Some of them have permits to enter Israel.Р”В«ecause of all this, I have held to a belief that my building is safe. We donРІР‚в„ўt have strangers who could be potential targets.

Of this I am certain.Р”В®veryone in our building is known. The Israelis say they are looking for Hamas targets. Understand: At this moment, I was not directly worried about my own building. I hung up and realized it was time for me to go to the basement, too. I looked out the window and saw smoke rising from the roof of Al-Andalus. Shortly afterward, I was speaking with an editor about coverage plans. It had a view, and I am, after all, a person whose job it is to observe and chronicle what is happening. I stayed in my motherРІР‚в„ўs apartment next door to mine. They headed downstairs, leaving behind apartments with the front doors left open to reduce the concussive effects of bombs and the air they might push through the doorways. I wondered when I would actually feel as confident as I was trying to sound. I told them IРІР‚в„ўd stay upstairs, seek out the facts and make sure that everything was OK.Р”В®verything should be fine, I told them. Go to the basement, I exhorted: Maybe this is just a rumor. ThatРІР‚в„ўs what I did this time with my uncles and their children when I found them all in the stairwell, hurrying down, deeply uncertain. Sometimes itРІР‚в„ўs simply what you have to do. I rose, gathered myself, dressed and moved fast. Light fixtures were smashed and furniture broken.Р”Р„ll of this ricocheted through my mind on Wednesday morning as my motherРІР‚в„ўs words sank in. When we returned after the January 2009 cease-fire took effect, our building had been damaged badly. We had evacuated our building back then because a ground invasion was underway and tanks were close. In the 2008-09 war, Israel bombed Al-Andalus repeatedly, destroying half of it (it was later rebuilt). For us, thereРІР‚в„ўs terrifying precedent behind it. Our building is six floors high if the 15-story Al-Andalus was brought down, it could fall on our home and crush it. The imposing building sits just 30 meters (yards) from the apartment building where my mother, various uncles, cousins and I live - the only central location in my life still intact after the past week of disarray.

Such bags are filled with passports, IDs, personal items and the things we donРІР‚в„ўt want to lose under the rubble if the house is bombed.Р”Р„l-Andalus Tower is being targeted, my mother said. I saw immediately what she was carrying: the РІР‚Сљemergency bagРІР‚Сњ found in every house in Gaza. SheРІР‚в„ўd come directly in, through the apartment door that I leave unlocked in case thereРІР‚в„ўs an emergency and my family canРІР‚в„ўt reach me by phone. I wondered through my grogginess: Why is she calling me at this time? She knows I stay up until dawn filing news reports about the ongoing war.Р”Р„s I prepared to answer, I realized: Not only was my mother calling me, but she was standing right in front of me in my bedroom, too. It was my mother, calling from the apartment next door, where she lives. Shortly after 9 a.m., my cellphone rang and awakened me. And on Wednesday morning, as another day of bombardment in Gaza began - as Israel and Hamas continued to exchange fire - I thought I was going to lose my home, too.

Unmechanical extended damaged bombs