Darkness Falls on Gaza - NYTimes.com
By MOHAMMED OMER
July 22, 2014
GAZA CITY
RAMADAN,
when night descends, is usually a joyous time. Friends and family
gather to break their fast at the iftar meal. Not this year.
Nights
are the worst. That is when the bombing escalates. Nowhere is safe. Not
a mosque. Not a church. Not a school, or even a hospital. All are
potential targets.
On Monday, the Israeli military fired artillery rounds at Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza,
claiming to target a cache of anti-tank missiles. Dr. Khalil Khattab, a
surgeon, was operating on a patient when the first shell struck. He ran
to the floors below to discover at least four dead and dozens of
colleagues — doctors, nurses, orderlies and administrators — injured.
The medical staff had become patients.
The Gaza Strip — a little
less than half the size of New York City — is home to 1.8 million
people, mainly Muslims, with a small Christian minority. Its population
is cut off from the world, living under the blockade imposed by Egypt
and Israel in 2007. For anyone over the age of 7, this is the third time they’ve lived through a sustained attack.
In two weeks of bombing and shelling, more than 600 Palestinians
have been reported killed. Since the Israeli ground invasion began, 28
Israeli soldiers have died; the conflict has also claimed the lives of
two Israeli civilians.
