuries to the hospital, though many of them are likely now dead, as they waited for treatment in the hospital corridors.

Inside my mind, as it was all happening, I continued to narrate everything I saw. I was a living witness. Perhaps if my father had been quicker with his ablutions then we would also have been killed, our body parts in a pile of dismembered body parts that could not be identified.

I felt a strong desire for the whole world to know what is really going on in Gaza. Even so, what is happening cannot be described to the fullest extent, and neither the mind nor the heart can bear it.