'There were shells, rockets everywhere'
As Israeli troops move deeper into Gaza, Hazem Balousha and Chris McGreal speak to people inside the besieged territory
Hazem Balousha in Gaza City and Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 January 2009
It has never been like this before. The assault is coming from the sky, the sea and the ground. The explosion of shells, the gunfire from the tanks and the missiles from planes and helicopters are incessant. The sky is laced with smoke, grey here, black there, as the array of weaponry leaves its distinctive trail.
Most Gazans can only cower in terror in whatever shelter they can find and guess at the cost exacted by each explosion as the toll for those on the receiving end rises remorselessly.
As Israeli forces carved up the Gaza Strip yesterday, dividing the territory in two , the UN warned of a "catastrophe unfolding" for a "trapped, traumatised, terrorised" population.
<snip>
Eric Fosse, a Norwegian doctor there, said Hamas fighters were a small minority of the casualties brought in. "This hospital has been filled up with patients," he added. This morning they
bombed the fruit market. There were a large number of casualties.
"We became like a field hospital. There were two patients at a time in the operating rooms and we were operating on other people in the corridors. Some were dying before we could get to them."
<snip>.
"Only three of the dead are from Hamas, the rest are civilians," Hasanian said. "There are many children under 18. There are many in critical condition. We are working under pressure. It's not easy to work with bombs and air strikes everywhere. It's not easy for ambulances to move."
<more>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/04/israelandthepalestinians-middleeast
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