World looks elsewhere as Gaza death toll rises

Ahmed al-Kafarnah wept for his dead brother as tank shells shook the northern Gaza Strip on July 18. While world attention is focused on Lebanon, there are still casualties at the original front of Israel's current campaign. "I wish that I was the one who was killed and not him," said Ahmed, 17, standing on his roof, where his brother, Muhammad, 22, was struck in the chest by a sniper's bullet two days earlier. Ahmed's words were interrupted by new explosions. "My brother didn't run with militant groups. He used to fix washing machines. He was a smart thinker and a believer," he said. Muhammad is one of 106 Palestinians to have died in the Gaza offensive, which began on June 28, and another 300 have been wounded, according to Jomaa al-Saqaa, of al-Shifa Hospital. The Israelis have made multiple incursions and air strikes in an effort to rescue Corporal Gilad Schalit, who was abducted three weeks ago by Hamas in an attack that left two soldiers dead. On July 18 an Israeli armored column clashed with militants near the Maghazi refugee camp. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, has vowed to fight on until Corporal Schalit is freed and Hamas is robbed of the ability to fire its Qassam rockets into Israel. So far 70 percent of Palestinian deaths have been in the north around Gaza City, Beit Hanoun, where Muhammad died, and Beit Lahia, which border Israel. An Israeli air strike destroyed Gaza's main power plant, leaving 1.4 million people dependent on Israel for electricity. The supply is erratic. Israeli aircraft have also bombed the Palestinian Prime Minister's office and the Interior, Foreign and Economy ministries. Foreign Ministry employees now handle visa applications in the courtyard of their heavily damaged building. Some government staff are working from home. Militants from Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade gathered on July 18 in a funeral tent in Beit Hanoun to mourn two of their fighters who were killed during Israel's two-day incursion into the community of 40,000. As a martial drumbeat played and a chorus of voices praised resistance fighters, Abu Jamal, the local al-Aqsa leader, vowed that his group would stand by Hamas and continue to fire rockets at Israel. "We will not wave the white flag of surrender," he said, wearing a black t-shirt on which were the emblem of his movement: Jerusalem and two Kalashnikovs. Hamas and al-Aqsa would not surrender Schalit until the Israelis freed some Palestinian prisoners, he said. Not far from the funeral, a United Nations primary school for refugees was in ruins. Israeli troops had torn out a wall in one school building, flattened one bathroom and a cafeteria. At Beit Hanoun Hospital, ambulance drivers described coming under fire. Yusri al-Masri drove to pick up five wounded and two dead on July 16. After he had lifted the injured into the ambulance, a tank shell exploded and his windscreen cracked. He raced off, but some debris had hit his eye. Ahmed Zaneen, 30, lay with a broken leg in a hospital bed. "I thank God I survived this," he said. "My wife and four children were under siege. They said tanks were behind their house and they were scared."