Fear pervades lives of Gazans caught up in fighting

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Blocked from all sides with no means of escape, Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped in the battlefield between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops.

"Where should we go? No place is safe in this merciless war Israel is waging against us," said Umm Mohammad of Tal al-Hawa, a neighborhood in the city of Gaza where Israeli troops battled militants overnight.

Israeli tanks tightened their hold around the city of Gaza on Tuesday, the 18th day of an offensive Israel launched with the stated goal of ending years of rocket attacks by Gaza militants on its southern cities.

A few blocks away from Umm Mohammad, a Palestinian who gave his name only as Khader spent the night huddled in a room with several relatives who had fled the northern Gaza Strip hoping to find a safe refuge in Gaza's densely populated urban centers.

"They (Israeli troops) are close by. I feel as if the tank is about to run into our house. We are all in one room," Khader told Reuters by telephone to the rumble of advancing Israeli tanks.

An explosion interrupted the night-time conversation.

"I think a tank has been hit," Khader muttered. "Other tanks are approaching ... They're going crazy, firing from all directions."

With a towering Israeli fence to the east and north, the Israeli navy monitoring the coast and Egypt reluctant to open its border to the south, there is little hope of escape for most Gazans.

FRUSTRATION

Umm Mohammad is frustrated with what she describes as Israel's excessive use of force.

"The Israeli people should be ashamed of their army. Twenty tanks are fighting a group of young gunmen. And they don't want to fight them face-to-face," she said.

Israel has come under a barrage of criticism from European and Arab countries over its heavy use of fire which has killed more than 900 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

Israeli leaders said the military was trying to avoid hitting non-combatants and that Hamas was operating in densely populated areas, using civilians as human shields.

U.S. President George W. Bush, whose country is the Jewish state's main ally, blamed Hamas rocket attacks for the violence.

But Arab condemnation has done little to allay Palestinian anger, exacerbated by a feeling that they had been left to face the Middle East's mightiest army alone.