Caoimhe Butterly : Gaza, Terribly Bloodied, Still Breathing

galway | anti-war / imperialism | other press Monday January 19, 2009 17:30 by TD - Free Palestine Campaign

"We have learned the language of the war that the Israelis are waging on the collective captive population of Gaza"

In a powerful Counterpunch article, human rights activist, Caoimhe Butterly, working in Jabaliya and Gaza City as a volunteer with ambulance services and as co-coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement vividly describes the abattoir and war crime scene that is now Gaza: The bodies in their blood-soaked white shrouds cover the entire floor space of the Shifa hospital morgue. Some are intact, most horribly deformed, limbs twisted into unnatural positions, chest cavities exposed, heads blown off, skulls crushed in.

... The ever-present sounds of surveillance drones, F16s, tanks and Apaches are listened to acutely as residents try to guess where the next deadly strike will be- which house, school, clinic, mosque, governmental building or community centre will be hit next and how to move before it does ... We have learned the language of the war that the Israelis are waging on the collective captive population of Gaza- to distinguish between the sounds of the weaponry used, the timing between the first missile strikes and the inevitable second- targeting those that rush to tend to and evacuate the wounded, to recognize the signs of the different chemical weapons being used in this onslaught, to overcome the initial vulnerability of recognizing our own mortality.

Caoimhe can be contacted at sahara78@hotmail.co.uk or 00972598273960