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Israel Prepares for Long War in Gaza as Both Sides Suffer Most Casualties Yet

7 minute read

Updated: July 21, 2014, 3:00 a.m. E.T.

If you look at most maps of Gaza, you won’t find the neighborhood of Shujaiyeh on it. But the name of the neighborhood on the eastern edge of Gaza City will likely go down in history as a particularly horrific point in a war between Israel and Hamas that only seems to get bloodier and more bitter by the day.

Each side has its own story, and they differ so substantially that it is almost a déjà vu of the terrible bloodshed in the West Bank city of Jenin in 2002: Palestinians called it a massacre, Israelis said it was a battle.

This much is clear: the Israeli army laid siege to the Gaza neighborhood of Shujaiyeh late Saturday night and throughout the early hours on Sunday, shelling it with artillery blasts as well as air strikes and helicopter fire. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers also went in on foot and had heavy exchanges of automatic gunfire with Hamas militants. At least 501 Palestinians have been killed, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The IDF also released its grim death toll: 13 soldiers were killed in the fighting.

For Jalal Ghouleh, 47, it was one of the worst nights of his life. He’d been receiving messages from the army — by telephone and by leaflet — to leave Gaza City for days, but he could think of nowhere to run: Palestinians seeking shelter have already packed U.N. schools in the Gaza Strip, with more than 50,000 displaced people sleeping on classroom floors and in courtyards.

The shelling starting at 9 p.m., and it never seemed to stop.

“We were about 65 people in the same building, children, parents, aunts and uncles. We all went down to the ground floor. The shelling and shooting just keep going all night and I thought, ‘We’ll die in this house, we have to get out,’” says Ghouleh. After six harrowing hours, there seemed to be a lull in the fighting. So they decided to make a run for it, leaving the house en masse and scurrying on foot to Shifa Hospital. It was the only place they could think to go that would theoretically be safe.

By midmorning, they were evacuated to a U.N. school, where there was hardly space for them to stay. When a humanitarian cease-fire was declared at 1:30 p.m., Ghouleh came back to their building on the main drag of the neighborhood to collect a few key belongings. A neighbor, Raed Zaqout, had also come back to throw a few valuables and items of clothing into a bag, not knowing when they would be home again. They returned to a street with half-destroyed buildings, burnt-out cars, felled trees, downed electricity poles. The ground was a charred crumble of rubble and shrapnel. The worst, he said, was the inability to help others. “We saw bodies lying in street, maybe some of them just badly injured, but it was such chaos trying to carry out our children and escape that we couldn’t help others,” Ghouleh said.

At the overcrowded Shifa Hospital, families searched frantically for people who were missing and sought treatment for the many wounded. One of the injured was a 4-year-old girl name Ritaj, who was in the emergency room wearing pink pajamas and being treated for shrapnel injuries to her leg. “I lost my brother, I lost my brother,” she repeated over and over again. Her mother sat in the seat next to her, crying.

A little over an hour’s drive north from the hospital, in the Tel Aviv suburb of Hod HaSharon, another child was crying. Uri Greenberg, 10, was bidding a final farewell at his father’s funeral: Major (res.) Amotz Greenberg, 45, was one of Israel’s first casualties of the war. He and another Israeli soldier were killed on Saturday — and four more wounded — after Hamas militants who had infiltrated Israel through an underground tunnel opened fire on them.

“Dad, once you seemed like superman. Now you are superman,” said the redheaded boy between sobs.

While the first two soldiers to die in the current conflict were buried, the news of the losses the IDF sustained in Gaza stretched across Israel. The loss of 13 elite Golani Brigade soldiers in a single day — 15 more soldiers were injured, four of them seriously — was heavy news that served as a kind of grim reality check of what is to come. This was no weeklong flare-up like 2012’s Operation Pillar of Defense. The stakes are high, there is no immediate end in sight, and it would be almost inappropriately euphemistic to call it an “operation” rather than a war.

IDF spokesman Peter Lerner tells TIME that Israel sustained relatively heavy losses because Hamas militants were intent on trying to defend what was far from a regular neighborhood.

“It’s a Hamas stronghold, a fortified position, a fortress of tunnels that extend from houses to rocket launchers to caches of rockets that are concealed underground. Eight percent of the rockets in the past 12 to 13 days were launched from there,” Lerner says. “The difference in what happened there, compared to previous days, is that we met huge resistance in the form of rocket-propelled grenades, antitank missiles and automatic fire from AK-47s and other machine-gun fire coming from all the houses, targeting our forces. It was substantial, and that’s why we provided air and artillery support.”

Could Israel not have worked harder to avoid the civilian casualties? Lerner says the IDF tried to get people to leave the area. “For the last three days we’ve been urging Palestinians from Shujaiyeh and other places to leave the vicinity. But Hamas urged the population to stay, and the situation is unfortunately that this developed as it did.”

In the evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference with his Defense Minister, Moshe Ya’alon. Netanyahu sought to comfort the grieving families and the somewhat stunned nation, but also to boost morale for a military campaign that he indicated was far from over.

“We bow our heads to those who fell so that we can continue our existence in the State of Israel. There isn’t a more just war than the one our sons fell in than this war,” Netanyahu said. “In every battle there are difficult periods, but despite this the ground campaign will expand and continue until the quiet returns to the citizens of Israel.” So far, 1,700 rockets have been fired at Israel, which suffered only one civilian death before the IDF soldiers were killed this weekend. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has soared to 434 since the most recent wave of violence began a week and a half ago, according to Reuters, citing health officials in Gaza.

Meanwhile, regional leaders met in Doha Sunday to hold talks on cease-fire possibilities, following a failed Egyptian-brokered effort last week. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Qatar to discuss a cease-fire with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was there later on Sunday to help push truce efforts. The Obama Administration also tried to beef up its efforts, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry due to travel to Cairo to seek a truce based on the November 2012 cease-fire agreement. That one kept the peace — for a year and a half, anyway.

Israel's Ground Invasion of Gaza Continues

A Palestinian Christian man from Gaza tries to push the coffin of Jalila Ayad in her grave during her funeral on the small and overcrowded cemetery of the St. Porfirius church in Gaza City, July 27, 2014.
A Palestinian Christian man from Gaza tries to push the coffin of Jalila Ayad in her grave during her funeral on the small and overcrowded cemetery of the St. Porfirius church in Gaza City, July 27, 2014. Oliver Weiken—EPA
Palestinian men gather things they found in the rubble of destroyed buildings on July 27, 2014 in the Shejaiya residential district of Gaza City as families returned to find their homes ground into rubble by relentless Israeli tank fire and air strikes.
Palestinian men gather things they found in the rubble of destroyed buildings on July 27, 2014 in the Shejaiya residential district of Gaza City as families returned to find their homes ground into rubble by relentless Israeli tank fire and air strikes.Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images
PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-GAZA
Palestinians recover the body of a man killed when his home was hit the previous night by Israeli fire in the northern district of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip during an humanitarian truce, on July 26, 2014. Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images
A Palestinian man walks past destroyed houses in Beit Hanoun northern Gaza Strip, July 26 2014.
A Palestinian man walks past destroyed houses in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, July 26 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
Palestinian women react amid the destruction in the northern district of Beit Hanun in the Gaza Strip during an humanitarian truce on July 26, 2014.
Palestinian women react amid the destruction in the northern district of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip during an humanitarian truce on July 26, 2014. Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images
Destruction in Gaza City
A general view of destroyed buildings after Israeli attacks in a part of the Shuja'iyya neighborhood in east Gaza City, July 26, 2014. Oliver Weiken—EPA
Palestinian girls peers from inside a UN school in Jabalia, north Gaza Strip, on July 25, 2014, where they found shelter after escaping from their home.
Palestinian girls peers from inside a UN school in Jabalia, north Gaza Strip, on July 25, 2014, where they found shelter after escaping from their home.Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images
Smoke from an Israeli strike rises over the Gaza Strip, July 25, 2014.
Smoke from an Israeli strike rises over the Gaza Strip, July 25, 2014. Majdi Fathi—ZumaPress
Israeli APCs drive near the Israeli border with Gaza as the come out of the Gaza Strip July 25, 2014.
Israeli APCs drive near the Israeli border with Gaza as they come out of the Gaza Strip July 25, 2014.Nir Elias—Reuters
Mortar cases are piled at a military staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.
Mortar cases are piled at a military staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014. Nir Elias—Reuters
A Palestinian man holds a girl injured during shelling at a U.N.-run school sheltering Palestinians, at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on July 24, 2014.
A Palestinian man holds a girl injured during shelling at a U.N.-run school sheltering Palestinians, at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on July 24, 2014. Alessio Romenzi for TIME
Blood stains of displaced Palestinians are seen inside the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun after it has been hit, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.
Blood stains of displaced Palestinians are seen inside the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun after it had been hit, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014. Alessio Romenzi for TIME
A Palestinian woman stands in front of buildings damaged by Israeli bombardment in the Jabalia district of the northern Gaza Strip on July 24, 2014.
A Palestinian woman stands in front of buildings damaged by Israeli bombardment in the Jabalia district of the northern Gaza Strip on July 24, 2014. Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images
Relatives hold the bodies of Palestinian children Hadi Abdel Nabi, 3, and one and a-half-year-old Abdel Rahman Abdel Nabi, at the cemetery in Jebaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, during their funeral, July 24, 2014.
Relatives hold the bodies of Palestinian children Hadi Abdel Nabi, 3, and one and a-half-year-old Abdel Rahman Abdel Nabi, at the cemetery in Jebaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, during their funeral, July 24, 2014. Lefteris Pitarakis—AP
A young Palestinian girl who got injured when a UN school for refugees was allegedly hit by a Israeli tank shells, lies on a hospital bed in the emergency room of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.
A young Palestinian girl who got injured when a UN school for refugees was allegedly hit by a Israeli tank shells, lies on a hospital bed in the emergency room of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014. Oliver Weiken—EPA
Displaced Palestinians from Beit Hanoun sleep inside the UNRWA school in Jabalia, July 23, 2014.
Displaced Palestinians from Beit Hanoun sleep inside the UNRWA school in Jabalia, July 23, 2014. Alessio Romenzi for TIME
Wounded Israeli soldiers are brought to a helicopter on July 23, 2014 near Kafar Aza, Israel.
Wounded Israeli soldiers are brought to a helicopter on July 23, 2014 near Kafar Aza, Israel. Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Soldiers carry the coffin of Sergeant Max Steinberg during his funeral on July 23, 2014 in Jerusalem.Ilia Yefimovich—Getty Images
Comrades of slain Sgt. Max Steinberg are comforting each other at Mt. Herzl cemetery, Jerusalem, July 23,2014.
Comrades of slain Sgt. Max Steinberg are comforting each other at Mt. Herzl cemetery, Jerusalem, July 23,2014.Omer Messinger—NurPhoto//REX USA
Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border
Smoke pours out of the ground due to an alleged campaign by the Israeli military to fill tunnels originating in Gaza with smoke to discover entrances into Israel on July 23, 2014 near Sderot, Israel. Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Palestinians take cover as warning Israeli air strikes are fired at a nearby building in Gaza City, July 22, 2014.
Palestinians take cover as warning Israeli air strikes are fired at a nearby building in Gaza City, July 22, 2014.Finbarr O'Reilly—Reuters
Women grieve during the funeral of Islamic Brigades fighter Abdalla Ismail al Buheisi, in Deir Al Balah, on the Gaza Strip.
Women grieve during the funeral of Islamic Brigades fighter Abdalla Ismail al Buheisi, in Deir Al Balah, on the Gaza Strip, July 22, 2014.Sergey Ponomarev—The New York Times/Redux
Gaza Strip, Gaza Street: A Palestinian man looks through the window of his house at the buildings damaged  overnight by an airstrike in Gaza City.. ALESSIO ROMENZI for TIME
A Palestinian man looks through the window of his house to buildings damaged by an overnight airstrike in Gaza City, July 22, 2014.Alessio Romenzi for TIME
A mosque destroyed overnight in attacks in Rafah, Gaza.
A mosque destroyed overnight in attacks in Rafah, Gaza, July 22, 2014. Sergey Ponomarev—The New York Times/Redux
The mother of Israeli soldier Tal Yifrah mourns over his flag-covered coffin during his funeral in Rishon Lezion near Tel Aviv, July 22, 2014.
The mother of Israeli soldier Tal Yifrah mourns over his flag-covered coffin during his funeral in Rishon Lezion near Tel Aviv, July 22, 2014.Ronen Zvulun—Reuters
Israeli soldiers evacuate their wounded comrades at an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, on July 20, 2014.
Israeli soldiers evacuate their wounded comrades at an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, on July 20, 2014. Jack Guez—AFP/Getty Images
Israeli soldiers stand near their tank while smoke due to airstrikes and shelling rises from Gaza on July 22, 2014 near Sderot, Israel.
Israeli soldiers stand near their tank while smoke due to airstrikes and shelling rises from Gaza on July 22, 2014 near Sderot, Israel. Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Conflict in Gaza
Smoke from Israeli strikes rises over Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, July 21, 2014. Maysun—Corbis
Palestinian men bury the bodies of a family who was killed after airstrike in Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian men bury the bodies of a family who was killed after airstrike in Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, July 21, 2014. Sergey Ponomarev—The New York Times/Redux
Palestinian refugees unload mattresses at a United Nations shelter in Rafah, Gaza Strip, July 19, 2014.
Palestinians evacuate a victim from a building that was hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, July 20, 2014. Hosam Salem—NurPhoto/Rex
Palestinian refugees unload mattresses at a United Nations shelter in Rafah, Gaza Strip, July 19, 2014.
Palestinian refugees unload mattresses at a United Nations shelter in Rafah, Gaza Strip, July 19, 2014. Sergey Ponomarev—The New York Times/Redux
Palestinians flee the Shujayeh neighborhood during heavy shelling in Gaza City. July 20, 2014.
Palestinians flee the Shujayeh neighborhood during heavy shelling in Gaza City, July 20, 2014.Alessio Romenzi
Palestinian woman gestures as she stands amidst the rubble of her house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
A Palestinian woman gestures as she stands amidst the rubble of her house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, July 20, 2014. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa—Reuters
A damaged house in Shujaya district in Gaza, seen during a humanitarian cease-fire, July 20, 2014.
A damaged house in Shujayeh neighborhood in Gaza City, seen during a humanitarian cease-fire, July 20, 2014.Alessio Romenzi
Palestinian man holds the hand of a woman, who medics said was wounded in an Israeli air strike, in the northern Gaza Strip
A Palestinian man holds the hand of a woman, who medics said was wounded in an Israeli air strike, in the northern Gaza Strip July 20, 2014. Abed Abu Reyash—Reuters
Relatives of three Palestinians from Abu Muamar family, who medics said were killed in an Israeli air strike, mourn during their funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
Relatives of three Palestinians from Abu Muamar family, who medics said were killed in an Israeli air strike, mourn during their funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip July 20, 2014. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa—Reuters
Palestinians flee east Gaza neighbourhood
Palestinians boys watch people fleeing from Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in east Gaza City, 20 July 2014. Oliver Weiken—EPA
Palestinians carry a body inside the Shifa Hospital morgue, in Gaza City. July 20, 2014.
Palestinians carry a body inside the Shifa Hospital morgue, in Gaza City. July 20, 2014.Alessio Romenzi
A Palestinian boy, who medics said was wounded by Israeli shelling, receives treatment at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City July 20, 2014.Ali Jadallah—APA/Landov
Casualties mount in Gaza City, Israel expands ground operation
A doctor cries while standing next to a table with the bodies of four dead children in overflowing morgue of the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, July 20, 2014. Oliver Weiken—EPA
A Palestinian woman wearing clothes stained with the blood of other relatives, who medics said were wounded in Israeli shelling, cries at a hospital in Gaza City
A Palestinian woman wearing clothes stained with the blood of other relatives, who medics said were wounded in Israeli shelling, cries at a hospital in Gaza City July 20, 2014.Mohammed Salemm—Reuters
Palestinians, who medics said were wounded during heavy Israeli shelling, sit at a hospital in Gaza City
Palestinians, who medics said were wounded during heavy Israeli shelling, sit at a hospital in Gaza City July 20, 2014. Mohammed Salem—Reuters
A Palestinian woman, who medics said was wounded by Israeli shelling, receives treatment at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, July 20, 2014.APAimages/Rex
Rescue workers enter Shuja'iyya to retrieve dead and wounded
Two Palestinian men carry a white flag as they flee their homes during a brief period of ceasefire requested by local rescue forces to retrieve dead and wounded from the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in east Gaza City, July 20, 2014.Oliver Weiken—EPA
A Palestinian girl sits in a minibus after fleeing her family's house during heavy Israeli shelling, in Gaza City
A Palestinian girl sits in a minibus after fleeing her family's house during heavy Israeli shelling, in Gaza City July 20, 2014.Suhaib Salem—Reuters
Palestinian woman, who fled her house following an Israeli ground offensive, stays at a United Nations-run school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
A Palestinian woman, who fled her house following an Israeli ground offensive, stays at a United Nations-run school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip July 20, 2014. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa—Reuters
Israeli soldiers fire their weapons during the funeral of their comrade Bnaya Rubel in Holon
Israeli soldiers fire their weapons during the funeral of their comrade Bnaya Rubel in Holon, near Tel Aviv July 20, 2014. Nir Elias—Reuters
Funeral of Israeli soldier Amotz Greenberg
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of killed Israeli soldier Amotz Greenberg during the military funeral ceremony in the cemetery of Hod Hasharon, Israel, 20 July 2014.Abir Sultan—EPA
Smoke rises during what witnesses said were heavy Israeli shelling at the Shejaia neighbourhood in Gaza City
Smoke rises during what witnesses said were heavy Israeli shelling at the Shejaia neighbourhood in Gaza City July 20, 2014. Mohammed Salem—Reuters
A Palestinian family who fled their homes is en route to seek shelter in a UN school in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.
A Palestinian family who fled their homes is en route to seek shelter in a UN school in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014. Oliver Weiken—EPA
PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-UNREST-GAZA
A Palestinian child along with her family, who fled their home during an Israeli ground offensive, take refuge at a UN school in Gaza City with other families, on July 19, 2014. Mahmud Hams—AFP/Getty Images
Death toll rises in Gaza
Palestinians, who fled their houses following an Israeli ground offensive, at a UN school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, July 19, 2014. Eyad Al Baba—Apaimages/Polaris
Israeli tanks maneuver outside the Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.
Israeli tanks maneuver outside the Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014. Ronen Zvulun—Reuters
Israeli soldiers put on their gear on the side of a road across from the Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.
Israeli soldiers put on their gear on the side of a road across from the Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.Baz Ratner—Reuters
Israeli soldiers rest inside an armoured personnel carrier outside central Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers rest inside an armoured personnel carrier outside central Gaza Strip July 19, 2014. Amir Cohen—Reuters
APTOPIX Mideast Israel Palestinians
Israeli forces' flares light up the night sky in the northern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, July 19, 2014. Adel Hana—AP
Multiple rocket launches from a site inside the Gaza Strip firing towards Israel as seen from a lookout point in southern Israel on July 17, 2014.
Multiple rocket launches from a site inside the Gaza Strip firing towards Israel are seen from a lookout point in southern Israel on July 17, 2014.Jim Hollander—EPA
A Palestinian salvages rubble of their destroyed homes after their apartment building was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City on July 18, 2014.
A Palestinian salvages rubble from a destroyed home after an apartment building was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City on July 18, 2014.Hatem Moussa—AP
Gaza War 2014 - Funeral
Palestinian relatives mourn during the funeral of eight members of the same family who were killed overnight in an Israeli strike on July 19, 2014 in Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza strip. Hosam Salem—NurPhoto/Corbis
Palestinian mourners gather around the bodies of three siblings of the Abu Musallam family, during their funeral in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.
Palestinian mourners gather around the bodies of three siblings of the Abu Musallam family, during their funeral in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.Maysun—Corbis
Mideast Israel Palestinians Photo Gallery
A Palestinian inspects a hole made by an Israeli strike at the damaged Inteiz family house in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, July 18, 2014.Lefteris Pitarakis—AP
Netream Netzleam holds the body of her daughter Razel, 1, who died in an Israeli air strike on Thursday afternoon, at her funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.
Netream Netzleam holds the body of her daughter Razel, 1, who died in an Israeli air strike on Thursday afternoon, at her funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.Finbarr O'Reilly—Reuters
Israeli troops move into Gaza
A Palestinian mortician ties a knot around the sheet covering the body of a dead Palestinian man in a morgue in Khan Younis, central Gaza City, July 18, 2014. Oliver Weiken—EPA

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