PHOTOS: After eight days of attacks on Gaza

As talk of a ceasefire raises hopes, Israel’s strikes on Gaza continue to raise the death toll and destroy family homes.

Photos by: Anne Paq and Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Text by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler

Hamda Abdun, age 4 , lies in a bed in Al Shifa Hospital after having been injured in an Israeli air strike, Gaza City, July 14, 2014. Four members of his family were injured.
Hamda Abdun, age 4 , lies in a bed in Al Shifa Hospital after having been injured in an Israeli air strike, Gaza City, July 14, 2014. Four members of his family were injured.

With international attention focused on the suffering of civilians in Gaza, pressure has mounted on both sides to agree to a ceasefire. Meanwhile, those on the ground continue to suffer the most. Thousands of Gazans fled the northern region of the strip after receiving warnings from the Israeli military of impending attacks. While many have sought shelter in schools, Israeli strikes continue to claim lives throughout the coastal enclave.

At the time of this posting, Israeli attacks from air, land and sea have killed at least 192 Palestinians, including at least 36 children. According to the UN, 80% of the casualties in Gaza have been civilians. Some 1,400 have been injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Several Israelis have been injured as well, some seriously, but no lives have been lost outside of Gaza.

Leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have condemned the rocket attacks from Gaza for their indiscriminate nature and targeting of civilian areas. However, they and other organizations such as B’Tselem have asserted that Israel’s attacks on densely populated urban areas, especially its targeting of private homes of members of Hamas and other militant factions, also amounts to the intentional targeting of civilians, which is a war crime.

Farouk mosque of an-Nuseirat Refugee Camp lies in ruins after being struck by Israeli bombs, Gaza Srip, July 14, 2014. The mosque was hit two days before.
Farouk Mosque of an-Nuseirat Refugee Camp lies in ruins after being struck by Israeli bombs, Gaza Strip, July 14, 2014. The mosque was hit two days earlier.

 

A members of the al-Batsh family is taken from Al Shifa Hosptial for his funeral, Gaza City, July 13, 2014. An Israeli airstrike on the family home of Tayseer Al-Batsh, Gaza's police chief, killed 18 people the previous day.
A member of the al-Batsh family is taken from Al Shifa Hospital for his funeral, Gaza City, July 13, 2014. An Israeli airstrike on the family home of Tayseer Al-Batsh, Gaza’s police chief, killed 18 people the previous day.

 

Palestinians inspect the destroyed house of the Eshtawi family in Az-Zeitiun area, Gaza City, July 14, 2014. The attack left 27 people homeless.
Palestinians inspect the destroyed house of the Eshtawi family in Az-Zeitiun area, Gaza City, July 14, 2014. The attack left 27 people homeless.

 

An Israeli mobile artillery piece sits near the Gaza border, July 13, 2014.
An Israeli mobile artillery piece sits near the Gaza border, July 13, 2014.

 

Members of the al-Batsh family are taken from Al Shifa Hosptial for their funeral, Gaza City, July 13, 2014.
Members of the al-Batsh family are taken from Al Shifa Hosptial for their funeral, Gaza City, July 13, 2014.

 

A Palestinian girl from the Al-Tom family draws on a chalk board at UNRWA's Remal Elementary School in Gaza City which is used as a temporary shelter for Palestinians fleeing the northern Gaza Strip,  July 13, 2014. People from northern Gaza left their homes after Israel dropped leaflets warning them to evacuate. Thirty members of this family are staying inside one classroom. From Salatin in north Gaza, they arrived in the morning with no belongings, hoping to return promptly to their home. The family was also displaced by Israeli attacks in 2008 and 2012.
A Palestinian girl from the Al-Tom family draws on a chalk board at UNRWA’s Remal Elementary School in Gaza City, which is used as a temporary shelter for Palestinians fleeing the northern Gaza Strip, July 13, 2014. People from northern Gaza left their homes after Israel dropped leaflets warning them to evacuate. Thirty members of this family are staying inside one classroom. From Salatin in north Gaza, they arrived in the morning with no belongings, hoping to return promptly to their home. The family was also displaced by Israeli attacks in 2008 and 2012.

 

A Palestinian looks out from a building destroyed by Israeli attacks in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.
A Palestinian looks out from a building destroyed by Israeli attacks in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.

 

Israeli border policemen stand near a house in Kfar Aza, Israel, damaged by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip on July 14, 2014.
Israeli border policemen stand near a house in Kfar Aza, Israel, damaged by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip on July 14, 2014.

 

The kitchen of a house destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.
The kitchen of a house destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.

 

Majeed Al-Zeem, age 52, stands next to an hole from a missile launched by a drone which caused his head injury, Gaza City, July 14, 2014. The missile was launched by the Israeli military to warn the family of an impending airstrike on the house next door, an example of the so-called "knock on roof" tactic.
Majeed Al-Zeem, age 52, stands next to a hole from a missile launched by a drone which caused his head injury, Gaza City, July 14, 2014. The missile was launched by the Israeli military to warn the family of an impending airstrike on the house next door, an example of the so-called “knock-on-roof” tactic.

 

Israeli children make arts and crafts in a bomb shelter in southern Israel, July 14, 2014.
Israeli children make arts and crafts in a bomb shelter in southern Israel, July 14, 2014.

 

Palestinian children ride bicycles past a bomb crater in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.
Palestinian children ride bicycles past a bomb crater in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.

 

Palestinians inspect the damage of destroyed homes, Gaza City, July 14, 2014.
Palestinians inspect the damage of destroyed homes, Gaza City, July 14, 2014.

 

Bodies are carried from the morgue of Al Shifa Hosptial, Gaza City, July 13, 2014.
Bodies are carried from the morgue of Al Shifa Hosptial, Gaza City, July 13, 2014.

 

The view through holes punched through a Palestinian home in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.
The view through holes punched through a Palestinian home in Gaza City, July 14, 2014.

 

Hussam Shamdi sits on an missile which did not explode from the air strike which destroyed his home the day before, in Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, July 14, 2014. I
Hussam Shamdi sits on an missile, which did not explode, from an air strike that destroyed his home the day before, in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, July 14, 2014.


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