by Saud Abu Ramadan

    GAZA, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- At the house of Mohamed al-Jarousha, 52, who lives in Gaza city downtown, the only ground telephone his family has at home, didn't stop ringing during the day and receiving different phone calls.

    The father said his family has been receiving random telephone calls from anonymous persons, who speak different Arabic dialects and recognizing themselves as Arab citizens calling from Egypt, Libya and Sudan to express solidarity and support.

    "Hello, are you okay? Where do you live? Are there intensive airstrikes in your area?" repeated al-Jarousha, adding "I asked who is calling, and it was a woman saying she is from Libya and wants to express solidarity with the family."

    He added that the family received another phone call right after a building which is couple of hundred meters far from their house, where a man saying he is from Saudi Arabia saying "I'm from Saudi Arabia , How are you doing? Do you have a bank account number because I want to send you money to support you."

    The 360 square kilometers Gaza Strip, with 1.5 million Palestinians, is a poor, narrow and densely populated, has been under unprecedented and intensive Israeli air and ground strikes are carried out round the clock since December 27, last year.

    Different Arab satellite channels, mainly the Qatari-based al-Jazeera television, have been reporting and showing round the clock images of dead children, casualties with severe wounds are brought to the hospitals, sounds of bombs, pillars of smokes and destroyed houses and buildings.

    "I believe that these images had brought the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip a tremendous Arab and Islamic support amid a strange silence of Arab and Moslem leaders for the awful crimes committed by Israel against Gaza," said Khalil Abu Shamallah, a Palestinian human rights activists.

    He added that the demonstrations allover the world, mainly the Arab countries "were a real evidence that what is happening in Gaza had increased the people's support to the Palestinians and their just cause."

    Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein said that over 900 Palestinians were killed and more than 4,500 wounded since the beginning of the Israeli aggression 18 days ago, adding that almost half of the victims were civilians.

    Ahmed Odeh, another Palestinian resident of Gaza said that "the residents do not only receive phone calls from Arabs who want to express solidarity with the poor people who are living under the daily and nightly strikes," adding "they also receive recorded messages from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in Arabic."

    "We are warning you not to cooperate with the terrorist elements and follow the instructions of the IDF. If you follow the instructions and do not help the terrorists, you will be safe," a recorded voice massage said.

    Ahmed clarified that even when people receive random phone calls of solidarity from Arab citizens allover the Arab world, "the people are still suspicious that the callers might be Israeli intelligence officers who speak different Arabic dialects."

    "The problem is that the residents receive these phone calls no matter if it is during the day or during the night, and many of them express fear that they might be Israelis who want to get intelligence information about the militants," said Ahmed.

    Following a difficult night, resident of Gaza City had also expressed hope that this war will be over, then they would be able to get back to their normal life, their stores, their schools and their business.

    "Enough is enough, 18 days of war, I believe it is more than enough. We are locked into our houses and the Israeli army is striking everywhere and on every house," said Salma Abu Hein, a 15-year-old girl.

    She added that "no one is listening to our appeals and screams. No one is willing to help us ending this tragic situation. I'm afraid that I will be killed in any moment and whenever I heard the explosions and the bombings."

    Al-Jarousha said that in the beginning "we suspected that these phone calls are made by Israelis, but I called one of our relatives in Libya, and he told me that it's true, the Libyan Authorities decided to give its people free phone calls to Gaza to express solidarity with the Palestinians."