Dr Kamal Mohammed Qdieh, Khuza'a

Kamal Mohammed Qdieh (40) is a doctor in the village of Khuza'a where he has a clinic. The Israeli forces started a ground invasion into Khuza'a, a small town of about 10,000 residents, located east of the city of Khan Younis, not far from the border with Israel. The invasion started on 23 July. The Israeli forces reportedly warned the residents to leave the area, but many residents were trapped, as the town was under heavy shelling by Israeli forces. Israeli air strikes hit many civilian homes and destroyed the local mosque. Dozens of people were reportedly killed during the ground invasion.

According to Dr Qdieh, more than 200 residents took refuge in his clinic thinking that it would be a safe place.

Dr Kamal reported that on the night of 22 July, after 10:00pm, the situation became very difficult  with heavy bombings. On the 23 July, they took the decision to all go out together with white flags. Hundreds of people left the area with them, around 8:00am, carrying white flags, and walking toward the main entrance of the town. Once they reached the neighbourhood near the main entrance, they were exposed to intense fire from the Israeli army. Some people were injured.

The Israeli soldiers told them that they did not have permission to leave the village - so they decided to return to the clinic. They called the Red Crescent Society (a Palestinian ambulance service and affiliate of the Red Cross) in vain.  Around 6:30pm, two missiles were fired from drones at the garden of the house that hosts the clinic, resulting in many injuries and the death of Dr Kamal's brother, Ahmed Mohammed Qdieh, 19.

The next day, on 24 July, his cousin Rami Ra'ed Qdeih, 18, was killed at around 9am  as people tried to evacuate the clinic after it was targeted with a drone strike. The people stranded in the clinic decided to leave as they were also running out of food and water. On the way out, they found a tank that let them pass. They were then attacked by a missile, and a child, Anas ‘Bader’ Hatem Qdeih, 7, was very badly injured. An ambulance was only allowed to reach him three hours later, it was further held up at an Israeli check point, and the boy died just three minutes away from the hospital.. The group walked with white flags and encountered another tank. The Israeli soldiers asked them to sit down but they continued walking. They walked for other three kilometres and a motorcycle was targeted behind them, killing another three people: Ismail Hassan Qdieh (55); Nafez Salman Qdeih (45); and his daughter Dawlat Nafez Qdeih (20).