Region | Palestinian Territories
Gaza a city of ghosts as fearful residents stay home
Streets were empty in Gaza City on Monday as most residents stayed home, fearing more air strikes. A few lined up to buy bread outside two bakeries.
- By Bilal Badwan, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 15:32 December 29, 2008
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Gaza: Streets were empty in Gaza City on Monday as most residents stayed home, fearing more air strikes. A few lined up to buy bread outside two bakeries. Schools were shut for a three-day mourning period the Gaza government declared on Saturday for the dead.
The schoolchildren were very terrified of the huge air raids. We saw many children carrying and not carrying their school bags because of their distress.
Fatima Salem, 53, was left unconscious after being hit by flying debris near the prison. Her son, Majed, held a grim vigil at Gaza's overburdened Shifa hospital.
"This is the face of terror," he said. "My mother being torn apart while at work...my mother was not firing rockets against Israel."
The bloodshed was widespread and gruesome, with stunned rescue workers struggling to handle the influx of disfigured victims arriving in vans, cars and ambulances.
Blood was splattered and body parts scattered in the hallways at Shifa, the main medical facility in Gaza City.
"There are heads without bodies," said nurse Ahmad Abdul Salaam. "People are weeping; women are crying; doctors are shouting."
Mosques were converted into temporary morgues, while hospital workers - using emergency generators - rigged 10 additional intensive care units for victims.
Jumma Al Affish said his brother, a police officer, was barely recognizable after surviving a bomb strike at a small police station.
But the 58-year-old Gaza resident said he was opposed to any acts of revenge by Hamas.
"No," he said. "We need peace."
- Bilal Badwan is a Gaza-based journalist
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