Israel Makes a Terrifying Call to Gaza Resident: ‘Bombing Coming in 2 Hours, Leave Now!’

Amidst Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which is governed by the Palestinian armed group Hamas, a story has emerged about a resident who received a warning call about a bombing on his personal phone.

According to the British BBC, Mahmoud Shahin, a 40-year-old dentist living in Al-Zaytun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, received a call from an unknown number around 6:30 a.m. local time on May 19th.

The man on the phone, who identified himself as Abu Khaled from the Israeli intelligence, spoke fluent Arabic and warned, “We are planning to bomb three buildings. Issue an evacuation warning in the surrounding area.”

Shahin initially didn’t believe the mysterious call. At the time, prank calls pretending to be the Israeli military were rampant, to the point where tips to identify actual Israeli military evacuation orders were being shared on social media.

Shahin told the caller, “If you want to prove it’s real, fire a warning shot.” Shortly after, a bullet fell on one of the nearby apartment blocks. He presumed the bullet came from a drone.

After requesting another warning shot and hearing the gunfire, Shahin realized that he held the fate of hundreds of people in his hands.

Shahin didn’t understand why he was chosen to evacuate the residents. However, once he realized the call was real, he had to argue with the man on the phone to buy as much time as possible to evacuate as many neighbors as possible.

He pleaded with the caller, “Don’t betray us while people are evacuating,” to which the caller responded, “Take your time. We don’t want anyone to die.”

Al-Zaytun, where Mahmoud lives, is a downtown area on the outskirts of Gaza City, the largest city in the Gaza Strip, filled with modern buildings, including Palestinian universities, schools, cafes, shops, and parks.

He tried to explain to the man on the phone that Al-Zaytun is a civilian residential area where neighbors know each other well and that it is not a border area or a conflict zone, but it was in vain. The man on the phone said, “This is an order from people bigger than you and me, and we have been ordered to drop bombs.”

Shahin ran around the streets yelling, “Evacuate!” until his voice gave out. He recalled that hundreds of people poured into the streets that morning, some fleeing in pajamas or prayer clothes.

Once the evacuation was complete, the man on the phone said, “Wait a little,” and shortly after, the bombing began. Shahin had to watch as three buildings near his home crumbled. The man on the phone then said, “It’s over now. You can go back.”

This account was revealed in an interview with the BBC after numerous witnesses reported seeing a man evacuating people on the street shortly before the bombing.

The Israeli intelligence knew not only Shahin but also his family’s personal information. When his cell phone battery ran out, they even called his neighbors’ phones and asked them to switch to him. During the call, they also negotiated an evacuation site, advising him to evacuate to the Western Palestinian University.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated, “We are targeting military objectives across the Gaza Strip as part of our mission to dismantle the Hamas terrorist organization” and “We are taking feasible preventive measures to mitigate civilian casualties.”

By. Seo Hee Won