Looting, Revenge Deaths Persist in Gaza

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"On Hamas' first day of full rule in Gaza, crowds looted strongholds of the rival Fatah on Friday - stripping the home of one of the party's strongmen down to the flower pots - and militants sent a man plunging to his death from a rooftop.

At Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' captured seaside office in Gaza City, a gunman sat down at the Fatah leader's desk, picked up the phone and pretended to be calling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "Hello, Rice?'' the gunman said. "Here we are in Abu Mazen's office. Say hello to Abu Mazen for me." Other gunmen rifled through Abbas' belongings in a bedroom behind the office, lifting up a mattress and searching through drawers.

Hamas' military takeover of Gaza, after five days of battle, formalized the separation between Gaza and the West Bank, which lie on either side of Israel. The moderate government Abbas plans to appoint will have no say in Gaza, but stands a stronger chance than the Hamas-Fatah coalition it replaces of restoring foreign aid to the West Bank.

A resident of a Hamas-dominated neighborhood, identifying himself only as Yousef for fear of reprisal by his neighbors, said Gazans would always back the winner, regardless of ideology.

"Today everybody is with Hamas because Hamas won the battle. If Fatah had won the battle they'd be with Fatah. We are a hungry people, we are with whoever gives us a bag of flour and a food coupon," said Yousef, 30. "Me, I'm with God and a bag of flour."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6712205,00.html

[Scurrilous]

1. Gaza-Westbank – ICRC Bulletin No. 22 / 2007

Medical facilities overwhelmed with patients wounded in the fighting

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"The large-scale clashes of the past week in Gaza have ceased and a certain calm has returned although there are still sporadic incidents of gunfire. In Gaza City, cars and pedestrians are circulating in the streets once again, and shops have started to reopen. All access points into and out of the Gaza Strip are closed.

"Hospitals, with the exception of Beit Hanoun and the Al Quds hospital in Gaza City, are functioning, but their resources are stretched by the large number of patients wounded in the past week's fighting coupled with the fatigue of hospital staff who have been working around the clock", said Eileen Daly, the ICRC's medical coordinator for the Westbank and Gaza. "The surgeons are overwhelmed with wounded patients, and some hospitals are reporting blood shortages", she added.

Based on figures provided by hospitals and emergency services on 15 June, the ICRC estimates that over 550 people have been wounded and at least 116 killed in the fighting of the previous week.

The population, whenever an area was calm, have been able to leave their homes and restock their supplies. Parts of Gaza City experienced electricity shortages and cuts which affected the water pumping."

more

[barb162]

2. There are some continuing BBC interviews

Some people are happy about the Hamas takeover and some not.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/6752817.stm