Civilian Toll Soars as Gaza Attacks Continue

10 days into the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, the violence continues to escalate and there is still no end in sight. But as the violence moved into the most densely populated portions of the tiny strip, civilians are increasingly in the line of fire and increasingly the ones killed in the offensive.

Over 550 have already been killed and thousands wounded. While the split between civilians and militants still isn’t known the Health Ministry says at least 111 of the dead are children. Israel claims only about 12 percent of the fatalities are civilians, but the nation’s flat out dishonesty with respect to the humanitarian crisis in the strip makes its own numbers unreliable, at best.

And Israel insists it is doing all it can to prevent civilian casualties, yet medics are increasingly being killed in the growing artillery fire, while wounded civilians die untreated because the attacks prevent the ambulances from reaching them. Even if they can get to a hospital the situation is grim, some have lost power and reports suggest at least one was hit in the bombing, losing a wall.

The 1.5 million Gaza residents are in a panic, scared to leave their homes as they recognize that anything that moves can and likely will be hit. With shortages of basic necessities, the average civilian dare not even leave his house in search of food or clean water, as even readily treated injuries are liable to be fatal.