Fear and death in equal measure for Gazans

As Israel faced resistance in its ground incursion into Gaza Strip on the 11th day of its operation, fear and death go hand in hand for Gazans.

The casualties rose yesterday in Gaza where Seyyid Ramiz, the brother of 11-year-old Muhammad, who was killed on a beach while playing football on July 16, spoke to daily Hürriyet.

“The ball had gone to the sea. A missile struck when Mohammad and his friends went to retrieve it. Four children died, four others were wounded,” Seyyid Ramiz said in a state of shock.

Selva Subhi, their mother, accepted condolences with a poster of Mohammad on the wall.

“Israel confiscated two of my fishing boats. They haven’t let me send one of my sons to Israel for heart treatment,” Ramiz Bakir, the father, told Hürriyet at their home in the Mina neighborhood.

Relatives of the three remaining victims were at the same house at another house in the next street when I visited on July 17, just after iftar. Attat Ahid, who lost his 11-year-old brother Zekeriya and his 10-year-old son Ahid in the same attack, is mournful. “There was no rocket fire from where the children were playing. Israel hits any group that it deems too crowded,” he utters.

“Where can these people go? Everywhere is being bombed. They can’t go to Israel and the Egyptian border is also closed. There is nowhere to run,” says a Red Cross official who has been working in Gaza for the past six months.

Stores in the territory are closed, but there was still movement on the main street on July 17, as rockets have failed to prevent children from playing on the streets. No one seems to fear the Israeli rockets that are destined to fall within just a few...