HUG OF HOPE
IN a poignant image of hope, a grieving Jewish mum and an Arab nurse embrace – in a week of Middle East violence that has left close to 150 dead.
Lena Ahmad works in a hospital in Israel where Jews and Arabs are treated together.
Miriam Peretz is a 67-yearold Jewish mum who lost two of her six sons serving in the Israeli Army, in conflicts with its Arab neighbours.
Their “hug of peace” in Tel Aviv came as up to 100,000 people marched on the Israeli embassy in London yesterday to call for an end to air strikes.
Among them was former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who stood alongside the Palestinian ambassador Husam Zomlot to demand a ceasefire.
SCUFFLES
One police officer suffered a head injury as scuffles broke out later, after the peaceful protest had disbanded.
Other cities around the world also held marches – including Paris, where tear gas and water cannon were used to enforce a ban on protesters.
Diplomatic efforts to end the violence that flared up eight days ago have yet to show any sign of halting the conflict.
But at Israel’s largest hospital, the Sheba Medical Center, the extraordinary gesture of the two women gave hope to Arabs and Israelis alike.
Miriam lost her husband to an illness she believes was brought on by a broken heart over the death of their sons.
She now works to bring Arabs and Jews together, standing as a moderate in next month’s presidential elections.
She said: “The work that goes on in this hospital that treats Jews and Arabs shows we can live together in peace.
“You see things that hurt you, I see things that hurt me. But restraint and self-control are what’s needed at this time.
“When Lena is treating a patient, she puts aside her religious identity, she puts aside her ‘team’, and all that matters to her is to be professional, and to be a human being.”
At the 2,000bed hospital in the Tel Aviv district, Palestinians and Israelis work sideby-side to treat patients from both sides of the conflict.
After the hospital was hit by a rocket attack last week, staff moved the neo-natal and children’s intensive care units to the underground car park.
The death toll in Gaza this
My friend sleeps with her 4 children in one room so they will all die together RANA ABDALLAH AID WORKER WHO LIVES IN WEST GAZA
As violence reaches fever pitch, Israeli mum and an Arab nurse bridge divide
PROTEST Up to 100,000 protest at London march week has now topped 130, including 39 children and 22 women. There have also been nine fatalities – including two children – on the Israeli side.
A five-month-old baby was pulled from the rubble after an air strike in Gaza yesterday that killed 10 of his family.
Omar Hadidi, said to have
EMBRACING PEACE Miriam and Lena put arms round each other in a gesture of solidarity been found beside his mother’s the battle erupted. Dad body, was the only known Mohammed said his wife and survivor of the attack on a five children had gone there to three-storey house in Gaza celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday City’s Shati refugee camp. with relatives.
Harrowing pictures show She and three of the children, nurses cradling the bloodied aged six to 14, were killed, boy at the Al-Shifa Hospital. while an 11-year-old is missing.
Two women and eight children Hamas militants fired more from one extended family rockets into Israel in response. died in the attack – the highest A high-rise building in the death toll in a single hit since Gaza strip housing foreign media, including the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera, was also hit by Israeli air strikes.
The Israeli military had ordered people to evacuate, claiming the building housed “Hamas military intelligence”.
Rana Abdallah, who works for Christian Aid partner organisation the Women’s Affair Centre, said: “Nowhere and no one is safe. We haven’t
SAFE HAVEN Child’s bed set up in car park
SURVIVOR Omar lost 10 of his family
left home since Monday.” The 38-year-old mother of three added: “This is the fourth offensive since I came to Gaza in 2000. It’s the worst by far.
“One of my friends said she sleeps with her four children in the same room so if they are hit they will all die together.
“Maybe it would be best to do the same.”