Babies in the Basement

Here are three of the babies in the Jabalia house basement. Their mamas are too shy to be on the web, but they’d like you to meet their children…

Dec 30/31: Tuesday night by the sea

Last night was a hectic scramble to get to our Jabalia house soon after dark; the further into the night, the greater the danger. On Sunday night, other commitments had delayed us, and then over the phone the family said any car on the road late would for sure be hit and they couldn’t bear [...]

Israel rams FreeGaza boat

Read the story here… See the damage here… And here’s Israel’s comedy explanation: “According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the captain of the aid boat carrying several journalists attempted to evade one of the Israeli missile ships. The Israeli ship stopped, but a collision could not be avoided.” Um, run that by us again…

Dec 29: Attacks last night

This will be hurried as very short collision of internet, electricity, and me, before we have to head for our night time locations before dark. Last night my group went to Al Awda hospital in order to be in the Jabalia region in case of incursion. One of the targets bombed by Apaches was a [...]

Dec 28: Tonight’s plans

8.05pm. Explosions begin again near to us and Al Shifa hospital here in Gaza city… The Rafah three are there continuing to document; we have heard that Palestinians have got through the border to Egypt, and it has been confirmed that Egyptian forces are shooting at them. We have heard also that 12 lorries of [...]

Sleepless in Jabalia

Sunday December 28, 5.30am, Jabalia In the basement, the family begins the night at their allotted sleeping spaces, but as the hours pass, draw closer together until women and children are huddled together in a pile of blankets. The women have slept little, and look exhausted. There are 5 or 6 children under the age [...]

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 occured 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 [...]

Gaza Christmas

So it seems that what happened yesterday is, Israel dropped fliers in Rafah, saying that if the tunnels weren’t closed in 48 hours, they would destroy them. I’m back in Gaza today to sort out various things, but on call to return to Rafah if this threat is followed through with, sometime tonight or tomorrow. [...]

No bread, lots of strawberries

I don’t know if you’ve picked up on things being a lot worse here than when I left in September. Rocket attacks and resulting injuries have increased this month, as the end-of-six-month-sort-of-truce date came and went last week. Talks are happening with Egypt’s mediation, but everyone is getting more and more anxious. On a wild [...]

Three images

Before sharing with you the report I wrote about yesterday for the ISM website, I will give you three images of the day. The first was looking out of the ISM apartment to see the FreeGaza boat speeding towards the port, bringing V back after his kidnap by Israel, and two Qatari delegates and a [...]