Watch NOW: The War on Gaza

In Khan Younis a family of 26 people, including children ages 2 to 17 years of age, have been living in the basement of a house, since the Israelis incursion into the area three days ago. My friend, one of the sons in the house, is expecting his first child to be born, in about three months. He got married last summer. It was a big wedding and mostly a happy time, despite the Israeli siege and frequent assaults on Gaza. The newly married and happy couple cannot not believe their future would be so terrible.

Bombs are blasting, hitting their targets and heavy machine gun fire can be heard not far away from the house. This winter is unusually cold in Gaza. The windows in the basement room are open the newly married couple have found this shelter for safety. If the windows are closed, the force and heat from the bombings will break them. My friends called me today, for advice regarding what they believe are labor pains, very early contractions of cervix. They are both very worried that they will lose their first child.

I have spent hours making phone calls to the hospitals in the Khan Younis area, only to find out that the lines are busy, most of the time the signal does not go through. We have very bad telecommunications in Gaza and the situation is getting even worse. It is chaotic. After one hour of calling, finally my call was picked up. I was told to call back on Sunday morning, a few hours from now. I am also calling the sister-in-law of another friend. She is a nurse and a midwife who used to work for UNRWA. I found out that she had to leave Gaza with her family. I am very worried for them all. I am worried for the life of the little infant, and for the parents.

My friend has a cold. He says he is shivering from the coldness in the house. He told me he is very upset; he is pulling out the last pages of some of his books and journals from the library to burn them for heat. The pages in the books will make some warmth in the room. He told me he felt sick watching the books burning to charcoal in the open fire place. Books have a very high value in Gaza. They are expensive and have been very difficult to find, in particular, scholary, research and reference literature, since the Israeli blockade of shipments to Gaza began, 18 months ago. All that is left of food in the house in the morning is almost gone. So is the drinking water and the electricity which lasts only 1.5 to 2 of the 24 hours.

"We are praying, Inshallah (God willing) that we will survive the heavy bombings, and we are hoping the Israelis will not come to the house. You know here in Khan Younis no one is really safe today. We have no where to hide."

These were the last words I heard before the phone line was cut off.

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