Thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing from Gaza City as IDF troops have entered residential areas [1]. A number of the foreign activists in Gaza were helping at Al Quds hospital when it came under attack, and managed to disseminate reports of what was going on. We hear from them and other bloggers in this roundup of Gaza blogs during the last 24 hours.
Laila El-Haddad, whose parents are in Gaza, blogs at Raising Yousuf and Noor [2]:
I was unable to speak with my parents all day, and so I rang [my father] just after midnight my time. He sounded wrecked and suffocated, not his usual collected self. “I'm so tired… I'm just so tired. I didn't sleep all night, the bombs are tearing through my head. I really have no idea what's going on outside, nobody has any idea what's going on…Aljazeera in Qatar called to ask me if I knew what was going on…and what this is about anymore. I can't even here anything on the radio anymore, everyone is just praying. I really just want to go now dear, I'm sorry. Goodbye.” he ended abruptly.
“Seedo [grandfather]?” piped in Yousuf. “Just remember- the only one who has the power to stop this is God.”
Vittorio Arrigoni is an Italian activist blogging at Guerrilla Radio [3]:
La personalissima Jihad israeliana contro i luoghi sacri dell'islam lungo la Striscia continua, contando la moschea di Kherbat al-‘Adas, sono 20 le moschee rase al suolo.Fortunamente nessu “razzo” qassam ha ancora sfiorato le pareti di una sinagoga. Siamo certi che altrimenti avremmo giustamente avvertito levarsi al cielo grida di sdegno da ogni angolo del mondo, mentre non ci meravigliamo più se nessuno protesta contro questa massiccia campagna antislamica. Dio deve pagare il dazio di ricevere preghiere dai palestinesi.
Abu el Sharif writes at Shajar El Ba6a6a [4]:
[…]
و اللي بدو دمو يتحرق و يتبخر…يسمع راديو إسرائيل…يا حبيبي على الوقاحة…اليهود من يومهم عندهم قدرة عالية إنو يحكو و يبررو و يغيروا الوقائع لدرجة إنو إنتا اللي جوا الحدث بتشك…و اللي بحبو كمان لما يحكو عن “المصابين” بحالات “الهلع”…يا عليي أنا على الهلعان…عنا مليون و نص الو اسبوعين مهلوعين انهلاع منهلع…و ما حد سائل !!
[…]
Those looking for their blood to boil, evaporate even, they should listen to Radio Israel… They're so brazen… The [Israelis] have always had a high capacity to talk and justify and twist the facts to the extent that we who are living the incidents start to doubt… I also like it when they talk about those who are “suffering”, cases of “trauma”…Dear me…We have a million and a half people who have been traumatised for two weeks…and no one seems to care!!
Nader Houella manages the group blog Moments of Gaza from Lebanon; he posted a message early on January 15 as Israeli troops were moving into central areas of Gaza City [5]:
Dear readers,
As you have followed through the news, Israeli occupation troops are going deeper into Gaza's narrow, heavily populated neighborhoods. One of those neighborhoods that has been targeted ever since last night is the one where [Lebanese activist] Natalie [Abou Shakra] resides in.
I have tried to get in touch with her by phone but I could not get through. I was able to know through some friends that she is currently assisting patients and doctors in one of Gaza's hospitals.
Let us hope that she and the rest of the residents of Gaza will not be hurt. In the meantime, I will be posting any news, email, memoir or diary I receive from any Gaza resident. Please stay tuned, and continue your precious support.
Then at 8 p.m. he published an email by her (though it is not specified at what time it was sent [6]):
Nader…it is disgusting… forgive me, but please do not call me today, i am far from my palestinian family, i have no idea what happened to them… […] i am trying to laugh, else i will break down…i am just now at the ramattan [news agency building], they bombed extensively with their disgusting ugly tanks around us…i want to go down home… but, i cannot, no one is entering where i live… i want to go to al quds hospital… but the israelis are shooting with their snipers…
i am angry, sad, frustrated… this is disgusting
Canadian activist, Eva Bartlett, blogs at In Gaza [7]:
now that people have streamed out of homes in all the perimeter regions of Gaza, they are streaming out of homes in central Gaza. […] people are running, and the small space that is the gaza strip has become a pinpoint, with people crammed into centres and still not feeling safe.
Leila in al Quds hospital at 8:59 am: “So al Quds now has army outside. snipers next door, 50 hits near us during night and 4 hits to us. fire in apartments behind, wounded kids near who we can’t collect…”
[…]
And aside from reports on the targeting of key infrastructure here, let me just repeat, people are panicking, given that Gaza City is a central place, the hub of Gaza and where those already having fled Israeli army attacks from eastern and northern regions had hoped for safety. As we’ve said from the first day of Israel’s phenomenally brutal attacks on civilians, there still is not anywhere anyone can feel safe.
Australian activist Sharyn Lock writes at Tales to Tell, and was at Al Quds hospital in Gaza City when it was attacked by Israeli troops; she has been communicating by text message and phone calls at intervals [8]:
7:26 am GMT/9:26 Gaza time [15th January]:
Al-Quds hospital now has army outside, snipers next door, 50 hits near us during the night and 4 hits to us. Fire in apartments behind. Wounded kids near who we can’t collect though would like to ask if I can help with this. […] Israeli snipers are shooting at families attempting to get to the hospital. They are frightened and have no where to go. At least two families have been shot at now, children have been wounded.
Then towards the end of the day:
10:10 pm GMT/00:10 Gaza time [15th January]:
The army shelled our hospital again, and we’re now evacuating everyone. We’re shifting base to a Red Cross building it seems. We’re taking people in beds, who can’t walk, and into dark streets where people were shot at earlier by snipers. 40-50 people were still sheltering in the basement, because they thought it safer than their own houses. By the time we left, bits of the ceiling were falling in on fire. Everyone is OK at the moment. There are explosions in the area still.
At the time of writing the last report was the following:
12:35 am GMT/02:35 Gaza time 16th January:
She has gone back to the hospital, as some of it is still left. There’s still lots of resources (medicines and the like there), and it feels like it’s important not to abandon it altogether, so five medics will stay the night there. The wards all seem to be destroyed, but it’s not clear about other areas.
Two teams, the Red Crescent Medics and the Red Crescent Disaster Management Team have already evacuated from own original building, and had been at the hospital for a few weeks now – it’s not clear where they will go or how they will function at this stage. The evacuation was to Al-Shifa hospital, though there’s no room for more patients or staff.