Gaza eyewitnesses

Israeli air raids have pounded the Gaza Strip for a third day, hitting key sites linked to militant group Hamas. Gaza's interior ministry and Islamic University were the latest targets.

A Palestinian doctor and an NGO worker give their accounts from Gaza.

MAHMOUD EL-KHUZONDAR, DOCTOR, SHIFA HOSPITAL, GAZA

" I have been working as physician in Gaza for 20 years. Shifa hospital has been turned into an emergency centre with several intensive care units to cope with the attacks.

But the emergency rooms do not have enough medical supplies or equipment to deal with the mass casualties.

The biggest problem is lack of blood, but we also lack medication and equipment because of one-and-a- half years of blockades by Israel. We lose so many patients simply because of shortages.

"Most of the patients arrive with multiple organ injuries"

Most of the patients arrive with multiple organ injuries. Most of the women and children have fractures of upper or lower limbs and internal bleeding. Soldiers have worse injuries.

People in Gaza are angry and saddened by this situation. There are shortages of everything here from bread to electricity. People just want to live as humans but have to go without fuel, without being able to heat their homes, without electricity for 18 hours at a time.

Most of the people here are looking for both sides to stop and for leaders to go back to negotiations, and then for an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza.

I believe all people should respect international law and no-one should be above it. "

MOHAMED AL SHARIF, NGO WORKER, GAZA CITY

" It is a war situation, war conditions. We've been under attack for the last three days. It is very unsafe. There is nowhere you can sit without hearing explosions. I can tell you from my own experience that last night was terrifying; for me, for my wife and my baby.

I live close to the Islamic University where they bombed us heavily.

We're trying to hide in different corners of the apartment; trying to keep the windows open. That's what everybody is talking about; how not to get the windows broken.

This is what we are going through right now. It's war conditions and we just don't know when the airplanes are going to hit.

"We're trying to hide in different corners of the apartment"

On the streets the city is dead. People just move to get necessary items; food, water, stuff like that. Of course, electricity is not available for most of the houses in Gaza. I mean, really harsh conditions right now.

From our perspective, a Gazan perspective, it's the occupation [that is causing this situation]. We cannot fight a sophisticated army like Israel's so we really don't know what can end this. We have no way out.

The international community seems like it has already taken the Israeli side and unfortunately nobody wants to see what we go through.

Some people in the media have been depicting us as the aggressors but in three days we have had over 300 casualties; the Israelis have one or two.

No food, no drink, no medicine, no electricity, no gas. What else? It's just very inhumane what we are going through. "