Gaza City – Palestinians woke up on Wednesday to take stock of the extensive destruction caused by a night of continuous Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Demonstrations against the death in Israeli custody of activist and hunger striker Khader Adnan had rocked the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
Rockets had been fired at Israel from Gaza in response to news of Adnan’s death, and more were launched in response to the Israeli bombardment, which damaged multiple areas, including al-Safina, al-Baydar and near the neighborhood of Al -Zaytoun.
Early Wednesday morning, a Palestinian died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike northwest of Gaza City, medical sources confirmed. Hashel Mubarak al-Swerki, a 58-year-old father of 11 children, died after being badly injured by shrapnel.
Five other people suffered shrapnel from Israeli missiles east of Beit Hanoun in the north of the besieged strip.
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations intervened on Wednesday to secure a return to calm as of 4 a.m. (01:00 GMT), Palestinian Islamic Jihad sources, the Hamas administration in Gaza and other Palestinian officials said.
Al-Swerki’s 17-year-old son, Adam, told Al Jazeera his father was asleep when their home was rocked by an Israeli bombing raid that hit a vacant lot nearby.
“The bombardment was so intense that large stones broke through our tin roof and fell right on my father’s chest as he slept,” said the teenager. “We immediately took him to the hospital.”
His father suffered from internal bleeding and died early Wednesday.
“My father is a very kind and simple person, and we are simple people living in very difficult circumstances. I can’t believe it,’ Adam said as the family prepared for the funeral.
Rula al-Aqraa, 45, from Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, said she, her husband and their five children were awakened by a bombing near their home.
“My kids woke up screaming…terrified,” she said.
The bombing damaged al-Aqraa’s home, which had already been damaged by previous attacks.
“Our house is very worn,” she said. “There have been several bombings around my house and it has been damaged more than once. Now it has become very poor and unfit for living.”