Since Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip nine days ago, 212 people have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials. 61 of these are children. Like four of the siblings of Suzy Eshkuntuna, who were taken out of the ruins on Sunday morning after the house they slept in was bombed.
– I do not understand how we can tolerate this. It is terrible to witness the silence of the world community when the number of children killed is so high. What would the world have said if more than 60 Norwegian or American children had been killed in the last week, asks the Norwegian doctor Hanne Edøy Heszlein-Lossius.
– Scary
Doctor Lossius has been to Gaza a number of times, and wrote his doctorate on war-related amputation injuries. Now she works as a municipal doctor in Berlevåg and an anesthetist in Bergen, but her thoughts are mostly in Gaza.
– Entire families have been wiped out, including two of the doctors at Shifa Hospital. There do not seem to be any limits to what Israel can do, says Lossius.
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In addition to the killing of two doctors, a number of health centers have been hit. As Gaza’s main covid-19-test center and six other hospitals and centers, Al Jazeera and Palestinian health authorities report.
– In addition, all the roads into the Shifa hospital have been bombed so that ambulances and others who are to transport injured people are struggling to get there, says Anas Ismail, a master’s degree student in England, but right now a volunteer doctor at the Shifa hospital.
QUIET TIMES: Here are doctors Hanne Edøy Heszlein-Lossius and Anas Ismail at a meeting in Gaza in the summer of 2018. Ismail is actually studying in England, but was in Gaza to meet family when the violent attacks started just over a week ago. Photo: Private
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He continues:
– The situation is frightening, and all Gaza residents walk around and are terrified 24/7, because everyone fears that the houses they live in will be destroyed. Two days ago, several families were killed when the three- to four-story building they lived in was bombed. Almost everyone there was killed, he says.
– Without words
Doctor Ismail says that the people of Gaza feel abandoned and powerless. They have nowhere to flee.
Norway does not condemn the attack now
– As a doctor, I have learned that international law must be followed, also in war, but here follows continuous danger. That everyone is a goal. So I’m a little wordless. My message to you in Norway, and what can give us hope, is that you follow what is happening and demand that Israel be held accountable for the injustice they are now doing in Gaza, he says and adds:
– It is not right whether the people of Gaza should be alone with these disorders. That our blood should be wasted for no reason. This cannot happen without the world reacting. Those responsible must be punished.
– Terror from heaven
The UN chief in Gaza, Matthias Schmale, is also furious at the ongoing bombing of Gaza. Yesterday, the UN chief’s office building was also hit.
– This is war, and not a military confrontation. What is happening now is terror from heaven and can not be accepted, he says to Democracy Now.
TIRED: Matthias Schmale is the UN chief in Gaza. On Tuesday, he was out inspecting the destruction that has been inflicted on UN headquarters following an Israeli air strike. Photo: Reuters / NTB
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Schmale is asking Israel to stop bombing Gaza, where more than 52,000 Palestinians have fled their homes. Of these, around 47,000 live in 58 different UN-run schools in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday reiterated that Israel is allowed to defend itself, while urging the parties to enter into a ceasefire. According to several sources, the Israeli army did not finish bombing Gaza.
– The IDF (The Israeli Defense, journ.anm.) Does not talk about a ceasefire. “We are focused on our goals in Gaza,” said Chief of Staff Hidai Zilberman on Israeli military radio.follow Reuters. “We have identified and hit nine launch sites in Gaza, both above and below ground. We continue to act against terrorism “, writes IDF on Twitter.
Save the West Bank
While the eyes of the world are on Gaza, the Israeli defense is sending more troops to the West Bank, and is following closely.
“Israel would be happy to end the fighting, because they have achieved what they wanted to do in Gaza. They are not interested in a ground offensive “, writes the Israeli military expert and journalist Amos Harel i Ha’aretz.
He also points out that the IDF is now most concerned about the anger the Gaza bombing, the al-Aqsa storm and the Sheikh Jarrah scandal have inflicted on Palestinians in the West Bank. They fear that Hamas will receive more support than before here, and thus also more opposition to the ongoing Israeli occupation of the area.
– Rage Day
In East Jerusalem, and in Arab cities in Israel, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs went on strike on Tuesday, calling it “the day of rage.” Palestinian shops were closed.
GENERAL STRIKE: A Palestinian man walks past one of the many closed Arab shops in East Jerusalem yesterday. The Israeli military is closely following developments in the West Bank, which they fear may be more tense than before. Photo: AFP / NTB
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The Israeli military said its people had shot and killed a Palestinian who was trying to attack them in the West Bank.
ON THE RUN: These children have fled their homes during the ongoing bombing campaign in Gaza, and now live in a school belonging to FNB. Photo: Reuters / NTB
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Facts of the Gaza Strip:
- One of the world’s most overcrowded areas. The inhabitants are locked up, so Gaza is often called “the world’s largest outdoor prison”.
- Over two million inhabitants, half of whom are children.
- 70 percent of the population are Palestinian refugees.
- Unemployment is one of the highest in the world.
- At least 212 people, including 61 children and 36 women, have been killed in Gaza in the past nine days. 10 people in Israel have lost their lives, in addition to two foreign workers.
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