Inside Gaza And Under Israeli Fire, A Family Tries To Stay Safe

[Mojo2]

Inside Gaza And Under Israeli Fire, A Family Tries To Stay Safe : Parallels : NPR

"It was before dawn," the Gaza resident recalls, through an interpreter. "I went out on my balcony to have a glass of water and get a breath of fresh air."

There were explosions in the distance, but nothing that worried him.

And then, a rocket hit the bedroom where his daughters usually sleep.

Luckily, they had stayed in the living room last night. No one was hurt. Everyone in the house — all 40 extended family members — rushed downstairs and outside.

"We divided people up and sent them different places. Some went to another neighborhood," he says. "The men and boys stayed outside. We sent most of the kids down the street to our cousins' house."

Israeli army flares illuminate the sky above the Gaza Strip on Friday. At least three people, including two children, ages 4 and 7, were killed by Israeli tank fire in Gaza, medics said.

Abu Tawila was still on the street when more Israeli rockets hit his home. And he was there when something bigger hit the home where he'd sent the children.

"They were shooting flares to light up the area. And the kids were wearing their pajamas, which are very bright — red, pink, yellow," he says. "So they knew kids left my house and went to my cousins' house. They knew there were women and children there."

Israel says it is trying to minimize civilian casualties and has warned civilians to leave certain areas. In this incident, 14 people were injured, including 22-year-old Momin Abu Tawila...

...But a temporary intensive care ward down the hall is like a different world: cool, quiet and with nurses in attendance. Madleen Abu Tawila, 12, lies alone, her right arm and stomach bandaged. She was home when her cousins rushed there for safety in the morning. Her father, Majed Abu Tawila, says he prayed that morning with his young son.

"He wanted to pray fast and finish, and didn't wait for his daughter. She said, 'You prayed without me, why did you do that?' So he said 'OK, don't worry, take the [prayer carpet] and go pray.' So she took it and started prayed. So he walked all the way down to the garden, to the yard of the house."

That's where he was when his house was hit. He found his daughter just where he'd left her to pray.

His daughter's stomach was blown open; her intestines and other inner parts tumbled out. Majed Abu Tawila tells the interpreter that his daughter "took her stomach back with her hand," and he took her to the hospital.

A nurse says the 12-year-old is stable. Family members thought they were far enough from the border that they'd be safe. But the military is still bombing buildings in Gaza City, too.

So what can they do? Nothing. Nowhere is safe and they can't leave

Wherever they go...

Whatever they do...

They had better be planning on how best to protest the Hamas Covenant to Hamas leadership the first chance they get!

"The 'no negotiation' thing just doesn't cut it anymore!"

Recognize Israel's right to exist and agree to share the land with them and the killing might stop!

In the immediate future, however, just get the rocket attacks from Gaza and/or the WB to stop and the IDF might ease up its attacks on Palestinians.

 

[flacaltenn]

Where did the thousands go, who DID evacuate out of harms' way, in accordance with the advance warnings that the Israelis provided? Where? Down the block? Into the next neighborhood? Across town? Out into the burbs? Out into the countryside? By motor vehicle or by walking. If there is a military juggernaut coming my way, and there are avenues of departure and escape, I'm gonna pack up the wife, the kids, and whatever rations and water we can carry, along with a pea-shooter or two, and head for one of those places. Assuming that Hamas won't shoot me or my family for leaving, of course.


Personally, I'm not inclined to even listen to excuses made on behalf of Gazans who elevated Hamas into power over them. They knew what they were doing. They are now dealing with the consequences of their choice. Consequences which they did not believe Israel had the willpower to inflict upon them. They were wrong. Welcome to Judgment Day, it would seem.


It doesn't take much, to pack up the wife and kiddies, and walk 10 blocks, out of harm's way, two days before the fighting begins. Go hang out in a shelter, or a storefront, or a relative's home, or a mosque, or a refugee center... whatever... until the fighting passes.

There are no shelters in Gaza and they're not permitted to leave.

There's not much they can do when you decide to make up bullshit lies to attack them.

Hamas hasn't done much civil defense thinking for their people. But the UN has. UN owns DOZENS of properties in Gaza that sit idle most of the time. But these "schools" have been opened up and staffed for refugees from the fighting. That's how the UN found a SECOND Hamas weapons cache on one of their properties yesterday..

The GOVERNMENT of Gaza should have saved some of that tunnel concrete to build infrastructure for evacuation.. Oh WAIT --- that would MINIMIZE the collateral damage -- wouldn't it?? So would talks with Egypt to open the border.. Hamas isn't interested in creating refugees. They NEED them for their "war plan".

 

[flacaltenn]

problem being. The UN doesn't fully staff all of these camps/schools fully between conflicts. And obviously, the Hamas govt there has other uses for them.. But there is CONSIDERABLE UN refugee capacity in Gaza ---- IF the UN is on the ball and responds better than at a bureaucratic rate..

http://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip


Over half a million Palestine refugees in Gaza live in the eight recognized Palestine refugee camps, which have one of the highest population densities in the world.

The blockade has had a devastating impact on Palestine refugees, including those living in Palestine refugee camps. Unemployment continues to be at unprecedented levels, particularly among young people.

Operating through more than 11,000 staff in over 200 installations across the Gaza Strip, UNRWA delivers education, health care, relief and social services, microcredit and emergency assistance to registered Palestine refugees.

FACTS & FIGURES

1,240,082 registered Palestine refugees
Eight camps
245 schools with 232,384 pupils
Two vocational and technical training centres
22 primary health centres
Eight community rehabilitation centres
Ten women’s programme centres
Figures as of 1 January 2014

 

[flacaltenn]

Seems like a Govt in Gaza should have bigger priorities than smuggling rockets and building terrorist tunnels.. Dontchathink???