Lock the Difference Between 2sides Victims

Only Dog

Many Palastines Cover the road

Pictures speak louder than words

1300^ plastines dies

4 Isreali dies

It"s Fair?

沙 gaza is bleeding and bleeding 沙

Story from Gaza's Victims

"The radio reported that my friend was under the rubble"

Dr. Haidar Eid is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Literature, Al-Aqsa University, Gaza Strip, Palestine

I was lying in my bedroom when the first strike happened, around 1:30 in the morning. A strike isn't just one explosion, it's a series of explosions. Boom, boom, boom, boom. The whole building shook. I woke up and went to the bathroom first, and within 30 seconds the second strike hit. F-16s were bombing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, about 500 meters away. I could hear glass shattering everywhere. I went back into the bedroom and saw glass everywhere, all over the bed which is right up against the window. If I had been lying there still, it would have shattered all over me, would have seriously injured me, or worse. It was a very strong blast, and the glass must have hit the bed with great force.

I brought a mattress into the living room, which faces the sea, and lay down trying to sleep there. Moments later, I heard a huge explosion, the third strike, this time from an area closer to the sea. The front, sea-facing window exploded into the room, landing on the desk and the floor, thankfully too far from where I was lying.

I tried to call a friend who lives two buildings away from the ministries. He's got five children, ages five to 15. He said they were okay, but the children were terrified, screaming.

I went into the third room, a spare bedroom, and saw that the windows were already broken. I looked through the shards of glass and saw that four ambulances had come, as well as two fire engines. There were huge, black clouds. I was looking at the ambulances and the people below when another strike against the compound happened, another series of explosions. Again, my building shook from the impact. I heard people screaming, there was more smoke, fire, and a terrible smell. I don't know what ... the smell of death, I guess.

The radio reported that my friend, Dr. Fawaz Abu Sitta, whose house is just in front of the ministry compound, was buried under the rubble of his home. I was stunned, it really affected me badly. He's such a kind man, and I couldn't believe it. I called friends, I was so worried, and 15 minutes later finally learned that another friend had spoken to him: he and his wife were okay, in the ****ment of their house, locked in because something had fallen against the door.

The compound has three or four ministries, and each building has eight to ten floors. So I'd imagine you need three missiles for each building. So far there'd been three sets of hits against the buildings, as well as ongoing strikes around Gaza City and the Strip.

I could hear some of the explosions in Gaza's neighborhoods, and the radio kept reporting the latest explosions. They were everywhere: Sheikh Radwan (a district of Gaza City, where my brother and his family live. I started calling him, but he didn't answer), Zaytoun (another district of Gaza), Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun ...

All the time, the building was shaking, like an earthquake. These were the loudest explosions I've ever heard. It was terrible, frightening, confusing. And you know, you don't know where to run, what to do. I looked outside, but it was too dark, too filled with black smoke ... I don't know what kind of bombs Israel is using, something that creates fire, and very dark smoke. I could hear children screaming in my own building, screeching from fear. My landlord is in his eighties, and his wife had a stroke last year and cannot walk. They live on the 12th floor. I couldn't imagine how they were feeling then, completely helpless, the power out, no way of escaping if our building was hit, or even if it wasn't hit, but just to escape the terror.

I took my mattress and went to the corridor this time, the last place I could try. I lay down, and listened to the radio reporting the latest. And I continued to hear blasts all over.

Forty-five minutes after the third strike, they came back, to finish the job against the ministerial compound. With the fourth strike, more glass shattered, what was left of it. I rushed to the window closest to the attacks, already shattered, and again tried to see through dark smoke. But I couldn't see anything, but could hear ambulances below, more screaming.

The electricity was off, the landlines down. No phone lines, no Internet, no cell phone connection. I had no way of speaking to anyone. It was very isolating, terrifying.

It seems ridiculous to go back to bed after all of this, to try to sleep. But there is really nowhere I felt safe, so I went back to the mattress in the corridor. It started raining, and I could see rain coming in the sea-view window, and my bedroom window. I got up, tried to cover things ... my laptop, my stereo ... I was just trying to save my things. And there was glass all over the floor, I was stepping on it.

This morning, my nieces came over, and when they saw my bedroom with the broken windows and thick shards of glass where my head and body would have been, they were horrified, started crying.

We still have glass everywhere. We tried to clean ... it's everywhere.

I heard later that they used more than 40 bombs, which when you add up all the strikes is entirely possible.

After the attacks, the drones were all over, flying low, buzzing like huge mosquitoes. The sound they make, it's loud, grating, and you know it means they're considering what to do next. They were up there the rest of the night, flying circles, coming lower, going back up, the pitch of their whine raising, going away, coming back ... They want to make their presence felt. They are really saying to us, "we can do whatever we want, with impunity."

There's only so much one can bear, you know. You can't think clearly. I don't know what to do.

People are afraid they might strike the Ministry of Justice and next to it the Ministry of Education, just up the street,

about 400-500 meters

written by hesham - who is living in gaza

Activists seek 'Gaza abuses' probe

Human rights groups have called on Hamas officials to investigate widespread allegations of abduction, torture and the killing of Palestinians accused of being collaborators during Israel's war on Gaza.

Real Isreal

Deadly Israeli raids on schools take Gaza toll to 660

Posted by admin in Featured Articles, Latest News on 01 7th, 2009 | 4 responses



Israeli forces blazed into towns across Gaza striking Hamas targets and also hitting three UN-run schools in attacks that killed at least 48 people and sparked urgent new ceasefire calls.

While troops battled Islamist militants inside Gaza City in the heaviest fighting of the 11-day-old offensive, Hamas made its deepest rocket strike yet into the Jewish state defying Israeli efforts to halt the fire.

As the Palestinian death toll surged above 660, Arab states pressed for a UN Security Council resolution condemning the onslaught, but Israel rejected ceasefire calls by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leaders.

However, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to open a “humanitarian corridor” into Gaza early Wednesday to allow residents to receive aid.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply dismayed” by the strikes on the UN schools and called them “totally unacceptable.”

The United Nations demanded an investigation after tank and air assaults hit the schools, run by its Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA.

At least 43 people sheltering at the Jabaliya refugee camp school in northern Gaza were killed, emergency services said. The UN confirmed at least 30 dead and 55 wounded in the shelling.

The Israeli military said a preliminary inquiry indicated that mortar rounds may have been fired from the Jabaliya school.

Earlier two people were killed when an artillery shell hit a school in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis. Three people also died in an air strike on another school in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, medics said.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories Maxwell Gaylard said Israel had the GPS coordinates of all UN buildings in Gaza - including schools.

“Neither homes nor UN shelters are safe” for civilians, he said and called for an investigation. “If international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must be held accountable.”

Heavy fighting raged in Gaza City and around nearby Deir al-Balah and Bureij. One air raid on Gaza City killed 12 people, including seven children from the same family.

Tanks with helicopter gunship support rolled into Khan Yunis before dawn, to be met with return fire from Hamas and its allies, witnesses said.

Four Israeli soldiers were killed in two friendly fire incidents overnight and another died when his patrol was attacked on Tuesday, bringing to six the total since Saturday.

About 35 Hamas rockets were fired over the border, one striking 45 kilometres (28 miles) inside Israel — the deepest yet — and slightly wounding a baby, the army said.

Three civilians and one soldier have been killed by rockets hitting Israel since the offensive began.

Protests against Israel have spiralled worldwide and the French president led new calls for a truce as he met Israeli leaders in Jerusalem on Monday.

Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri called on Muslims to attack Israeli and Western targets in revenge for the offensive.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reaffirmed that there can be no ceasefire until “terrorist” rocket attacks and weapons smuggling into Gaza are ended.

Sarkozy went to Damascus and Beirut and later returned to Egypt to see President Hosni Mubarak, saying there was a “glimmer of hope” for ending the bloodshed.

A Hamas delegation also arrived in Cairo.

Egypt brokered a six-month truce that ended on December 19. Hamas refused to renew the deal accusing Israel of reneging on the deal by not relaxing the crippling blockade of Gaza it first imposed when the Islamists seized control of the territory in June 2007.

Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27 with a massive air bombardment of Gaza, and sent in thousands of ground troops a week later.

Since then, 660 Palestinians have been killed, including about 200 children, with more than 2950 wounded, Gaza medics say.

Israel has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but Olmert’s office announced that the Jewish state would open a “humanitarian corridor” into the territory.

“This involves opening up geographical areas for limited periods of time during which the population will be able to receive the aid and stock up,” his office said.

International Committee of the Red Cross operations director Pierre Kraehenbuehl said earlier that “there is no doubt in my mind that we are dealing with a full-blown and major crisis in humanitarian terms. The situation for the people in Gaza is extreme and traumatic.”

The UN Security Council was meeting in New York late Tuesday to weigh an Arab call for a ceasefire and to protect Palestinian civilians, diplomats said.

Washington has strongly backed Israel, with President George W. Bush saying any truce must ensure an end to militant rocket fire.

After talks with Sarkozy, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invited Israel for an urgent meeting to discuss security on the Egypt-Gaza border.

The envoy of the main players in the Middle East peace process, former British prime minister Tony Blair, earlier said that an immediate ceasefire was possible provided Israeli concerns about the smuggling of money and weapons across the border were addressed.

>>>>>>from Aljazeera.net