Photos Fady Adwan in Gaza
Gaza City January 18 2009
PalestineFreeVoice Images

January 18 2009 7.22 pm

GAZA - After the Israelis deadliest offensive ever, on the Palestinian territories, in northern Gaza Strip thousands of residents are moving on the streets in small groups with their families, walking back to their homes, wondering what they will find and if there is anything left to recover. Many families will find their home in ruins, and while searching through the rubble some find their family members under the debris. So far, more than 25 people have been found dead today. Medical crews are reporting the most horrifying scenes when they uncover what is left from dead people, bodies are found cut in parts and pieces. Many of the corpse have still not been recovered, several bodies of women and children have been found, of those who never had a chance to leave their homes, during the Israelis heavy air strikes and artillery shelling.

Muawiyah Hassanain, the coordinator of the Ambulance and Emergency Services in Gaza Health Ministry, said on Sunday that dozens of bodies have been uncovered from the areas of Gaza Strip that was hardest hit by Israeli air strikes and artillery fire. Rescue teams and medical crews are working throughout Sunday to recover the bodies from underneath destroyed buildings. The death toll counts on Sunday is 1,234 people while more than 5,450 are reported to be injured. In the tormented Al-Atatrah neighborhood, outside Bet Lahia in the northern parts of Jabalya, rescue workers and medical teams found the bodies of four people under the rubble of destroyed buildings, after Israeli tanks partially withdrew from the area.

Since the ceasefire went into effect at 2am on Sunday morning, one Palestinian farmer is shot to dead and several are reported injured. Abd As-Samad Abu Rejlieh 24, was killed and his son was injured, when he was inspecting the damage on his fields from the Israelis incursion earlier into the area. In Beit Hanoun Israeli fire also injured a mother and her daughter, while they were inside their home. Israeli Drones [unmanned warplanes] could be heard throughout the night into early Sunday morning, also several explosions. In Rafah in the southern parts of Gaza, the Israelis also shelled a group of Rafah residents and phosphorus bomb shells struck the At-Tuffah neighborhood in the eastern Gaza City. The buffer zone between the northern and central Gaza remains closed, the Israelis are still positioned around Netsarim. They have reportedly moved out from Zaitoun, Ash-Shaf and the At-Tuffah neighborhoods of Gaza City.

Hamas has agreed to the unilateral ceasefire under the condition that the Israelis leave Gaza Strip before the end of one week. The Palestinian resistance in Gaza said in a statement on Sunday that Israel has not “imposed its conditions” on the resistance; on the contrary the Palestinian resistance have sought the removal of Israeli occupation and control over the Palestinian territories for decades. A joint statement declared:

“We the Palestinian resistance, announce a ceasefire from our side in Gaza Strip. We confirm our stance and our demand to to the Israeli military to withdraw from Gaza within a week and we demand the opening of borders and crossing points for humanitarian aid to be delivered."

The joint statement responded to the Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish and Syrian plans towards opening of the Gaza borders and a permanent lifting of the siege. Ayman Taha, Hamas spokesperson said that Hamas is in favor of the decision, partly supporting the initiative and also the decision to implement the boycott of Israel reached in the Doha Summit. Daoud Shehab spokesperson of Islamic Jihad said that the organization's decision is based on consideration to “common national interest” of parties involved in the war, including the allowance of humanitarian aid convoys to enter Gaza.

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