Israel Do You Have Enough Blood on Your Hands Yet?

The body of Maysa al-Athamnehis carried during her funeral (Ma'an)

Nine children buried, victims of latest Israeli massacre; Beit Hanoun hospital over-run with casualties and corpses

November 9, 2006

Gaza - Ma'an - Nine children, including Maysa, a one-year-old infant and Malak, a two-year-old toddler, together with their deceased mothers, were taken to the cemetery on Thursday at noon. These were just some of the latest victims of the most recent Israeli massacre, committed by Israeli military forces on Wednesday in Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The victims were carried on the arms of their relatives, and other Palestinians, who came in their thousands to participate in the funeral. Those in the caskets were mostly from one family, the Athamna family of Biet Hanoun.

Palestinians of all ages, as well as national and Muslim factions participated in the funeral,

Beit Hanoun is a small town, consisting of 8 streets and is, like every other town of the Gaza Strip, very crowded. The main street in the town is now very difficult to use, because of the shells holes in the road from the frequent Israeli attacks.

A local journalist told Ma'an's correspondent that the six days of the incursion so far could be summarized as "siege, horror, starvation and destruction."

The hospital of Beit Hanoun was built recently and had only been operating for just a month and a half before the beginning of the massacre, but has been more busy than any other hospital in the last six days, receiving hundreds of injured people, in spite of its limited capacity of just 40 beds.

Director of the hospital, Dr Jamil Ali, told Ma'an that the Israeli forces have besieged him, along with his colleagues, for six long days in the hospital, and in some cases they have been ordered to hand over some of the injured people. He said that, although they are forced to work in very hard conditions, they have been able to rescue eight of those injured, and prevented them from dying.

People prepare the graves of 18 Palestinians killed by Israeli artillery, at Beit Hanoun cemetery in northern Gaza Strip, November 9, 2006. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)