The article incorrectly described Nazareth as part of the West Bank. It is an Israeli town north of the West Bank.
| Page 2 of 4 < > |
Food and Medical Supplies Grow Scarce in the Gaza Strip
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
All three were killed outside a small store. When Raies rushed to Shifa Hospital, he first saw his eldest son, Hisham, 23.
"His body was full of shrapnel," Raies recalled. Then a hospital official informed him that his other son, Allam, 18, was also dead. And so was his nephew Abdullah, 21.
"I had a nervous breakdown. I collapsed," Raies recalled.
He blamed both Hamas and Fatah, the two political parties that control the Palestinian territories, for his woes. "We need a party that can control the situation in Gaza," he said. But he also called for revenge against Israel. "I am asking the Palestinian factions to kill their civilians as they are killing ours," Raies said. "I am asking the Palestinian factions to commit martyrdom operations against them."
"My wife is totally heartbroken. She raised her two sons for 23 years. And now, she lost them."
'Both Sides Are Wrong'
In this Israeli kibbutz, near the Gaza border, Orna Schwartz, a 48-year-old nurse and mother of four, was worried. Of the 320 residents, more than half had left by Sunday morning, she said, including 30 families with children. "It's not fair that they are only talking about what is happening over there and not what's happening here," Schwartz said, looking toward Gaza, less than a mile away. "We have lived for eight years in this situation."
She expressed certainty that the Palestinians killed in the airstrikes were not civilians. "We have to comfort ourselves that the ones who died wore uniforms. I saw them on television. They wore blue clothes."
Like 90 other residents, she is building a concrete bomb shelter with 15-inch-thick walls attached to her cream-colored house. Israel's Defense Ministry has paid for all of the shelters, providing thick mattresses in the event of long stays under prolonged rocket attacks.
"Last week, a rocket landed near to me," Schwartz said. "I couldn't move. It was really scary."
She had planned a Hanukkah party on Saturday for the children in the kibbutz. But the Israeli military issued an order for all residents to stay inside their homes. So she had to cancel the party.
"I feel bad. You have to explain to the kids why you can't live a normal life," she said. "Every day I walk five kilometers around the kibbutz," she added. "Today, I didn't. I was scared."
Patrick Langere, 55, another resident of the kibbutz, didn't go to work Sunday. Because of the emergency, authorities had shut down the local silverware factory where he is employed. The reason: It was a non-essential business, and the Israeli government wanted to prevent gatherings of people from becoming targets of retaliatory rocket attacks from Hamas.
