Almost three weeks since Israeli air strikes began, the pounding of Gaza continues, sending thousands of wounded civilians to hospital and many more fleeing to UN shelters. Imagine all of this human suffering taking place in a strip from the Humber to the Rouge.
And there’s only three ways out.
GAZA stripped
Population 1.5 million
Refugees 1.017 million
Total without water 500,000 (since the Israeli air strikes)
Unemployment rate 35 per cent
Percentage of population under 14 45 (344,988 of them males)
Infant mortality rate 19 per 1,000, almost five times that of Israel (4 per 1,000)
Electricity consumption 230,000 kWh (2005) almost half of that (90,000 kWh) imported from the Israeli Electric Corporation
Number of battle tanks in Israeli arsenal 970
Number of warplanes 875
Number of military helicopters 286
Number killed since the Israeli invasion 940, half of them civilians, 300 children
Number of civilians wounded 4,100
Number being sheltered by the UN 40,000 in 41 schools
Number of trucks carrying aid allowed by Israel into Gaza 1,028 (as of Wednesday)
Number of rockets fired by Hamas into Israel 565 (plus 200 mortar shells as of Wendesday)
Number of Israelis killed since 2000 by Hamas rockets and mortars 38
Sources: CIA World Factbook, United Nations, Israeli Defence Force.