5 jan 2009
Night shift / UNRWA refugee schools attacked
Evacuated after multiple rocket hits destroyed their home
8pm: I am due at Al Quds hospital for a Red Crescent shift at 8pm, but as I am finishing up writing with the seaside apartment’s generated electricity, the strangest noise arrives from the sea. It is a whooshing sound like a rocket coming very close; V and I look at each other, look at the seaside window – he pulls his cap lower and leans away from the window, I put my jacket over my head so I can’t see what happens. But instead of finishing with an explosion, the sound decreases again into the distance.
It is then repeated several times, and I realise what we are hearing is not rockets, but planes – very loud and incredibly fast, making me think of the term supersonic, if that even means anything outside of comics. I set off to walk the half hour dark route to Al Quds hospital, but am only half way up the hill when more planes speed over, and explosions start between me and the hospital. I completely lose my nerve, stopping still under a tree and texting Eva that I can’t do this walk by myself. The planes have freaked her out as well. I walk quickly back to the apartment, and try to work out what to do. V suggests I walk the other direction, to Al Shifa hospital, and catch an ambulance shuttling to Al Quds.
What is with these planes? This little bit of land doesn’t even have a proper army! The term “overkill” has never had more meaning. It takes me some time to get up the courage to set off again, luckily the wierd planes have gone.
10.45 I am still at Al Shifa, having been waylaid by a Press TV reporter wanting to do an interview, but I’ve got into an ambulance ready to head off. Just as it is about to leave, rockets fall either side of the hospital and we retreat hurriedly back under the entrance shelter.
By the time we get to Al Quds the atmosphere is hectic. They have just received three men who were in a car outside a bombed house, I am not clear if one is dying or already dead. We rush another of them to Al Shifa for neurosurgery. Then we are sent off at high speed to emergency calls, through a darkened city full of smoke. Double strikes by Israel happen so often now that the ambulance workers’ stress levels are very high; the medics are doing everything at top speed and shouting at the tops of their voices as they do it. Rubble covers the streets from strikes minutes ago. The familiar smell of rocket fire fills the air, the same smell the grey dead men give off whom we have collected in the last days.
We peer into the darkness for someone watching for us; we spot a young boy who runs back around the corner. He returns with his family, 25 of them, mostly terrified young children. One boy is hopping. The medics run to grab them, shouting what must be the equivalent of “Move, we’ve got to get out of here!” Everyone is shoved into ambulances; a girl of about six is posted through the half open window into my arms. We tear back to the hospital, offloading them into comparative shelter, racing back to collect a father with his daughter of about 8 in his arms, a head trauma case.
Later, I go to see the family of 25, gathered in a room where they have been given blankets and food. There don’t appear to be any serious injuries, though when I hear more that seems a miracle. I ask two articulate and beautiful teenage English speakers from the family, R and S, what their story is. They explain half the family is their aunt and her children, who came to their house because their own was destroyed. R says – “in the last 3 nights, we were hit 13 times the first night, 3 times the next, and tonight 10 times. The 3rd floor was gone, then the second floor, we were just left in the first floor, now there is almost nothing.” They translate the aunt’s words to me – “What is the solution for us? What?” The girls add, “We had no solution from Fatah. No solution from Hamas. We just want peace! Just peace!”
“Where will you go?” I ask them.
“We don’t know.” they say. “We have some other family but they left their house too because Israel threatened to bomb it. We don’t know.”
I hear from E that she was borrowing internet in the Sharuch building tonight, which houses Russia TV, Fox, possibly Reuters, and other press offices, when it was struck 7 times one after the other. She got safely to the ground from the tenth floor, with everyone else, but she says she did think the whole place was going to collapse.
There is confused news through the night of more attacks on mosques and homes throughout Gaza. After the hectic earlier hours, the middle part of the shift is filled by collecting 5 women going into labour; by the 5th call S thinks his dispatcher is joking. I am pleased to be able to smile at our patients. Then S tells me about a 17 year old woman who went into labour yesterday. Her sister-in-law’s 1 year old was killed in the last days in her arms, the bullet continuing on to wound the mother. And her father-in-law is dead, but his body has not been able to be collected.
4am: Behind the two reception desks opposite each other are two families sitting on plastic chairs put in a circle. They are silent. A medic explains that the residential building behind us here at Al Quds has had a bomb threat. These families have evacuated to us here. Others remain in the building.
6am: I speak to EJ in Jabalia on the office phone. I forgot to tell you that the Red Crescent Ambulances again relocated their base, since there was a concern that Karmel Adwan hospital as a government hospital might be a target. So EJ, Mo, and A have done the night shift from the new base of Al Awda hospital. EJ says that at about 5am, 4 ambulances went to collect wounded from a house attack. They returned to get further wounded, again in a convoy of 4, and the Israeli army shelled the house for a second time as soon as they arrived. The medics outside the vans were injured by flying rubble. EJ was inside.
S tells me there was an attack on the Shatr UNWRA School, by Apache he thinks, which killed three UNWRA volunteers helping with the refugees. He is asked to take the ambulance to collect the body parts, as they are near the bathrooms which is distressing for people. But the RC boss says his is the only ambulance on standby so he must wait til others return first.
5pm: We just heard in the last hour that the Al Fakhoura UNWRA School was shelled, we think by tanks, and it is confirmed that 43 members of the same extended family were killed. The UNWRA Schools are sheltering refugees whose homes Israel has already bombed or threatened to bomb. We have also heard a third UNWRA school was attacked earlier but we have no further details yet. I cannot express the anger I am feeling right now.
Our group is holding together but we are feeling the increasing strain of not enough internet access, food, sleep, or hope for an end to this insanity. The numbers of dead have exceeded 570 and the injured have exceeded 2,600.
8pm: I am due at Al Quds hospital for a Red Crescent shift at 8pm, but as I am finishing up writing with the seaside apartment’s generated electricity, the strangest noise arrives from the sea. It is a whooshing sound like a rocket coming very close; V and I look at each other, look at the seaside window – he pulls his cap lower and leans away from the window, I put my jacket over my head so I can’t see what happens. But instead of finishing with an explosion, the sound decreases again into the distance.
It is then repeated several times, and I realise what we are hearing is not rockets, but planes – very loud and incredibly fast, making me think of the term supersonic, if that even means anything outside of comics. I set off to walk the half hour dark route to Al Quds hospital, but am only half way up the hill when more planes speed over, and explosions start between me and the hospital. I completely lose my nerve, stopping still under a tree and texting Eva that I can’t do this walk by myself. The planes have freaked her out as well. I walk quickly back to the apartment, and try to work out what to do. V suggests I walk the other direction, to Al Shifa hospital, and catch an ambulance shuttling to Al Quds.
What is with these planes? This little bit of land doesn’t even have a proper army! The term “overkill” has never had more meaning. It takes me some time to get up the courage to set off again, luckily the wierd planes have gone.
10.45 I am still at Al Shifa, having been waylaid by a Press TV reporter wanting to do an interview, but I’ve got into an ambulance ready to head off. Just as it is about to leave, rockets fall either side of the hospital and we retreat hurriedly back under the entrance shelter.
By the time we get to Al Quds the atmosphere is hectic. They have just received three men who were in a car outside a bombed house, I am not clear if one is dying or already dead. We rush another of them to Al Shifa for neurosurgery. Then we are sent off at high speed to emergency calls, through a darkened city full of smoke. Double strikes by Israel happen so often now that the ambulance workers’ stress levels are very high; the medics are doing everything at top speed and shouting at the tops of their voices as they do it. Rubble covers the streets from strikes minutes ago. The familiar smell of rocket fire fills the air, the same smell the grey dead men give off whom we have collected in the last days.
We peer into the darkness for someone watching for us; we spot a young boy who runs back around the corner. He returns with his family, 25 of them, mostly terrified young children. One boy is hopping. The medics run to grab them, shouting what must be the equivalent of “Move, we’ve got to get out of here!” Everyone is shoved into ambulances; a girl of about six is posted through the half open window into my arms. We tear back to the hospital, offloading them into comparative shelter, racing back to collect a father with his daughter of about 8 in his arms, a head trauma case.
Later, I go to see the family of 25, gathered in a room where they have been given blankets and food. There don’t appear to be any serious injuries, though when I hear more that seems a miracle. I ask two articulate and beautiful teenage English speakers from the family, R and S, what their story is. They explain half the family is their aunt and her children, who came to their house because their own was destroyed. R says – “in the last 3 nights, we were hit 13 times the first night, 3 times the next, and tonight 10 times. The 3rd floor was gone, then the second floor, we were just left in the first floor, now there is almost nothing.” They translate the aunt’s words to me – “What is the solution for us? What?” The girls add, “We had no solution from Fatah. No solution from Hamas. We just want peace! Just peace!”
“Where will you go?” I ask them.
“We don’t know.” they say. “We have some other family but they left their house too because Israel threatened to bomb it. We don’t know.”
I hear from E that she was borrowing internet in the Sharuch building tonight, which houses Russia TV, Fox, possibly Reuters, and other press offices, when it was struck 7 times one after the other. She got safely to the ground from the tenth floor, with everyone else, but she says she did think the whole place was going to collapse.
There is confused news through the night of more attacks on mosques and homes throughout Gaza. After the hectic earlier hours, the middle part of the shift is filled by collecting 5 women going into labour; by the 5th call S thinks his dispatcher is joking. I am pleased to be able to smile at our patients. Then S tells me about a 17 year old woman who went into labour yesterday. Her sister-in-law’s 1 year old was killed in the last days in her arms, the bullet continuing on to wound the mother. And her father-in-law is dead, but his body has not been able to be collected.
4am: Behind the two reception desks opposite each other are two families sitting on plastic chairs put in a circle. They are silent. A medic explains that the residential building behind us here at Al Quds has had a bomb threat. These families have evacuated to us here. Others remain in the building.
6am: I speak to EJ in Jabalia on the office phone. I forgot to tell you that the Red Crescent Ambulances again relocated their base, since there was a concern that Karmel Adwan hospital as a government hospital might be a target. So EJ, Mo, and A have done the night shift from the new base of Al Awda hospital. EJ says that at about 5am, 4 ambulances went to collect wounded from a house attack. They returned to get further wounded, again in a convoy of 4, and the Israeli army shelled the house for a second time as soon as they arrived. The medics outside the vans were injured by flying rubble. EJ was inside.
S tells me there was an attack on the Shatr UNWRA School, by Apache he thinks, which killed three UNWRA volunteers helping with the refugees. He is asked to take the ambulance to collect the body parts, as they are near the bathrooms which is distressing for people. But the RC boss says his is the only ambulance on standby so he must wait til others return first.
5pm: We just heard in the last hour that the Al Fakhoura UNWRA School was shelled, we think by tanks, and it is confirmed that 43 members of the same extended family were killed. The UNWRA Schools are sheltering refugees whose homes Israel has already bombed or threatened to bomb. We have also heard a third UNWRA school was attacked earlier but we have no further details yet. I cannot express the anger I am feeling right now.
Our group is holding together but we are feeling the increasing strain of not enough internet access, food, sleep, or hope for an end to this insanity. The numbers of dead have exceeded 570 and the injured have exceeded 2,600.
Israel attacks international media building in Gaza City
A high-story building housing international media outlets in Gaza City has been targeted by the Israeli military. Seven rounds were fired from an apache helicopter into the building in which international media which houses international media outlets such as Reuters.
Canadian Human Rights Activist Eva Bartlett was inside the building as it was attacked;
“It felt like the building was about to collapse. The attack was a few floors above where we were, but it felt like the building was going to come down.
Israel has denied the international media access to Gaza, now they are targeting those who are attempting to tell the world what is happening here. Israel does not want the world to see it’s crimes.” Eva Bartlett – International Solidarity Movement
Israel has maintained it’s ban on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip, despite an Israeli Supreme Court ruling stating that they should be permitted.
International Solidarity Movement and Free Gaza Movement volunteers have been working to document the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Canadian Human Rights Activist Eva Bartlett was inside the building as it was attacked;
“It felt like the building was about to collapse. The attack was a few floors above where we were, but it felt like the building was going to come down.
Israel has denied the international media access to Gaza, now they are targeting those who are attempting to tell the world what is happening here. Israel does not want the world to see it’s crimes.” Eva Bartlett – International Solidarity Movement
Israel has maintained it’s ban on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip, despite an Israeli Supreme Court ruling stating that they should be permitted.
International Solidarity Movement and Free Gaza Movement volunteers have been working to document the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
UN chief: UN, Arab ministers agree to work closely on Gaza
UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said here on Monday that he and visiting Arab foreign ministers agreed to work closely so that the current Gaza conflict can end quickly.
"We have had a very good exchange of views on the very serious matters of security situation in Gaza and southern Israel," he said.
"This meeting has provided an excellent opportunity (for) us to discuss how we can bring this violence to an immediate end, and to restore peace and stability in the region."
Speaking to reporters here after his meeting with the visiting Arab foreign ministers, Ban said, "We have agreed to work very closely so that the Security Council can take decisive, swift and practical actions for a binding resolution to immediately end the violence."
During the meeting, the UN chief and the Arab ministers also touched upon how to bring durable peace to the region, which can be fully respected by all the parties concerned.
"We will continue to work very closely in the coming days" with the Security Council members and the key leaders in the region, Ban said.
"We have also agreed to discuss a credible mechanism to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people, as well as humanitarian assistance, and to prevent the further occurrence of this situation," he said. "I think we have some convergence of opinions on the major elements, which can be the basis of the discussions at the Security Council."
The meeting also agreed on a practical mechanism to ensure protection for the Palestinians and the humanitarian personnel working in the region, he added.
Ban is scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday, and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Egypt will join them in the meeting.
Asked about his vision on how to deal with Hamas, Ban said, "I believe that there should be unity among Palestinian peoples. This is up to the Palestinian people to reunify themselves between Fatah and Hamas."
The UN secretary-general will also meet with U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday in Washington, to discuss the situation in Gaza.
"I'm going to stress the importance of bringing this violent situation to an immediate halt, with the durable and permanent systems which can be respected fully by all the parties concerned," said Ban.
"And we will also discuss about how we can bring humanitarian assistance to those many civilian populations who are suffering from this current situation," he noted.
Those present at the Monday meeting included Amr Mussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, and foreign ministers from Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The Arab ministers are at the UN Headquarters in New York to press for a resolution by the Security Council to call for an immediate end to the Gaza conflict, which has left more than 500 Palestinians killed and 2,500 others injured.
At the outset of the meeting, Ban said, "It is regrettable that the call by the Security Council has not been heeded by the parties concerned. I believe that the Security Council should live up to its responsibilities under the UN Charter and bring this crisis to an end and establish a durable, permanent peace in the region."
"We must work together, urgently and practically, so that the Council can act quickly and decisively," he said. "As secretary, I want to help facilitate a speedy and effective international consensus to end this violence. I am looking forward to talking with you today on how this can be done together."
For his part, Mussa said, "We agree that the Security Council should act swiftly and decisively to deal with the bloodshed situation in Gaza in order to put an end to it and prevent the recurrence of this very dangerous situation."
Mussa, who described the meeting with Ban as "very useful," said that after the discussions, the work to draft a resolution "should start immediately." The Security Council is expected to meet on Tuesday.
"We have no more time to waste as the bloodshed is going on in Gaza," he said.
Ban said that he and the Arab ministers are working with Security Council members so that "a mutually agreed resolution" can be adopted by the 15-member Council.
By press time, the Arab ministers are meeting with members of the Security Council one by one to discuss the Gaza conflict in order to pave the way for the Council's action to end the violence at an early date.
The Security Council, which remains divided on Gaza, failed to reach consensus on how to end the violence in Gaza and southern Israel after three emergency meetings held since the outburst of violence on Dec. 27.
UN refugee chief calls for open borders for Gaza civilians
Related countries should keep their borders open for civilians who may be compelled to flee the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations' top refugee official said on Monday.
"Those who are compelled to flee the Gaza Strip should be able to do so and to find safety and security in other countries according to international law," said Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR).
"I thus urge that all borders and access routes concerned should be kept open and safe, and Palestinians endeavoring to leave Gaza should not be prevented from doing so," Guterres said in a statement.
Guterres also called for the facilitation of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.
"It is absolutely imperative that the immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian victims of this conflict be facilitated, including access from Egypt and Israel," he said.
The high commissioner also expressed grave concern over the conflict's toll on civilians and urged an immediate cessation of violence.
"The heavy casualties suffered by innocent civilians, including many children, are heartbreaking," he said.
"I join (UN) Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in calling for an immediate cessation of all violence," he added.
"We have had a very good exchange of views on the very serious matters of security situation in Gaza and southern Israel," he said.
"This meeting has provided an excellent opportunity (for) us to discuss how we can bring this violence to an immediate end, and to restore peace and stability in the region."
Speaking to reporters here after his meeting with the visiting Arab foreign ministers, Ban said, "We have agreed to work very closely so that the Security Council can take decisive, swift and practical actions for a binding resolution to immediately end the violence."
During the meeting, the UN chief and the Arab ministers also touched upon how to bring durable peace to the region, which can be fully respected by all the parties concerned.
"We will continue to work very closely in the coming days" with the Security Council members and the key leaders in the region, Ban said.
"We have also agreed to discuss a credible mechanism to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people, as well as humanitarian assistance, and to prevent the further occurrence of this situation," he said. "I think we have some convergence of opinions on the major elements, which can be the basis of the discussions at the Security Council."
The meeting also agreed on a practical mechanism to ensure protection for the Palestinians and the humanitarian personnel working in the region, he added.
Ban is scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday, and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Egypt will join them in the meeting.
Asked about his vision on how to deal with Hamas, Ban said, "I believe that there should be unity among Palestinian peoples. This is up to the Palestinian people to reunify themselves between Fatah and Hamas."
The UN secretary-general will also meet with U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday in Washington, to discuss the situation in Gaza.
"I'm going to stress the importance of bringing this violent situation to an immediate halt, with the durable and permanent systems which can be respected fully by all the parties concerned," said Ban.
"And we will also discuss about how we can bring humanitarian assistance to those many civilian populations who are suffering from this current situation," he noted.
Those present at the Monday meeting included Amr Mussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, and foreign ministers from Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The Arab ministers are at the UN Headquarters in New York to press for a resolution by the Security Council to call for an immediate end to the Gaza conflict, which has left more than 500 Palestinians killed and 2,500 others injured.
At the outset of the meeting, Ban said, "It is regrettable that the call by the Security Council has not been heeded by the parties concerned. I believe that the Security Council should live up to its responsibilities under the UN Charter and bring this crisis to an end and establish a durable, permanent peace in the region."
"We must work together, urgently and practically, so that the Council can act quickly and decisively," he said. "As secretary, I want to help facilitate a speedy and effective international consensus to end this violence. I am looking forward to talking with you today on how this can be done together."
For his part, Mussa said, "We agree that the Security Council should act swiftly and decisively to deal with the bloodshed situation in Gaza in order to put an end to it and prevent the recurrence of this very dangerous situation."
Mussa, who described the meeting with Ban as "very useful," said that after the discussions, the work to draft a resolution "should start immediately." The Security Council is expected to meet on Tuesday.
"We have no more time to waste as the bloodshed is going on in Gaza," he said.
Ban said that he and the Arab ministers are working with Security Council members so that "a mutually agreed resolution" can be adopted by the 15-member Council.
By press time, the Arab ministers are meeting with members of the Security Council one by one to discuss the Gaza conflict in order to pave the way for the Council's action to end the violence at an early date.
The Security Council, which remains divided on Gaza, failed to reach consensus on how to end the violence in Gaza and southern Israel after three emergency meetings held since the outburst of violence on Dec. 27.
UN refugee chief calls for open borders for Gaza civilians
Related countries should keep their borders open for civilians who may be compelled to flee the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations' top refugee official said on Monday.
"Those who are compelled to flee the Gaza Strip should be able to do so and to find safety and security in other countries according to international law," said Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR).
"I thus urge that all borders and access routes concerned should be kept open and safe, and Palestinians endeavoring to leave Gaza should not be prevented from doing so," Guterres said in a statement.
Guterres also called for the facilitation of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.
"It is absolutely imperative that the immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian victims of this conflict be facilitated, including access from Egypt and Israel," he said.
The high commissioner also expressed grave concern over the conflict's toll on civilians and urged an immediate cessation of violence.
"The heavy casualties suffered by innocent civilians, including many children, are heartbreaking," he said.
"I join (UN) Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in calling for an immediate cessation of all violence," he added.
It’s really hard to post from here
Injured woman having panic attack
Every time I manage to make it back to Gaza to write for a period, a new calamity.
“They’re shelling Awda hospital,” in Jabaliya, the news reports. Our internationals there at the moment report it was two shells at a police post next to the hospital, one hospital worker getting shrapnel to the head, but surviving.
The numbers slaughtered and injured are so high now – 521 and 3,000 as of this morning, Gaza time – that sitting next to a dead or dying person is becoming normal. The stain of blood on the ambulance stretcher pools next to my coat, the medic warning me my coat may be dirtied. What does it matter? The stain doesn’t revolt me as it would have, did, one week ago. Death fills the air, the streets in Gaza, and I cannot stress that this is no exaggeration.
Back in Gaza city briefly, after a day and night again with the medics, I’ll try to summarize, though there is too much to tell, too much incoming news, and it’s too hard to reach people, even those just a kilometer away. Before dropping me off, the medics had gone to different gas stations, searching for gas for the ambulances. Two stations, no luck. Some at a final source fills their tanks. The absence of gas is critical. So is the absence of bread, which goes on, the lines longer than ever yet.
A text tells me (at this point I have to rely on news from phone and text messages, when reception is available) that the UN says 13,000 have been displaced since these attacks, that 20% of the dead are women and children, 70% are without drinking water. There are many more facts to sober one drunk on apathy, but I can’t source or share them now.
The Israeli army occupied areas in the north, shelled houses, demolishing them, many injuries, dead, many off-limits to the ambulances.
Beit Hanoun is occupied by the Israeli army, which is now controlling the entry points to the northern region, cutting it off. One small, sub-par hospital without an ICU is staggering under the influx of injured from house demolitions, shellings, shootings… Two ambulances serve this region, I don’t have any information on their condition, the amount of petrol they have, or what areas of the Beit Hanoun region are accessible or not.
Entering via an ambulance to take an emergency case to Gaza’s Shifa hospital, I see the Beit Hanoun hospital crammed, with a frenzied air, families desperate to get their injured care…those who have been able to get to the hospital. Mohammed Sultan, 19, stands dazed with a gunshot graze to the back of his head. From Salateen, northwestern Gaza, he had to walk 1 km before a car could reach him and take him here.
The man we transfer to Shifa has been shot in the face. He is about 35, is a civilian, was in or near his house. His face has exploded, and we move as fast as possible over torn up roads, ambulance jarring as we move and as the medics try to administer delicate care. It’s on everyone’s mind that the army is present here, that our safety is not.
Beit Lahia and beyond, in the northwest, are mostly off-limits to ambulances, leaving the wounded and dead where they are. The calls from there for help, for evacuation, have been non-stop and now go ignored.
In Zaytoun, reports have one extended family being separated men from women, locked inside two houses, and the houses shelled a day later (this morning, around 11 am). Bodies are still being pulled and carted to Shifa hospital. Many estimate that as many as 20 were killed, 10s more injured. I will go to Shifa after this to try to confirm numbers, though again the disclaimer that confirmation in these conditions takes time (and working phone lines). Zaytoun area is occupied in parts, making ambulance access again nearly-impossible, if not fully, I don’t know at this point.
I’m told that areas further south have been invaded, shelled, occupied. Like Zahara, and Juhadik in central Gaza. Press TV reporter Yusuf al Helo told me this morning that the reason he hadn’t answered my phone calls last night (he is one of the better sources for up-to-date news) was because his uncle, in the extended Zaytoun area, just off the main Salah el Din street, was killed when Israeli forces shelled their house. “My cousins were in the house too,” he told me, as were many more injured. Over 15 hours after the assault, Yusuf updates me: “until now they still haven’t been able to take the injured and dead out of my uncle’s house.”
Last night, in a Jabaliya hospital, I talk with one nurse who tells us that his brother Adham, an 8 year old, was shot in the neck and in the chest at 4:30 pm that day (January 4th) when on his rooftop in the same northwestern area that ambulances now cannot reach.
Mohammed tells me his village, Khosar, east of Khan Younis was shelled in an agricultural area, one of the many open areas continuing to be pummelled. One of the many areas period: open, residential, market…
Painfully, I learn that after a hasty funeral, Arafa’s mourning tent was shelled yesterday, mourners inside. At least five injuries and much insult.
At 4:37, Haidar updates me that “the house of the El Eiwa family, from Shejaiyee, was attacked. Lots of casualties, including children.”
He updates me on a BBC report: “the one o’clock news on the local BBC channel interviewed a Norwegian doctor in Gaza wo said some of the victims bear traces of depleted uranium in their bodies.”
Every time I manage to make it back to Gaza to write for a period, a new calamity.
“They’re shelling Awda hospital,” in Jabaliya, the news reports. Our internationals there at the moment report it was two shells at a police post next to the hospital, one hospital worker getting shrapnel to the head, but surviving.
The numbers slaughtered and injured are so high now – 521 and 3,000 as of this morning, Gaza time – that sitting next to a dead or dying person is becoming normal. The stain of blood on the ambulance stretcher pools next to my coat, the medic warning me my coat may be dirtied. What does it matter? The stain doesn’t revolt me as it would have, did, one week ago. Death fills the air, the streets in Gaza, and I cannot stress that this is no exaggeration.
Back in Gaza city briefly, after a day and night again with the medics, I’ll try to summarize, though there is too much to tell, too much incoming news, and it’s too hard to reach people, even those just a kilometer away. Before dropping me off, the medics had gone to different gas stations, searching for gas for the ambulances. Two stations, no luck. Some at a final source fills their tanks. The absence of gas is critical. So is the absence of bread, which goes on, the lines longer than ever yet.
A text tells me (at this point I have to rely on news from phone and text messages, when reception is available) that the UN says 13,000 have been displaced since these attacks, that 20% of the dead are women and children, 70% are without drinking water. There are many more facts to sober one drunk on apathy, but I can’t source or share them now.
The Israeli army occupied areas in the north, shelled houses, demolishing them, many injuries, dead, many off-limits to the ambulances.
Beit Hanoun is occupied by the Israeli army, which is now controlling the entry points to the northern region, cutting it off. One small, sub-par hospital without an ICU is staggering under the influx of injured from house demolitions, shellings, shootings… Two ambulances serve this region, I don’t have any information on their condition, the amount of petrol they have, or what areas of the Beit Hanoun region are accessible or not.
Entering via an ambulance to take an emergency case to Gaza’s Shifa hospital, I see the Beit Hanoun hospital crammed, with a frenzied air, families desperate to get their injured care…those who have been able to get to the hospital. Mohammed Sultan, 19, stands dazed with a gunshot graze to the back of his head. From Salateen, northwestern Gaza, he had to walk 1 km before a car could reach him and take him here.
The man we transfer to Shifa has been shot in the face. He is about 35, is a civilian, was in or near his house. His face has exploded, and we move as fast as possible over torn up roads, ambulance jarring as we move and as the medics try to administer delicate care. It’s on everyone’s mind that the army is present here, that our safety is not.
Beit Lahia and beyond, in the northwest, are mostly off-limits to ambulances, leaving the wounded and dead where they are. The calls from there for help, for evacuation, have been non-stop and now go ignored.
In Zaytoun, reports have one extended family being separated men from women, locked inside two houses, and the houses shelled a day later (this morning, around 11 am). Bodies are still being pulled and carted to Shifa hospital. Many estimate that as many as 20 were killed, 10s more injured. I will go to Shifa after this to try to confirm numbers, though again the disclaimer that confirmation in these conditions takes time (and working phone lines). Zaytoun area is occupied in parts, making ambulance access again nearly-impossible, if not fully, I don’t know at this point.
I’m told that areas further south have been invaded, shelled, occupied. Like Zahara, and Juhadik in central Gaza. Press TV reporter Yusuf al Helo told me this morning that the reason he hadn’t answered my phone calls last night (he is one of the better sources for up-to-date news) was because his uncle, in the extended Zaytoun area, just off the main Salah el Din street, was killed when Israeli forces shelled their house. “My cousins were in the house too,” he told me, as were many more injured. Over 15 hours after the assault, Yusuf updates me: “until now they still haven’t been able to take the injured and dead out of my uncle’s house.”
Last night, in a Jabaliya hospital, I talk with one nurse who tells us that his brother Adham, an 8 year old, was shot in the neck and in the chest at 4:30 pm that day (January 4th) when on his rooftop in the same northwestern area that ambulances now cannot reach.
Mohammed tells me his village, Khosar, east of Khan Younis was shelled in an agricultural area, one of the many open areas continuing to be pummelled. One of the many areas period: open, residential, market…
Painfully, I learn that after a hasty funeral, Arafa’s mourning tent was shelled yesterday, mourners inside. At least five injuries and much insult.
At 4:37, Haidar updates me that “the house of the El Eiwa family, from Shejaiyee, was attacked. Lots of casualties, including children.”
He updates me on a BBC report: “the one o’clock news on the local BBC channel interviewed a Norwegian doctor in Gaza wo said some of the victims bear traces of depleted uranium in their bodies.”
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Israel shells damage al-Awda hospital, JabaliyaArafa Hani ‘Abdul Dayem
2pm, Al-Awda hospital, Jabaliya, Gaza: The al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza has been damaged by two Israeli shells. Two consecutive shells just landed in the busy car park 15 meters from the entrance to the emergency room of the Al Awda hospital. The entrance of the emrgency rooml was damaged. At the time of the shelling Ambulances were bringing in the wounded that keep pouring in. Medical teams and facilities are being targeted. Nowhere is safe. – Alberto Arce (Spain), International Solidarity Movement |
This attack on the hospital come the day after four medics were killed by the Israeli military as they attempted to rescue injured people. Six Palestinian medical personnel have now been killed by Israeli attacks.
On December 31st, medic Mohammed Abu Hassera was killed on the spot as his ambulance was shelled while trying to access the wounded. Dr Ihab Al Mathoon, who was also on the ambulance, died in hospital a few hours later. Yesterday, 4th January, Yaser Shbeir, Raf’at Al-A’kluk, Arafa Hani ‘Abdul Dayem and Anes Fadel Na’im were killed when Israeli shells targeted the ambulances they worked in.
Israel has continued to violate international conventions by attacking medical personnel. They are massacring the people of Gaza. With the swelling number of civilian casualties, Israel must ensure that medical assistance is available. Instead, they are intentionally targeting the medical teams that are meant to be protected by the Geneva Conventions. Israel’s disregard for international law must be confronted by the international community. – Vittorio Arrigoni (Italy), International Solidarity Movement
International Solidarity Movement activists are accompanying ambulances in Gaza. They were, and will continue, working with medical personnel during the Israeli Occupation Forces’ ground invasion into northern Gaza.
On December 31st, medic Mohammed Abu Hassera was killed on the spot as his ambulance was shelled while trying to access the wounded. Dr Ihab Al Mathoon, who was also on the ambulance, died in hospital a few hours later. Yesterday, 4th January, Yaser Shbeir, Raf’at Al-A’kluk, Arafa Hani ‘Abdul Dayem and Anes Fadel Na’im were killed when Israeli shells targeted the ambulances they worked in.
Israel has continued to violate international conventions by attacking medical personnel. They are massacring the people of Gaza. With the swelling number of civilian casualties, Israel must ensure that medical assistance is available. Instead, they are intentionally targeting the medical teams that are meant to be protected by the Geneva Conventions. Israel’s disregard for international law must be confronted by the international community. – Vittorio Arrigoni (Italy), International Solidarity Movement
International Solidarity Movement activists are accompanying ambulances in Gaza. They were, and will continue, working with medical personnel during the Israeli Occupation Forces’ ground invasion into northern Gaza.
Jan 4-5: Israel targets Jabalia medic’s ambulance, then his funeral
6pm: To Al Awda hospital, run by the Union of Health Work Committees. It normally has a 50 bed capacity but has been stretched to 75. E and Mo interview Ala’a, the medic from Jabalia RC who was injured when Arafa was killed yesterday.
The story goes as follows:
It was about 8.30 am Saturday morning in Jabalia. Five teenagers found themselves under shell attack and tried to get away. Three escaped. One, Tha’er, 19, had his foot blown off. His friend Ali, also 19, tried to pick him up and carry him to safety, but was shot in the head and killed.
It took 75- 90 minutes before a Jabalia Red Crescent ambulance could reach them. Medic Arafa, 35, and Ala’a, 22, carried Tha’er to the ambulance, and then went back for Ali’s body. As they closed the van door, they were shelled.
Ala’a says “I felt nothing – just that I was flying in the air and then falling.” Other ambulances evacuated all. Arafa, who was married with 5 children, had a severe chest wound with most of one lung gone and only survived 2 hours. Ali’s head was blown off. Ala’a is now in hospital with severe shrapnel wounds all over, especially chest and legs. Tha’er survived but also now has several lacerations to back and body from shrapel.
Arafa was a teacher for the UN, gave medic training, and volunteered as a medic after being one professionally earlier.
7pm: We arrange to sleep in shifts at Al-Awda hospital. V and I crash. E, A and M hitch a ride with the first RC ambulance that turns up, out to Karmel Adwan hospital, the Red Crescent’s second new base since evacuating their centre. The base is a few blankets in a corridor, but there is tea sometimes.
11pm: E comes back to sleep, V and I ride with O’s ambulance to Karmel Adwan. O has a scarf wrapped round his knee, he was shot there some years ago and has pain in cold weather. I talking A and Mo into going to back to rest, but fail to convince EJ. The night turns out to be quiet. Unfortunately, I soon understand this is because a) a lot of Jabalia people have run away, and b) Israel is not letting the ambulances collected most of the wounded that do call for help.
2pm: we collect a woman in labour. Back at the hospital, I chat to Om, who is a nurse but volunteers at the Al-Assyria Centre that the Union of Health Work Committees runs. Also to M, in a hospital bed. He is 23, six months married, and made the mistake of standing next to the Jabalia mosque that was bombed two days ago. He is now recovering from abdominal surgery.
Everyone has naps in the ambulances. EJ and I are being called hourly by the BBC to contribute to news bulletins, “live from Gaza”.
5am: we hear that there has been a threat to bomb Al Wafa hospital which I understand is a centre for the disabled.
7.15am: we collect a man seriously injured by rocket explosion from a house in Sikha St, Jabalia; I doubt he has more than minutes to live, but he is still alive when we reach the hospital.
9am: we collect a woman whose home has just been shelled, she is having a panic attack and I am not clear on her injuries. Back at the hospital people are loudly grieving for two recent dead. These may be the nearly dead man my ambulance collected and another I saw arrive, both horribly mangled by rockets and the now-familiar grey colour.
The story goes as follows:
It was about 8.30 am Saturday morning in Jabalia. Five teenagers found themselves under shell attack and tried to get away. Three escaped. One, Tha’er, 19, had his foot blown off. His friend Ali, also 19, tried to pick him up and carry him to safety, but was shot in the head and killed.
It took 75- 90 minutes before a Jabalia Red Crescent ambulance could reach them. Medic Arafa, 35, and Ala’a, 22, carried Tha’er to the ambulance, and then went back for Ali’s body. As they closed the van door, they were shelled.
Ala’a says “I felt nothing – just that I was flying in the air and then falling.” Other ambulances evacuated all. Arafa, who was married with 5 children, had a severe chest wound with most of one lung gone and only survived 2 hours. Ali’s head was blown off. Ala’a is now in hospital with severe shrapnel wounds all over, especially chest and legs. Tha’er survived but also now has several lacerations to back and body from shrapel.
Arafa was a teacher for the UN, gave medic training, and volunteered as a medic after being one professionally earlier.
7pm: We arrange to sleep in shifts at Al-Awda hospital. V and I crash. E, A and M hitch a ride with the first RC ambulance that turns up, out to Karmel Adwan hospital, the Red Crescent’s second new base since evacuating their centre. The base is a few blankets in a corridor, but there is tea sometimes.
11pm: E comes back to sleep, V and I ride with O’s ambulance to Karmel Adwan. O has a scarf wrapped round his knee, he was shot there some years ago and has pain in cold weather. I talking A and Mo into going to back to rest, but fail to convince EJ. The night turns out to be quiet. Unfortunately, I soon understand this is because a) a lot of Jabalia people have run away, and b) Israel is not letting the ambulances collected most of the wounded that do call for help.
2pm: we collect a woman in labour. Back at the hospital, I chat to Om, who is a nurse but volunteers at the Al-Assyria Centre that the Union of Health Work Committees runs. Also to M, in a hospital bed. He is 23, six months married, and made the mistake of standing next to the Jabalia mosque that was bombed two days ago. He is now recovering from abdominal surgery.
Everyone has naps in the ambulances. EJ and I are being called hourly by the BBC to contribute to news bulletins, “live from Gaza”.
5am: we hear that there has been a threat to bomb Al Wafa hospital which I understand is a centre for the disabled.
7.15am: we collect a man seriously injured by rocket explosion from a house in Sikha St, Jabalia; I doubt he has more than minutes to live, but he is still alive when we reach the hospital.
9am: we collect a woman whose home has just been shelled, she is having a panic attack and I am not clear on her injuries. Back at the hospital people are loudly grieving for two recent dead. These may be the nearly dead man my ambulance collected and another I saw arrive, both horribly mangled by rockets and the now-familiar grey colour.
Injured woman having panic attack
9.30: we hear that Beit Hanoun is almost completely occupied by the Israeli army, as is the nearby small town Zahra which commands the north/south road. The north (us) and the south (F, G, and OJ in Rafah) may now be cut off from each other. We check in by phone, making contingency plans. |
10am: Mo’s sister calls to tell him his village of Khosa is being shelled; the farmland in the centre which is surrounded by housing. “There’s nothing there, just people’s homes.” he tells us. He says there are now Israeli tanks in the Attatta and Shaimah areas of Beit Lahia. This is 1km inside the border, and 2km away from us at Jabalia. He says tank invasions used to take main roads, but he expects this time they will do what they did in February; bring in bulldozers and go directly through the houses.
He tells us that today Palestinian phones are receiving recorded messages from the army, saying “To the innocent civilians: our war is not with you, but with Hamas. If they don’t stop launching rockets, you are all going to be in danger.”
11.50 Call to near Gaza beach, turns out to be a mistake. Instead we pick up a family with two little children who are evacuating, sat on the side of the road, worn out from carrying bags. We passed Beit Lahia UNRWA school earlier, it is filling up with refugee families. Like Naher El Bared all over again.
N draws my attention to one more extremely crowded bread queue, and then we discover a young teenage boy in the queue has collapsed from exhaustion; the medics treat him to the extent they can.
He tells us that today Palestinian phones are receiving recorded messages from the army, saying “To the innocent civilians: our war is not with you, but with Hamas. If they don’t stop launching rockets, you are all going to be in danger.”
11.50 Call to near Gaza beach, turns out to be a mistake. Instead we pick up a family with two little children who are evacuating, sat on the side of the road, worn out from carrying bags. We passed Beit Lahia UNRWA school earlier, it is filling up with refugee families. Like Naher El Bared all over again.
N draws my attention to one more extremely crowded bread queue, and then we discover a young teenage boy in the queue has collapsed from exhaustion; the medics treat him to the extent they can.
Boy in break queue collapses
4pm: F calls to say they’ve heard Al Awda hospital has been shelled. I ring EJ. She says a structure immediately beside it received two shells; one person was injured, the man who lent her his jacket last night. He has shrapnel to the head and she says he isn’t looking too good. A apparently caught the shelling on his camera. We wonder if we should head back there to be again with Jabalia RC instead of Gaza city RC. |
Latest:
There have been two separate reports about Israeli attacks on funeral tents. We are trying to confirm deaths and injuries for one. The second of the funerals attacked was medic Arafa’s yesterday afternoon; there is confusion about how many injured and dead.
Feb 20 Note: It is now confirmed that the attack on Arafa’s funeral killed 5 and injured about 40.
We have also had reports that in the Zaytoun area two days ago, Israeli soldiers rounded up an extended family into one house, possibly as many as 100. Then this morning at 11am Israeli forces shelled the house. We have heard the number of deaths as between 7 and 20. One was a seven year old boy whose father was interviewed on TV while holding his body. We are trying to find out further details. It is getting very hard to keep up with this insanity.
Feb 20 Note: This is the first reference to the now infamous story of the Samouni house.
We asked the Jabalia Red Crescent admin person how much of the emergency calls Israel is not letting them go to. These are in areas where co-ordination must be made with the invading forces via the Red Cross to enter. He said they are not being allowed to attend to about 80% of the calls from the north, covering the Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia area.
Shall I repeat that? 80%. Eight of ten people calling for help are being prevented from receiving it.
There have been two separate reports about Israeli attacks on funeral tents. We are trying to confirm deaths and injuries for one. The second of the funerals attacked was medic Arafa’s yesterday afternoon; there is confusion about how many injured and dead.
Feb 20 Note: It is now confirmed that the attack on Arafa’s funeral killed 5 and injured about 40.
We have also had reports that in the Zaytoun area two days ago, Israeli soldiers rounded up an extended family into one house, possibly as many as 100. Then this morning at 11am Israeli forces shelled the house. We have heard the number of deaths as between 7 and 20. One was a seven year old boy whose father was interviewed on TV while holding his body. We are trying to find out further details. It is getting very hard to keep up with this insanity.
Feb 20 Note: This is the first reference to the now infamous story of the Samouni house.
We asked the Jabalia Red Crescent admin person how much of the emergency calls Israel is not letting them go to. These are in areas where co-ordination must be made with the invading forces via the Red Cross to enter. He said they are not being allowed to attend to about 80% of the calls from the north, covering the Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia area.
Shall I repeat that? 80%. Eight of ten people calling for help are being prevented from receiving it.
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I’ll tell you how he diedBy Eva Bartlett A good, brave, and very funny man was killed yesterday as he loaded the body of a civilian twice-killed into an ambulance.
Emergency medical workers, Arafa Hani Abd al Dayem, 35, and Alaa Ossama Sarhan, 21, had answered the call to retrieve Thaer Abed Hammad, 19, and his dead friend Ali, 19, who had been fleeing the shelling, when they were themselves hit by an Israeli tank’s shell. It was after 10 am on January 4th, they were in the Attattra region, Beit Lahia, northwestern Gaza, around the area of the American school bombed the day before, killing a 24 year old civilian night watchman inside, tearing him apart, burning what remained. Squealing in pain, right foot amputated and shrapnel lacerations across his back and body, Thaer Hammad tells how his friend Ali was killed.“We were crossing the street, leaving our houses, when the tank fired.There were many people leaving, not just us.” Hammad stops his testimony, again squealing with pain. For the past two days, since the Israeli land invasion and heightened bombing campaign began, residents throughout Gaza have been fleeing their houses.Many haven’t had the chance to flee, have been caught inside, buried alive, crushed.The doctor continues the narrative. “After they were shelled, Thaer couldn’t walk.He called to Ali to carry him.” The rest goes: Ali had carried Thaer some distance when Ali was shot in the head, a bullet, shot from an unseen soldier in the direction from which they fled.Ali dead, Thaer injured, and people fleeing, the ambulance was called. When Arafa and Alaa arrived, they managed to load Thaer into the ambulance, and were working on getting Ali’s body to the clearly-marked vehicle when the shell came. Ali lost his head, killed twice. Alaa is riddled with shrapnel over his body and to his groin. Arafa’s lung came out. Arafa underwent heart surgery and doctors worked on his mutilated body. He went into shock and died an hour or so later. His funeral was hurriedly held, a procession, a burial, and the traditional mourning tent.The tent was shelled, mourners inside. Another medic tells me of Arafa’s brother on the phone, calling the news radio station: “we’re being shelled, someone come to get us.” A science teacher by profession, Arafa had volunteered as an emergency medic for nearly a decade. He was delightful, warm, had a nice singing voice, and was not at all shy about being silly. |
I remember him stomping ridiculously around the now-vacated Jabaliya PRCS office (Israeli soldiers have taken over the area) saying he was hungry, very hungry, and chomping down on the bread and cheese that we had for a meal.
I had the privilege of working one night with Arafa, of seeing his professionalism and his humanity.“He wanted to die like that, helping our people,” Osama, a fellow medic told me.Not a martyr complex, so engineered by living with death, occupation, invasions, humiliation, and injustice for so long, but a dedication to his work, to people.
His killing has since been followed by those of 3 more emergency medics.
I had the privilege of working one night with Arafa, of seeing his professionalism and his humanity.“He wanted to die like that, helping our people,” Osama, a fellow medic told me.Not a martyr complex, so engineered by living with death, occupation, invasions, humiliation, and injustice for so long, but a dedication to his work, to people.
His killing has since been followed by those of 3 more emergency medics.
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