Author: ISM Media Group - Page 50 - International Solidarity Movement

Maan: Five Palestinian sisters killed in Israeli raid on Jabalia

To view original article, published by Maan News Agency on the 29th December, click here

Gaza – Ma’an – No sooner had a Gazan mother run away with her baby boy and two other baby girls seeking shelter did an Israeli airstrike kill her five daughters before she could return and transfer them, as well.

The girls were identified by Palestinian medical sources as Ayah, Eiman, Ikram, Tahrir and Samar Ba’lousha. They were killed after an Israeli airstrike hit their family home near the Imad Aqil Mosque in Jabalia, which was subsequently destroyed.

Dozens of houses in Jabalia have been destroyed and several victims remain under debris since shortly before midnight on Saturday; Palestinian rescue workers are still trying to get them out.

Israeli air raids also killed three children from the Al-Absi family in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, as well as a brother and his sister from the Kishku family in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

On Saturday, an Israeli missile claimed the lives of seven students from a vocational training center affiliated with the United Nations on Al-Muhafadha street in Gaza City while they were waiting for a school bus to take them home.

Three other Palestinians from the Ar-Rayyis family were killed in front of their own shop on the same street. A father and his son were later killed in the same area.

Seeking shelter for Gazan children became impossible as the strip lacks fortified places to protect Palestinians from air raids, unlike nearby Israeli towns.

On Monday, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, confirmed that at least 51 innocent civilians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since the airstrikes began on Saturday, purportedly to root out armed groups that have been firing barrages of rockets toward southern Israeli targets.

Since Saturday, two Israelis have been killed and about 20 others are injured from projectile attacks.

Gaza is the most densely populated place on the planet, with nearly 1.5 million Palestinians contained to a 20 square meter strip on the Mediterranean coast. Palestinians living in Gaza have been without food, electricity or water in their homes for several weeks.

Free Gaza Movement: Dignity leaves for Gaza – Challenges world to “Stop this madness!”

To view the Free Gaza Movement website click here

Monday 29th December 2008

(Larnaca, Cyprus 29 December 2008) – There is a time when silence is complicity and inaction is unacceptable. On Saturday, December 27, Israel began Operation “Cast Lead,” a military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip that has – so far – massacred more than three-hundred men, women, and children, and seriously injured over a thousand.

In response to Israeli butchery, the Free Gaza ship, the DIGNITY, will depart Larnaca Port at approximately 5pm (UTC), on Monday, December 29, bound for besieged Gaza. The ship is on an emergency mission carrying in physicians, human rights workers and over three tons of desperately needed medical supplies donated by the people of Cyprus. Coordinating with the Gaza Ministry of Health, the doctors will be immediately posted to overburdened hospitals and clinics upon their arrival.

We are not asking Israel for “permission” to go, and we will not stop until the DIGNITY lands in Gaza. We are answering urgent calls from hospitals and health care workers in Gaza by taking in three physicians who will stay and work in Gaza for several weeks. We will hold Israel responsible for the safety of our passengers and our cargo of emergency medicine.

Even before the present Israeli blitzkrieg, Karen Koning Abu Zayd, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), asserted that, “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and – some would say – encouragement of the international community.”

Ewa Jasiewicz, a Free Gaza organizer living in Gaza, agreed with Abu Zayd, saying: “Where is the United Nations? Where is the Arab League? Where is the outrage against Israeli cruelty and Egyptian complicity? Every hospital in Gaza is already overwhelmed. Israel is committing war crimes here in Gaza, and words of condemnation are no longer enough. The world must act now to stop this madness.”

The Free Gaza Movement continues to do what the governments of the world will not do – take direct action to defend the health, lives, and dignity of 1.5 million Palestinians under siege in the Gaza Strip.

This catastrophe is still unfolding, and humanitarian needs in Gaza are quite literally devastating. The world can no longer stay silent as the Palestinian people are deliberately massacred, starved and humiliated. We have to create a new consciousness that turns the practice of human rights from rhetoric into reality. Palestinians have an inalienable right to live, and the undeniable right to a life with dignity.

The passengers on this Free Gaza emergency delegation include:
* International humanitarian and human rights workers from Cyprus, Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, Tunisia, and the United States.
* Doctors going to Gaza to volunteer in local hospitals, including Dr. Elena Theoharous, surgeon and Member of Parliament from Cyprus.
* Journalists going to Gaza to report on the massacre, including Al-Jazeera reporter Sami al-Haj, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
* The Hon. Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate.

For more information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa +357 99 081 767 / lubnna@gmail.com
(U.S.) Greta Berlin, +1 310 422 7242 / iristulip@gmail.com

The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, physicians, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel’s draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.

Israeli Navy pull in towards Gaza Port – Heavy Israeli shelling of Gaza reported

International volunteers eyewitness Israeli bombings in Gaza

2:30am 29th December 2008 – Canadian Human Rights Activist Eva Bartlett has reported that the Israeli attacks into the Gaza Strip have escalated again, with the Israeli Navy shelling Gaza.

“The Israeli Navy have pulled in towards Gaza Port and are shelling the coastal area. The shelling is incredibly heavy.” Eva Bartlett – International Solidarity Movement

Earlier Eva Bartlett had reported from Al-Shifa intensive care unit in Gaza;

“Dr Khaled from Shifa hospital’s intensive care unit told me today around 10am that the majority of cases in the ICU are critical, with approximately 80% who will not survive. At that time, the 24 beds in the ICU were the fourth shift of critically injured, the former three having died from their injuries.”

Human rights defenders from Australia, Britain, Canada, Italy, Poland Spain and Lebanon are currently present in Gaza, and are witnessing the current Israeli attacks first hand.

Spanish citizen, Alberto Arce, said on Sunday evening that an international group would be accompanying fire-fighters in the Strip; “People are expecting more Israeli attacks. The fire-fighters here in Gaza have an impossible job dealing with the never-ending fires from Israeli air-strikes.”

Due to Israel’s policy of denying international media and aid agencies access to Gaza, they arrived in the coastal strip on the Free Gaza Movement’s boats. These voyages have broken the Israeli blockade five times now, and a sixth is due to depart from Cyprus on Monday.

The Free Gaza Movement boat “Dignity” will be leaving Monday afternoon on an emergency mission to Gaza, loaded with three or four tons of urgently needed medical supplies.

On board are four physicians, including Dr. Elena Theoharous, a surgeon and Member of Parliament in Cyprus. Also going are Cynthia McKinney, a former US Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, and Sami al-Hajj, an Al Jazeera reporter and former detainee at Guantanamo Bay.

Palestinians destroy sections of the wall separating Gaza and Egypt following intense Israeli attacks in Rafah

Parts of the wall between Gaza and Egypt were torn down according to International Human Rights Observers witnessing and documenting the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Video by ISM Gaza Strip

British Human Rights Observer, Jenny Linnel, who is working with the International Solidarity Movement, was in Yibnah Camp in Rafah and confirmed that the Palestinian resistance has destroyed sections of the wall that separates Gazan Rafah from Egyptian Rafah.

“They have blown up part of the wall. The Israeli’s bombed the border half an hour ago. Soon after there was a loud explosion and parts of the wall came down. Many have passed through the border,” said Linnel.

“We heard shooting and we have seen an ambulance. We have heard that someone is hurt. People are saying that the Egyptians have been shooting at people crossing the border.”

Human Rights Defenders from various countries are present in Gaza and are witnessing and documenting the current Israeli attacks. Due to Israel’s policy of denying access to the Occupied Gaza Strip for international media, human rights activists and aid agencies, they have arrived in the strip on the Free Gaza Movement’s boats. These voyages have repeatedly broken the Israeli blockade .

Gaza: Silence is not an option

By Eva Bartlett
Photos below

To view Eva Bartlett’s blog please click here

Shifa ICU: a glimpse of hospital critical injuries

Dr Khaled from Shifa hospital ICU told me the majority of cases in the intensive car unit are critical. He estimates 80% will not survive. At the time that we spoke the ICU was handling its 4th shift of critically injured. The ICU normally has 12 beds, but the hospital expanded it to 24 using beds and rooms from other departments.

There is a critical need for more ICU beds, as well as mechanical ventilators. The majority of injuries were “multi-explosive injuries” with a concentration of head injuries (“head trauma”) resulting from the explosions and from shrapnel in the brain. Other injuries include abdominal injuries resulting in internal bleeding caused by shrapnel in the abdomen. The majority of head injuries are not expected to survive, and those who do are expected to have brain damage and some with full paralysis (quadriplegia). Because of the shortage of spaces and equipment, the ICU has turned patients away. Others have been waiting in the reception area until a patient dies and the space can be used.

Among the critically wounded were a number of children and minors:

A six year old down’s syndrom with brain trauma
An 11 year old with brain trauma, not likely to survive
A 13 year old with a head injury (“brain matter out”)
A 21 year old, leg amputated, various shrapnel injuries over body and face, loss of hearing in one ear
A 21 year old, braindead, hopeless case
A man in his fifties, neither police nor resistance
A man in his forties, on the beach when struck, head trauma (“brain matter out”)
A man in his fifties, head trauma
A 53 year old, shrapnel in the brain, no surgery possible
Aany other men in their 20s and 30s, head injuries (shrapnel in brain), and abdominal injuries some policemen.

The ISM will continue to post updates on the situation in Gaza. Eva Bartlett, on the ground in Gaza, will also post directly to http://ingaza.wordpress.com/.