On Wednesday, April 7, in the afternoon, al-Wahda Street in Gaza City, which is usually bustling with makeshift market stalls that have sprung up since the war began in the enclave, turned into an open-air hell. The first missile struck the stalls, followed minutes later by another, which landed on a popular sandwich shop nicknamed "Thailandy." Footage of the attack, filmed by local journalists and shared on social media platforms (Israeli authorities still prohibit foreign journalists from accessing the Gaza Strip), is unbearable to watch. The snack bar's terrace was littered with bodies, lying toppled from their chairs.

Some seemed to take their last breaths, in a state of shock, while panicked survivors ran, screaming: "My God! My God!" A little boy, a street coffee vendor, lay on the ground, with his eyes open and his coffee pot still standing beside him. A trickle of blood flowed from his head. Further on, two children desperately shook their father's lifeless body, shouting "Dad! Dad!" with all their might. Around 100 meters away, at the Palmyra roundabout, where the first missile struck, Al Jazeera Mubasher journalist Ayman al-Hesi was broadcasting live. "We bring you these harrowing images of the painful reality we are experiencing in Gaza," he said, filming himself amid the distressed crowd.

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