GAZA CITY
Busy covering the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency photojournalist Anas Abu Maelaq did not imagine that he will be a target for an Israeli airstrike.
"Journalists are being targeted by Israeli warplanes," Abu Maelaq said from his hospital bed.
On Monday, Abu Maelaq was injured in an Israeli strike on the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip.
He was immediately taken to hospital where he underwent surgery before being transferred to southern Gaza's European Hospital to receive further treatment.
Recalling the attack, Abu Maelaq said he was covering Israeli attacks when Israeli missiles began to shower the hospital. "I was injured in the leg by flying shrapnel," he said.
Despite his injuries, Abu Maelaq tried to walk into the hospital for safety when a second missile struck nearby, injuring the AA photojournalist in his chest and stomach.
"I was rushed into the hospital by medics," Abu Maelaq recalled. "Panic was everywhere inside the building."
Abu Maelaq was taken to the operation room to undergo a surgery for saving his life. "The Israeli attack inflicted a lot of damage on the operation room," Abu Maelaq recalled. "I felt there was no chance to survive."
Since July 7, Israel has pounded the embattled coastal enclave with fierce air and naval bombardments with the stated aim of halting Palestinian rocket fire.
On Thursday night, Israel stepped up its offensive to include ground operations, sending thousands of troops into the embattled Palestinian territory.
Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rockets at Israeli cities in response to the ongoing Israeli attacks.
At least 650 Palestinians have been killed – mostly civilians – and more than 4000 injured in the unrelenting Israeli attacks on the besieged coastal enclave.
Thirty-one Israelis, including 29 soldiers, have also been killed since the hostilities began.
Israel's military operation, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populated Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week-long "Operation Cast Lead."
By Hedaya al-Saidi
www.aa.com.tr/en
