Feature: Ordinary Gazans try hard to heal wounds of war

Source: Xinhua | 01-28-2009 16:41

GAZA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- In a small room on the second floor of a two-story building, 55-year-old Mahamad Abd Rabo sat silently on his bed.

Beside him, a young neighbor was lighting a fire for the handicapped man with bits of broken furniture. In the darkness, the fire brought light and warmth to everyone in the room.

The building, situated in the village of Abd Rabo in the north of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, was badly damaged by the 22-day-long Israeli Cast Lead Operation in the Palestinian coastal enclave, which finally came to an end 10 days ago.

A Palestinian boy searches for  belongings in the rubbles of a  house in Jibaliya, northern Gaza  Strip, Jan. 27, 2009. According  to the survey conducted by the  Palestinian Central Bureau of  Statistics and the UN coordination  office for Human Rights, more than  4,000 houses were destroyed, 17,000  others damaged and 90,000 people  became homeless, due to the Israeli  operation of Cast Lead. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Despite the apparent danger of living in such a building, Mahamad refuses to leave.