31 March 04

The Israeli Army erased the landmarks where the American activist Rachel Corrie was killed last year by demolishing the house which she was protecting and separating the eyewitnesses on that murder..

A new step, carried out by the cruel Israeli occupation when they demolished Samer Nasrallah's house, the house in front of which Rachel Corrie was killed while she was protecting it from demolishment last year..

They also demolished other farm areas that were planted with olive and orange trees belonging to an old man named Awad Al Saher.

A large number of children demonstrated to mark the anniversary of Rachel's death. O ther children participated with other UNRWA school children by acting and by decorating a view of Israeli bulldozers and imitating how Rachel was killed..

Every day Rafah children plant more trees as more Israeli bulldozers demolish olive and orange trees. This project has began few months ago when we planted olive trees in Rachel's Corrie honor through PCWF www.pcwf.org

Yesterday it was the 28th anniversary, a large numbers of children began planting olive trees in Rafah's demolished areas and schools commemorating the 28th anniversary of Land Day.. Land Day marks the series of clashes between Israeli Arabs and Israeli police that erupted on March 30, 1976 when Israeli Arabs protested the Israeli government's confiscation of Arab land..

29 March 04

Breaking News: 11:24 p.m. : 16 Israeli tanks, 4 bulldozers and another 4 military jeeps are now attacking Hay Al Salam area in Rafah Refugee Camp. They have just begun by demolishing houses and shelling the camp..

26 March 04

It was 5:20 in the early morning when the streets were full of people throughoutf Rafah.. people are escaping or I dont know what is happening.. their faces are not the same as I used to see everyday, it was furious angry faces.. The news spread throughout all of Gaza Strip that it was Sheik Ahmed Yassin, that paralyzed man, killed by the Israeli apaches plane&

More thousands of people are rushing in the streets, the number of people is increasing and there are many demonstrations condemning Yassin's killing and the Israeli attack which came exactly when the Palestinian Authority was talking about peace in Palestine..

So quickly, rapidly, everything changed. The sky became black because of the burning of tires by the children in every street. Allthe streets are closed, and there is no transportation even for the ambulances which were supposed to transfer the injured people who were injured in the clashes between children who were throw stones in the border line and settlements and the Israeli tanks and bulldozers..

The shelling is continuing in most of Rafah, people are in the streets, schools are not open after Arafat's order declaring the next three days as days of mourning..

The sky is still black, markets are closed, schools are closed, children are demonstrating, injured people in the clashes.. All things that can be seen here is this black sky which full of black smoke, and furious people rushing in Rafah..

Are the schools going to be open?" a child asked his father. His father answered: "which schools in this crazy day?!"

In Khan Younes Camp 4 people were killed and 10 injured in clashes between children and soldiers near Abu Holi checkpoint which was blocked.. Three other people were killed by Israeli apaches planes during the last incursions in Rafah which targeted a group of children who were gathering in Block O area in Rafah Camp..

This is the current situations in Rafah, it is known every day that new people are getting killed, new injured people and new demolished houses and as usual the world is still watching the effects of the technology war machines which were made in the democratic courtiers and tested in Palestine by the Israeli soldiers.. And who knows what the next days might bring!

20 March 04

View more pictures from 20 March, 04

Now it's 1:23 a.m. The sound and red lights came from the sky. It's the apache shelling.. people are running in the streets and saying: "Hey hey hey ambulance ambulance!!" the shelling is still continuing and there is no ambulances, all the people are escaping from their homes. All I see is the smoke and dust coming after those children , women and men.. all running just because they want to run. Even I ask some of them what is happening, why you are running, and they answered me: "They came". I saw a child and asked him why are you escaping and running with those people, and all he said was: "Where my mother is."

Still no one knows what is going on. The streets are all empty now, and all I can see are three red colors: the one which is coming from the sky, the other from the tanks and the smoke area, and the third from the ambulances..

Now it's 2:50. I hear the ambulances everywhere in the area. I am unable to take pictures because of the apache shelling. The shelling is still continuing, and it has been one hour since it began, but the ambulance is still transferring the injured and dead people from every area in the camp..

The morning is making things clearer. Fighters began to appear in some of the streets, students and children are going to their schools, while other schools are not open because of the situation. Many students are returning back to the area. When I asked one of them why you are coming here, he answered: "To watch what is happing and help the injured
children."

I wasn't surprised when I saw that rocket falling in the middle of the night about 10:24 a.m. and followed it with two other rockets in the same area.. All the children are moving to the area, people came from everywhere, ambulances is not able to get in, the streets are very narrow.. All I can see is a woman yelling,"help, help." She was one of the people holding a white sheet and waving towards the sky, as if it was to the apache pilot not to shoot more. All I can see around her is blood in this narrow street, and flesh stuck in the walls of that street..

She is crying more and more, she covered the flesh and the missed parts of those people with a blanket.. in less two minutes after the third rocket the area had a large number of people from everywhere, the medical workers are collecting those flesh fragments.. I moved to the hospital following the ambulances, then this women who was wearing black just said: "Where where is my son Ala?!" Doctors and people are trying to comfort her, but she refused and insisted to see her 13 year old. She is unable to recognize him and she fell to the floor.

Two children were dead: Ala Al Nujili (13) and Mosbad Mwafi (14), in addition to many injured children.. Msbah Mwafi had lost his mother, Faiza Mwafi, after she was buried by a shell and his two uncles in addition to his house and relatives' houses.. As for Ala, he had lost his father in the first Intifada, and his uncle in addition to his house which was recently demolished in block "J".

It is 4:05 and the apaches withdrew from the area. All the children came to Block "O" area throwing the stones into the Israeli bulldozers which is demolishing the houses.. more shelling and shooting from the modern Israeli Merkava tank, but all the children aregradually disappearing after they looked up at the sky and indicated with their fingers that the apache
planes are coming back again..

Now it is 12 p.m. again it seems as the tanks as 10 minutes ago the apaches planes withdraw and the tank also withdrew for the moment, all were coming back to their houses and searching in the rubble of their houses. All I can see here are so many families gathering near the rubble of their house till the next morning.

It's 6 o'clock in the morning. Everything is clearer under today's morning sun than yesterday's darkness nights. The number of the dead are 6, and 20 injured and some of them seriously. In addition, 91 houses were demolished, 31 of which were completely demolished and the rest only partially.. Damaging the sewage systems, electricity and water supplies..

14 March 04

6 p.m.: NOW BREAKING NEWS: The Israeli military tanks and bulldozers invading Rafah
at these moment under a very massive shooting..

Morning: As the international media talks about Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip, or what is called Gaza settlements, evacuation plans are underway and have been translated into action through the invasion of Hay al salam (peace neighborhood) in Rafah refugee Camp..

Apaches shelling, children running, tanks shooting, bulldoze ring demolishing, ambulances coming to the area, dept fire arriving for the moment, women and people escaping from their houses, journalists leave the area because of the Apaches which shell towards them, that is simply what is happening in Hay alsalam area..

Probably it became usual for the world even for the Palestinians, as it became some thing normal to see women losing her two children, or a child sleeping in his house, or even wounded children who failed as the victim of the international technology, where they made their F16s, apaches, tanks, bulldozers and who knows what will come, those machines were made by international conferences by militant experts who made it and their countries and test it here in Rafah in order to see the results of these technology machines..

Many houses were demolished in Hay al salam area, in addition to huge numbers of olive, orange and nut trees, in addition to some water supplies which provided the agriculture plots for some of the areas, that came after two apaches with 20 tanks, 4 bulldozers and other numbers of military jeeps which ended the attack by 4 farmers..

Imagine how the life of 140.000 inhabitants will be without electricity supplies?! As the electricity was off in all Rafah Camp over three days, because of the main providers were damaged in Eastern Rafah..

7 March 04

View also Gaza section for the latest news
of 7 March

Abu Holi checkpoint

Gaza Strip is a different place to live in, completely blocked from all the areas in Gaza Strip.

"Oh my God, so I have to wait for many hours waiting with those hundreds of cars and taxis?!" Ibrahim a 22 yr old student, who used to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning in order to avoid the checkpoints, is now standing here and it is becoming more difficult during the Israeli festival celebrations.

Palestinian prisoners in jail are now calling for the world to intervene and to stop what is happening inside the jails against them. Hundreds of children are tortured everyday by the Israeli soldiers in those jails. According to a Palestinian attorney working in prisoners' affairs: "Llife in the Israeli jail is not good for human beings to live in. No light, not enough air and most of the ladies in Hashalom jail in Israel havent seen the sun in many years and they have many diseases that are ignored by the jail management." In that jail alone there are 6 children under 18, in addition to Wael and Nour who are babies born in Israeli prisons.

there have been many demonstrations by relatives of the prisoners, asking the International Red Cross to find a solution and stop what is happening to their sons and relatives in the Israeli prisoners.

6 March 04

Have you ever seen an injured child, or a child without a head, arm or a leg? Have you seen a man with missing body parts? Have you seen a child who lost his hand?! Simply, all these things happen in Rafah Refugee Camp, and it happens in the daily incursions. Awni Kolab (32 years old) was one of them, he had lost parts of his body after a shell hit his house, killing him and leaving his pregnant wife and children seriously injured. The youngest brother was founded under the rubble of the house.. The wife was left bleeding for a long time and therefore had a miscarriage.

A day that no one can forget: it was last week when the Israeli troops with 20 tanks and 4 bulldozers attacked the Camp, leaving two dead including a schoolboy who was killed while one his way to his school. His name is Mohammed Othman.

Abu Yusif Al Najjar hospital director Dr. Ali Musa said: "Eight of the injured are children, and one of them is 2 years old staying in the hospital after being injured when they killed his father." The Israelis apaches participated in shelling the houses in Tal Al Sultan
area.

Mohammed Othman (14) was killed while going to his school. His crime was that he was going to his school. When will children go to their schools without shooting them?!

A large number of bulldozers and tanks invaded Tal Al Sultan area leaving over 6 houses demolished and other injured people, in addition to blocking the Western part of Rafah. This attack continued about 24 hours. Raed Almoghary (12) was one of the victims, when an Israeli bullet hit his eye and exited from his ear, leaving him seriously injured, in addition to a girl (19) Samah Jarghoun..

Al Omaria UNRWA school was one of the targeted schools which was shelled daily by the Israeli watching towers and tanks. Alarge number of olive, orange and agriculture trees were demolished with a huge numbers of agriculture plots..

A life that you might not be able to imagine. How woudl you feel when you send your child to study in school and you get the news from the hospital that he/she was injured?!

Awni Kolab(32), killed in a tank shell,
and most of his family were
seriously injured..