In Arabic intifāḍa translates to rise up and shake off .
Palestine has always lived in the belly of Israel. 
Yesterday, President Barack Obama spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks and that “The United States remains prepared to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 cease-fire agreement.”
U.S. Media has been showing Israelis heading for bomb shelters but the residents of Gaza have nowhere to hide because their homes and towns have no bomb shelters!
Today from Gaza, Dr. Mona El-Farra wrote:
Gaza – Friday, July 11, Day 4 of the attack
Where shall I start? How shall I start?
Shall I start with the numbers which keep increasing and changing? 90 killed, mainly civilians. 600 injured. 140 demolished homes.
Or should I start by mentioning all the different areas of the Gaza Strip that have been constantly hit, day and night. Nonstop.
If it is only about numbers, then let me tell you all about thousands of Palestinian children who are terrified night after night, day after day by the sounds of the Israeli shelling.
The children have deep feelings of insecurity when it is dark.
And no shelters.
The Israeli army has restarted their punitive home demolition policy, illegal under international law. Yesterday a six-story building where my relatives live in Khan Younis was hit and levelled to the ground. 106 relatives were made homeless.
Even if the Israeli army’s goal was to punish one of Hamas activists, there is no justification for this cruel, brutal and collective punishment. Eight members of the Kawarea family were killed in Khan Younis when the jetfighters destroyed their home.
The Israeli army spokesman said sorry it was a mistake. What a gentle, well-behaved, and civilized army.
Walking through the streets of Gaza City where I live can be a real nightmare.
The drones and jetfighters are in the sky and you cannot anticipate what will happen in next minute.
Are they going to target a car behind you or in front of you? Will you be caught in the blast?
Will others will be dying right that minute somewhere else?
Will others will be forced to leave their home in 5 minutes only to be bombed 2 minutes later?
Yet despite the fear, I had to go to the Red Crescent Society of the Gaza Strip to be with the medical emergency team and help as much as I could.
This morning we received an injured deaf young man from Jabalia. He was working in a farm that was hit. Tens of cows and sheep were killed too.
I am so tired and sleepless. I don’t feel settled outside my home despite of the generosity of my friends who are hosting me. But my building, my neighbourhood, is too unsafe. Nowhere is safe but with intense shelling nearby and broken windows, I had to leave.
The shelling is continuous, crazy and everywhere. Warships fire missiles against the beach in Gaza City. Rafah town is under severe missile shelling, 10 people in Rafah were killed when their home was levelled to the ground by an American-made F16.
The UN agency that runs schools and clinics for Palestinian refugees opened its schools to receive homeless people from different areas.
Now larger numbers of people will drink from MECA water purification units.
Nobody is asleep in Gaza.
No place is safe.
The Israeli military attacks are coming from every direction.
From Gaza with love,
Dr. Mona El-Farra
MECA Director of Gaza Projects
Today from Gaza, photojournalist Mohammed Asad reported:
Israeli shelling targeted the yard at Salam Mosque in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City immediately after prayers.
Medical personnel at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said dozens of injuries with cases of extreme danger resulted.
The reception room was converted into operating rooms to treat the children.
Also today, Amnesty International called for a UN-mandated international investigation into violations committed on ALL sides amidst ongoing Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip and continuing volleys of indiscriminate rocket fire from Palestinian armed groups into Israel.
Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International stated:
As the violence intensifies there is an urgent need for the UN to mandate an international independent fact-finding mission to Gaza and Israel to investigate violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict. This is the first crucial step towards ensuring that those who have committed war crimes or other serious violations can be held accountable.
The international community must not repeat previous mistakes, standing by and watching the devastating consequences for civilians of both sides failing to abide by and enforce the laws of war. Swift UN action is needed as lives hang in the balance.
Unless the Israeli authorities can provide specific information to show how a home is being used to make an effective contribution to military actions, deliberately attacking civilian homes constitutes a war crime and also amounts to collective punishment against the families.
Some civilian homes in Gaza have been hit using the “knock on the roof” procedure, in which Israeli forces fire a small missile at the home as a “warning”, before firing another missile which destroys the home.
Sometimes Israel will even phone the families that bombs are on the way!
Philip Luther explained, “There is no way that firing a missile at a civilian home can constitute an effective ‘warning’. Amnesty International has documented cases of civilians killed or injured by such missiles in previous Israeli military operations on the Gaza Strip. Firing indiscriminate rockets, which cannot be aimed accurately at military targets, is a war crime, as is deliberately targeting civilians. There can be no excuse for either side failing to protect civilians, including journalists, medics and humanitarian workers, or civilian facilities.”
In November 2006, Father Manuel, the parish priest at the Latin Church and school in Gaza warned the world:
Gaza cannot sleep! The people are suffering unbelievably. They are hungry, thirsty, have no electricity or clean water. They are suffering constant bombardments and sonic booms from low flying aircraft. They need food: bread and water.
Children and babies are hungry…people have no money to buy food. The price of food has doubled and tripled due to the situation. We cannot drink water from the ground here as it is salty and not hygienic. People must buy water to drink.
They have no income, no opportunities to get food and water from outside and no opportunities to secure money inside of Gaza. They have no hope.
Without electricity children are afraid. No light at night. No oil or candles.
Thirsty children are crying, afraid and desperate.
Many children have been violently thrown from their beds at night from the sonic booms. Many arms and legs have been broken.
These planes fly low over Gaza and then reach the speed of sound. This shakes the ground and creates shock waves like an earthquake that causes people to be thrown from their bed.
I, myself weigh 120 kilos and was almost thrown from my bed due to the shock wave produced by a low flying jet that made a sonic boom.
Gaza cannot sleep.
The cries of hungry children, the sullen faces of broken men and women who are just sitting in their hungry emptiness with no light, no hope, no love.
These actions are War Crimes!
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/119292275@N05/sets/72157645637191204/