‘We thought the war had started again’: Israeli killings in Gaza resume as ceasefire hangs by a thread
People mourn after an Israeli airstrike killed 2 Palestinians, Khaled al-Shaer, 60, and Musa Qishta, 59, in Rafah on 3 March 2025. The bodies of the two slain Palestinians was brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
Tareq S. Hajjaj reports in Mondoweiss on 5 March 2025:
On Monday afternoon, two friends, Khaled al-Shaer, 60, and Musa Qishta, 59, were walking toward their destroyed homes in the city of Rafah near the Egyptian border with Gaza. They had gone out for a stroll to pass the time until that day’s Ramadan fast ended at sunset.
When they arrived at the Rafah Municipality Stadium in the center of Rafah, they came into view of Israeli tanks stationed near the border. The tanks opened fire.
Muhannad Qishta, Musa’s cousin, says that Musa had wanted to get closer to his home and see what had become of it. “While they were crossing the street, the tank saw them and opened heavy fire, but it did not hit them,” Qishta told Mondoweiss. “The two men tried to escape the gunfire, so they fled to an abandoned UNRWA school nearby.”
Due to their old age, they could not run long distances, but as soon as they tried to escape, the Israeli army sent a quadcopter to chase after them. “The army had fun killing them in cold blood,” Qishta said. After they reached the school, the Israeli drone caught up with the two men and opened fire directly, mortally wounding them and leaving them to bleed to death in the school courtyard.
Several hours later, a search party made up of the men’s family members was dispatched to look for them when they didn’t show up in time for iftar. They found their bodies in the school. Musa Qistha, one of the murdered men, did not have children in his life, a relative told Mondoweiss. He adopted his nephew after his father was killed throughout the war, taking responsibility for his care. Now his nephew has been orphaned again.
Bloody scenes like these have returned to Gaza following the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement and Israel’s halt of humanitarian aid into the Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the ceasefire would not continue without the release of more Israeli captives, stating that there would be “no free lunch” for Palestinians.