From people in Gaza

[IslamIsLight]

The people in Gaza describe the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza and explain how the Israeli ground offensive is affecting them.

To read more visit http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/200915122556916110.html

Majed Badra, 23, Gaza City, cartoonist and student at the Islamic University

"Last night was difficult - all of Gaza was under darkness. There is no TV because there is no electricity, so all the time we sit and wait and hear news on the radio about what the Israeli forces are doing and what our resistance can do and how many of our people they have killed.

I am used to air-raids and hearing the tanks come into Gaza and we are used to hearing reports on the radio in the dark. But we have to focus on the children - my brother's sons are scared all the time and the children are very frightened of the dark and of the military.

Yesterday the bread in our house ran out and me and my brother went to the bakery and waited three hours just to buy bread. There is not a lot of food in Gaza.

We have water, but we need electricity to power the pump so the water may run out in a few days. This has already happened for some of our neighbours.

Of course I worry about this situation and that maybe there will be no food left and we will have to go searching for it. But I don't know what will happen. I don't have any thoughts. I am living in the moment and waiting to see what will happen."



Ghada Snunu, 30, Gaza City, human rights worker

"We're surviving, but last night it was more than a nightmare - the attacks didn't stop at all.

There were just a few seconds between attacks from tanks, warplanes and from the sea. We couldn't sleep at all.


We haven't seen any news because we have no electricity. I have a radio on my mobile phone but the battery died last night.

Also, we have no water, no gas, nothing. We have some food but in a few days it will run out.

We were more than terrified last night - the artillery from the attacks increased and it is so loud.

And the kids - I have no words to describe how they felt. They were screaming and crying and we can't help them because each time they hear more attacks their fear increases.

It's getting worse and worse. I am worried because I don't see an end.

I am very depressed and everyone in my family is the same: depressed, afraid and sick because the Israelis are becoming more and more crazy.

I hope the resistance in Gaza will help us - yesterday I was praying for the resistance movement, for God to give them support and strength.

I believe the resistance is strong and brave - facing the Israeli army is not an easy thing. They are sacrificing everything for the sake of their home country and their land.

Why doesn't the international community demand that Israel halt its attacks immediately? They are only on the side of Israel, not with us. They want more Palestinian victims in Gaza - people who did nothing and do not deserve to be killed in such an ugly way."






Hatem Shurrab, aid worker in Gaza

"The situation is getting worse and worse, day by day.

Medical staff are suffering because of the offensive, equipment is more scarce.

Two days ago we provided two hospitals with food that should last for a month.

Our work is difficult because we are working under constant fire. We keep hearing the sounds of explosions. Planes are flying over us, they are not leaving the sky.

Last night was really terrifying. I stayed in the basement with my family. We were in total darkness. It was very cold. Over us there was the sound of huge explosions and planes. Every minute there was a missile. My nephew couldn't stop crying.

I hope it stops. Gazans are peaceful people. We don't deserve this.

I want all of this to stop so that I can work to help the people."​

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,


Sweet sister..Insha'Allah..we will be victorious.

 

[Roby Rahman]

Asalamualaikum

May Allah swt punish the oppressors for the evil they commit. And may Allah swt give the entire muslim ummah(deceased and living) Janat ul Firdaws. AMEEN.

 

[nyerekareem]

:salam2:

for the past few nights, i keep hearing on most of the news networks that iran has been supplying gaza with weapons to use against israel and that is the real problem. so i thought about how the news anchors failed to mention that the US is who supplies Israel with their weapons. i have come to the conclusion that we muslims will never get a fair shake in the media. as long as the only perception of muslims remains to be 9/11 or some other act of terrorism, we will continue to be portrayed in a negative light no matter what good muslims may do.

it is for this reason, that we are obligated now more than ever to win the hearts and minds of people by performing good dawah and living a life in concordance with the quran and sunnah.

 

[crazy_awper]

You're so funny, but I still support you and good luck!

 

[maria_hajjaj]

Salaam,


Sweet sister..Insha'Allah..we will be victorious.

VICTORY..YES INSHAALLAH!!! but this will not come when only a <hand> of people are fighting and the rest say: <what we can do?! nothing for now!!!!> BUT WHEN??!! i dare to ask?? when we will raise against those who locked our mouth and our moves??!! they are trying to kill our soul and our religen!! what this life meens?? only eat and sleep hoping that this will and and we will be safe? hoping that no war will come for us- in our countries? and that we will be leaving happy untill the END?? we keep dreaming..because after Gaza, the killers will ask more muslims blad!!! and then, What?
what did Allah (swt) said about THIS?? to set and wait AND ONLY CRY??!! since a long time I'm crying ..millions of muslims are keep crying and praying,,,,and this is great we have to keep praying!!! but we have to take some ACTION ALSO!!! ENOUGH IT'S ENOUGH when arrab leaders will understand??!! when we will let them understand this?? We keep saying that:....it will come a moment when all muslims will wake-up....!! Don't you think that this time it's now???!! ALLAHU AKBAR!!:tti_sister:

 

[reydyer]

5 Lies About Israel’s Assault on Gaza


January 9, 2009



Lie #1) Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians.

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of property in the world. The presence of militants within a civilian population does not, under international law, deprive that population of their protected status, and hence any assault upon that population under the guise of targeting militants is, in fact, a war crime.

Moreover, the people Israel claims are legitimate targets are members of Hamas, which Israel says is a terrorist organization. Hamas has been responsible for firing rockets into Israel. These rockets are extremely inaccurate and thus, even if Hamas intended to hit military targets within Israel, are indiscriminate by nature. When rockets from Gaza kill Israeli civilians, it is a war crime.

Hamas has a military wing. However, it is not entirely a military organization, but a political one. Members of Hamas are the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Dozens of these elected leaders have been kidnapped and held in Israeli prisons without charge. Others have been targeted for assassination, such as Nizar Rayan, a top Hamas official. To kill Rayan, Israel targeted a residential apartment building. The strike not only killed Rayan but two of his wives and four of his children, along with six others. There is no justification for such an attack under international law. This was a war crime.

Other of Israel’s bombardment with protected status under international law have included a mosque, a prison, police stations, and a university, in addition to residential buildings.

Moreover, Israel has long held Gaza under siege, allowing only the most minimal amounts of humanitarian supplies to enter. Israel is bombing and killing Palestinian civilians. Countless more have been wounded, and cannot receive medical attention. Hospitals running on generators have little or no fuel. Doctors have no proper equipment or medical supplies to treat the injured. These people, too, are the victims of Israeli policies targeted not at Hamas or legitimate military targets, but directly designed to punish the civilian population.

Lie #2) Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end such rocket attacks.

Israel never observed the cease-fire to begin with. From the beginning, it announced a “special security zone” within the Gaza Strip and announced that Palestinians who enter this zone will be fired upon. In other words, Israel announced its intention that Israeli soldiers would shoot at farmers and other individuals attempting to reach their own land in direct violation of not only the cease-fire but international law.

Despite shooting incidents, including ones resulting in Palestinians getting injured, Hamas still held to the cease-fire from the time it went into effect on June 19 until Israel effectively ended the truce on November 4 by launching an airstrike into Gaza that killed five and injured several others.

Israel’s violation of the cease-fire predictably resulted in retaliation from militants in Gaza who fired rockets into Israel in response. The increased barrage of rocket fire at the end of December is being used as justification for the continued Israeli bombardment, but is a direct response by militants to the Israeli attacks.

Israel’s actions, including its violation of the cease-fire, predictably resulted in an escalation of rocket attacks against its own population.

Lie #3) Hamas is using human shields, a war crime.

There has been no evidence that Hamas has used human shields. The fact is, as previously noted, Gaza is a small piece of property that is densely populated. Israel engages in indiscriminate warfare such as the assassination of Nizar Rayan, in which members of his family were also murdered. It is victims like his dead children that Israel defines as “human shields” in its propaganda. There is no legitimacy for this interpretation under international law. In circumstances such as these, Hamas is not using human shields, Israel is committing war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions and other applicable international law.

Lie #4) Arab nations have not condemned Israel’s actions because they understand Israel’s justification for its assault.

The populations of those Arab countries are outraged at Israel’s actions and at their own governments for not condemning Israel’s assault and acting to end the violence. Simply stated, the Arab governments do not represent their respective Arab populations. The populations of the Arab nations have staged mass protests in opposition to not only Israel’s actions but also the inaction of their own governments and what they view as either complacency or complicity in Israel’s crimes.

Moreover, the refusal of Arab nations to take action to come to the aid of the Palestinians is not because they agree with Israel’s actions, but because they are submissive to the will of the US, which fully supports Israel. Egypt, for instance, which refused to open the border to allow Palestinians wounded in the attacks to get medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals, is heavily dependent upon US aid, and is being widely criticized within the population of the Arab countries for what is viewed as an absolute betrayal of the Gaza Palestinians.

Even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been regarded as a traitor to his own people for blaming Hamas for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Palestinians are also well aware of Abbas’ past perceived betrayals in conniving with Israel and the US to sideline the democratically elected Hamas government, culminating in a counter-coup by Hamas in which it expelled Fatah (the military wing of Abbas’ Palestine Authority) from the Gaza Strip. While his apparent goal was to weaken Hamas and strengthen his own position, the Palestinians and other Arabs in the Middle East are so outraged at Abbas that it is unlikely he will be able to govern effectively.

Lie #5) Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might be targeted.

Israel claims it sent radio and telephone text messages to residents of Gaza warning them to flee from the coming bombardment. But the people of Gaza have nowhere to flee to. They are trapped within the Gaza Strip. It is by Israeli design that they cannot escape across the border. It is by Israeli design that they have no food, water, or fuel by which to survive. It is by Israeli design that hospitals in Gaza have no electricity and few medical supplies with which to treat the injured and save lives. And Israel has bombed vast areas of Gaza, targeting civilian infrastructure and other sites with protected status under international law. No place is safe within the Gaza Strip.

 

[reydyer]

HAMAS Rocket Attacks Are Justified

Some Israel sympathizers have written justifying the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Their main justification is that is is a direct response to HAMAS rocket attacks into Israel. But, as usual with Israeli sympathizers, they chose not to highlight the entire story.

The entire rocket attacks is meant to respond to the total blockade of a free and sovereign entity of Gaza. A total blockade of any nation is an act of war and thus must be accorded with acts of aggrression.

HAMAS has actually accepted an Egypt peace plans and declared truce with Israel last summer. But the entire peace process is a total shenanigan and the blockade of Gaza remains. HAMAS was made to appear like a fool.

So, they decided to unblock GAZA so that the people of Gaza can operate freely like normal human beings.

America being a hypocrite they are kept raising the rocket attacks issue while totally being silent on the total economic blockade of Gaza.

The rocket attacks will stop if the unlawful and illegal blockade of Gaza is lifted. Palestinians democratic rights must be respected. They voted HAMAS and let HAMAS rule naturally. If any, the Palestinians themselves will remove HAMAS is they do not perform accordingly.