'When our homes are being bombed, are we safe inside?'

From the broken window of her house in Gaza City, Rawan, a young Palestinian, keeps an eye on four different sites bombed by Israeli warplanes over the past few days and smells the smoke coming through.

"We run to the windows to keep a watch even though we are scared that the Israeli airstrike is not yet over," she told Gulf News.

Rawan, whose house is in the centre of the city, has not gone out since the Israeli attacks began. Only her uncle goes out - to find food. "It's dangerous to go outside," she said, "but when you hear reports of homes being bombed and whole families being trapped and killed, you wonder if you are safe inside too," she said.

Emad, another Gaza City resident, said his family spends its time together in the living room. He said his four young children refuse to leave their mother's side, and follow her around the home like ducklings.

As the misery of Palestinians mounted, Israel said it was considering halting its Gaza offensive - in which more than 370 Palestinians have died so far - tempor-arily to give Hamas fighters an opening to halt rocket fire.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the current, aerial phase of the operation was just "the first of several" that have been approved by the Israeli cabinet. And the armed wing of Hamas on Tuesday vowed to send rockets deeper into Israel than ever before if the Jewish state continued its deadly bombardment of its Gaza Strip stronghold.