3 aug 2014
Seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, a day after Israel said it was safe for residents of the north to return home.
Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement that an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house killed seven people in Jabaliya.
He identified six of them as Bilal Abd al-Karim Najim, Abd al-Karim Najim, Ahmad Abd al-Karim Najim, Raghad Najim, Suha Najim, Shayma Wael Qasim.
The seventh body is yet to be unidentified.
Another 30 Palestinians were injured in the strike.
Israeli officials said Saturday that it was safe for residents of the northern Gaza Strip, with the exception of Beit Lahiya, to return to their homes.
An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed to Ma'an Sunday that residents of northern Gaza had been informed it was safe for them to go back to their homes.
Asked why the army was continuing to strike the north, the spokeswoman said: "We never said there would be no activity in the north."
She had no information about the deadly airstrike in Jabaliya, but said she would look into the incident.
The Israeli army has repeatedly commanded Palestinians in Gaza to leave their homes throughout the ongoing offensive on the Strip.
Israel's current offensive on Gaza has forced 445,000 people -- a quarter of the Strip's population -- to leave their homes, according to the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs.
Some 10,600 homes have been destroyed and over 26,000 damaged throughout the offensive, OCHA figures show.
Gaza's health ministry says 1,810 people have been killed and 9,324 have been injured since the beginning of the assault.
Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement that an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house killed seven people in Jabaliya.
He identified six of them as Bilal Abd al-Karim Najim, Abd al-Karim Najim, Ahmad Abd al-Karim Najim, Raghad Najim, Suha Najim, Shayma Wael Qasim.
The seventh body is yet to be unidentified.
Another 30 Palestinians were injured in the strike.
Israeli officials said Saturday that it was safe for residents of the northern Gaza Strip, with the exception of Beit Lahiya, to return to their homes.
An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed to Ma'an Sunday that residents of northern Gaza had been informed it was safe for them to go back to their homes.
Asked why the army was continuing to strike the north, the spokeswoman said: "We never said there would be no activity in the north."
She had no information about the deadly airstrike in Jabaliya, but said she would look into the incident.
The Israeli army has repeatedly commanded Palestinians in Gaza to leave their homes throughout the ongoing offensive on the Strip.
Israel's current offensive on Gaza has forced 445,000 people -- a quarter of the Strip's population -- to leave their homes, according to the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs.
Some 10,600 homes have been destroyed and over 26,000 damaged throughout the offensive, OCHA figures show.
Gaza's health ministry says 1,810 people have been killed and 9,324 have been injured since the beginning of the assault.
Three Israeli Merkava tanks drive back from the Gaza Strip to an Israeli base at the Israeli-Gaza border during the sunset on Aug. 3, 2014
A Palestinian delegation including Hamas agreed joint demands Sunday to present to Egyptian mediators in Cairo for a truce with Israel, including an end to the Gaza blockade, officials said.
The delegation, which includes members of president Mahmud Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Hamas rulers, will meet the Egyptian mediators later on Sunday.
Cairo will then relay the demands to Israel, which baulked at sending negotiators after accusing Hamas of breaching a 72-hour truce moments after it began on Friday.
The Palestinians, who met earlier on Sunday to hammer out a joint position, agreed on "a ceasefire; Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza; the end of the siege of Gaza and opening its border crossings," said Maher al-Taher, a member of the delegation.
The Palestinian demands also include fishing rights up to 12 nautical miles off Gaza's coast and the release of Palestinian prisoners demanded by Hamas and Abbas, said Taher, a senior official with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
A Hamas official confirmed the agreement, saying: "These are the main points, but they must be discussed with the Egyptians. We hope things go smoothly."
Cairo, a traditional broker in Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, has moved to isolate Hamas on its eastern border after the Egyptian military overthrew the Islamist government last year.
Egypt had proposed an unconditional ceasefire followed by talks between Israel and Hamas early into the 27-day conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than 1,800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to an emergency services spokesman in Gaza.
Since the fighting began, 66 Israelis have been killed, 64 of them soldiers.
Hamas had rejected the initial Egyptian initiative, saying it was not consulted and that that plan did not guarantee an end to Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza.
Analysts say the Islamist militants will be hard-pressed to emerge from the devastating conflict with a political victory that Israel is determined to deny them.
A Palestinian delegation including Hamas agreed joint demands Sunday to present to Egyptian mediators in Cairo for a truce with Israel, including an end to the Gaza blockade, officials said.
The delegation, which includes members of president Mahmud Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Hamas rulers, will meet the Egyptian mediators later on Sunday.
Cairo will then relay the demands to Israel, which baulked at sending negotiators after accusing Hamas of breaching a 72-hour truce moments after it began on Friday.
The Palestinians, who met earlier on Sunday to hammer out a joint position, agreed on "a ceasefire; Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza; the end of the siege of Gaza and opening its border crossings," said Maher al-Taher, a member of the delegation.
The Palestinian demands also include fishing rights up to 12 nautical miles off Gaza's coast and the release of Palestinian prisoners demanded by Hamas and Abbas, said Taher, a senior official with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
A Hamas official confirmed the agreement, saying: "These are the main points, but they must be discussed with the Egyptians. We hope things go smoothly."
Cairo, a traditional broker in Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, has moved to isolate Hamas on its eastern border after the Egyptian military overthrew the Islamist government last year.
Egypt had proposed an unconditional ceasefire followed by talks between Israel and Hamas early into the 27-day conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than 1,800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to an emergency services spokesman in Gaza.
Since the fighting began, 66 Israelis have been killed, 64 of them soldiers.
Hamas had rejected the initial Egyptian initiative, saying it was not consulted and that that plan did not guarantee an end to Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza.
Analysts say the Islamist militants will be hard-pressed to emerge from the devastating conflict with a political victory that Israel is determined to deny them.
Israel's military confirmed it fired on a target near a UN school in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday, an attack which killed 10 Palestinians and stirred international outrage.
"The (army) targeted three (Islamic Jihad) terrorists on board a motorcycle in the vicinity of an UNRWA school in Rafah," an army statement said, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
"The IDF is reviewing the consequences of this strike" near the school where around 3,000 Palestinians were sheltering, it said.
The United Nations expressed "outrage" after what was the third such strike on one of its Gaza schools in 10 days, after 30 Palestinians were killed in the previous attacks.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called it "a moral outrage and a criminal act."
Joining a chorus of condemnation, the United States said it was "appalled" by the shelling of another UN school in Gaza and called for a "full and prompt" investigation.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stressed that "Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties."
"The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians," Psaki added.
"The (army) targeted three (Islamic Jihad) terrorists on board a motorcycle in the vicinity of an UNRWA school in Rafah," an army statement said, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
"The IDF is reviewing the consequences of this strike" near the school where around 3,000 Palestinians were sheltering, it said.
The United Nations expressed "outrage" after what was the third such strike on one of its Gaza schools in 10 days, after 30 Palestinians were killed in the previous attacks.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called it "a moral outrage and a criminal act."
Joining a chorus of condemnation, the United States said it was "appalled" by the shelling of another UN school in Gaza and called for a "full and prompt" investigation.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stressed that "Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties."
"The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians," Psaki added.
3 killed in new Israeli strikes
Two killed in an Israeli strike on group of people in eastern Beit Lahiya on Sunday, a health ministry spokesman said.
Ashraf al-Qidra identified the two as Muhammad Saadi Ahmad and Qasim Qasim.
Additionally, a Palestinian was killed in a shelling in the al-Muhararat area of Khan Younis.
Al-Qidra identified him as Salah Maher Abu Sabha, the son of the director of Gaza's crossing department.
Injuries after airstrike on motorbike in Khirbet al-Adas in Rafah
An Israeli airstrike hit a motorcycle in the Khirbet al-Adas neighborhood of Rafah on Sunday, causing injuries, a Ma'an reporter in Gaza said.
2 killed, 3 injured in airstrike on car in al-Nusairat refugee camp
Two Palestinians were killed and three others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a car in al-Nusairat refugee camp, a health ministry spokesman said.
Ashraf al-Qidra identified the two that were killed as Basil Walid al-Talla, 23, and Abdullah Suheil Abu Shawish.
Two killed in an Israeli strike on group of people in eastern Beit Lahiya on Sunday, a health ministry spokesman said.
Ashraf al-Qidra identified the two as Muhammad Saadi Ahmad and Qasim Qasim.
Additionally, a Palestinian was killed in a shelling in the al-Muhararat area of Khan Younis.
Al-Qidra identified him as Salah Maher Abu Sabha, the son of the director of Gaza's crossing department.
Injuries after airstrike on motorbike in Khirbet al-Adas in Rafah
An Israeli airstrike hit a motorcycle in the Khirbet al-Adas neighborhood of Rafah on Sunday, causing injuries, a Ma'an reporter in Gaza said.
2 killed, 3 injured in airstrike on car in al-Nusairat refugee camp
Two Palestinians were killed and three others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a car in al-Nusairat refugee camp, a health ministry spokesman said.
Ashraf al-Qidra identified the two that were killed as Basil Walid al-Talla, 23, and Abdullah Suheil Abu Shawish.
A Palestinian carries an injured child following an Israeli military strike on a UN school in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on Aug. 3, 2014
The UN expressed outrage after another deadly strike on one of its schools Sunday as Israel began pulling some troops from Gaza in a widely-acknowledged step towards unilateral withdrawal.
The strike killed 10 people at a school in the southern city of Rafah where around 3,000 Palestinians who had been made homeless by the violence had been sheltering, in the third such incident within 10 days.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the shelling, calling it "a moral outrage and a criminal act."
"This madness must stop," he said.
The strike on the school came as Palestinian factions gathered for truce talks with Egypt in Cairo and world powers voiced increasingly urgent calls for the warring sides to lay down their weapons.
"The bloodshed needs to stop," said a statement signed by the European Union and the European Commission presidents on behalf of the bloc's 28 member states.
"We deplore the terrible loss of lives, including innocent women and children," it said, condemning the "intolerable violence" being suffered by Gaza residents.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond demanded an unconditional ceasefire to resolve the "intolerable" situation for civilians. And in Cairo, China's top diplomat Wang Yi demanded both sides "immediately" halt their fire.
But there was little respite on the ground, where Israeli attacks left more than 71 people dead in Rafah alone Sunday in a fresh wave of bloodshed which sent the death toll soaring over 1,800.
Over 200 people were killed in Rafah in just 26 hours, medics said.
Hospitals in crisis
At the school, an AFP correspondent witnessed scenes of chaos, with rescuers trying to evacuate the wounded any way they could, while adults were seen sprinting frantically away through pools of blood, young children clutched in their arms.
With hospitals and clinics under increasing pressure from the bombardment and the soaring numbers of casualties, Gaza's medical services have reached the brink of collapse, the UN warned.
With Rafah's main Najjar hospital closed after being hit in a recent strike, only two clinics were functioning, with medics rapidly running out of space to store the growing pile of bodies.
In one, an AFP correspondent witnessed the bodies of four small children packed into an ice cream freezer.
Outside in the garden, doctors had set up a temporary emergency room, receiving dozens of wounded, some of whom had to lie down on the ground because of a lack of beds, he said.
There was only one working operating surgery, with the single bed occupied by two wounded people, he said.
Intensive international attempts to broker a diplomatic end to the fighting between Israel and Hamas have so far proved fruitless but the efforts are continuing with a Palestinian delegation in Cairo for talks with US and Egyptian officials.
But Israel did not send anyone to the talks after ministers at the security cabinet decided not to send a representative.
The UN expressed outrage after another deadly strike on one of its schools Sunday as Israel began pulling some troops from Gaza in a widely-acknowledged step towards unilateral withdrawal.
The strike killed 10 people at a school in the southern city of Rafah where around 3,000 Palestinians who had been made homeless by the violence had been sheltering, in the third such incident within 10 days.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the shelling, calling it "a moral outrage and a criminal act."
"This madness must stop," he said.
The strike on the school came as Palestinian factions gathered for truce talks with Egypt in Cairo and world powers voiced increasingly urgent calls for the warring sides to lay down their weapons.
"The bloodshed needs to stop," said a statement signed by the European Union and the European Commission presidents on behalf of the bloc's 28 member states.
"We deplore the terrible loss of lives, including innocent women and children," it said, condemning the "intolerable violence" being suffered by Gaza residents.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond demanded an unconditional ceasefire to resolve the "intolerable" situation for civilians. And in Cairo, China's top diplomat Wang Yi demanded both sides "immediately" halt their fire.
But there was little respite on the ground, where Israeli attacks left more than 71 people dead in Rafah alone Sunday in a fresh wave of bloodshed which sent the death toll soaring over 1,800.
Over 200 people were killed in Rafah in just 26 hours, medics said.
Hospitals in crisis
At the school, an AFP correspondent witnessed scenes of chaos, with rescuers trying to evacuate the wounded any way they could, while adults were seen sprinting frantically away through pools of blood, young children clutched in their arms.
With hospitals and clinics under increasing pressure from the bombardment and the soaring numbers of casualties, Gaza's medical services have reached the brink of collapse, the UN warned.
With Rafah's main Najjar hospital closed after being hit in a recent strike, only two clinics were functioning, with medics rapidly running out of space to store the growing pile of bodies.
In one, an AFP correspondent witnessed the bodies of four small children packed into an ice cream freezer.
Outside in the garden, doctors had set up a temporary emergency room, receiving dozens of wounded, some of whom had to lie down on the ground because of a lack of beds, he said.
There was only one working operating surgery, with the single bed occupied by two wounded people, he said.
Intensive international attempts to broker a diplomatic end to the fighting between Israel and Hamas have so far proved fruitless but the efforts are continuing with a Palestinian delegation in Cairo for talks with US and Egyptian officials.
But Israel did not send anyone to the talks after ministers at the security cabinet decided not to send a representative.
UN chief condemns Gaza school shelling: 'madness must stop'
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the Israeli shelling of another UN school in Gaza Sunday, calling it "a moral outrage and a criminal act."
"This madness must stop," Ban said through his spokesman after at least 10 people were killed when a shell hit outside a UN school in Rafah crowded with Palestinian refugees.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the Israeli shelling of another UN school in Gaza Sunday, calling it "a moral outrage and a criminal act."
"This madness must stop," Ban said through his spokesman after at least 10 people were killed when a shell hit outside a UN school in Rafah crowded with Palestinian refugees.
The death toll on the 27th day of Israel's offensive on Gaza hit at least 120 on Sunday as health officials reported that over 70 bodies had been recovered in Rafah, a day after the city came under fierce, prolonged bombardment by Israeli forces.
Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma'an that the bodies of 70 Palestinians had been recovered from the city in the southern Gaza city, while 55 other Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip Sunday.
The continuing attacks brought the total death toll in the assault to 1,830 with nearly 10,000 injured.
Israel began targeting Rafah with airstrikes and shelling Friday, killing dozens in the city hours before a 72-hour ceasefire was to come into place. When the ceasefire collapsed, Israel continued its bombardment on Rafah throughout Friday and into Saturday, killing more than hundred Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Israeli shelling and airstrikes did not let up on Sunday even as ground forces withdrew from major cities in Gaza.
An afternoon strike on the al-Majdalawi family home in Beir al-Naaja in northern Gaza left four dead, two of whom were identified as Mahmoud and Rawan al-Majdalawi.
Additionally, Mohammad Shaldan was killed and two others injured in an airstrike on the al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City. In another attack, a Palestinian was killed in a strike on a car in the Janeina neighborhood of Rafah, which has been hit heavily in the Israeli assault.
The attacks come after Israeli forces shelled a UNRWA school where thousands were taking refuge earlier in the day, killing at least ten. UN chief Ban Ki-Moon condemned the attack as "a moral outrage and a criminal attack."
Al-Qidra identified the victims as Muhammad Abu Rajal, Sami Abdullah Qashta, Sami Ismail Abu Shalouf, Ahmad Khaled Abu Harba, Muhammad Musaid Qashta, Hazem Abd al-Basit Halal, Omar Tariq Abu al-Roos, Ahmad Kamal al-Nahal, Yousef Akram Sakafi, and Tariq Said Abu al-Roos.
Ongoing arrest campaign
Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma'an that the bodies of 70 Palestinians had been recovered from the city in the southern Gaza city, while 55 other Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip Sunday.
The continuing attacks brought the total death toll in the assault to 1,830 with nearly 10,000 injured.
Israel began targeting Rafah with airstrikes and shelling Friday, killing dozens in the city hours before a 72-hour ceasefire was to come into place. When the ceasefire collapsed, Israel continued its bombardment on Rafah throughout Friday and into Saturday, killing more than hundred Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Israeli shelling and airstrikes did not let up on Sunday even as ground forces withdrew from major cities in Gaza.
An afternoon strike on the al-Majdalawi family home in Beir al-Naaja in northern Gaza left four dead, two of whom were identified as Mahmoud and Rawan al-Majdalawi.
Additionally, Mohammad Shaldan was killed and two others injured in an airstrike on the al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City. In another attack, a Palestinian was killed in a strike on a car in the Janeina neighborhood of Rafah, which has been hit heavily in the Israeli assault.
The attacks come after Israeli forces shelled a UNRWA school where thousands were taking refuge earlier in the day, killing at least ten. UN chief Ban Ki-Moon condemned the attack as "a moral outrage and a criminal attack."
Al-Qidra identified the victims as Muhammad Abu Rajal, Sami Abdullah Qashta, Sami Ismail Abu Shalouf, Ahmad Khaled Abu Harba, Muhammad Musaid Qashta, Hazem Abd al-Basit Halal, Omar Tariq Abu al-Roos, Ahmad Kamal al-Nahal, Yousef Akram Sakafi, and Tariq Said Abu al-Roos.
Ongoing arrest campaign
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Prisoner's Affairs said on Sunday that the number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails had risen dramatically throughout the assault on Gaza and the month leading up to it.
Abd al-Nasser Farwana, director of the ministry's statistics bureau, said in a statement Sunday that more than 1,500 Palestinians had been arrested by Israeli forces since June across the Palestinian territories.
Many more than 200 have been arrested in Gaza, although not all of them were still being held. Not all of the arrests have yet been accounted for, Farwana added.
An Israeli army spokeswomen did not have information about the number of Palestinians arrested in Gaza throughout the offensive. She said Palestinians had been "taken to facilities for questioning," but refused to say whether they had been imprisoned or released.
The arrests bring the number of Palestinians in Israeli jails up to around 6,500, among whom are 250 children, 37 members of Palestinian parliament, and 75 prisoners who were freed in the 2011 Shalit deal but rearrested, many of them in June.
Israeli forces arrested hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, throughout its search for three youths who were kidnapped and killed in June.
The stated goal of the campaign was to "crush Hamas," and militant factions in Gaza heavily increased rocket fire on Israel as Hamas members were arrested and airstrikes on the Strip became a regular occurrence. Then, on July 7, Israel began its military offensive on Gaza.
Situation 'intolerable'
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Sunday demanded an unconditional ceasefire to resolve the "intolerable" situation in Gaza, adding that the British public was "deeply disturbed" by what it was seeing.
Hammond, who took over from William Hague last month, told the Sunday Telegraph that the killing had to stop, having already said he was "gravely concerned" by the number of civilian casualties from Israel's military operation in Gaza.
"The British public has a strong sense that the situation of the civilian population in Gaza is intolerable and must be addressed -- and we agree with them," he told the newspaper.
"It's a broad swathe of British public opinion that feels deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on its television screens," he added.
The former defense minister acknowledged the concerns of both Hamas and Israel, but insisted that they could not be allowed to stand in the way of a humanitarian ceasefire.
"We have to get the killing to stop," he told the paper.
Abd al-Nasser Farwana, director of the ministry's statistics bureau, said in a statement Sunday that more than 1,500 Palestinians had been arrested by Israeli forces since June across the Palestinian territories.
Many more than 200 have been arrested in Gaza, although not all of them were still being held. Not all of the arrests have yet been accounted for, Farwana added.
An Israeli army spokeswomen did not have information about the number of Palestinians arrested in Gaza throughout the offensive. She said Palestinians had been "taken to facilities for questioning," but refused to say whether they had been imprisoned or released.
The arrests bring the number of Palestinians in Israeli jails up to around 6,500, among whom are 250 children, 37 members of Palestinian parliament, and 75 prisoners who were freed in the 2011 Shalit deal but rearrested, many of them in June.
Israeli forces arrested hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, throughout its search for three youths who were kidnapped and killed in June.
The stated goal of the campaign was to "crush Hamas," and militant factions in Gaza heavily increased rocket fire on Israel as Hamas members were arrested and airstrikes on the Strip became a regular occurrence. Then, on July 7, Israel began its military offensive on Gaza.
Situation 'intolerable'
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Sunday demanded an unconditional ceasefire to resolve the "intolerable" situation in Gaza, adding that the British public was "deeply disturbed" by what it was seeing.
Hammond, who took over from William Hague last month, told the Sunday Telegraph that the killing had to stop, having already said he was "gravely concerned" by the number of civilian casualties from Israel's military operation in Gaza.
"The British public has a strong sense that the situation of the civilian population in Gaza is intolerable and must be addressed -- and we agree with them," he told the newspaper.
"It's a broad swathe of British public opinion that feels deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on its television screens," he added.
The former defense minister acknowledged the concerns of both Hamas and Israel, but insisted that they could not be allowed to stand in the way of a humanitarian ceasefire.
"We have to get the killing to stop," he told the paper.
Ask any child in Gaza to do a drawing and the resulting picture is likely to be a house being bombed by a fighter plane.
In the strife-torn Palestinian enclave, thousands of children are suffering from the trauma of war but resources to help them are scarce.
At a school in the northern town of Jabaliya which has been converted into a refuge, specialist teachers hand out paper and colored crayons to a motley band of shaken up children, asking them to draw whatever is in their head.
Jamal Diab, a nine-year old with red flecks in his brown hair, draws his dead grandfather. Under the drawing, he writes in Arabic: "I am sad because of the martyrs."
"A few days ago, aircraft bombarded our house. We had to leave quickly and leave everything behind. It was dangerous," the lad breathes timidly as he shows his drawing.
Tiny seven-year old Bara Marouf shows a drawing of his grandfather without any legs. He was seriously wounded in an air strike.
In the classroom, the same sketch comes up repeatedly: an aircraft filling the sky and bombarding a house, subtitled with the caption "I want to go home."
"Who is afraid of aircraft?" the teacher asks the children sitting in a circle on a mat.
Immediately little hands push towards the sky and high-pitched voices clamor: "Me," "me," "me."
"Me, I'm afraid of missiles and planes. Half our house was destroyed. We left it to come here," explains Itimad Subh, an 11-year-old girl with sparkling eyes.
'They blame themselves'
According to the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, about 300 children have been killed since the start on July 8 of Israel's offensive on Gaza.
Those who are still alive try not to internalize too much the violence they have experienced, seen, and heard.
Inside the school, groups of youths attend half-hour sessions one after the other.
The two teachers, patient and exhausted, their faces enclosed in a tight veil, ask the children to jump on the spot and call out, then to wave their arms like someone disco dancing, to expel accumulated black thoughts, frustration and stress.
"The children have all lived extreme experiences," says Dr. Iyad Zaqut, a psychiatrist who manages the United Nations community mental health programs in the Gaza Strip.
"It is very difficult for children to grasp what is happening, why their life is at risk, why they have to leave their homes, why they have to resettle, why they witness very traumatizing scenes," Zaqut said.
"To prevent children from processing and thinking about all these issues, we try to distract them, to help them live some joy, to have a little fun inside the shelter.
"Generally, when they are exposed to traumatic events, the way they perceive the incident can be very distorted, they might blame themselves, they might blame their neighbors and this blaming is very harmful," the psychiatrist said.
"We try to reprocess these distorted ideas," he explained, noting that he has diagnosed cases of post-traumatic stress and adolescent depression.
No therapy in wartime
But it is hard to make much progress with the therapy.
In the Gaza Strip, 460,000 people -- more than a quarter of the population -- have been displaced by the fighting and have gone to stay with relatives or found refuge at UN shelters.
Fewer than 100 specialist teachers are "treating" more than 100,000 children.
Only in exceptional cases do the children have access to one-on-one meetings with psychologists and psychiatrists. And even fewer get a follow up.
Gaza has been in the firing line of military operations in 2008-2009 and again in 2012 but the consequences have been greater during this current war between Israel and Hamas.
UNICEF estimates that 326,000 minors in Gaza are in need of psychological help.
The children and adolescents sheltering in the UN centers can at least attend the group classes but hundreds of thousands of others affected by the war are left to wander unhelped through devastated neighborhoods.
In the strife-torn Palestinian enclave, thousands of children are suffering from the trauma of war but resources to help them are scarce.
At a school in the northern town of Jabaliya which has been converted into a refuge, specialist teachers hand out paper and colored crayons to a motley band of shaken up children, asking them to draw whatever is in their head.
Jamal Diab, a nine-year old with red flecks in his brown hair, draws his dead grandfather. Under the drawing, he writes in Arabic: "I am sad because of the martyrs."
"A few days ago, aircraft bombarded our house. We had to leave quickly and leave everything behind. It was dangerous," the lad breathes timidly as he shows his drawing.
Tiny seven-year old Bara Marouf shows a drawing of his grandfather without any legs. He was seriously wounded in an air strike.
In the classroom, the same sketch comes up repeatedly: an aircraft filling the sky and bombarding a house, subtitled with the caption "I want to go home."
"Who is afraid of aircraft?" the teacher asks the children sitting in a circle on a mat.
Immediately little hands push towards the sky and high-pitched voices clamor: "Me," "me," "me."
"Me, I'm afraid of missiles and planes. Half our house was destroyed. We left it to come here," explains Itimad Subh, an 11-year-old girl with sparkling eyes.
'They blame themselves'
According to the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, about 300 children have been killed since the start on July 8 of Israel's offensive on Gaza.
Those who are still alive try not to internalize too much the violence they have experienced, seen, and heard.
Inside the school, groups of youths attend half-hour sessions one after the other.
The two teachers, patient and exhausted, their faces enclosed in a tight veil, ask the children to jump on the spot and call out, then to wave their arms like someone disco dancing, to expel accumulated black thoughts, frustration and stress.
"The children have all lived extreme experiences," says Dr. Iyad Zaqut, a psychiatrist who manages the United Nations community mental health programs in the Gaza Strip.
"It is very difficult for children to grasp what is happening, why their life is at risk, why they have to leave their homes, why they have to resettle, why they witness very traumatizing scenes," Zaqut said.
"To prevent children from processing and thinking about all these issues, we try to distract them, to help them live some joy, to have a little fun inside the shelter.
"Generally, when they are exposed to traumatic events, the way they perceive the incident can be very distorted, they might blame themselves, they might blame their neighbors and this blaming is very harmful," the psychiatrist said.
"We try to reprocess these distorted ideas," he explained, noting that he has diagnosed cases of post-traumatic stress and adolescent depression.
No therapy in wartime
But it is hard to make much progress with the therapy.
In the Gaza Strip, 460,000 people -- more than a quarter of the population -- have been displaced by the fighting and have gone to stay with relatives or found refuge at UN shelters.
Fewer than 100 specialist teachers are "treating" more than 100,000 children.
Only in exceptional cases do the children have access to one-on-one meetings with psychologists and psychiatrists. And even fewer get a follow up.
Gaza has been in the firing line of military operations in 2008-2009 and again in 2012 but the consequences have been greater during this current war between Israel and Hamas.
UNICEF estimates that 326,000 minors in Gaza are in need of psychological help.
The children and adolescents sheltering in the UN centers can at least attend the group classes but hundreds of thousands of others affected by the war are left to wander unhelped through devastated neighborhoods.
The surviving twin being nursed after the strike.
One of two twin baby boys born less than three weeks ago at the beginning of the Israeli assault on Gaza was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, while the other was left fighting for his life.
The al-Ghoul twins were hit after an Israeli missile struck their home in Rafah, killing nine other members of their family and injuring twenty more.
Asmaa al-Ghoul, a journalist from the family based in Gaza City, said in a post on Facebook that her uncle Ismail and his sons Muhammad and Wael were killed this morning along with Wael's three children Malak, Mustafa, and Ismail.
Two of Wael's sons were identical twins born during the Israeli military offensive.
One of them was killed Sunday morning during the strike, while the other survived. The surviving twin, was seriously injured and was "fighting for his life," she said.
When the twins were born, she had written in a post on Facebook: "In Gaza, there is always hope and new life. A door of light and happiness in the middle of this war."
One of two twin baby boys born less than three weeks ago at the beginning of the Israeli assault on Gaza was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, while the other was left fighting for his life.
The al-Ghoul twins were hit after an Israeli missile struck their home in Rafah, killing nine other members of their family and injuring twenty more.
Asmaa al-Ghoul, a journalist from the family based in Gaza City, said in a post on Facebook that her uncle Ismail and his sons Muhammad and Wael were killed this morning along with Wael's three children Malak, Mustafa, and Ismail.
Two of Wael's sons were identical twins born during the Israeli military offensive.
One of them was killed Sunday morning during the strike, while the other survived. The surviving twin, was seriously injured and was "fighting for his life," she said.
When the twins were born, she had written in a post on Facebook: "In Gaza, there is always hope and new life. A door of light and happiness in the middle of this war."
One of the baby boys alongside two other children from the family
Asmaa al-Ghoul added that her cousins Hanadi and Asmaa and her uncle's wife Khadra were also killed in the attack on their home, located in the Bashit refugee camp south of Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Asmaa added that the last time she had visited her uncle's family was on the fifth day of the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
"I was destined to bid them farewell on the fifth day of the war. They were preparing Ramadan Iftar and they invited me to join them but I was in a hurry. I wish I accepted the invitation, but I didn't know then that you were in a hurry to leave this world!"
2 killed in Israeli strike in Rafah
4 injured in Israeli strike on car near Rafah
Asmaa al-Ghoul added that her cousins Hanadi and Asmaa and her uncle's wife Khadra were also killed in the attack on their home, located in the Bashit refugee camp south of Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Asmaa added that the last time she had visited her uncle's family was on the fifth day of the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
"I was destined to bid them farewell on the fifth day of the war. They were preparing Ramadan Iftar and they invited me to join them but I was in a hurry. I wish I accepted the invitation, but I didn't know then that you were in a hurry to leave this world!"
2 killed in Israeli strike in Rafah
4 injured in Israeli strike on car near Rafah
The United Nations warned on Saturday that after 27 days of Israeli assault, the Gaza public health system was "on the verge of collapse" as the numbers of dead and injured overwhelmed hospitals and clinics across the besieged coastal enclave.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories said in a report that five hospitals and 34 clinics have "shut down due to damage and insecurity."
The report said that 12 hospitals have been damaged since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, while 14 primary health clinics had been hit.
"Nearly half of all clinics in Gaza (34 out of 75) have closed, primarily due to insecurity, including all those located within the three kilometer buffer zone declared by Israel," the report added, referring to the 44 percent of Gaza that has been declared off-limits for Palestinians.
"Hospitals are increasingly forced to discharge patients prematurely, to accommodate newer and most urgent cases, even though these patients often do not have any place to go to, let alone an adequate one."
The report also stressed that the almost complete reduction in electricity supply since Israel bombed the Strip's sole power plant had made hospitals dependent on "unreliable back-up generators as their main power source."
"Constant fluctuations in power supply have resulted in the malfunctioning of sensitive medical equipment, including ultrasound, X-ray, laboratory machines, cardiac monitors, sterilizing machines and infants’ incubators."
At the same time, thousands of people continued trying to seek refuge in hospitals given the lack of adequate shelter available for the more than 450,000 Gazans who have been displaced.
This inflow was constantly disrupting hospitals abilities to operate, as the displaced used bathrooms and other facilities to wash their clothes and take care of other necessities.
The report expressed specific concern for the obstetrics units, as "nursing attendance in the maternity department of al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, was reduced in the past days to 40 per cent," while the Harazeen Maternity Hospital in Shujaiyya had been completely closed.
"It is feared that the recent closure of Shifa’s antenatal services for high-risk pregnancies may have an impact on fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality."
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories said in a report that five hospitals and 34 clinics have "shut down due to damage and insecurity."
The report said that 12 hospitals have been damaged since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, while 14 primary health clinics had been hit.
"Nearly half of all clinics in Gaza (34 out of 75) have closed, primarily due to insecurity, including all those located within the three kilometer buffer zone declared by Israel," the report added, referring to the 44 percent of Gaza that has been declared off-limits for Palestinians.
"Hospitals are increasingly forced to discharge patients prematurely, to accommodate newer and most urgent cases, even though these patients often do not have any place to go to, let alone an adequate one."
The report also stressed that the almost complete reduction in electricity supply since Israel bombed the Strip's sole power plant had made hospitals dependent on "unreliable back-up generators as their main power source."
"Constant fluctuations in power supply have resulted in the malfunctioning of sensitive medical equipment, including ultrasound, X-ray, laboratory machines, cardiac monitors, sterilizing machines and infants’ incubators."
At the same time, thousands of people continued trying to seek refuge in hospitals given the lack of adequate shelter available for the more than 450,000 Gazans who have been displaced.
This inflow was constantly disrupting hospitals abilities to operate, as the displaced used bathrooms and other facilities to wash their clothes and take care of other necessities.
The report expressed specific concern for the obstetrics units, as "nursing attendance in the maternity department of al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, was reduced in the past days to 40 per cent," while the Harazeen Maternity Hospital in Shujaiyya had been completely closed.
"It is feared that the recent closure of Shifa’s antenatal services for high-risk pregnancies may have an impact on fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality."
Gaza human rights institutions called upon the international community and the world to condemn the Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians on Saturday.
Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights Raji al-Surani said in a press conference that what is happening n Gaza is a "continuous offensive targeting innocent civilians," adding that human rights institutions will hold the "Israeli criminals" accountable with every possible mean.
"What UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said is 'selective' towards the ugly crimes against civilians. His duty is to protect civilians who are in the eye of the storm and a main target in this offensive," al-Surani said, lambasting the UN for not working to defend Gazan civilians under fire.
"The Israeli soldier captured is a 'classic' in the Third Geneva agreement," he added, stressing that capturing combatants was legal in the rules of war.
"Palestinians have the right to defend themselves according to international agreements," he added.
Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights Raji al-Surani said in a press conference that what is happening n Gaza is a "continuous offensive targeting innocent civilians," adding that human rights institutions will hold the "Israeli criminals" accountable with every possible mean.
"What UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said is 'selective' towards the ugly crimes against civilians. His duty is to protect civilians who are in the eye of the storm and a main target in this offensive," al-Surani said, lambasting the UN for not working to defend Gazan civilians under fire.
"The Israeli soldier captured is a 'classic' in the Third Geneva agreement," he added, stressing that capturing combatants was legal in the rules of war.
"Palestinians have the right to defend themselves according to international agreements," he added.
Israeli airstrikes and shelling killed 37 people across the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, as the 27-day assault on Gaza showed no signs of ceasing despite Israeli moves to redeploy outside of urban areas the day before.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the 37 dead since midnight -- which includes 10 members of a single family in Rafah -- brought the total death toll to 1,739, with nearly 10,000 injured and a quarter of the total population of 1.8 million displaced.
The 10 family members were killed during an Israeli air strike on the al-Ghoul family home in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra identified nine of the victims as Muhammad Ismail al-Ghoul, Wael Ismail al-Ghoul, Ismail Muhammad al-Ghoul, Ismail Wael al-Ghoul, Khadra Khalid al-Ghoul, Asmaa Ismail al-Ghoul, Malak Wael al-Ghoul, Mustafa Wael al-Ghoul, Hanadi Ismail al-Ghoul.
Despite the ongoing Israeli onslaught, Palestinian leaders continued to place their hopes in ceasefire talks in Cairo.
Representatives of the PLO, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad arrived in Cairo on Saturday from offices in the West Bank, Doha, Damascus, and Beirut, with the hope that Hamas officials from Gaza would also be arriving soon.
A delegation from the US state department including senior adviser on Middle East issues Frank Lowenstein also arrived in Cairo Saturday.
Onlookers expected representatives of the UN and the international Quartet to join the Cairo talks,
Israel, however, has maintained that it will not attend the talks, a move solidified after the state redeployed its forces on Saturday afternoon from across Gaza's urban areas to areas a few hundred meter near the border inside Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech Saturday that despite the redeployment, the operation would continue.
The move suggested that Israeli forces would re-occupy large areas of the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future. Even before the latest incursion, Israel maintained a buffer zone of more than 500 meters that encompassed nearly 20 percent of Gaza's total land area.
Israel public opinion is strongly in favor of continuing the assault, despite the deaths of 64 Israeli soldiers so far.
Intense airstrikes overnight
The Ministry of Health said that airstrikes and shelling across the Gaza Strip had been intense overnight.
An Israeli raid on home of Abu Jazar family in Rafah killed 23-year-old Amani Abu Jazar and her toddlers Maria and Faris Abu Jazar. Issa al-Shaer and Saed Mahmoud al-Lahwani were killed in the same raid.
Muhammad al-Hour was killed and four others were injured shortly before dawn prayer in Rafah.
The body of Ibrahim Qishta was recovered from the rubble of a house which Israeli forces bombarded Saturday in eastern Rafah.
In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes struck the home of the Abu al-Qumsan family in Jabaliya Sunday morning, killing Hatim Abdul-Rahman Wahdan, 50, Sanyura Wahdan, 27 and Jamila Wahdan, 24. Ten others were injured.
Four Palestinians were killed and 12 others were injured Sunday morning in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Witnesses said that an airstrike hit the home of the Khattab family, killing Atwah Suleiman Khattab, 64, Muhammad Atwah Khattab, Rimas Salim al-Attar, and another woman who hasn’t been identified yet.
Another airstrike on Deir al-Balah killed a man and injured several others.
In the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Israeli attacks killed two Palestinian men and injured three others when a missile hit home of Abu Shalouf family in the western quarter of the city.
At least fifteen people were injured by Israeli artillery shelling at Shuhada al-Zaytoun mosque in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the 37 dead since midnight -- which includes 10 members of a single family in Rafah -- brought the total death toll to 1,739, with nearly 10,000 injured and a quarter of the total population of 1.8 million displaced.
The 10 family members were killed during an Israeli air strike on the al-Ghoul family home in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra identified nine of the victims as Muhammad Ismail al-Ghoul, Wael Ismail al-Ghoul, Ismail Muhammad al-Ghoul, Ismail Wael al-Ghoul, Khadra Khalid al-Ghoul, Asmaa Ismail al-Ghoul, Malak Wael al-Ghoul, Mustafa Wael al-Ghoul, Hanadi Ismail al-Ghoul.
Despite the ongoing Israeli onslaught, Palestinian leaders continued to place their hopes in ceasefire talks in Cairo.
Representatives of the PLO, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad arrived in Cairo on Saturday from offices in the West Bank, Doha, Damascus, and Beirut, with the hope that Hamas officials from Gaza would also be arriving soon.
A delegation from the US state department including senior adviser on Middle East issues Frank Lowenstein also arrived in Cairo Saturday.
Onlookers expected representatives of the UN and the international Quartet to join the Cairo talks,
Israel, however, has maintained that it will not attend the talks, a move solidified after the state redeployed its forces on Saturday afternoon from across Gaza's urban areas to areas a few hundred meter near the border inside Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech Saturday that despite the redeployment, the operation would continue.
The move suggested that Israeli forces would re-occupy large areas of the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future. Even before the latest incursion, Israel maintained a buffer zone of more than 500 meters that encompassed nearly 20 percent of Gaza's total land area.
Israel public opinion is strongly in favor of continuing the assault, despite the deaths of 64 Israeli soldiers so far.
Intense airstrikes overnight
The Ministry of Health said that airstrikes and shelling across the Gaza Strip had been intense overnight.
An Israeli raid on home of Abu Jazar family in Rafah killed 23-year-old Amani Abu Jazar and her toddlers Maria and Faris Abu Jazar. Issa al-Shaer and Saed Mahmoud al-Lahwani were killed in the same raid.
Muhammad al-Hour was killed and four others were injured shortly before dawn prayer in Rafah.
The body of Ibrahim Qishta was recovered from the rubble of a house which Israeli forces bombarded Saturday in eastern Rafah.
In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes struck the home of the Abu al-Qumsan family in Jabaliya Sunday morning, killing Hatim Abdul-Rahman Wahdan, 50, Sanyura Wahdan, 27 and Jamila Wahdan, 24. Ten others were injured.
Four Palestinians were killed and 12 others were injured Sunday morning in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Witnesses said that an airstrike hit the home of the Khattab family, killing Atwah Suleiman Khattab, 64, Muhammad Atwah Khattab, Rimas Salim al-Attar, and another woman who hasn’t been identified yet.
Another airstrike on Deir al-Balah killed a man and injured several others.
In the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Israeli attacks killed two Palestinian men and injured three others when a missile hit home of Abu Shalouf family in the western quarter of the city.
At least fifteen people were injured by Israeli artillery shelling at Shuhada al-Zaytoun mosque in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
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