THE F-16 swooped in low, whooshing over our car. There was an almighty boom, the vehicle shook and the air was sucked from my lungs.

Pulling the car to a halt, we jumped out and turned to look at the plume of smoke rising above a row of houses barely 150 yards away.

Pandemonium followed. Children and their mothers spilt out of doorways onto the street, followed by the elderly, anxious to see what damage the latest missile had brought.

An old woman turned to me and, throwing her hands in the air, began screaming: “What have we ever done to Israel? They kill innocent kids, the elderly and demolish our homes on top of our heads. What do they want from us?”

It was a question many Palestinians were asking as we travelled around the southern town of Khan Yunis yesterday.

Israeli warplanes had pounded targets near the house where we were sheltering, the thud of missiles a constant refrain during the night.

We were the guests of Maher Esleem, an engineer who had lived in North Carolina in the United States for 16 years. As day broke, his children appeared. They had been unable to sleep.

Wafa, 12, was afraid. “We’re scared of the planes, and scared they will drop a missile on our house and kill us,” she said.

“I saw a girl on TV who had lost her head in a bombing raid and now I have nightmares.”

As Esleem gathered up his children, he said: “Before the Israelis leave, they will go crazy, hitting many targets just to make a point. That’s what we’ve come to expect. I’m afraid many might die today.”

By the time we arrived at the nearby Al Nasser hospital, friends and relatives were bringing in the dead and injured.

Ten minutes’ drive from the hospital we met a grieving mother, Um Izzedine, whose 13-year-old son had died while riding his bicycle in a nearby street. “This is not a war, this is genocide,” she said.

Throughout Khan Yunis people recounted stories of children being killed or injured – victims they claim, of indiscriminate bombing.

Some admitted that militants had fired rockets towards Israel from several locations nearby, but they argued that the response had been brutal and excessive.

Karim Hosny, a volunteer doctor from Cairo, said he had been horrified by injuries sustained by women and children. “I’m not used to seeing things like this. All the time the injuries are so severe you almost wish they would die because otherwise they will lead such sad and disabled lives,” he said.

“Several times we’ve been shocked to see them come in in large numbers whenever a building is blasted. You might have 30 to 40 cases at one time. It’s very difficult and very sad.”

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