We arrived inside Gaza at 5pm last night. We were met by Anees, a 23
year old Gazan. He has guided us around the community. When we first
came in tonight, kids were playing soccer in the street. We saw lots
of heavily damaged buildings, especially government buildings and homes
near border.
There was no electricity when we first arrived. Later it came on for a
while. People tell us that in some places electricity is on for 2
hours a day, other places as much as 6 hours a day.
We are spending the night in Rafah near Sea Street - about 450 meters
from border, about 1 and a half miles from the Egypt border crossing.
Also staying with us is Dr. Jim Jennings of Conscience International
who is delivering medicines. Anees told us we could not stay with his
family, because their house is near the border and that is too
dangerous. So he arranged for us to stay in the home of a friend of
his, Abed. The rest of Abed's family fled. Only Abed is here in the
home with us. People brought us food and tea. Their hospitality to us
is amazing.
Anees told us tonight that he has no longer wants to make new friends
because so many of his have died. A new friend may die tomorrow or
disappear. He knew Rachel Corrie and she was the main reason he
learned English. Others told us Anees went under fire to help Tom
Hurndall get to the hospital when he was shot by IDF snipers.
At 12:24 am, we were asleep when suddenly bombs started falling. There
were explosions about every 11 minutes. There were very loud noises
and big bursts of light and everything shook. We could not tell where
the bombs were hitting. At 1 am a helicopter flew over and all the
electricity in the neighborhood went out.
It is hard to imagine kids and families going through this night after night.
This is all we can write right now. Please work to stop the bombing.