“Shabbat Shalom” in Gaza

A sunny Saturday in Gaza became very dark as pillars of smoke blacked out the sky of the coastal territory, while the smell of blood was everywhere.

In Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, three family members, including a father, a son and a nephew, were all killed as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the Rafah police station. The victims were present at the Rafah police station for a routine matter, when the Israeli air strikes occurred. They did not know that their fate awaited them right there on this "Shabbat Shalom."

That is one example of the killings at what Israel alleges were Hamas "terrorist" outposts. At dozens of locations, entire buildings were torn down, windows of homes were smashed and countless cars damaged. Under the rubble lay dozens of corpses. About 60 Israeli F-16 warplanes attacked up to 100 targets in Gaza today, mainly police stations and charities run by Hamas. One of the Israeli missiles landed in the sports field of the Islamic University of Gaza, home to more than 18,000 students.

Al-Shifa hospital alone, Gaza's largest, received scores of bodies, and hundreds of injured. According to Dr. Moawiya Abu Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance service at the Hamas-run health ministry, the Israeli air assaults on Gaza claimed the lives of 228 and wounded about 700 others, 120 critically.

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