Fragile ceasefire seemingly holds between Israel, Islamic Jihad
Broken cinder blocks and twisted metal. All that's left of an apartment building once home to more than 40 people. Saturday afternoon, a call came from someone identifying himself as Rami from the Israeli military. Leave the building now or we're going to bomb it," he told Hassan in the pan. Don't bomb the whole building, Hassan pleaded. Just hit the apartment of the guilty person. There are disabled people here.
Once the building was empty, it was bombed. No one was killed or injured. Between you and me, I thought he was joking, Hassan told me. I didn't expect a house with disabled people would be destroyed. Impossible. Reached for comment, the Israeli military didn't go into specifics, merely claiming they struck command and control centers used by Islamic jihad for the planning of terrorist activities against Israel. Building residents insisted they didn't know who the target was.
Whoever it might have been, this is the result. Dozens of people left without a roof over their heads. We need a home, says Palestine. The rest we can get, but 45 people now need a home. Her neighbor, Bilal Nabhan, is in shock. We don't have a bed to sleep on. We don't have clothing to wear, he says.
We've lost everything. With only scattered ceasefire violations, calm has returned for now. Gaza's markets are open again. For the more than two million residents cooped up in this narrow strip of land, there is no expectation of lasting peace. 56-year-old Musallam Abutcher has lived through all Gaza's woes. The conflict, he says, will continue until judgment day. Armed struggle isn't the priority for most here.
They're weary of it all. Look, not just me. All Palestinians are tired, says Said, the government worker. Me, you, all of us. People worry about their children, about their homes. Faded as they are trying to find their way through this never-ending vortex of sporadic violence. Ben-Wiedemann, CNN, Gaza.
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