A stream of blonde women left the bomb-scarred Gaza Strip and piled into buses at the Israeli-controlled border yesterday.

Most were Russians who had married Palestinians studying at Russian universities. In a hangover from the Cold War, many Palestinians have degrees from the former Soviet bloc.

The women, dragging confused, frightened children, had to leave behind Palestinian husbands and fathers denied permission to leave by Israel. Anastasia Gabir, 33, a pregnant mother wearing an Islamic head scarf and towing a small daughter, said: “It has been horribly hard the past week. They bombed near our house, hitting another house and a police station. The kids were very scared.” Her daughter screamed as an Israeli artillery unit fired a salvo of shells into Gaza.

Karolina Katba, 15, was leaving with her mother and sister to stay with relatives in Volgograd. She was worried about her father, a Palestinian pharmacist in Gaza City. “I didn't say goodbye to him because I was crying too much,” she said.

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