Counting the Dead

Olmert declares an Israeli victory, yet there is little proof that Hamas's leadership has been destroyed or surrendered, that Hamas's rocketing capabilities (crude as they may be) or its capacity to build more rockets have been destroyed or that Gazans and other Palestinians have started to oppose Hamas. In the meantime, Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh insists “The enemy has failed to achieve its goals.”

There is plenty of proof that Israel has criminally evacuated, shattered, and leveled more of the build world in its latest round of asymmetrical bloodshed. As the fighting comes to a halt and the details are debated, the dead will continue to be plucked from the rubble and the Gaza death toll will rise.

And the aggrieved will demand accountability.

Abu Al-Aish recounted the shelling of his home: "I freaked out for the first few minutes after the incident. I didn’t know what was going on. It felt as though I was being slaughtered. I ran around in the apartment, looking at body parts – who is dead and who stayed alive. I saw that Mayer (his daughter) was gone. Bisan, the eldest, took her last breath. I began counting the bodies and then ran downstairs to scream."

The funerals of Abu Al-Aish's daughters Bisam (20), a business administration student, Mayer (15), Aya (13) and the niece Nour (14) were held in Gaza Saturday, but the doctor, who is tending to his injured daughter Shada (18), could not attend.

"Gazans pick up the pieces as the guns fall silent:"

Mr Atar did not know what to do next.

“What kind of plans can I make? I am at the mercy of God. The Israelis left nothing for us to survive on. We will have to stay in the UNRWA school until we can find somewhere to live.”

"Rafah, a Landscape scarred by Israel's war:"

Mr Harb, who works for the humanitarian organisation, Care, said he had felt helpless during the airstrikes as he snuggled against his children, trying to comfort them with the idea that the bombing they could hear would be "very temporary".

He recalled that when he had said this, his 15-year-old daughter, Banyas, had replied: "This is temporary for ever", meaning that she "is forever moving from war to war since she was born. Then my six-year-old son, Ziad, asked me 'are we going to die?' That really broke my heart."

"Gazans confront shattered lives:"

By the time she was found - she is not sure if it was three or four days later - she hardly knew her own name. But she remembers details.

"I got a glass of water, I wanted to fill it with water from the tap, but it fell down on the floor, and then there was blood all over the glass so I couldn't use it. I waited a bit and then I drank directly from the tap.

She says she wanted to leave, but her father was lying across the door.

"I didn't want to step on him in case I hurt him."

-mr