Mahmoud Khalla survived because he had left his family home to find provisions. Israeli tanks had surrounded the area near his home in Jabalia, northern Gaza, and food was scarce due to the ongoing Israeli siege. On the evening of December 21, 2023, he told his family he would go see what was available.
“I told them I would go and see what was available,” he told Al Jazeera. “As soon as I had been out for about 15 minutes, I heard a huge explosion.”
The explosion was from an Israeli airstrike that targeted his five-storey family home, destroying it and killing all 39 people inside: his wife, three children, parents, two brothers and their families, his sister and her children, and other relatives.
Mahmoud and neighbors tried to rescue survivors but were forced to flee when a surveillance aircraft dropped a bomb on them. “We came back the next morning,” he said. Ambulances and civil defence teams could not reach the site that night.
He called out for his family members beneath the rubble but received no answer. He now visits the cemetery daily to care for their graves, saying he imagines they are still around.
The article describes how Israeli air attacks and drones continue to target the area, making movement dangerous.