Palestinian describes horror of Israeli raids levelling residential tower 

In the dead of night, Israeli fighter jets turned life for Palestinians in Gaza into hell. 

An intense onslaught was launched, targeting central areas in the besieged strip and levelling at least 10 residential towers, which house hundreds of families. 

At around 5:25 am local time, a bomb was dropped without a warning on a house near Khalil Ayyash's home, a resident of central Gaza City. 

He survived and left with his family to what he thought was a safer place near the Watan Tower, a high-rise building in the heart of Gaza housing dozens of families. 

"The bombing displaced us, and we didn't know where to go in the middle of the night," Ayyash told Middle East Eye.

He said they ended up stopping to perform dawn prayer until they could figure out where to go next. That's when they heard another loud explosion as they were praying. 

"We saw panic and chaos. Children crying, elderly women on the ground, young people wounded and ambulance sirens ringing out," he said. "We only realised after the dust settled that the Watan Tower had been levelled.

"This is a civilian area that does not have any armed personnel or defence systems," Ayyash added.

"Israel is asking people to move from the strip's border areas to the centre of the strip, but this is a building in the centre and we're being bombed."