The Guardian reports:

Palestinians across the besieged Gaza Strip have described their terror and confusion, as thousands fled a wave of Israeli airstrikes after Hamas’s unprecedented cross-border incursion.

“When we began asking about the situation inside the hospitals we work with, one person described it as a slaughterhouse,” said Mahmoud Shalabi of Medical Aid for Palestinians, who is overseeing support to hospitals across the Gaza Strip.

“There were bodies laying on the ground, there wasn’t enough space in the emergency department and they were struggling to deal with the influx they were seeing.

“The situation is really dire at the moment, we have been facing one of the toughest escalations as Palestinians in Gaza.”

Israel pummelled Gaza, a slim strip of land home to about 2 million people, striking it from the sea and air overnight and into the following day.

“For your safety, immediately evacuate the areas where you live,” Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, instructed civilians in Gaza, writing on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Many across Gaza feared there was nowhere to hide, in a 140 square mile area that has long been considered one of the most densely populated areas on Earth. [Continue reading…]