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22 September 06
What makes today's
life in Gaza Strip different from yesterday? Of course, nothing,
but the only thing is the number of people who were killed, people
who were injured, number of houses being demolished, number of children
becoming orphans and number of women becoming widows. All this is
Gazan daily life under the Israeli Occupation. Sometimes, I'm wondering,
what's wrong with the public opinion, are they so drunk or are we
the ones who are not good enough at screaming out and saying: "End
this hellish occupation and help Palestine grow". No one is
listening, as usual. Either the world is busy or we are not worthy.
Human beings are no longer capable of feeling for each other. The
reason is simply because this is Israel and taxpayers are repeating
their mistakes to make their own life and their own businesses keep
going. They are still paying Israel and funding the Israeli occupation
against Palestinians. The three teenagers were grazing goats when the missiles struck. Witnesses in the area said some sheeps were killed as well by the Israeli missiles which hit a field of grass in the north of Gaza Strip. In Rafah, Al Shouka area was not different as a new Israeli attack continues until now. The attack resulted in the killing of a 35 year old Palestinian mother, and the wounding of three of her children. They died when an Israeli tank shell exploded Al Shouka area which is located in the Eastern part of Rafah. A 24 year old man was killed as well later on in the attack. Many people were injured in the same attack, and Israeli soldiers arrested at least two Palestinians. This is what's
going on here in Gaza. Living conditions for the 1.4 million people
in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated sharply since Israel bombed
its only power station and after the West ended direct aid after
the new Palestinian government was formed, and that is simply because
taxpayers in the US and other countries want it like this! 15 September 06
Rafah and it's
the early morning here, or to be more accurate, 2 o'clock in the
morning, I was wandering what an Israeli F16's pilot is doing at
this moment, hovering over the sky of Gaza and making all these
scary sonic bombs. Ten minutes later, the same F16s bombed a house
at Al Barazil neighborhood in Rafah, which is close to the borderline.
Of course, I was unable to sleep, as ambulances started moving around.
They expected something to happen, but nothing happened. The house
was empty and the Israeli F16 bombed it in a strike that woke people
up the entire night. One of the victims was Jihad Tayah, a colonel responsible for international relations department within the intelligence security service, which is considered part of the Palestinian Authority organization. The five bodies were wearing civilian clothes. They were immediately transferred to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City. No more information has been given about this issue. In Gaza City also, a big fire erupted in one of the 10 floor building where most of the media offices and news agencies are located. The fire caused damage to the Aramex Postal Service Office. One person was burned and died inside the office. No cause for the fire is known. This morning, three bombs by unknown groups exploded near the old Church in Gaza City, leaving damage to nearby buildings. The Palestinian police are investigating, but no more information was given about the attack. Weddings amid devastation! This morning,
84 Palestinian couples from Rafah are getting married in a collective
wedding party. The wedding party is still going on despite of the
fact that Palestinians are under international economic siege and
blockade imposed by the international community, the US, the EU
and other courtiers.: "We will celebrate our weddings in spite
of the bad situation," said one of the grooms at the wedding.
"We want to prove to the world, that we still want to get married,
love, and keep living," he added. 7 September 06
Again in Gaza and as usual, I can hardly sleep: bombings, closures, poverty and internal chaos. Life with lack of electricity is the most awful thing here. For a student to do his/her homework when there is no electricity, that's painful. It is equally painful for someone like Umm Kamal, 46, who is no longer able to save her medicine in the refrigerator. Last night was particularly awful. F16s and helicopters were sharing the mission to assassinate five members of Hamas. The latest strike on a vehicle killed Ali Issa Al Nachar, a Hamas member aged 20 from the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades. Another man also died but he is as yet unknown. Many passers by were injured in the strike which happened while people were asleep in the middle of the night. An hour earlier an Israeli drone had fired two rockets at a vehicle carrying two other members from the Brigades, killing one of them, 28 year old Ahmed Abdelkarim Ashour, and seriously wounding the other. Medical sources said that 25 people were injured and another 5 killed in less than three hours. The killing in Gaza is still ongoing with Israeli escalation and open war. On the other hand, tens of thousands of workers took to the streets yesterday demonstrating against the Palestinian government and asking them to give them their salaries. The PA employees were holding signs and banners telling the Palestinian government that they can no longer wait after more than 7 months without salaries. Approximately 170,000 PA employees have not gotten their salaries yet. So when a man and his family starve and no longer have any food at home, what are they expected to do in the end? A question that I will leave for you to answer, or it might be tough on you to keep yourself from not eating for one or two days. But remember that families here in Gaza do that as a daily routine. "I don’t know if the Americans who are supporting the Israeli Occupation know about the hell we are going through" said Umm Ismail Hamdan, 42, while participating in a demonstration. A woman next to her who preferred to remain anonymous answered her: "Yes of course they know, but they have reached that level where they don’t want to see where their taxes are going." Now, I will have to leave, F16s are hovering again and it seems a new update will come again about more war crimes by Israeli helicopters. 3 September 06
I have not slept
yet. The Israeli attack on the Eastern part of Gaza is ongoing,
and the world is, as usual silent. Israel public opinion is falling
and international community is no longer moving from its murderous
silence. To whom should we complain? The Palestinian Authority?
They are already broken and have no control. The USA? They are no
longer interested in stability in the region. The EU or the Security
Council? That is, of course, none of their business, since they
have other things to care about.
In the past few days, tens of people were killed and many were injured in the attack targeting Al Shejaia area, the eastern part of Gaza City. Earlier today, two Palestinians were shot and killed at Beit Hanun during an Israeli incursion into the north of the Gaza Strip, medical and security sources said. The victims were Mohammed Abu Oda, 60, and his son Ismail, 28. At the same time, an Israeli air strike hit another area of Beit Hanoun wounded three Palestinians. Two of the injured were children, wounded by shrapnel, said the medical sources here in the hospital. The world is full of hatred, no humane feelings exist any more. Should Israeli helicopters bomb all of Gaza, killing everybody, at the end of the day, only a few hundred will take to the streets in Washington DC and other European capitals. And that will be it. |
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