Gaza survivors recount hours trapped under rubble
The Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip has destroyed hundreds of houses and buildings, leaving many to stuck under rubble that rescuers are ill-equipped to move.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Riad Eshkuntana, 42, recalled exactly where he was at 1 a.m. May 15 in his rented apartment on the third floor in the Abu al-Auf building on Al-Wehda Street in central Gaza City.
He was standing on the new red rug he'd bought along with other Ramadan ornaments to make the apartment festive for his children, three girls and two boys, as well as his wife during the Muslim holy month.
At that moment, Israeli jets bombed Eshkuntana’s residential building without notifying civilians to clear the area. The jets pounded the coastal enclave with shells for 11 days as part of the Israeli military campaign against the Gaza Strip called Guardians of the Walls.
In a blink of an eye, the father of five found himself trapped under a cement wall. He laid there in the rubble, with his right hand stuck in the wreckage. The pain was so excruciating that he thought his hand was severed.
