Alive in Gaza

[Editor's Note: This is the first of what we hope will be many dispatches from our first correspondent in Gaza, Mohamed Al-Jabowe. Please leave comments with any suggestions, comments, or criticism. We have just begun working with him and hope to see his skills improve quickly. We understand the situation in Gaza is constantly changing and there are many interpretations. We will work to maintain distance from the subject, but as we will primarily be focused on the lives and experiences of those living in Gaza, we may err. Your comments are always welcome.]

According to our staff member Mohamed Al-Jabowe,

Gaza – The situation is not improving inside the strip, due to the constant bombing by the Israeli Army in the northern and middle areas of the strip. A battle started today between Hamas’ Marine forces and the Israeli Naval forces. The situation here is like a cage burning from the inside. UNRWA aid is not reaching families inside the strip. We heard today on the news that the Israeli government allowed UNWRA aid to arrive to the strip and stated they would not target any of the UNRWA employees. Despite this, we still did not receive any of that aid. We did not have any electricity for quite a long time where we live. We have only one container of gas left, because we stored some in our house, but when this tube is over we will have to cook and heat and prepare our food with wood fuel.

Most of the bombing today were in the northern side of the strip. While am writing this post I can hear the sounds of the missiles and sounds of gunshots from far away. My cousin has a Satellite TV system that works by a Car battery , and what I see now in the news has nothing to do with reality, the loss of life must be more than 800. It’s very difficult to have even one hour without sounds of explosions, and this what I have to post for now.

I will try to send you more information as soon as I have another chance. I have to go back and help my sister with getting milk for her baby. I hope I can make it alive back home tonight, ill keep you posted.

Before we have even been able to get our operation off the ground, tragedy has struck. Omar Ali Abumghaiseeb, cousin of Omar Abdullah, our project coordinator, was killed today in northern Gaza. Exact details are still unknown. Although Omar Ali is from Garrara in southern Gaza, he was apparently in a market, possibly in Gaza City, when he was killed during a bombing by Israeli forces today.

We are attempting to gather further information, but due to the poor infrastructure and difficulty of reaching Palestinians in Gaza by phone, we have not been able to clarify this information any further.

In the coming days we hope to begin producing regular blog, and possible audio and video content from individuals inside Gaza. To provide wider context about life in Gaza we will also attempt to begin providing analysis and background on the situation in Gaza in the recent past.

If you wish to support our work, please consider making a paypal donation to smallworldnews (at) gmail dot com, and be sure to specify “Alive in Gaza” in your payment summary. We are also desperate for material aid and translation help. Please feel free to contact us if you might be able to assist in any way.