Why even today, when the Russians kindly issued their condemnation a Qassam landed in a school and destroyed a classroom where several students were taking matriculation exams. Luckily the warning siren went off and the children managed to reach the safety room.
However, the Palios are at it in earnest: these are victims of the civil war raging in Gaza. I am posting these photos as evidence of internal Gazan violence. I hope the dishonest Gazan reporters will not republish them as victims of Israeli attacks.
A wounded Palestinian boy is rushed to a hospital following factional clashes at Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip. An alleged plot by Hamas militants to assassinate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was revealed on Thursday as deadly factional fighting resumed in Gaza and Israeli air strikes targeted the violence-wracked territory.(AFP/Said Khatib)
A wounded Palestinian man is wheeled on a stretcher after being injured by a mortar shell during clashes between rival Fatah and Hamas fighters as he arrives at hospital in Gaza City, Thursday, May 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Local residents fearing lethal reprisals talked on condition of anonymity to the Israeli press: "Hamas gunmen stop passing cars, commandeer them and shoot the drivers and passengers in the legs, even in the knees. As a consequence people are afraid to venture out of their homes. Hamas and Fatah gunmen attack each other's high ranking officials' residences or offices. People are dying in the streets like flies. Hamasniks believe that killing Fatah men is "halal" and will earn them a place in paradise. The dog Abu-Mazen is unable to take proper measures to stop the fighting. People are praying for "Israil" to reoccupy Gaza. The Palestinians do not have the right to live. "
I swear I heard these words several times on Israeli media. But I wouldn't count on IDF retaking Gaza. We just want to stop the rockets.
Then Khalil Hia, a Hamas official spoke to the press and condemned Fatah violence: "Gunmen chased people out of their homes and shot them in cold blood. A girl was forced to remove her hijab (now that may call for an honor killing) and was then shot BETWEEN THE LEGS (more honor killings required). Although she was bleeding she was released after several hours. Men were forced to strip and were then locked in basements."
Both factions are hiding in mosques and shooting at each other from (and therefore also into) their holy places. The media is still concentrating on the Hamas military command building destroyed by the IAF. And rightly so, that is where the aid money is going in lieu of buying food and medicine for the populace. Oh, dear! I can't blame the local journalists: they too have become victims of the civil war, a few are reported dead. They are afraid to go out and cover what is going on in the streets of Gaza (funny how they were always there heroically documenting Israeli aggression). It appears that journalists have been taking sides in the conflict, after all they are locals and allegiance is still very tribal in Gaza. Meaning that they can be liquidated by the rival factions.
So some had to spend the night in the TV building, while others were taking cover in adjoining buildings.
Now let's take a look at the humble abode (à la Saddam Hussein or Ceausecu) of pro-Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak in Gaza City where a Hamas raid killed five people. So this is how top brass lives in poverty-stricken Gaza. Once again, this is where the aid money goes. (Abu-Mazen himself lives in a 1.5 million dollar mansion. Haniyeh skimmed some 2 USD million or more from the 20 million in cash he received from Saudi Arabia).
This is where Mohammad al-Dalo (Hamas) used to live with his family before his encounter with Fatah death squads.
This is the entrance to another house in Gaza.
Before this round of violence we only saw the squalid neighborhoods of Gaza, because that served the busy anti-Israeli propaganda machine. Now the rotten corruption of the ruling clans is exposed.