"Gazans emerge to recover the dead; Families find vast terrain of destruction" by Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press | January 19, 2009
Residents searched for bodies and belongings in the heavily hit eastern area of Jebaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, yesterday. Hamas announced an immediate weeklong cease-fire. (Ben Curtis/ Associated Press)
JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip - For Palestinians searching the rubble of this devastated refugee camp, the mounds of concrete and metal hid what they desperately wanted and needed: the bodies of dead relatives, belongings and - bitterly - scraps of bombs now valuable enough to sell as recycled aluminum.
Destruction was everywhere yesterday, in churned up farmland, dangling electricity poles, burned cars abandoned on pulverized roads, and broken pipes overflowing with sewage. Human and animal corpses were scattered amid the rubble. Weel
WHO DID THAT, huh?
For three weeks, Israeli air strikes targeted Hamas militants who have been firing missiles at Israel, smashing much of Gaza's already shabby infrastructure and turning neighborhoods into battle zones.
The cease-fire and first troop withdrawals yesterday allowed families and medics to intensify the search for bodies - with more than 100 dead recovered yesterday, according to Palestinian health officials. The number of Palestinian dead stood yesterday at more than 1,250, half of those civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting.
The other article said 35. Pffft!
For two weeks, ground combat kept residents of Jebaliya like Zayed Hadar from their homes. Yesterday, Hadar searched through the ruins of his house with most of his 10 children. The three-story building had been flattened. "We've pulled out my nephew, but I don't know how many are still under there," Hadar said.
A mosque nearby was flattened save for a lone minaret that loomed over the dusty concrete.
WAR CRIME!!!!
In the same area, Palestinian boys mined for pieces of aluminum from the bombs that had killed so many. "This big bit can bring back one shekel" or 25 cents, said Youssouf Dardoum, holding out a large chunk of twisted metal shell case.
Meanwhile, neighbors frantically dug through mounds of dirt to free a bleating sheep, trapped among duck carcasses. Hamas police officers also emerged for the first time since fighting began, directing traffic. Others prevented looting, at one point firing volleys into their air as Jebaliya residents tried to lynch a youth accused of stealing belongings in a ruined house that wasn't his.
EXCUSE ME? God, am I ever SICK of the ZIONIST LIES about HAMAS!!!
"The lethal enmity between Al Qaeda.... and the Palestinian Hamas movement.... they denounce Hamas for participating in elections and other democratic practices and for failing to impose a strict form of Sharia in Gaza....
EXCUSE ME? The RADICAL ISLAMIST not imposing Sharia?
HOW MANY MORE LIES must the jewsmedia spew?
.... [they] also castigate Hamas for preventing non-Palestinian jihadists from going to Gaza to organize for holy war"
Oh, that explains why the Palestinians were able to spot them so easily!"
In the northwest Gaza Strip farming community of Atatra, where ground fighting raged between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants, medics wearing white face masks to block the stench pulled remains from a smashed house.
"We don't know if they are human or animal. It's a shame! By God, we are human!" said a medic who gave his name only as Ahmad, pushing down the cloth covering his face. "We need specialized emergency teams, we are digging with our hands."
Not to RACIST NaZionist Israelis!!!! None of us are.
The group recovered five bodies, including a woman in a long blue robe, then the leg of a child. Khadija Radi, 83, watched as her great-grandchildren picked through the remains of her damaged home. "These are the only things left from my belongings," she said, pointing to a pillow and a slipper. Her daughter
Like many other residents from damaged zones, Sadia Radi said her extended family of 27 would sleep at a relative's home until they could find money to repair their own. About 50,000 Gazans sought refuge in United Nations compounds and schools converted into shelters throughout Israel's military operation. It is not clear how many of them remain homeless.
In an initial indication of damage, Gaza municipal officials said a first count showed some 20,000 residential and government buildings were severely damaged and another 4,000 destroyed. Some 50 of the UN's 220 schools, clinics, and warehouses were battered.Yup, and NO REPERCUSSIONS for ISRAEL!!!
Imagine if ANYONE ELSE had done that?
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