Subscribe

RSS Feed (xml)

Powered By

Skin Design:
Free Blogger Skins

Powered by Blogger

Senin, 05 Januari 2009

Death and fear grip Gaza City

GAZA CITY: The scene inside 'Palestine Square', where shrapnel rained down on dozens of shoppers who dared leave their homes in Gaza City yesterday, was one of utter bedlam. "Where is Nadia, my daughter, where is she?" screamed one frantic shopper, who turned out to be luckier than most. Nadia was hiding in a clothing store, safe but scared.

Israel's deadly shelling of Gaza City's central market sent a terrifyingly clear message to already traumatised residents: no place was safe now that its ground offensive had begun.

Medics said five Palestinians were killed, all of them civilians.

Another 40 wounded Palestinians were bundled into private cars for the harrowing drive to Shifa hospital, which has been overwhelmed by the wounded. Its floors are stained red by blood.

With fighting raging nearby, Gaza City's streets looked largely deserted. The loudest sounds were ambulance sirens and explosions. The sky was filled with smoke.

Frantic families fled advancing Israeli troops by car and on foot. Stores were shuttered and long queues formed outside the few open bakeries, with those residents who decided to stay stocking up on goods for fear of a protracted conflict.

At Shifa hospital, a foreign doctor volunteering for the Red Crescent, described "nightmare" conditions for patients, young and old, many horribly disfigured by flying shrapnel and fire.

Israel's tank and troop assault on the Gaza Strip has unleashed cries of alarm worldwide, but it has won heavyweight US backing and moves for an immediate ceasefire foundered at the UN.

The Security Council failed to agree on a statement calling for a ceasefire after the US argued that a return to the situation that existed before Israel's ground invasion was unacceptable.

"The efforts we are making internationally are designed to establish a sustainable, durable ceasefire that's respected by all," US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said.

The offensive was condemned across the Middle East, with Egypt saying the UN Security Council's silence on Israel's eight-day campaign of air strikes had effectively given it "a green light" for the ground assault.

Offensive

The GCC yesterday blasted the UN Security Council for failing to agree on a resolution. Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al Attiyah also called on incoming US president Barack Obama to give priority to the Palestinian cause.

"This aggression is the expected and usual result of international silence toward Israeli arrogance," he said.

"The new American administration should give priority to the Palestinian issue to establish a comprehensive peace in the region," he said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Israel's incursion into the impoverished territory was in "brazen defiance" of international calls to end the offensive.

He also called for the creation of humanitarian corridors in Gaza to allow food and medicine to be brought in.

Jordan's King Abdullah demanded that the Security Council issue a resolution to end Israel's "aggression" on the Gaza Strip.

Kuwait called on the UN to take immediate action to halt "Israeli crimes and massacres" in the Gaza Strip while Turkey urged the world body to take the necessary steps to bring the situation under control and condemned the "unacceptable" offensive.

Pope Benedict called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to "act immediately to end the current tragic situation" in the Gaza Strip.

The pontiff deplored the "refusal to dialogue" which has resulted in an "indescribable worsening" of conditions through ground fighting for the coastal strip's population, "once again the victims of hatred and war".

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown echoed grave European concerns when he said the ground offensive was a "very dangerous moment" in the conflict, and called for increased efforts to rapidly secure a ceasefire.

"I can see the Gaza issues for the Palestinians - that they need humanitarian aid - but the Israelis must have some assurance that there are no rocket attacks coming into Israel," he said.

"So first we need an immediate ceasefire, and that includes a stopping of the rockets into Israel," Brown said.

Russia dispatched President Dmitry Medvedev's special envoy for the Middle East, Alexander Saltanov, to the region, hoping it could help bring about a ceasefire.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said European nations stand ready to contribute international monitors to help keep the peace.

Unjustified

The EU pledged $4.6 million (BD1.7m) in emergency aid to the Gaza Strip as a high-level delegation left for the Mideast in a diplomatic push for a ceasefire.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the decision to send troops into Gaza was a "dangerous military escalation".

In Asia, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the Israeli offensive was "unjustified" and called for an immediate halt to the fighting.

India also called for an "immediate" halt to Israel's offensive and said the Jewish state was using excessive military force.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso warned that Israel's ground offensive would only aggravate difficulties for all concerned.

There was outrage in Africa as well.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who also holds the presidency of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, called the Israeli ground offensive a "flagrant violation of the most elementary principles of international law"

The organisation yesterday said it was launching a humanitarian relief operation for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The 57-member Jeddah-based body will organise support from governments and civic organisations and private businesses in order to provide Gazans with basic humanitarian assistance, its chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.

China called for the armed conflict to end. "We strongly call on the concerned sides to immediately cease military activities and armed conflict and prevent more civilian casualties," the foreign ministry said.

Thousands of people in Indonesia rallied across the country to condemn the strikes and called on the government to send troops to fight Israeli forces.

source: Antara