January 17, 2009
Dear Friends,
Hello from Gaza. We’re in Rafah, in southern Gaza, a small town which has been fiercely assaulted by the Israeli Air Force for the past three weeks. Last night, we stayed in a family home about 450 meters from the border between Egypt and Gaza. We were one block away from the area between the border and Sea Street, (Rafah’s main street). The Israeli military had dropped leaflets over the area, warning everyone to leave because Israel planned a fierce assault. Many residents stay with relatives overnight, but we drove through the area after sunset and saw numerous children playing in the streets.
Beginning at 12:30 a.m., Israel F-16s and Apache helicopters bombed the neighborhood once every eleven minutes for about the next 46 minutes. The bombing resumed at about 3:00 a.m. and again at about 5:00 a.m. By morning six family homes were destroyed.
Throughout the day, today, the bombing has continued.
One humanitarian worker told us that he has heard of many groups speaking about agreements that might be made but he said the only reality is that people are buried in the ground.
Today, we visited Rafah’s hospital, the Abu Yusif Al Najaar hospital, where we briefly met several people who were injured by the bombing, including two children and a grandmother. The hospital lacks basic common surgical tools and the area’s pharmacy was destroyed during the first days of the bombing.
We also visited with Int’l Solidarity Movement workers who told us that ISM members in the north need more help accompanying ambulances. At this point, we’re told it would be very difficult for us to travel north because of roadblocks.
At the World Vision office, here in Rafah, the director told us that not one kilo of cement had come into Rafah over the last two years. He wondered how they would rebuild after this latest “catastrophic and unfair war.”
Several families displaced by the bombing are living in a primitive camp, with plastic for doors, and as many as 17 people crowded into two separate makeshift shelters, - very cramped quarters.
Very best,
Kathy
