Israel’s land, sea and air attack on Gaza to smoke out Hamas men firing daily rockets on the Jewish homeland, has been remarkable for the near-complete blackout of information from inside Gaza City. Journalists are barred from reporting from inside Gaza City for “operational reasons”.
Result: As the relentless bombardment continues, no one knows what’s happening to the human beings—men, women, children—who have nothing to do with Hamas or the rockets.
Taghreed El-Khodary, a 39-year-old journalist, lives in the centre of Gaza City. She says everything—the parliament building, the police station, everything—stands destroyed. Up for attack next is a mosque close to where she is, although there is no indication that Hamas fighters are holed in there.
In a telephonic interview with Shihab Rattansi of Al Jazeera English, she says:
“You don’t know what’s the target any more. You don’t know who is in your neighbourhood. You don’t know who is your neighbour any more. You don’t know who is in the military wing…. This is the first time they [Israel] have succeeded in terrorising every single person in Gaza. It’s kind of punishing every individual. You feel like it’s in your house.”
Also view: Israel’s media management
IJR 
We’ll be discussing the Israeli invasion of Gaza from perspectives on both sides of the divide Monday and Tuesday January 12 and 13 at 5 PM New York time on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com with Israel’s Consul General in New York Asaf Shariv and Hussein Ibish, executive director of the Foundation for Arab-American Leadership and senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine.
Please go to http://www.garybaumgarten.com and click on the Join The Chat Room button to speak with Shariv on Monday and Ibish on Tuesday.
Thanks,
Gary