In Gaza war, violent death part of daily life The airstrike that crushed the Najam family home in this refugee camp set in motion a grim but increasingly familiar process as the Gaza war claims victim after victim. A search through the rubble for bodies and body parts. Relatives claiming the dead from the morgue. Then a swift burial in a hastily dug grave with a cardboard name tag instead of a tombstone. With such tragedies becoming routine, most Palestinians are responding with a measure of sobriety to the violent deaths that are now part of daily life in Gaza. Some suppress their grief behind a faith that the dead are martyrs in the fight against Israel and destined to go to heaven. Others are just too preoccupied with their own survival to mourn. Nearly 1,900 Palestinians have died since Israel launched a campaign of airstrikes against Hamas-ruled Gaza on July 8 in response to weeks of rocket attacks into Israel by Hamas and other Gaza militants. More than 60 Israelis, mostly soldiers, have been killed in the war. While the Palestinian militant groups openly aim their rockets and mortar shells at Israeli cities hoping to harm civilians, Israel says it is strictly targeting launch sites as well as militants who often embed themselves among Palestinian civilians. Israel also has said it is doing its utmost to avoid harm to civilians, urging them in phone calls, leaflets and text messages to leave areas about to be attacked. Nevertheless, most of the Palestinians killed have been civilians — and they include some 400 children.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 05:11:24 +0000
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