Report from ISM Gaza Strip

By Sharon from Australia

3pm from Gaza city

I was at home beside the small Gaza port, eating a bread and jam breakfast, when the rockets began to fall at about 11am. Six or seven deafening explosions occurred not far from my building, which rocked from the impact, smoke and dust filling the air. This occurred just as the children were on the streets walking back from school, and when I went out onto the stairs, a terrified 5 year old girl ran sobbing into my arms.

Vik (Italy) later ascertained that these rockets had targeted the port police station, and also the “President’s Palace” nearby, killing about 20.

At the time of the attacks, Eva (Canada) was on Omar Mukhtar street where a police station had just been hit, and witnessed a last rocket hit the street 150 m away where crowds had already gathered to try to extract the dead bodies. The street was littered with rubble, making it difficult for ambulances and cars to get near enough to take bodies away.

Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city is full of dazed, wounded people - and also, we are told, pieces of what were people. Two from our group are currently inside documenting. Eva stood outside the hospital, watching as car after car, as well as the small number of functional ambulances, rushed into the hospital, Gaza’s main hospital, bringing the dead and the severely injured.

We also have a team documenting in Rafah. We are hearing that over 100 are dead and over 200 wounded. Several of the police stations that were targeted were having training days, but the dead and wounded include civilians and children.

ENDS

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