GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Nov 16, 2012 (AFP)
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Nov 16, 2012 (AFP)
Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil’s solidarity visit to Gaza on Friday quickly brought him face-to-face with the reality of Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory.
Hisham Qandil, traveling with a delegation of ministers and presidential aides, crossed the border from Egypt into the southern Gaza town of Rafah after a night of incessant Israeli bombardment.
He was greeted by a delegation from the ruling Islamist Hamas government that escorted him on the drive north to Gaza City where he emerged from his car to cheers, surrounded by Egyptian bodyguards in olive green flak jackets.
Assembled at government headquarters and waiting to greet him were rows of Hamas members, led by prime minister Ismail Haniya.
It was the first time many of them had been seen in public in Gaza since Israel’s Wednesday afternoon targeted killing of a senior Hamas commander drove much of the group’s leadership underground.
Ahead of the visit, Israel said it would cease fire for the duration of the trip — if Gaza militant groups stopped firing rockets into the Jewish state.
But Hamas and other organizations issued no reciprocal ceasefire statement, and as Qandil arrived in Gaza, Hamas’s armed wing said it had fired into Israel.
Palestinian security and medical sources said Israel responded with an air strike on northern Gaza, killing two people, including a child. The Israeli military denied carrying out a raid.
Then Haniya and Qandil went to Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, where hundreds of Palestinians crushed around him, held back by armed Hamas security personnel wearing blue camouflage uniforms.
Well-wishers tried to offer the prime minister bunches of flowers as he toured the facility, greeting patients and listening to hospital staff.
And then suddenly the throng of cameras accompanying the visit swung around towards a man bearing the body of four-year-old Mohammed Yasser, his orange cardigan open over a green shirt. The boy had been killed in the strike on northern Gaza.
The man pressed forward towards Haniya and Qandil, pushing the body towards them. Qandil leant forward and kissed the child’s head.
“The Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil and I held the body of the martyred child Mohammed Yasser in our hands,” Haniya said in brief remarks to reporters afterwards.
“What I saw today in Gaza, at the hospital, with the martyrs, cannot be met with silence,” Qandil added.
“This tragedy cannot be tolerated, and the whole world bears the responsibility to stop the aggression.”
The crowd around responded with chants, led by Haniya.
“Long live Egypt, free and Arab!” they shouted.
Elsewhere across the impoverished Palestinian territory, some residents hailed Qandil’s visit as a strong show of solidarity.
“We as a people consider this to be a historic visit, a show of solidarity that lifts our spirits in the shadow of the attacks we are facing from Israeli warplanes,” said 31-year-old Ahmed Khatib, who owns a shop selling mobile phones.
“We hope that all the Arabs will make visits like this during wartime.”
But others called for more from Cairo, which is reportedly working behind the scenes to negotiate a ceasefire that could bring an end to the violence that began with Wednesday’s killing of Hamas commander Ahmed Jaabari.
“All the visit does is offer moral support to Hamas and Gaza,” said Mohammed Abu Taha, in southern Khan Yunis.
“We want real pressure from the Arabs and Egypt on Israel to stop the aggression.”
