Israeli air strikes have killed nearly 300 Palestinians in two days of bombing (Fady Adwan propaimages)
GAZA IS under attack by one of the most deadly military machines on the planet--with even worse to come as Israel masses troops for a threatened ground invasion.Starting at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, Israel's F-16 jet fighters and Apache helicopters, supplied by the U.S., unleashed a punishing assault on targets of every kind--police stations, mosques, hospitals, media outlets, community centers and buildings owned by the Hamas party.Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world, so the "precision strikes" supposedly aimed at "Hamas militants" were bound to take a toll on the civilian population.
By late Sunday night, the official death toll after 36 hours of killing stood at nearly 300.Meanwhile, Israeli ground forces and tanks were stationed at the border, and the military announced it was calling up its reserves, an ominous sign that the scale of the atrocities could grow worse.Israel's all-out offensive caused fury across the Middle East. Thousands took to the streets to protest Israel's assault and the silence of many Arab regimes as the slaughter of Palestinians was broadcast on television news stations. In several places, anger was directed at the Egyptian government for its unwillingness to open its border with Gaza to relieve the pressure from Israel's crippling siege of the last 18 months.
In the U.S., antiwar coalitions, human rights groups and others organized emergency-response actions, drawing hundreds to demonstrations in cities across the U.S. More protests will take place this week; a national day of action has been called for Tuesday.
Israel's attack began with simultaneous air raids on more than 30 targets. Within the first nine hours, the Israeli military reported it had dropped more than 100 tons of bombs. Not since the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel began its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, have Palestinians in Gaza been subjected to such an outburst of destruction.
In an interview, Dr. Haider Eid relayed the horror as he talked about conditions in Gaza:
"I live in Gaza City itself, where most of the air strikes took place. The attacks came just as schoolchildren were returning home from school. It was absolutely horrible. The timing was chosen to cause a massacre.I rushed to the Shifa hospital--along with ambulances, cars and trucks that were also streaming to the hospital with the wounded. I stood in front of the gate. I don't like to see the mangled bodies, but this was especially horrible. Cars carried dismembered bodies, detached legs and arms and heads.The part of this that I'm still trying to cope with are the bodies of the children. This is something you don't wish on your worst enemies, to tell you the truth. The morgue at the hospital is the largest in Gaza City, but it ran out of space to keep the bodies."
As he talked, a thunderous noise drowned out Haider's voice.
"Oh my God! A huge explosion just took place as I'm speaking with you," said Haider. "That was very close. Oh my God! Another one! I'm sorry. I must go."
Haider hung up to check on his relatives, and subsequent attempts to reach him have so far been unsuccessful.
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