The sound of explosions was heard from far away, even in Gaza City and the central and southern parts of the Strip. Tongues of flame and columns of thick smoke rose, covering the sky, followed by scenes of total destruction of the city.
Beit Hanoun, which had been forcibly evacuated under bombardment for months, appeared to be burning alone on Saturday night, as activists on social media circulated a video documenting the moments of the bombing. The scene appeared apocalyptic, with intense red light dispelling the darkness and the echoes of deep explosions shaking buildings in the distance.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the violent explosions caused panic in Gaza, and that the smoke from the raids could be smelled from kilometers away.
"Beit Hanoun no longer exists. It has been transformed into a ruin, with fires blazing in every corner and black smoke filling the sky," Ahmed Riyad, a member of the Beit Lahia project's popular committee, told Anadolu Agency.
He noted that residents of the northern Gaza Strip felt tremors as a result of the airstrikes, a phenomenon unprecedented in intensity since the beginning of the war. He explained that the city was "wiped off the map," leaving nothing but rubble.
Although Beit Hanoun was effectively reduced to rubble, the Israeli military said its aircraft targeted "more than 35 Hamas targets" in the town, allegedly targeting the movement's infrastructure. Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz released an aerial photo of the city after the bombing, in which he said Beit Hanoun had been "razed to the ground," sparking angry reactions amid mounting international criticism.
Israeli journalist Almog Boker said on Channel 12 that "the sounds of loud explosions were heard in Beit Hanoun, even in the settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip."
Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth columnist Yossi Yehoshua tweeted that the army was launching "strong" attacks on infrastructure in the city of Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip.
Beit Hanoun was one of the first areas entered by the Israeli occupation army during its ground incursion on October 28, 2023, and on June 2, 2024, the Municipal Emergency Committee in northern Gaza declared Beit Hanoun a "disaster area" due to the ongoing Israeli airstrikes, the near-total destruction of infrastructure and vital services, and the collapse of the humanitarian situation.
According to previous figures from the Beit Hanoun Municipality, approximately 60,000 people lived in the city, which has an area of approximately 17,000 dunams (one dunam equals 1,000 square meters), before the start of the recent war of extermination.
Israel continues its war on Gaza, while indirect negotiations are underway in Qatar between Tel Aviv and Hamas, in an attempt to reach a prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement.
The genocide, backed by the United States, left more than 196,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing. Hundreds of thousands were displaced, and a famine claimed the lives of many, including dozens of children
