Gaza Herald – Heba Raafat Abu Hasira (24), a nursing graduate, says she never imagined that the room where she and her family took shelter would turn into the scene of her entire family’s execution, leaving her the only survivor, barefoot and wounded, after one of the most terrifying nights of the war near Al-Shifa Medical Complex in western Gaza City.
Staying under fire
Heba lived with her family in a two-story house at the entrance of Abu Hasira Street, behind Al-Shifa Medical Complex. The household included her mother, Bushra (55), her sisters Rouzan (25) and Rania (19), and her brother Saif (21).
When the genocide began on 7 October 2023 and Israeli evacuation threats were issued for Gaza City civilians to move south, the family chose to stay, saying they had no relatives in the south and could not endure displacement to shelters or tents.
Over the following months, they lived under constant bombardment, occasionally leaving the home during intense airstrikes and returning when conditions briefly calmed.
Siege of Al-Shifa
At around 2 a.m. on 18 March 2024, heavy gunfire and simultaneous air and artillery strikes erupted very close to the home. Heba says loudspeaker warnings from Israeli soldiers ordered residents near Al-Shifa not to leave, threatening to shoot anyone who moved.
She recalls a soldier saying, “Residents of Al-Shifa Hospital area are forbidden to leave; anyone who leaves will be shot.” At that moment, the family realized the area had been encircled.
They took shelter inside Heba’s western-facing room, considered the safest part of the home. The night was filled with continuous gunfire, while low-flying quadcopter drones hovered overhead. By morning, they heard their neighbors screaming, followed by intense shooting and then sudden silence.
Storming the home and execution
Around 11 a.m., Israeli occupation forces stormed the home after breaking the main door, firing heavily and indiscriminately inside.
Heba says six soldiers positioned themselves in the living room while another stood on the stairs. One soldier then entered the room where the family was hiding.
“We were all sitting in one corner, covered with a blanket. Suddenly, he started shooting directly at us. Whenever someone moved, he fired again.”
Her mother and siblings were killed instantly. Heba was the only survivor.
“I screamed that we are civilians”
Heba says she tried to tell the soldier they were civilians and begged him to stop shooting. He pointed his weapon at her head and pulled her out of the room.
“I asked to stay with my family, but he shouted at me: ‘Shut up.’ Another soldier came and forced me out of the home. I asked to see my family, but they refused and forced me to leave.”
Shot while escaping
Heba ran into the street barefoot, finding Israeli tanks and military vehicles surrounding the area from all sides.
She says soldiers opened fire on her while she was standing, injuring her in the left hand. Despite her injury, she ran over broken glass and rubble, also sustaining a foot injury when a nail pierced her foot, while bleeding heavily.
She continued running until she reached a friend’s home farther from the besieged western Gaza area.
Wider military operation
On 18 March 2024, Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Shifa Medical Complex with around 50 tanks and military vehicles, in one of the largest operations targeting the hospital and its surroundings.
At the time, the complex sheltered more than 7,000 patients and displaced civilians. Reports documented killings, kidnappings, and destruction inside and around the facility, as well as restrictions on evacuation and the burning and shelling of nearby homes.
After the withdrawal, Palestinian sources estimated more than 400 killed in and around Al-Shifa on the first day alone.
In contrast, Israeli military radio reported that forces kidnapped 500 civilians from the hospital and detained around 900 others for interrogation and that approximately 6,000 civilians were evacuated from the area.
