We ask the world to stay focused: The issue is still Palestine.

On 25 June, three Palestinian resistance groups raided an Israeli army post near the Karem Shalom crossing point on the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border, as a reaction to numerous ‘incursions’ by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), targeted assassinations, kidnapping of Gaza citizens, destruction of houses and other property. Two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinian combatants were killed, one Israeli soldier was taken prisoner. Soon the whole world knew the name of the Israeli soldier, the names of hundreds of Palestinians who were taken by the IDF remain unknown.

This raid was taken as the excuse to launch operation ‘Summer Rain’, which until today is still being waged upon the population of Gaza day by day. It is not a ‘hot blazing’ war, it is a daily slow torture of 1.4 million Palestinians in the biggest prison on earth. Thousands have been forced to evacuate as their homes were bulldozed or bombed, many were wounded or killed. In fact, An-Najar Hospital in Rafah has to cope with an unprecedented number of amputees amongst the steady stream of victims of Israel state terrorism because of some new type of missiles used by the IDF.

During operation ‘Summer Rain’ until 8 August, the Israeli military carried out 768 attacks on the Gaza Strip, including 190 air attacks by Israeli F16s, UAVs and helicopters. The Israeli military fired over 3,500 artillery and other shells into the Gaza Strip and Israeli military aircraft, including F16s, carried out 380 air patrols. These attacks resulted in the deaths of 170 Palestinians, including 138 civilians (some 25 per cent of whom were children), 14 security officers, and 15 armed Palestinians. An additional 506 Palestinians were injured; critical infrastructure was destroyed, including the only power plant and roads.

The Gaza Strip is completely locked in by the IDF, which has complete and total control of the air space and the sea off the coast of Gaza. The Rafah International Crossing Point has been totally closed for 54 days and has been partially opened for 5 days only since 25 June 2006. Only a very limited number out of thousands of Palestinians have been able to travel. On 10 and 11 August 2006, 1600 and 1700 travelers respectively were able to travel abroad, as the crossing point was operated for less than 7 hours. The transport of all goods, including medicines into Gaza need the prior approval of the IDF.