Life becomes a struggle in wilfully pulverized Gaza

Palestinian mourners cry at Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital after an explosion killed at least seven children in a public playground in the beachfront Shati refugee camp on Monday. (AFP) GAZA CITY: Caught in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, Gaza’s civilians are increasingly struggling to get by. There is no electricity 21 hours a day because power lines have been hit. Water taps have run dry because there’s no power to their fuel pumps and tens of thousands of displaced sleep on the floors of schools and hospitals. The hardship is felt more keenly as Muslims are observing the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which is meant to be a joyous time of festive meals, shared traditional sweets and family visits. Here is a glimpse of life in wartime Gaza. Men kneel in prayer on blankets laid out in the courtyard of a UN school in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, one of dozens of emergency shelters for those who have fled the fighting. Twenty mosques have been hit by Israeli warplanes so far, according to Palestinian officials. So the men prefer to perform Eid prayers in the relative safety of the school. “We can’t go to the mosque because of the shelling,” says 39-year-old Mahmoud Nofal, who has lived at the shelter with 30 members of his extended family for more than a week.   AP