IN GAZA

Civilians left exposed

01-05-2009 | AP

Panama Star GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP. With booms from artillery and airstrikes keeping them awake, the 10 members of Lubna Karam's family spent the night huddled in the hallway of their Gaza City home. The Karams have run out of cooking gas. The family, including three small children, eats cold, canned beans. "It's war food," said Karam, 28.

As Israel's offensive against Hamas moves from pinpointed airstrikes to ground fighting and artillery shelling, Gaza's civilians are increasingly exposed. Some two dozen civilians were killed within hours after the ground invasion started.

Deprivation is nothing new in Gaza, but the Israeli-led blockade of the territory has grown increasingly tighter over the past two months, making cooking gas and many foods scare. Last week's bombings also damaged the strip's sanitary and electrical infrastructure, leaving many residents without power and water.

"When there was a siege, we kept talking about a catastrophe," said Hatem Shurrab, 24, of Gaza City. "But then the airstrikes started, and now we don't even know what word to use. There's no word in the dictionary that can describe the situation we are in."