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Wedeman: Defiance amid destruction in Gaza
* Story Highlights
* Wedeman: U.N. school mobbed by people seeking refuge from airstrikes
* Massive destruction on border with Egypt
* Morale and defiance high despite continued offensive
By Ben Wedeman
CNN Senior International Correspondent
Editor's
note: The Israeli government is not allowing independent media access
through Israel to Gaza. CNN Senior International Correspondent Ben
Wedeman crossed into Gaza from Egypt.
RAFAH, Gaza (CNN) --
Bloodshed, fear, privation and anger were all clearly visible in Gaza
as we finally managed to enter the territory. Unsurprisingly, there
were also displays of fist-shaking defiance, but what I had not
expected was the high morale.
We arrived in Gaza in darkness, so
at first there was little to see -- but plenty to hear. Israeli planes
were passing overhead the whole time, and drones could be heard buzzing
through the night.
Then there were the explosions. One impacted
not far from where we were staying the night. There was a huge blast.
You could feel the shockwave passing through the building, shaking the
floors and rattling the windows.
The explosions continued after
sunrise throughout the border area. At the Abu Yusuf Al Najjar
hospital, the largest medical facility in the border town of Rafah,
their horrendous effects were visible. Watch Wedeman describe the blasts »
We
saw one person who had been riding a bike down the road when a rocket
landed nearby. He suffered bone fractures and shrapnel wounds all over
his body. His right leg needed to be amputated at the upper thigh.
Doctors,
more used to dealing with bullet wounds than the current array of
weaponry being used by the Israelis, said 20 percent of the injuries
they were dealing with were light, 30 percent were serious to critical,
and another 30 percent die within the first 30 minutes of arriving at
hospital.
At a U.N. school where people were seeking refuge
because their neighborhoods were bombed or under threat, crowds mobbed
handouts of blankets and rations. Classrooms in the building were each
crammed with six or seven families (all large extended families).
We
toured an area near the border with Egypt where tunnels had been dug to
get supplies into Gaza. There we saw dozens and dozens of houses
completely destroyed, huge craters everywhere.
Earlier, when we
caught the last bus from Egypt into Gaza, we spoke to Palestinian
passengers, most of whom said they had been arrested in Egypt and
abused by police before being deported. Their bitterness toward Egypt,
particularly its president, Hosni Mubarak, and other Arab leaders over
their perceived failure to provide support was echoed among others we
spoke to.
This was matched by anger toward the United States, because most people know it
supplies Israel with the warplanes bombarding them.
The
attacks have badly affected Gaza's electricity supply. The territory
gets its power from Egypt, but lines have been knocked out by
explosions, leaving connections intermittent in some areas. Water is
also a problem, many areas now without any supply.
With the Israeli offensive effectively cutting the territory in half, there is
now no way to pass from southern Gaza to the north, other than in an ambulance
-- and even the ambulance drivers say that's not a sure thing.
But
despite the problems, there are signs of normality, as many people go
about their business in defiance of the conflict. Shops were trading,
although only one-fifth were open, and people were on the streets.
I'm
surprised at how buoyant people are given the circumstances. Talking to
them, I find morale high and an overall sense of defiance.
At
one point I saw a young boy on a donkey cart, unaware I was observing
him. As an Israeli jet passed overhead, he shook a fist at the sky.
All AboutIsrael • Gaza
Links referenced within this article
Watch Wedeman describe the blasts »
#cnnSTCVideo
Israel
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/israel
Gaza
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/gaza
Israel
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Israel
Gaza
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Gaza_Strip
Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/16/wedeman.gaza/index.html
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� 2008 Cable News Network.
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