Image Credit: Mohammed Omer, Rafah Today 2007-08-06.
Palestinian Kidney Patient Dies While Waiting for Israel to Open Crossing
BBSNews 2007-08-06 -- By Mohammed Omer. Wael Abu Warda, a 27 years old Palestinian man seeking treatment in an Israeli hospital for kidney failure, has died while waiting at the Erez Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Israel had agreed to allow Abu Warda to travel from Gaza to an Israeli hospital near Tel Aviv for treatment, but when he arrived at the Erez crossing he was not allowed through, and died at the crossing, said Muawiyeh Hassanein, head of the ambulance and emergency department at Al Shifa hospital and also an official at the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
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Handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinians are loaded off a truck after being arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Rafah.
Image Credit: Mohammed Omer, Rafah Today 2007-08-06. |
Attack on Rafah
With Israeli helicopters hovering in the sky over Rafah, and the city being subjected yet again to heavy gunfire and shelling, the residents are living in constant fear that their houses will be demolished over their heads at any minute.
Israeli soldiers seized control of Gaza International Airport yesterday, shutting down the facility and destroying its runway. The action followed an incursion into the southern and northern areas of Gaza.
Palestinian sources mentioned that one Hamas member was killed two days ago by the Israeli air strike in Rafah. It was also reported by many people that that the Israeli Occupation Forces arrested a number of citizens, blindfolding them and tying their hands, and transferring them to unknown areas.
Today, two Israeli air strikes at Rafah refugee camp left fifteen injured and two dead. The first strike hit a car, killing one person and injuring three others, while the second hit a food truck two hundred metres away, killing one person and injuring twelve others. The dead and injured were later named by medical sources at Abu Yousef Al Naijar Hospital in Rafah.
One bloody night
Gaza's electricity has been down for most of the time in the past few days. During the darkness on Thursday two Palestinians were killed during clashes between gunmen from Hamas and its smaller rival, Islamic Jihad, the first time such clashes have taken place between these two Islamic parties. Al Shifa hospital medical sources said "the bullet-ridden bodies of the two men," an Islamic Jihad member, 21 year old Nidal Al Daya, and 37-year old Salah Amudi, a member of the deposed Fatah party, were driven to hospital after they were killed in Al Shijaia neighbourhood.
An eye witness said the trouble started when the Ministry of Interior's Executive Force, which is Hamas affiliated and is no longer permitting shooting in the air at weddings and celebrations, a step taken to impose law and order in Gaza, went to arrest and confiscate the guns of Fatah members who had been shooting in the air at a wedding. A Fatah member took refuge at the house of Islamic Jihad, where clashes started between Hamas and Islamic Jihad members. Hamas gunmen chased four fleeing Jihad members into the Ard Al Ribat mosque, where they shot one of them, and wounded the three others. A member of Fatah was killed in gunfire exchanges shortly afterwards, outside the mosque, said Al Shifa hospital medical sources.
Mohammed Omer is a young journalist/photographer in the Gaza Strip. He and his family have a very rough time in living day to day and they have lost much. In October of 2003, one of Mohammed's younger bothers, Issam, was injured and had to have a leg amputated. Later in the same month another younger brother, Hussam Al-Mouhagir, was killed in his home; shot to death by the Israeli Army that occupies and regularly devastates Palestine. These stories are written by Mohammed who knows no peace, only the continued devastation forced upon civilians who have little voice in the world. Mohammed has covered the Occupied Territories for several years. In 2006 Mohammed won the New American Media National Ethnic Media Award for best Youth Voice. On May 18th, 2007, Mohammed was shot at by unknown militants in Gaza yet he continues to report. Visit Mohammed's Web site, or write to him to get a more complete picture of what is really happening that main-stream news sources rarely brings to its audience. We are proud to feature articles from Mohammed Omer here at BBSNews, his reporting is some of the only original, on the ground reporting available from the Israeli Occupied Territories.