An American man has revealed how his 71-year-old mother is being harassed by pranksters making hoax bomb calls to her home in Gaza.
Hani Almadhoun, who works at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, told CNN that his mother was told to evacuate her home due to the strikes from Israeli military – only to find that the warnings were actually “prank calls”.
Mr Almadhoun condemned the pranksters, saying it is “not human” to do such a thing.
“She has no place to go,” he said of his mother.
“They get prank calls at night – ’evacuate your house, you’re going to get bombed’ – then, ‘Oh, sorry, we’re just joking around.’ It’s not human to do that.”
Mr Almadhoun has lost 14 members of his extended family in Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Those who are still alive are “not doing too well,” he told The Source anchor Kaitlan Collins.
“I have two sisters sheltering inside a hospital right now,” he said. “One sister is in a school…I have the family just staying in the heart of the evacuation zone, unable to move around. They have very little resources right now.”
Palestinian authorities say that over 3,785 Palestinians have died in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza while Israeli officials say more than 1,400 people have died in Hamas attacks on Israel.
The war began on 7 October when Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of war and promised “mighty vengeance”.
Two days later, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the “complete siege” of Gaza as authorities cut off electricity and blocked the entry of food and fuel.
An American has revealed his 71-year-old mother who lives in Gaza is being harassed by pranksters— (CNN)
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) then ordered all Gaza civilians to leave the area and head southward — a command that the United Nations said was “impossible” to carry out.
On Tuesday, hundreds are believed to have been killed in an explosion at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza.
Officials in Gaza said an Israeli airstrike struck the al-Ahli hospital, but the Israeli military said its intelligence shows the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group is responsible, blaming an alleged faulty launch of a rocket intended to hit Israel. PIJ denies responsibility.
The complete siege on Gaza, combined with the continued strikes on the 42km-long enclave, has triggered “critical shortages” of basic resources including water, fuel and surgical supplies, meaning many of the injured are left without medical supplies.
There is also concern over how the wounded will be moved from hospitals after the evacuation order, with the WHO documenting 57 attacks on healthcare facilities.
Meanwhile, the UN has warned that clean water has run out across the strip, which is home to more than 2 million people, half of them children.
Fuel for generators powering hospitals is also set to run out in days, and food stocks are diminishing, prompting fears that civilians will die from thirst, water-borne diseases and hunger as well as the ongoing strikes.
