Gaza: Hundreds leave their homes and take refuge in UN schools

Monday January 05, 2009 17:02 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Hundreds of Palestinian families have left their homes and taken refuge in UN run schools in Gaza on Monday.

file 2008

Local sources have reported that at least 500 families from the towns of Beit Hannon and Beit Lahyia, as well nearby villages, have left their homes in search of shelter at various UN schools.

IMEMC correspondant in Gaza, Rami Al Meghari, talked to those families. Ihmedan Abu Ayiasha, age 48, left his home. "What can we do?" he asked. "We left our homes because Israeli tanks were shelling it. I came to run from the fire of the Israeli Army."

"I left everything, [even] my clothes" he added. "We have no food. The UN told us they have nothing to give us because Israel did not allow aid into Gaza."

Adnan Abu Hassna, the spokesman for the United Nation Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in Gaza said that his agency is doing what it can. "We opened the schools for refugees, we only have food left in our inventory for three days, Israel promised to allow aid in, but so far did not do so."

Israel started its military offensive last Saturday, December 27th, 2008, a week and a half after the six-month-long Egyptian-mediated ceasefire came to an end, on December 16th 2008. The death toll in Gaza by Monday reached 534 with 2,530 injured, including 300 in critical condition.

gaza strip | israeli attacks | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org