SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A View from Gaza: We Hug the Children as the Bombs Fall
GAZA - Written Between 3 am and 4 am early Wednesday morning, July 9, 2014.
The Israeli warships continue shelling... It is dark.
I do not know what is going on and I can hear successive bombing. I am thinking of all the people I know tonight, especially my colleagues at the hospitals who are working under severe pressure and lacking basic medical supplies. Stay strong.
"I do not have any comment...
I leave it to you to comment."
Jul 09, 2014
GAZA - Written Between 3 am and 4 am early Wednesday morning, July 9, 2014.
The Israeli warships continue shelling... It is dark.
I do not know what is going on and I can hear successive bombing. I am thinking of all the people I know tonight, especially my colleagues at the hospitals who are working under severe pressure and lacking basic medical supplies. Stay strong.
"I do not have any comment...
I leave it to you to comment."
I heard they bombed the area around the European hospital east of Khan Younis in Southern Gaza... Then the hospital was directly targeted. The hospital wall was damaged at 1 am due to the strong shelling. Then shelling continued with approximately 30 airstrikes.
'A View from Gaza' |
|---|
|
When civilians took refuge at the hospital, they targeted it again.
The roof of the intensive care unit was damaged and the windows were blown out. Now at around 3 am, six patients inside the intensive care unit and 20 children inside the pediatric ward have had to be evacuated.
At the hospital, two injuries were reported, including one nurse.
I do not have any comment... I leave it to you to comment. For me, this is nothing new. This is normal behavior of the Israeli army.
Human rights violations against health centers and workers have always been the case when Israel invades.
On a personal level, I am thinking of all people, especially my cousins, who took refuge in the hospital.
At 4:15 am, there were explosions very close to my apartment. The Gaza port was just hit with at one least bomb. Nobody in Palestine is asleep tonight.
Oh no! It is next to my building, so loud I am on the floor with neighbors and children, who are so terrified and shocked.
Shattered windows terrify the children... These are vicious attacks... We are all on the floor.
An hour later, we hug each other while the children cling to adults... The bombs are so close.
Now, after a few minutes, I distract the neighbors' kids by showing some nice drawings sent with love and solidarity from Canada and Australia. The children laugh. I say, at this moment life is stronger than death. One day justice will prevail.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Mona El Farra
Dr. Mona El-Farra, Director of Gaza Projects for the Middle East Children's Alliance, is a physician by training and a human rights and women's rights activist by practice in the occupied Gaza Strip. She was born in Khan Younis, Gaza and has dedicated herself to developing community based programs that aim to improve health quality and link health services with cultural and recreation services all over the Gaza Strip. Dr. El-Farra is also the Health Chair of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society of the Gaza Strip and a member of the Union of Health Work Committees. Dr. El-Farra has a son, two daughters, and two grandchildren.
GAZA - Written Between 3 am and 4 am early Wednesday morning, July 9, 2014.
The Israeli warships continue shelling... It is dark.
I do not know what is going on and I can hear successive bombing. I am thinking of all the people I know tonight, especially my colleagues at the hospitals who are working under severe pressure and lacking basic medical supplies. Stay strong.
"I do not have any comment...
I leave it to you to comment."
I heard they bombed the area around the European hospital east of Khan Younis in Southern Gaza... Then the hospital was directly targeted. The hospital wall was damaged at 1 am due to the strong shelling. Then shelling continued with approximately 30 airstrikes.
'A View from Gaza' |
|---|
|
When civilians took refuge at the hospital, they targeted it again.
The roof of the intensive care unit was damaged and the windows were blown out. Now at around 3 am, six patients inside the intensive care unit and 20 children inside the pediatric ward have had to be evacuated.
At the hospital, two injuries were reported, including one nurse.
I do not have any comment... I leave it to you to comment. For me, this is nothing new. This is normal behavior of the Israeli army.
Human rights violations against health centers and workers have always been the case when Israel invades.
On a personal level, I am thinking of all people, especially my cousins, who took refuge in the hospital.
At 4:15 am, there were explosions very close to my apartment. The Gaza port was just hit with at one least bomb. Nobody in Palestine is asleep tonight.
Oh no! It is next to my building, so loud I am on the floor with neighbors and children, who are so terrified and shocked.
Shattered windows terrify the children... These are vicious attacks... We are all on the floor.
An hour later, we hug each other while the children cling to adults... The bombs are so close.
Now, after a few minutes, I distract the neighbors' kids by showing some nice drawings sent with love and solidarity from Canada and Australia. The children laugh. I say, at this moment life is stronger than death. One day justice will prevail.
Mona El Farra
Dr. Mona El-Farra, Director of Gaza Projects for the Middle East Children's Alliance, is a physician by training and a human rights and women's rights activist by practice in the occupied Gaza Strip. She was born in Khan Younis, Gaza and has dedicated herself to developing community based programs that aim to improve health quality and link health services with cultural and recreation services all over the Gaza Strip. Dr. El-Farra is also the Health Chair of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society of the Gaza Strip and a member of the Union of Health Work Committees. Dr. El-Farra has a son, two daughters, and two grandchildren.
GAZA - Written Between 3 am and 4 am early Wednesday morning, July 9, 2014.
The Israeli warships continue shelling... It is dark.
I do not know what is going on and I can hear successive bombing. I am thinking of all the people I know tonight, especially my colleagues at the hospitals who are working under severe pressure and lacking basic medical supplies. Stay strong.
"I do not have any comment...
I leave it to you to comment."
I heard they bombed the area around the European hospital east of Khan Younis in Southern Gaza... Then the hospital was directly targeted. The hospital wall was damaged at 1 am due to the strong shelling. Then shelling continued with approximately 30 airstrikes.
'A View from Gaza' |
|---|
|
When civilians took refuge at the hospital, they targeted it again.
The roof of the intensive care unit was damaged and the windows were blown out. Now at around 3 am, six patients inside the intensive care unit and 20 children inside the pediatric ward have had to be evacuated.
At the hospital, two injuries were reported, including one nurse.
I do not have any comment... I leave it to you to comment. For me, this is nothing new. This is normal behavior of the Israeli army.
Human rights violations against health centers and workers have always been the case when Israel invades.
On a personal level, I am thinking of all people, especially my cousins, who took refuge in the hospital.
At 4:15 am, there were explosions very close to my apartment. The Gaza port was just hit with at one least bomb. Nobody in Palestine is asleep tonight.
Oh no! It is next to my building, so loud I am on the floor with neighbors and children, who are so terrified and shocked.
Shattered windows terrify the children... These are vicious attacks... We are all on the floor.
An hour later, we hug each other while the children cling to adults... The bombs are so close.
Now, after a few minutes, I distract the neighbors' kids by showing some nice drawings sent with love and solidarity from Canada and Australia. The children laugh. I say, at this moment life is stronger than death. One day justice will prevail.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.