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FROM THE FIELD

Gaza aid worker diary
08 Jan 2009 15:47:00 GMT
 Source: Islamic Relief - UK
Hatem Shurrab

Website: Website: http://www,islamic-relief.com

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Hatem Shurrab is an aid worker in Gaza Islamic Relief Worldwide.

In this instalment of his diary, 7 January, he uses the three-hour lull in hostilities to speak to families desperate to find shelter from the bombing.

Today we had a few hours of calm. For three hours we could deliver aid without the worry of bombardment. It was a busy day.

An Islamic Relief aid team went to the Paediatric Hospital to provide it with medical items, such as surgical sets, bandages and scissors among other items which are continuously required.

We also delivered soaps and other hygiene material and blankets to six UN shelters.

The people in the shelter were happy to see aid workers arriving with supplies, especially blankets as it's very cold here in Gaza.

During this three hours of calm we were also given a deeper insight to the misery on the streets of Gaza.

We visited a building near the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza where 200 people were sheltering.

Many of the people there asked me if I could tell them where a safe shelter was - where they could go to stay safe with their loved ones. I had no answer.

Despite the temporary halt in the bombing I only met people, young and old, full of sadness and fear. Many people that I met looked bewildered and exhausted.

In one shelter I met a man called Abu Mohamed.

He had been forced to leave his home and was desperate to return.

"I refuse to go to a UN school as it is unsafe. Yesterday a school was hit and more than 40 were killed.

"I can't let my family and relatives be killed. I want all this to stop and go back home safely," he said.

Child's play

I also met a 12-year-old girl named Fatima. She had fled with 12 members of her family to be in a UN school.

Her home was partially destroyed after her neighbour's house was bombed.

Along with other children, she didn't feel safe but was trying her best to block out the bombing by playing with her cousins in the school yard.

Despite the dangers, the children of Gaza are resilient and some are determined to keep playing.

Our aid teams are working out how we can source more aid supplies into Gaza and deliver the aid we have inside Gaza.

We have precious minutes and seconds in the day to try to reach desperate people whose suffering continues.

Eleven days on and there is no end in sight.




[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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