Photo Gallery: A Trip to the Gaza Border, or Pretty Close to it

SDEROT, Israel [CHI] — Amid bursts of artillery fire followed by the thunder of heavy bombing, throngs of reporters flanked by course onlookers came to observe the Israel Defense Forces offensive in Gaza. This was the scene at the ‘Reporters Hill’ less than one kilometer away from the border.

More pictures in the Extended Article! (By Webby)

Driving up Highway 4, my driver informs me, “We are now within range of the Grad rockets” and a sign indicates the city of Ashkelon’s city limits. The driver points out the window, “Look, everyone just keeps on living.” Commercial vans with their ladders strapped to their roofs drive near the Green Line, bright lettering informing us of their trades: roofer, air conditioner repair and deliveries.

After driving for a while longer, a large sign declares that we are now in Sderot, the city that has suffered extensively from the daily threat of the Qassam rockets, some days sustaining more than 20. The cab driver once again informs me, “We are in range of the Qassam rockets now” and adds that none have fallen yet today.

Spirits are high among the reporters and onlookers, each equipped with long range zoom lenses for their cameras and binoculars, all watching the plumes of rising smoke followed thirty seconds later by thunder. Reporters are excited when they capture a “good explosion,” while two clowns make their way around the crowd, cracking jokes and raising the overall spirit and moral. One reporter says to another, “This is cool, why do we want it to end?”

After spending nearly two hours on the small hill, littered with cameras and reporters, the sun sets and we decide to drive into Sderot in order to see what life is like there today. As we drive into town, we immediately notice an abnormal amount of Israeli flags hanging on every place it possibly could hang from, 15,000 of them to be exact. A group called “Lev Echad” [one heart], that takes care of the families, who have had their homes struck by rockets, with reconstruction and other aid, have hung the flags in a show of support and solidarity. The flags raise the spirits of the residents, and even elicit a hearty laugh from me as I say to myself, “check out the audacity. Nothing can break these people.”

As I drive back reflecting upon my day, I say a silent prayer, one for the residents and another for the soldiers, while still hearing the bombs exploding deep within the coastal strip – known as Gaza.