VIDEO - Israeli forces pulled out of a battered northern Gaza town on Tuesday after their biggest operation in the Palestinian territory in a year, leaving residents to bury their dead. “This is the worst raid we have ever witnessed,” Said Khalil Yazji, a 45-year-old resident and police officer. “The Israeli army has brought destruction into every single street and nearly into every single house. This is the tsunami of Beit Hanoun.” Israeli forces killed five gunmen and a civilian and wounded 13 people on Tuesday in raids on three other areas in the northern Gaza Strip, staging grounds for rocket attacks on southern Israel, militant groups and hospital officials said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the IDF operation in Gaza and said that Israel would not ensure its safety by shedding blood. “The Israelis leave one area and enter another,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said. “We have spoken to the American administration and to the Europeans that such a situation cannot help restoring security and stability,” he said. “If Israel wants peace and security, it has to stop shedding Palestinian blood,” Abbas explained. Beit Hanoun’s mayor, a member of the governing Islamic group Hamas, said some 40 homes were destroyed and 400 damaged during the fighting. The local mosque was completely destroyed except for its tower. Sitting amongst the ruins (Photo: Reuters) A resident of the town, Muhammed Abu Uda said, “Every day of the operation we heard from the media what was happening, because we were closed up in the house, but what we saw this morning doesn’t come close to what we heard on the radio and television.” “It’s obvious that someone came and deliberately destroyed sidewalks. They destroyed potholes and we are drowning in sewage. There isn’t a home without a bullet hole in it, and that is in the best case – in the worst case the house is partly or completely destroyed,” Abu Uda said. He also said that crews from other towns in the Strip arrived to try and get Beit Hanoun back to normal. “The local crews are drowning in work. All the roads are blocked, water and electricity infrastructure have crashed. There is no water, no electricity, and the roads are full of sand mounds and rocks the soldiers set up as blockades. Everything here is ruined and there is so much death,” Abu Uda explained. Beit Hanoun was slowly becoming a large mourner’s tent as people went about the task of identifying the dead. Graves were briskly dug, following the murder of 57 Palestinians in last week’s operation. Palestinians claimed that a four year old and twelve year old are among the dead, as well as three teenagers, but the IDF says that reports of civilian casualties have been exaggerated. Many families still don't know if their loved ones are among the dead or have left the town. "There are 10-15 unclaimed bodies in various hospitals and people who don't know where their sons are rushing from hospital to hospital trying to see if he is among the dead," said Abu Uda, "but after all this and after the days of mourning are over we will be left with the scars this operations has left on the children. I just want to say – go explain to the people on your side that this operation will not stop the rockets."