MOSCOW, November 16 (Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti) - As Israel continues to pummel the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants launch waves of rockets into southern Israeli towns, the death toll is rising. So is international concern. But while the politicians scramble to resolve the crisis, ordinary people across the region are just trying to survive.
“When the bombs hit, houses even a mile or two away shake,” said north Gaza resident Sameh Alborai, 25, by telephone. “The bombs seem more powerful than anything Gaza has been hit with before.”
“When the bombs fall, it’s like a hammer in your head,” he said, struggling for words to convey what he called “the indescribable.”
“That’s just a small one,” he said, as what sounded like an explosion echoed in the distance. “Sometimes you wish you were dead, so you don’t have to hear them anymore. There is no sound before the bombs hit – just a silence, then the explosion.”
Israel launched its attack on the Palestinian enclave of 1.7 million on Wednesday, with an airstrike that killed the head of the military wing of the Hamas militant group, Ahmed Jabari. The airstrike came after a reported surge in rocket attacks on Israeli border towns from Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas since 2007.
Palestinian medics say eight militants and 14 civilians, including seven children and a pregnant woman, have been killed in the last three days by Israeli bombs. Residents say the closure of many smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt has meant supplies are running low and power cuts are frequent.
But while life may come to a virtual standstill in the midst of a deadly bombing campaign, people still occasionally need to leave the house to take care of essential business.
“People are staying inside and only leaving the house if it is absolutely necessary – everyone is afraid of the bombing and the drones,” said Maher Naji, a 48-year-old artist in northern Gaza.
“I went out to try to buy bread today and it was terrifying – who knows where the next bomb will come from?”
On top of the aerial bombardment, Gaza residents are also threatened by the possibility of a ground invasion, some four years after Israeli troops forces attacked the enclave in force in a 22-day military incursion that claimed the lives of almost 1,500 people.
“People - especially those who lived through the 2008-2009 attack - are afraid there will be an invasion,” Alborai said. “You can see the fear in their eyes and hear it in their voices. While many people are numb after years of this kind of thing, they are very afraid for their children’s’ lives. They talk about it a lot.”
With over half of Gaza’s population under the age of 18, parents fear the bombing will leave their children with deep mental scars.
“The children are really very frightened,” said Naji. “It’s hard to explain to them what is happening.”
South Israel
The barrage of rockets from Palestinian militants into southern Israeli towns has so far claimed a reported three lives, with sophisticated Israeli defenses usually a match for the mainly crude missiles.
But while the body count may be lower in Israel than in Gaza, for residents of towns like Be’er Sheeva, some 30 miles from Gaza, the frequent sound of early warning sirens is a terrifying reminder of the conflict.
“The situation is really difficult – no one has slept for the past three nights,” said a tearful Esmira Fattulayeva, a hospital worker and mother-of-two in the town. “There are rockets being fired every half hour, and then as soon as the all clear goes, the next warning siren starts.”
“There are only a couple of small food stores open in the town. But I have to work – the hospitals have to stay open, and I am so afraid when I am away from home and the rockets fall. Who knows where they landed?” she added. “We can’t even leave - they’ve closed all the roads because of the bombing.”
But Israeli towns within striking distance of Palestinian rockets have long been targeted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants and many locals reacted calmly to the latest escalation in violence.
“I am not afraid, because all of the rockets have been intercepted,” said Moshi Azugi, 32, a hotel worker in Ashdod, some 15 miles from Gaza. “I know the situation and I know we are being defended. But our guests are all foreign and they are very afraid when the warning sirens go off.”
“All the schools, shops and restaurants are closed, but there is no real panic,” he said. “Everyone is just staying at home to see what will happen next.”
Two rockets also fell on the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv, on Thursday, for the first time since 1991, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein targeted the city in response to a US attack. But, despite the threat of further attacks, there is no panic in Israel’s capital.
“There was a bomb warning siren earlier today and everyone went into a secure place for five or ten minutes,” said Yoy Bruck, a waitress in a Tel Aviv restaurant. “But, basically, everyone is carrying on as normal.”
“It’s not nice to hear this sound, of course, but nothing too terrible has happened so far,” she added. “Things could get worse though, of course.”
