G is for Gaza

My roommate woke up this morning to a text message from her Palestinian “friend” telling her to look at the news, at that point the death counts weren’t in and the news was still shocking. Now we know that over 200 people in Gaza have been killed and over 600 injured after Israeli airstrikes hit the Hamas security facilities. This is the highest one day death toll in decades.

I know the problems in this area of the world of so deep-rooted that an end is never in sight and I know that this Israeli attack was in response to Hamas’s refusal to end its rocket fire in Israel, but to hear of such death and first from someone who grew up in that part of the world (can’t even say country) is heartbreaking. People all deserve there own land, I know I am ignorant, but it seems so simple.

The photos in the New York Times are hard to even look at and this excerpt is chilling.

There was a shocking quality to Saturday’s attacks that began in broad daylight, as police cadets were graduating, women were shopping at the outdoor market and children were emerging from school.

The center of Gaza City was a scene of chaotic horror, with rubble everywhere, sirens wailing, and women shrieking as dozens of mutilated bodies were laid out on the pavement and in the lobby of Shifa Hospital so that family members could identify them.