Rafah Today rafahtoday.org

Bloodshed continues.

At least one citizen was killed and six others were wounded when Israeli warplanes raided the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, firing on a car.

Israeli warplanes have raided the same area three times. The first time they fired two missiles on a Mercedes car traveling along the coastal road between Deir Al Balah and Al Zawaida towns. In that instance, the passengers managed to escape safely.

A few minutes later, the warplanes targeted a group of citizens were who were crowded near the damaged car. Wa'el Nassar, aged 28, was killed and six other people were wounded, two seriously.

As paramedics and ambulances rushed to the scene to vacate the wounded, the Israeli warplanes re-appeared and fired a third missile on an empty Peugeot car parked on the road. The car was set ablaze.

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Confined to a wheel-chair, Amena Ghaith complains bitterly from inside Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip after doctors told her that she would need to look elsewhere for medication. Ghaith, age 60, had her left foot amputated recently after an illness. She also suffers from chronic high blood pressure.

Gaza's main hospital doesn't have what she needs, the Palestinian mother of seven said.

"I will die. Without medicine I will die," Ghaith cried out, as her son Hani, a police officer whose salary is nearly a month overdue, pushed her along a hospital corridor.

23 April 06

Emotional exhaustion among children and women.

Twenty-five people, mainly children in addition to eight women, arrived at the Hospital after being affected with prostration. Many of them were physiologically affected by the daily shelling as well.

An Israeli rocket hit the sewage system in the north of Gaza and the whole area smells bad.

A war of words has lead to the setting of Gaza alight, again.

The artillery shelling is still going on and there have even been clashes on the campus of our University.

The Islamic University of Gaza, where I've had my last semester of studies, is where the clashes are this time. Students and supporters of both Hamas and Fateh movement had statred the problem with verbal arguements, and ended up with thirty-one people injured in the clashes.

Dr. Mawia Hassanin, the director of Emergency and Ambulance in Gaza City, said that the hospital received 6 people injured by Israeli tank shells in Gaza City. One of them, a 21 year old man, was seriously injured in his neck while he was outside his house in the North of Gaza.

The rounds of artillery shelling continue till this moment.

No salaries, no life.

It has been noticed over the last few days that internal conflicts are increasing as a result of U.S. and E.U. cutting AID for the Palestinian Authority.

This, of course, is affecting the education, health and welfare sectors. The Ministry of Education, for example, has postponed mid-term exams as a result of shortages in exam papers, affecting the education of hundreds of students in the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Health has no way to afford medicine for people whom are facing cancer and other diseases. Normal citizens have nowhere to go to.

Even a taxi driver would find it impossible to find passengers to pay for a taxi. This affects them negatively and restricts transportation movement in Gaza.

18 April 06

This is a war targeting children!

Amar Al Kass, 14 years old, and his friend, Mohammed Abu Tabaq, were not able to make it out to enjoy playing in front of their house. Both boys were injured by the Israeli artillery shelling.

Mamdouh Abeed, 16 years old, died as a result his injuries. Rounds of Israeli artillery killed Abeed few days ago while he was playing with other kids in Al Shiekh Zaied village.

As usual, deaths of children caused by the Israeli shelling never come to an end.

There is never any condemnation from the international community and the so-called "Human Rights Organizations". It seems that there are Human Rights organizations functioning and there is something called Human Rights, but that is not in Palestine.

The sister of Mahmoud Abeed, mourning his death in their house in Gaza.
Mahmoud, age 16, was killed by Israeli shelling in the North of Gaza.

Israeli helicopters launched at least one missile on Tuesday at a workshop to the east of Gaza City. The missile caused great damage, but no causalities were reported. Witnesses in the area said that fire erupted in the workshop and firemen rushed to extinguish the fire. A state of fear and panic spread among citizens, particularly children and women.

Israeli warships have shelled the Rafah shores and the houses close to the beach with 8 missiles so far. People are appealling to the international community to crack down on Israel to stop such attacks against civilians. Such shelling has caused fear and horror among children, women and elderly people in the whole refugee camp.

An Israeli warship in the waters off Rafah beach -- the presence of warships is unusual.
This photo was taken with a zoom lens from a distance away.

About 3,000 people took to the streets of Gaza City in a show of solidarity for fellow Palestinians held behind bars in Israel as part of events to mark Prisoners' Day.

The protestors first rallied outside the local headquarters of the International Committee for the Red Cross before making their way to the Gaza branch of the Palestinian Parliament, chanting "Free Our Prisoners" and carrying banners proclaiming "The Prisoners are the Heart of the Palestinians".

Some of those taking part in the rally carried portraits of Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who is being held in a jail near Jerusalem after being controversially kidnapped from a prison in the Palestinian town of Jericho last month.

These women are protesting the United Nations decision to cut Aid for Palestinians

Others carried posters of Marwan Barghuti, the head of the Fateh faction in the West Bank who is regarded as the inspiration behind the Palestinian uprising, and is now serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.

In a letter addressed to the ICRC, information minister Yussef Rizqa urged the organization to put pressure on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners as well as improve their conditions. "Israel is always hindering the visits for the families of prisoners," said Rizqa who also accused the prison authorities of obstructing the work of inmates' lawyers.

A total of 9,400 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian central bureau of statistics. The figure includes 369 Palestinians who were jailed before the 1993 Oslo autonomy accords.

MPs held a Parliament session on Monday devoted to the plight of the prisoners. Rallies were also expected to take place in the West Bank.

16 April 06

Can you hear the children in Gaza crying out to you for help?

Gaza children are being murdered with Israeli tanks and missiles, America's taxes, and the World's silence.

People -- Are you there?

Can you hear the yelling of the children appealing to you to stop the mounting Israeli aggression?

13 April 06

Here in Gaza, the loud Israeli helicopters continue to hover in the sky. In the meantime, Israeli tank shells are bombarding the north and eastern part of Gaza Strip.

The cannon shelling resulted in the murder of Hadil Ghaban, a 9 year old little girl who was killed while she was inside her home. During the bombing, her brothers and sisters were injured as well.

In a later interview with Rafah Today, Hadil's father stated that an Israeli official from the Israeli Occupation Forces called him on the phone and, in very fluent Arabic, apologized for the killing of his 9 year old daughter and for the damage to his house.

The Israeli official suggested that Hadil's father would be given permission to go to work inside Israel as a compensation for the killing of his daughter.

Hadil's father responded to him, saying: "I can't sell the blood of my 9 years old daughter for getting permission (to work). We are all born here for the sake of liberating our land from the Israeli occupation."

Ghaban's family and his pregnant wife were all injured in the Northern part of Gaza Strip, where the daily shelling from tanks and helicopters is continuing up until this moment. In the last seven days, tens of people were injured or killed in different parts of Gaza Strip. The tank cannon shelling continues as this update is written from Gaza City.

An Israeli Apache helicopter fired a missile into an apartment before dawn. The apartment, which belongs to the Fatah youth movement, was destroyed. No injuries were reported.

Helicopters hovered over Gaza City for a time before one fired into the apartment. A huge explosion was heard, and firefighters and rescue teams rushed to the scene, said the witnesses, who reported seeing flames and smoke rising from the targeted apartment.

09 April 06

Human flesh scattered here and there!

Israel has launched 900 artillery shells at northern Gaza since Thursday, the army said. During that time, the militants fired 10 rockets at Israel.

Israel pounded the northern, South and Middle of Gaza Strip with artillery fire today, killing a Palestinian police officer and wounding nine people as Israel escalated its aggression in the past few days.

Over 15 people were killed in the last 48 hours and many other hundreds were injured in different attacks in Gaza Strip.

I have been taking photos and writing about yesterday's incursion into Rafah, which is one of the most gory places. It smells everywhere inside the hospital and in the targeted area of burned flesh, exactly that of humans.

Men, women, and even children's flesh burned when the Israeli airplanes shelled with three rockets, at least one of which targeting the Popular Resistance Committee leaders in Rafah.

The attack killed an entire family while they were passing together by the old Israeli settlement of Rafeh Yam. The family were on their way back from Gaza City.

Inside the ambulance, there is only a part of a small head. It looks like a child's head and there is another piece which is part of a leg. In addition, there are smaller pieces of flesh scattered all over in the streets. It took long hours for the medics to collect the pieces of flesh in the street.

This attack has resulted in random demonstrations all over Rafah. People are sadly going into the streets and appealing for help to stop the Israeli helicopters attacks!

In Khan Younies, over 6 people were killed and many were injured. The daily attacks, closure of the borders and the starvation of Palestinians are examples of what Israel insists on doing.

A few hours ago, a police officer named Yasser Abu Jarad, aged 28, was trying to evacuate colleagues from a makeshift military post when a shell hit his car and killed him, Palestinian security officials said. The army said it had warned Palestinian security officers posted near launching sites that they could be in danger from Israeli retaliation.

While Israel has been pressuring Hamas with military strikes, the US and European Union cut off of hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately needed aid to the Palestinian Authority. The US and EU classify Hamas as a terror group.

Shortly after Hamas won the January 25th Palestinian Parliamentary elections, Israel suspended the monthly transfer of some 65 million euros in taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. It also banned Hamas leaders from traveling between the West Bank and Gaza.

The wreckage of the car belonging to murdered police officer
Yasser Abu Jarad, aged 28, killed by an Israeli shell.

Israeli soldiers shelled the police officer's car as he was trying to
evacuate several of his colleagues from a makeshift military post.

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PLEASE NOTE that although the following photos are graphic and
upsetting images, Mohammed has made a point of witholding worse images
in consideration for viewers' feelings.

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05 April 06

Israeli aircraft fired two missiles into the compound of the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Gaza City, wounding two people, Palestinian security sources said.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, who was in the West Bank at the time of the attack, condemned the strike and called on the international community to intervene to stop what he called Israel's escalation.

The military has stepped up artillery shelling of a self-declared "no-go zone" in northern Gaza since an unprecedented attack last week with a Katyusha rocket, which has a much longer range than the normal makeshift missiles. The shelling is still going by sonic bombs and daily attacks against the Gaza Strip—many people were injured in different attacks and tanks shells in the Northern part of Gaza.

Palestinian coffers empty

On the other hand, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said on Wednesday that the Palestinian coffers were completely empty as he hosted the first regular cabinet meeting of his Hamas-led government.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniya

Haniya said his administration would struggle to pay government salaries as a result of a financial crisis, partly brought on by Israel's refusal to hand over customs duties that it used to collect for the Palestinian Authority, now the administration is led by the radical Islamist movement.

"We are making every effort to pay the government employees despite the financial crisis," Haniya said at the start of the meeting in Gaza City.

"We inherited a situation in which we not only have no money in the treasury but a whole load of debts," he added.

The European Union and United States have both threatened to slash funding to the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas commits itself to non-violence and acknowledges Israel's right to exist.

In a statement later issued by his office, Haniya said that he himself would not take a salary while others went unpaid.

"The government and (myself) in particular as prime minister will not receive salaries before the government employees receive theirs," he said.

03 April 06

Three Palestinians dead in Gaza clashes.

Two Palestinians were killed on Friday in clashes in Gaza between gunmen and security forces after a top militant died in a car explosion, medical sources at Al Shifa hospital said said.

The clashes were triggered by the death of Abu Youssef AL Quqa, a top commander in the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella militant group often responsible for rocket attacks against Israel. Gunmen loyal to Al Quqa blamed Israel for the killing but also said members of the Palestinian security services were involved. Israel has denied any involvement in the explosion.

Israeli helicopters and bombing is still going on in the Gaza Strip, and the last target was a football stadium in the Gaza City which ended by all the audience run away out from the football stadium. Gaza at the moment is under shelling. The new Prime minister Ismail Hanyieh has asked all disarm all militants from the Palestinian streets.