Free Republic

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The birth of their daughter should have marked the beginning of a joyful chapter for the young Palestinian couple. Instead, the devastating war in Gaza, now in its third month, has turned childbirth and parenthood into a time of worry and fear for Salim and Israa al-Jamala. First, they endured a perilous journey, dodging missile fire, to reach a maternity ward. And now, the couple is sheltering with their newborn in the partially tented courtyard of another hospital where they can’t care properly for their now 3-week-old daughter, her mother’s namesake. His wife’s breast...

Israel's military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells. Nearly 1 million Palestinians have fled the north, including its urban center, Gaza City, as ground combat intensified. When the war ends, any relief will quickly be overshadowed by dread as displaced families come to terms with the scale of the calamity and what it means for their future. Where would they live? Who would eventually run Gaza...

New satellite images of Gaza show the extent of the destruction caused by Israel's intense aerial bombardment of the territory over the past three weeks. The pictures, released by Maxar Technologies, compare detailed images captured from space earlier this week with images from before the recent conflict began. They show three areas in the north of Gaza where aerial attacks have left dozens of tower blocks completely destroyed or badly damaged as well as large areas of tightly packed buildings reduced to piles of grey rubble.

Defiant Gazans who refused to evacuate after Israel gave them 24 hours before launching an all-out assault have claimed they would rather die than leave their homes. While some heeded the call to leave, by Friday afternoon there was little sign of a mass exodus, despite the UN warning the area is 'fast becoming a hellhole'. 'Death is better than leaving,' said Mohammad, 20, standing in the street outside a building reduced to rubble in an Israeli air strike two days ago near the centre of Gaza. 'I was born here, and I will die here, leaving is a stigma.'...

This picture freezes a smart bomb dropped by IAF on a Gaza building.

We lack water, electricity, fuel, and our besieged services are staggering under the massive numbers of injured. No one is safe ... The bombardment of Gaza is now constant. My nine-year-old asked me if he would go to heaven or hell Mahmoud Shalabi We lack water, electricity, fuel, and our besieged services are staggering under the massive numbers of injured. No one is safe Here in Gaza, what is happening under Israeli military bombardment has never been seen before. Homes are being destroyed without residents being warned. Israeli missiles are hitting high-rise buildings, mosques, streets – and we are asking...

The sole power plant in Gaza officially ran out of fuel on Wednesday amid fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and was shut down. Israel cut off supplies — including food, water, fuel and medicine — to the area after Hamas, who controls the Gaza Strip, launched a surprise attack over the weekend. The access point into Egypt was also closed on Tuesday as a result of airstrikes. Counterattacks from Israel have destroyed neighborhoods in Gaza — home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians. At least 2,200 have been killed on both sides, officials said.

The US military has intensified its offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq, staging 38 more raids based on information uncovered during the hunt that led to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi... The al-Qaida appeals suggested al-Zarqawi's network may be feeling the heat from the US raids, which have extended beyond Hibhib to include a series of locations in and around Baghdad. ...Major General William Caldwell displayed a suicide belt, explosives and Iraqi army uniforms uncovered in 17 raids conducted in the immediate aftermath of al-Zarqawi's death. The raids targeted people whom the US had been monitoring in the build-up to...

IT'S OFFICIAL: 2005 WILL BE the newspaper industry's worst year since the last ad industry recession. And things aren't looking much better for next year either, according to a top Wall Street firm's report on newspaper publishing. "Sadly, 2005 is shaping up as the industry's worst year from a revenue growth perspective since the recession impacted 2001-2002 period," says the report from Goldman Sachs, adding a warning that meaningful growth in 2006 is "very unlikely."