Eyewitness: Chaos in Gaza

BBC World, December 27, 2008.
 

  

The BBC's Rushdi Aboualouf in the Gaza Strip described the chaos as Israeli warplanes fired missiles at Hamas targets, killing at least 155 Palestinians. 

Israeli planes are still flying over Gaza and they have just targeted another Hamas [security]

 compound in the middle of the Gaza Strip, in a place called Khan Younis. 

We can see from our office here in Gaza, in the middle of Gaza City, ambulances are still evacuating the injured from buildings and school kids are trying to find secure places. 

People who were going to their work were turned back and went home, and most of the residents in Gaza have been ordered by the Ministry of Health to stay indoors. 

The mosques in Gaza are calling the people here to go to the hospitals and to donate blood. There is no room in the hospitals as far as we've heard from Hamas sources to treat the people. 

No safe places 

It's a very bad situation... There were Israeli aeroplanes everywhere, hitting everywhere. You could see smoke from north to south, from west to east. The people are really in a panic. The main object for the people now is to find a secure place to secure their family. 

It's hard to find a secure place in Gaza. Gaza has no shelters, it has no safe places. The Hamas security compounds are in the middle of the city - it's not the kind of place where you see compounds outside the cities. 

I have witnessed one of the compounds - which is 20m away from my house - I was standing on the balcony and I have seen the Israeli airplanes hitting the place. 

Some of my balcony was damaged and my kid was injured and it's a very, very serious situation here in Gaza, the people can't do anything except stay indoors.  

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Ibrahim Barzak and Amy Teibel, The Associated Press, Gaza City, Gaza Strip | Sun, 12/28/2008 8:13 AM 

 

 VICTIMS OF ISRAEL: A Palestinian security force officer from Hamas reacts as he stands over others that were killed at the site of an Israeli missile strike at the security headquarters in Gaza City on Saturday. Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of air strikes Saturday, killing more than 200 people and wounding nearly 400 in the single bloodiest day of fighting in years. (AP/Fadi Adwan)