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Sights and sounds of Israel's Gaza offensive
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli offensive against Islamist Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip has had a big impact on the lives of civilians on both sides of the enclave's border and has raised tensions in the West Bank.
Here are some sights and sounds of the conflict.
"If you have rockets, if you have ammunition in your house, leave it," Israeli forces tell Palestinians in Gaza in telephone messages.
"Leave your house, it will be bombed soon," some are told.
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Most of Gaza's 1.5 million people are not only confined to their homes but are sticking to the room, or sofa corner, furthest from windows and flying glass.
"We sleep in the kitchen and either me or my husband goes with any child who wants to use the bathroom," says Umm Hussam, a mother of seven. "At no time do we leave the kids unattended, they tremble each time there is a bombing."
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In the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, a 20-minute drive up the coast in peacetime, the alert sounds when a Gaza rocket launch is detected, giving maybe a minute's warning to get to a shelter. Most Israeli homes have hardened bomb-proof rooms.
On Monday, this did not save a man working outside in a construction crew. "I'm standing next to the body," Ashkelon's mayor tells Israeli radio live from the scene. "I'm sorry to tell you we have one fatality."
"The Qassam Brigades rocketed occupied al-Majdal (Ashkelon) with a Grad rocket and the Zionist enemy admitted the death of a Zionist and the wounding of others," a Hamas statement says.
The victim turned out to be an Arab Israeli, not a Jew.
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Hundreds of people walk in the funeral of five sisters killed by a strike in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, and mourners call on Islamic militants to "Bomb Tel Aviv."
But space is running out in the local cemetery so they are buried in three graves, one for the eldest and two each for the other two little sisters.
People are reopening old family plots to bury the dead, afraid of using a graveyard close to the Gaza-Israel border.
Stores are running out as people hoard food.
"It is war. People are buying everything they can find. But actually there's not much to buy," says Osama, a young supermarket owner.
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Most top Hamas people are staying underground to avoid what Israel calls the targeted killing of militants. Hamas gunmen in plainclothes watch the streets to keep order but summary justice is dispensed.
Near Gaza City's Shifa hospital, a man on a motorbike fires three bullets into the head and chest of a fellow Palestinian, in a lethal settling of scores with those suspected of collaboration with Israel. Residents say he is the second suspected collaborator killed in 24 hours.
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A Palestinian electrician well known in the occupied West Bank settlement of Kiryat Sefer suddenly starts stabbing and slashing Israelis. Three are wounded before he is shot and wounded by an armed passerby. There is no immediate proof that anger over Gaza is his motive but he is taken into custody.
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In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Palestinian protesters, mostly young, throw rocks at Palestinian police, repeating the highly unusual scene from the day before in the West Bank city of Hebron, where Palestinian forces open fire on pro-Hamas Palestinian stone throwers. Seasoned television editors have to view their tapes twice to be sure the soldiers are not Israelis.
(Writing by Douglas Hamilton, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
