Civilians in Gaza 'feel alone in this world' [View All]

[katty]

more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28639458/

By Kari Huus
Reporter

msnbc.com
updated 1 hour, 52 minutes ago

Editor's note: With Israel preventing foreign-based journalists from reporting first-hand on its military incursion in Gaza, accounts of the circumstances of those under siege are difficult to come by. On Tuesday — in a second segment on life in the embattled area — msnbc.com interviewed two Palestinians in Gaza by phone in interviews arranged by the international charity Mercy Corps.

Palestinian civilians caught in the middle of an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip are gathering in apartment buildings and homes not yet hit by the fighting, preferring crowded refuge to the greater danger in other parts of the embattled territory, two Palestinians told msnbc.com on Tuesday.

Nasser Barakat, a 21-year-old Palestinian student, said by telephone from Gaza City that conditions have deteriorated in the last week. As the Israeli troops moved through suburban neighborhoods trying to root out Hamas fighters and intensified attacks in the coastal areas, his aunt’s home in central Gaza City has taken on more friends and relatives forced to flee their homes, he said.