A Smart Muslim Lady

As she walked out of the area with three of her nine children, Hanad Tayyah, a widow, said that she was certain the fighting would escalate. “We are going because the Israeli tanks have fired many shells in front of our buildings,” she said.

The clashes, she added, were the worst she had seen during seven years living in northern Gaza, although she had been forced to leave “many times” before, and sighed with frustration over the issue of continued firing of rockets by Palestinian militants.

“I don’t know. Sometimes I say they [militants] have the right to do that. Sometimes I change my mind. The rockets have no benefit and the Israeli reaction is much bigger than our own,” she told The Times.