GAZA — Mohammad Mayyat recalled the moment Israeli rockets blasted through Al Bureij – catapulting body parts into the air and killing his only son.

“The rockets fell, and I saw people torn apart. I didn’t know what to do. My only son, after 20 years, is so precious to me,” he told CNN. “We were sitting in front of the house when suddenly we all flew away... We couldn’t run or do anything.”

An Israeli strike on a home in central Gaza killed at least 30 Palestinians on Monday, according to officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. CNN footage early Tuesday shows the lifeless bodies of boys, girls and men filling every inch of the morgue floor. The sun glazed over tens of mourners in the courtyard. In one scene, a woman can be seen holding the face of a man in shrouds – her eyes sore with grief.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed least 16,927 children, Gaza’s Government Media Office reported on October 6. CNN cannot independently verify the figures.

One mother, Rihab, told CNN she had waited 14 years to conceive her teenage son, who was killed on Monday. “My son was in my arms when a shrapnel hit his heart. He died immediately.”

Another survivor recalled watching the news with her family, when suddenly a rocket hurtled toward the house. “It broke us all into pieces,” said Ruwaida Abdul Hadi. “My daughter and her husband, my sons, my grandchildren, my husband — they are all gone, and I’m left alone.” — CNN