As darkness descends, so does dread for families close to Israeli targets

Amid rising civilian death toll, parents in Gaza find it hard to comfort young as nightly airstrikes continue July 12, 2014 11:13AM ET by Mohammed Omer GAZA CITY — For Ala al-Jarwsha, his wife, and their two children, the most difficult moment of the day comes when night falls. Huddled together in the darkness, the parents struggle to comfort their children, who constantly ask about the loud explosions heard outside.

The family moves from one corner of their apartment to the next, as this is where they feel most safe. Other families living nearby sleep under their beds to try to protect themselves.

"It is a heated night, where we don't know who will be in the news. It could be all of us," the 31-year-old father told Al Jazeera, as his eldest child, three-year-old Mohammed, grabbed at his leg and didn't let go.

It is one hour after midnight, and no one is asleep in the family's home — not even Jarwsha's two children, Mohammed and Ahmed, aged one-and-a-half. This has been the case for the past five days, since Israel's military offensive on Gaza began.

The Jarwsha's home is just a few hundred meters from the house of a Hamas leader in Gaza, making the family more fearful than most that it may be hit by an Israeli bomb.

In the early morning hours on Friday, the house shook three separate times as a result of nearby explosions. "We only have the faith in [God] to protect us," Jarwsha said.

The Jarwshas' fears are widespread among many in Gaza. At least 124 Palestinians have been killed and 750 injured as the violence entered a fifth day on Saturday. According to the United Nations, Israel has fired more than 1,100 missiles and 100 tank shells, and carried out about 330 naval shellings.

The U.N. also reported that the destruction of residential buildings is the main cause of civilian casualties in the current violence engulfing Gaza: An estimated 342 housing units were destroyed as of midday on Thursday, forcing 2,000 Palestinians to seek refuge with relatives.

The Israeli government denies allegations that it is targeting civilians in Gaza, and insists that it is only going after members of Hamas. The Israeli military also inferred that civilian homes in Gaza serve "military purposes," and wrote on social media that its soldiers "target them for a reason."

"Israel targets Hamas terrorists and not innocent civilians," Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said on Tuesday. "Hamas … bears full responsibility for any harm that comes to Israeli and Palestinian civilians alike."

But the U.N. estimates that 77 percent of all deaths so far in Gaza have been civilian casualties. Navi Pillay, the U.N. human rights chief, expressed concern on Friday over the mounting civilian death toll.

"We have received deeply disturbing reports that many of the civilian casualties, including of children, occurred as a result of strikes on homes," Pillay said in a statement.

"Such reports raise serious doubt about whether the Israeli strikes have been in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law."

With electricity cuts usually lasting between 12-16 hours each day, families don't have access to much information about where the air strikes are taking place. The power outages also impact peoples' ability to share Ramadan meals, with many forced to eat whatever they can find, often in the dark.

"It is only [in the] daylight that we can live. I never liked nights during Israeli wars, whether we are being bombed by F16s or [Palestinian] rockets are fired from nearby, we are afraid, as the noise is too loud," Jarwsha said.

This has left families in Gaza spending each night fearing where and when the next air strike will hit. "Israeli shrapnel never discriminates," said Jarwsha, as his wife and children cried.

"For this reason, I never like the night. It [reminds] me of how vulnerable we are in this unprotected home."

Time for Israelis to build their own rockets like this guy did back in 2008.

Ashkelon man builds homemade missile
03/05/2008

"I wish there were more crazies like me," says Moshe Nissimpor; Gaza terrorists fire 14 rockets at Israel.

Ashkelon resident Moshe Nissimpor decided that the best way to halt rocket fire from Gaza - in light of what he terms the government's failure to do so - is some vigilante justice. Nissimpor developed a homemade 200-millimeter ballistic missile which he planned to launch from Ashkelon into the Gaza Strip. "From this day onwards, we will push back to the stone age every place which dares shoot missiles into Israel's sovereign territory," he said Wednesday. "It is time the world understood Israelis' lives are not expendable." "I'm afraid this is the only language the Palestinians understand, and this is the language in which we'll speak to them. I have many Gazan Palestinian friends who live as Hamas hostages. Once we bring an end to the rocket fire, Gaza's residents will also live in peace," he said.

Nissimpor arrived at the Ashkelon Municipality building with the missile painted black and lettered "to Hamas, from the residents of Ashkelon" in red, and was planning to launch it. Ashkelon residents gathered round to cheer him on and protest the government's conduct, but at the eleventh hour, police stopped him from firing the missile and seized it. "I wish there were more 'crazies' like me in Israel," Nissimpor said as the crowd was dispersed by the police.

Earlier Wdnesday, as the security cabinet met and emerged with a message that the government will stop the rocket attacks against Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip, three rockets struck the western Negev. A total of 14 Kassams were fired into Israel from northern and central Gaza, on the first day in almost a week in which nobody was wounded by the attacks. Almost all the projectiles hit open areas. The air-raid-style sirens installed in Ashkelon this week were tested for the first time - causing some to duck for cover, but proving that their whine could penetrate walls better than the calmly-pitched "Color Red" warning.

Meanwhile, the week's second humanitarian supply convoy into the Gaza Strip met with a glitch, as border crossing authorities detained one of the dozens of trucks crossing entering the Strip. A truck labeled "cooking oil" was stopped after authorities suspected that its liquid contents might instead be materials used for producing Kassam rockets. A truck containing "building materials" was also combed, on suspicion that some of its contents could be used to build rockets. Turkey's Foreign Ministry announced that the first shipment of Turkish humanitarian aid, including four trucks full of medicine, food and clothing, arrived in Gaza as part of Wednesday's convoy.

A second Turkish shipment is expected to be sent through the Gaza crossings soon, which before this week had been closed to almost all shipments for more than a month. Around two dozen Gazans were permitted to enter Israel to receive medical treatment. In the morning, three rockets were fired at agricultural areas in the western Negev, and another two hit near a kibbutz south of Ashkelon. In the evening, an estimated nine rockets were fired from northern Gaza, striking open areas near Sderot and Ashkelon. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the evening barrage.

During the relative lull in the Kassam rocket fire, the Defense Ministry positioned 120 portable bomb shelters in Sderot, the final shipment of the box-like structures to the town under current plans. The ministry also budgeted an additional NIS 300 million to improve the state of bomb shelters in Ashkelon. Late Tuesday night, IAF aircraft hit a number of Kassam launchers that were pointed at Israel.

“Ashkelon resident Moshe Nissimpor decided that the best way to halt rocket fire from Gaza - in light of what he terms the government’s failure to do so - is some vigilante justice. Nissimpor developed a homemade 200-millimeter ballistic missile which he planned to launch from Ashkelon into the Gaza Strip. “From this day onwards, we will push back to the stone age every place which dares shoot missiles into Israel’s sovereign territory,” he said Wednesday. “It is time the world understood Israelis’ lives are not expendable.” “I’m afraid this is the only language the Palestinians understand, and this is the language in which we’ll speak to them. I have many Gazan Palestinian friends who live as Hamas hostages. Once we bring an end to the rocket fire, Gaza’s residents will also live in peace,” he said.”

Wonder if this guy ever thought of becoming an American. I would welcome him, he would be valuable on our southern border.

“Dad, we are going to die,” one of the “Moslem” children said.

...and a month ago they were in school learning why Jews were pigs and apes and that it was okay to kill them...

No matter how much pressure Israel puts on the Islamic residents - they will not accept the fact that their own leaders and mindset that is trapped in 7th Century Arabia exposed them to this present danger.

Iraq was no different...the local villages had not ONE WORD to say to the militias that set up next to them in the fields and rained Chinese 107mm and 122mm Grad rockets onto our location and 60mm mortars - UNTIL, we started firing back with 120mm Mortars did the local villagers then deem it important to come talk with us...it was okay up to that point we were being wounded and in danger of being killed, but that didn’t matter to them until their own families were in range of our tubes...Protect Israel and let the ret of them kill each each other over who’s goign to control Islam and who isn’t...

they are not “protecting the people”- they are using them as human shields, placing rocket launchers in their neighborhoods and arms caches in their schools mosques and hospitals

Saddam Hussein did the same thing in his wars, I remember DESERT STORM he packed one of his underground command bunkers with civilians and over 100 were killed - journalists staying in a Baghdad hotel were shielding the military bunker that lay underneath it- and we remember Saddam the creeper coaxing little “Stuart” to his arms as he used foreign civilian hostages as shields for his military sites before Bush41 launched the war

how many modern cultures have acted this way? choosing civilian death as a tool against the “enemy”?
Vietnamese, Japanese WW2, Arabs... others?

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