Gaza hospital bears conflict’s brunt
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hundreds of people were packed into the Al Shifa Hospital plaza, eagerly awaiting the arrival of an Arab League delegation of foreign ministers. A platform with news cameras had been set up, along with a movie screen fl ashing images of patients injured during days of airstrikes. A boy wandered around with a kettle and a thermos, hawking coffee and tea, 50 cents per plastic cup.
Suddenly, just after 2 p. m., the crowd was startled skyward as militants near the hospital fired a missile — most likely one that landed near Jerusalem. In an instant, anticipation gave way to fear and horror as Israel fired back, explosion after explosion in the distance.
Then, the sound of sirens roared up the circular driveway, signaling what would become the bloodiest afternoon yet in the sevenday firefight with Israel.
First six ambulances, one after the other, unloading the bodies of men identified as militants, at least two of them decapitated. Then, three more, this time with children, dead and injured. Another ambulance rushed in, then quickly sped back out to collect more wounded.
Even the medics unloading the bodies grimaced.
“There’s a real massacre now,” said Fawzi Barhoum, the Hamas spokesman, who was at the hospital waiting for the diplomatic delegation. “At the same time when the Arab leaders came to Gaza, 10 persons are killed. At this moment, kids playing soccer are hit. It is a clear refl ection of the mind and the thought of the occupation, thinking how to kill more and more Palestinians.”
It remains unclear whether the intense afternoon bombing was in retaliation for the Jerusalem strike, the second in five days, or an effort to take out as many targets as possible while final details of a cease- fire deal were being discussed. Some 200 rockets also flew from Gaza into Israel on Tuesday, hitting the southern cities of Beersheba and Ashdod as well as the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon LeZion; an Israeli soldier was killed, along with a civilian, bringing the Israeli death toll to five.
The violence, which health offi cials said brought the Palestinian death toll to more than 130 — including 31 children and at least 40 fighters — may complicate the efforts of the Hamas government to persuade people, especially rival factions, to abide a cease- fire.
“Revenge, revenge,” the throng chanted as the bodies were brought inside the hospital. “Qassam Brigades, get revenge for us.”
Al Shifa, the largest of Gaza’s six public hospitals, has become a community hub over the past week. With airstrikes hitting homes, government offi ces and open areas, people saw it as a rare safe haven. Some came to hold the hands of wounded relatives in its crowded wards. Others just came. There was little else to do.