Concerns about Israel’s use of non-conventional and experimental weapons in the Gaza Strip are growing, with evasive comments from spokesmen and reluctance to allow independent journalists inside the tiny enclave only fueling speculation. The most prominent controversy is over the use of shells containing white phosphorus, which causes horrific burns when it comes into contact with skin. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Is Gaza a testing ground for experimental weapons?
Only a tea cup, a broken chair and some spots of blood were left where a short time before five members of the the Abu Jbarah family had been sitting in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from besieged Gaza. Read more about Targeting a cup of tea in Gaza
On 7 January, as Spanish human rights advocate and documentary filmmaker, Alberto Arce, and I accompanied Palestinian medics to retrieve the body of a man shot earlier by invading Israeli forces, we were also shot at as the medics carried the body towards the ambulance. It was in Dawwar Zimmo, eastern Jabaliya, near the area which has been occupied by Israeli soldiers since the land invasion began. Eva Bartlett writes from the besieged Gaza Strip. Read more about Israel is targeting medics
Laila El-HaddadDurham, United States12 January 2009
I receive the dreaded 9pm call from my father. My heart skipped a beat — late night calls always bear bad news. “More bombings, I can’t sleep. Israeli navy gunships are bombarding Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, you know where Amo Musab lives, where he built his new house,” he says, referring to his cousin. Laila El-Haddad writes from the US. Read more about We talk in silence, we stand together
RAMALLAH (IPS) - “There is no doubt that Israel is using phosphorous bombs over Gaza. Israel is flagrantly violating the Fourth Geneva Convention,” says Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza. “This is not the first time we have documented Israel using this kind of prohibited weapon against Gaza’s civilian population,” Sourani told IPS on phone from Gaza. Read more about Israelis rain phosphorous bombs over Gaza
Mohammed Fares Al MajdalawiGaza Strip11 January 2009
There is no safe place we can go. We cannot communicate with our relatives and friends — networks are down as missiles rain on our homes, mosques and even hospitals. Our life is centered around the burials of those who have died, our martyrs. At night our camp, Jabaliya refugee camp, is a ghost town, with no sounds other than those of Israeli military aircraft. Mohammed Fares Al Majdalawi writes from the besieged Gaza Strip. Read more about Gaza is sinking in a river of blood
Last night was a quiet one in Jabaliya. “Only” six homes bombed into the ground, the market, again, maybe four lightly injured people — shrapnel to the face injuries — and no martyrs. Beit Hanoun saw a young woman, Nariman Ahmad Abu Owder, just 17, shot dead as she made tea in her family’s kitchen. Ewa Jasiewicz reports from the besieged Gaza Strip. Read more about All signs point to systematic targeting of civilians
RAFAH, EGYPT (IRIN) - With Israel’s two-week military offensive in Gaza showing no signs of abating, patience is running thin among those waiting to get into the Strip from the Egyptian border town of Rafah, the Palestinians’ only access to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel. Every day, local and foreign doctors, nurses, truck drivers and journalists, among others, wait on the Egyptian side of the border for the opportunity to enter Gaza during the daily three-hour ceasefire. Read more about Tensions running high on the Egypt-Gaza border
All of my family are Gaza are staying in one room. Expecting that a missile could attack them any moment, they prefer to die all together. My little brothers and sisters are very scared and don’t sleep well and the bombing goes on day and night. Mohammed Abu Asaker writes from Sudan. Read more about Witnessing a war waged against your people
Xen HasanManchester, United Kingdom11 January 2009
We haven’t been able to get hold of my sister-in-law for a couple of days. It’s nerve wracking. Soul destroying. I find myself doing horrifying mental arithmetic. I don’t know why, I can’t seem to help it. The UN stated on Thursday that 758 people had been killed. That’s one person for each 2,000 in Gaza. What are the odds that one of them might be Nareman, or one of her family? Xen Hasan writes from the UK. Read more about Phoning my in-laws in Gaza
