Israeli “cease-fire” shelling continues
It is Day Five of the cease fire, and the Israeli gunboats are booming off the Mediterranean coast.
It’s barely dawn and the Israeli warships off the Gaza Strip coast are opening fire on the small Palestinian fishing boats a few hundred yards off the shore. The Palestinians pulling in their meager hauls from the cloudy, sewage-saturated waters try to ignore the incoming fire that splashes in the waters around them.
The Israeli ships enforcing a Naval blockage of Gaza have been firing on the fisherman every morning in an apparent attempt to keep them from getting too far from shore.
But this morning, Thursday, Jan. 22nd, the Israeli fire blasts through the morning all along the coastline. Then the Israeli fire gets closer to shore. By late morning, five Palestinians, including a little girl, have been wounded by the Israeli cease fire shelling.
This is post-war Gaza.
Whole neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble. Dozens of mosque minarets precariously hang at awkward angles. Dirt tank berms have become new playgrounds for Gaza City kids.
It has become easier to give people directions to our Gaza City apartment: Drive down the road and turn off at the sewage-filled bomb crater. Palestinians wait in long lines at UN warehouses to fill up cooking gas canisters.
In Rafah, scores of Palestinians have already begun to dig out their smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border.
Continue reading. And read this excellent post at Firedoglake for more information, including the instructions given to Israeli soldiers.
