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Last update - 11:28 12/01/2009 Amira Hass / Gazans doing their best to avoid becoming death statistics By Amira Hass Tags: Amira Hass, IDF, Gaza  Click here for more articles by Amira Hass At 8:45 A.M. Sunday, Mustafa called to say they had left their house. At 8:10 they had called a courageous friend who had a car, and they drove with the kids two kilometers north, to the rented apartment of his brother-in-law in the Gaza City neighborhood of Rimal. The brother-in-law rented it a week ago, after he fled with his family from their home in the northern edge of the city, the site of bombing and shooting. Now there are 15 people in a two-room apartment - with no water, of course. The main thing is that the explosions sound a little less loud. After 15 days they could not take the pressure of tanks entering the Sheikh Ajleen neighborhood, the incessant shooting all night long and the shelling from the sea. The leaflets dumped from helicopters, calling on people to leave their homes - they, too, have been unnerving. But most frightening were the missiles that hit the nearby apartments and killed the neighbors, including Yasser Arafat's official photographer and his family. Advertisement As of Sunday, the streets of Gaza are full of people fleeing - both from Sheikh Ajleen, an area with open fields and houses, where battles between Hamas gunmen and Israel Defense Forces soldiers are taking place, but also from nearby neighborhoods. Everyone is carrying his possessions. Thus, Mustafa and his family have joined the statistics of the newly displaced, whose numbers increase by the day. A relatively small number - some 20,000 - have found refuge in UNRWA schools. Many more have moved in with relatives and friends: in Gaza City, Rafah, Khan Yunis, Beit Hanun and the Nuseirat refugee camp. The military is steadily forcing the areas known as "population concentrations" to move inward, "clearing" areas on the periphery - first the agricultural land, and now the neighborhoods bordering them - and pushing people into an increasingly smaller territory. It is hard to count all the dead. However, there are reports of entire families being killed, and of numerous persons from the same family being killed, especially in peripheral areas that are emptying of people. The inhabitants are doing their best to avoid becoming part of the statistics of death. Last Thursday, at 3:40 P.M., medical teams pulled four bodies out of the rubble - three of them children - in the Atatra neighborhood, southwest of Beit Lahiya. According to the report, the four had been killed several days earlier. On Friday at 3:30 P.M., a UAV fired a warning missile at the home of Faiz Salha in Jabalya. The family did not make it out of the house before heavier artillery slammed into it two minutes later, killing six of them. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Davis Cup protest Tennis player Andy Ram: Sweden protest was first time I felt anti-Israel hate. Iranian shoe-thrower Report: Shoe hurled at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in city of Urmia.   1.   Thank You, Amira Hass 05:41  |  Carl Gelderloos 12/01/09   2.   Yes, Armira, Its Terrible: Hamas Is To Blame 06:11  |  Brad 12/01/09   3.   Thank you Amira Hass 06:40  |  Taz 12/01/09   4.   "Courageous reporting? 07:46  |  Israeli 12/01/09   5.   to Taz 08:13  |  goofy jew 12/01/09   6.   EVERYTHING except tellling Hamas war criminals to stop 08:40  |  PETER SM 12/01/09   7.   Hamas built tunnels instead of bunkers 09:16  |  Peter Williams 12/01/09   8.   Americans are going out of their minds over this violence 09:21  |  Dutch 12/01/09   9.   very sad, truly heartbreaking. hamas is responsible. 10:24  |  don 12/01/09   10.   Like a boomerang 10:33  |  Miss Copenhagen 12/01/09   11.   PeterSM. How come Olmert, Livni, Barak and for that matter... 10:38  |  Maureen Ann 12/01/09   12.   That`s good news 10:41  |  Simha 12/01/09   13.   Dutch Nonsense 11:08  |  Jasper 12/01/09   14.   Dutch American Senators voted for this 390-5 11:29  |  Peter Williams 12/01/09   15.   #10 : Gaza is presently name the largest prison in the world 11:41  |  Miss Copenhagen 12/01/09   16.   Hamas is the winner 11:42  |  Bassem 12/01/09   17.   Sad 11:45  |  Lama 12/01/09   18.   After Gideon Levy 11:47  |  Gila 12/01/09   19.   Violence Breeds Violence 12:28  |  Bobak 12/01/09   20.   Peter, Re the vote.... 12:49  |  Dutch 12/01/09   21.   Why? 13:05  |  Boris 12/01/09   22.   Amira`s article 13:06  |  Nana 12/01/09   23.   Dear and admired Amira 13:10  |  Kurt Brainin 12/01/09   24.   # So true! I agree with you 100% 13:14  |  Miss Copenhagen 12/01/09   25.   Dear and admired Amira 13:16  |  Kurt Brainin 12/01/09   26.   to don #9 13:57  |  zeev 12/01/09   27.   #4 You may not agree with Amira but give her some credit 14:30  |  Aphemia 12/01/09   28.   Other ways to protect israeli civilians 14:42  |  Hisham 12/01/09   29.   to Amira: Hamas is the Palestinians` misfortune 18:06  |  leucippe 12/01/09   30.   keep it up Amira 18:51  |  yaakov from nahariya 12/01/09   31.   This is for you Amira Hass and Gideon Levy...I bet Haaretz won`t 20:35  |  Maria 12/01/09   32.   Amira Hass / Gazans doing their best 20:47  |  bible-class 12/01/09   33.   Amira Hass and Gazans avoiding death 21:40  |  David Gershon 12/01/09   34.   Amira Hass 21:41  |  Avrom K 12/01/09   35.   Dutch - there has been a real change this time 21:56  |  Blackpool Rock 12/01/09   36.   Dear Amira 22:02  |  Sara 12/01/09   37.   She means like haniyeh hiding behind civilians 23:51  |  Arie 12/01/09   38.   Gila 00:07  |  Connie 13/01/09   39.   Gaza massacres 00:07  |  gaudy 13/01/09   40.   Israeli Women Talkbackers 00:20  |  The Teacher/instruct 13/01/09   41.   #8 Dutch - The only one out of their mind is you 05:58  |  meir elazar 13/01/09   42.   #8 Dutch out of her mind cont. 06:07  |  Meir Elazar 13/01/09   43.   #8 Dutch out of her mind cont. 2 06:11  |  meir elazar 13/01/09   44.   Maria #31, have pity on us 08:29  |  zeev 13/01/09   45.   to bible-class #32 08:33  |  zeev 13/01/09   46.   to David Gershon #33 08:35  |  zeev 13/01/09   47.   to Avrom K #34 08:37  |  zeev 13/01/09   48.   Hamas built tunnels and not bunkers 10:08  |  Inem 13/01/09   49.   to zeev # 45 16:38  |  bible-class # 32 13/01/09   50.   To all. Last post 03:41  |  bible-class # 32 14/01/09   51.   to Meir Elazar #42 (1) 07:58  |  zeev 14/01/09   52.   to leucippe #29 - some questions in return - 6th try 08:47  |  zeev 15/01/09   53.   to Meir Elazar #42 (2) 8th try 12:24  |  zeev 20/01/09   54.   Amira Hass incredible and fantastic histories 00:50  |  AA 07/03/09

Read & React Pots of urine, feces on the walls - how IDF troops vandalized Gaza homes Responses: 181 Israelis fight fire with fire over Apartheid Week Responses: 96 Report: Shoe hurled at Ahmadinejad in Iranian city Responses: 40 Lieberman demanding 'full autonomy' as foreign minister Responses: 61 Olmert: No peace without dividing Jerusalem Responses: 88 More Headlines 01:23 U.S. turns up heat on Israel over settlements 02:04 Netanyahu yields to Lieberman's demands for government posts 21:27 Turkey: We're ready to relaunch Israel-Syria talks 21:44 Barak aides: If Justice Min. stays on, Labor will join opposition 02:00 ANALYSIS / Netanyahu doesn't really want Lieberman as foreign minister 23:25 Shalit parents head to Jerusalem 'to save son' 22:24 U.A.E. denies Israeli official visa for global trade summit 02:25 U.S. warns it won't recognize PA unity gov't sans Fayyad 01:27 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel 21:49 Hezbollah expects West to use new language in contacts 22:07 Andy Ram: Sweden protest was first time I felt anti-Israel hate 21:23 Report: Shoe hurled at Ahmadinejad in Iranian city 14:25 Russian FM: Make Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone 18:37 Bernard Madoff expected to plead guilty in $50 billion fraud Previous Editions Select Day 06 mar 05 mar 04 mar 03 mar 02 mar 01 mar 27 feb 26 feb 25 feb 24 feb 23 feb 22 feb

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