'Besieged' Army raid that killed hundreds

Nuseirat market was crowded with civilians when Israeli forces launched an assault to free four hostages held nearby

- MalakA Tantesh , Aseel Mousa and Emma Graham Harrison

The market in Nuseirat was busy last Saturday morning. Among the crowds were Asia El-Nemer, looking for a pharmacy that still had stock of her sister's medication, and Ansam Haroun, hoping to find new clothes to lift her daughters' spirits on the forthcoming Eid al-Adha holiday.

This part of central Gaza had emptied at the start of the year when Israeli troops first moved through, but filled up again from May as more than a million people fled north to escape another operation in Rafah.

"The Nuseirat market is always crowded, but now more than usual because of the many displaced people," said Haroun, 29.

She was looking at outfits for the girls when the first Israeli airstrikes hit, and raced out of the door to go to them.

Outside, she found a scene "like the horrors of judgment day", as panicked crowds tried to escape.

"Everyone was screaming," she said. "The street I was on was only 50 metres long, but it was packed with hundreds of people, all running." El-Nemer, a 37-year-old software engineer originally from northern Gaza, was among the crush of people trying to escape.