The fighter stands against the legions, battered and worn but still proud. Sure of his purpose and sure of the righteousness of his cause he waits on his roof in a shadow. He rummages through his bag to pull his last bit of bread out, but it's more than most of the civilians have. Blood stains and dirt color his clothes, making it difficult to tell what he is wearing. He has only an old rifle and a few rounds but knows it's up to him and his brothers to save his city from what he hears coming. Suddenly a tank turns the corner to roll down his road, it's infantry escort glued to the walls on either side.

He glances across the street to make sure the rest of his team is ready, then opens fire on the first soldier in the escort. Instantly the street erupts into chaos, soldiers taking what cover they can and firing wherever their instincts told them the gunfire came from. His team opens fire from the surrounding buildings, trying to give him time to move to a new position. As he's scrambling the machine gunner opens fire on his apartment building and he hears someone start to scream.

The satchel charges go off, deafening everyone for a moment. He peeks his head over the corner of the building to see three soldiers rolling on the ground hurt, but jerks back when bullets crack against the wall next to his head. More people are screaming as the soldiers are dragged back down the street to a safer spot, but the tank rolls on. Frustrated, he signals his team to fall back and they run however they can, outrunning the guns that are kicking down doors looking for them.

He doesn't stay gone for long though. An hour after he left he is back, screaming his pain into the air. His son and a friend were killed by a stray machine gun round as they hid in a corner. His brother attempts to make arrangements for a funeral, but a sniper has made movement along the street virtually impossible. His son is buried the next day.

That night he checks his bag for the food he knows isn't there, but finds only a drawing from his son 2 weeks ago. Sure of his purpose and sure of the righteousness of his cause he waits on his roof in a shadow, remembering his child.

In Gaza there is a child.

With very few alterations, this is the final scene from Saving Private Ryan, yet things like it happen every day in Palestine. 200 plus people died on December the 27th, and unlike the child in this story, they are just going to work, getting out of school, or trying to find some food in a place where they are walled in and nothing can get in or out.

I'll talk more about it later, but I'm not a fan of either the IDF or Hamas, but to characterize Hamas as the great evil in this is a bit of a stretch. While they may have funds coming in from some parts of the Middle East, Isreal has the one of the worlds best equipped and trained militaries and is the recipient of billions of dollars of aid and equipment, at the same time the children of Gaza starve and the UN ran out of food to hand out inside Gaza because of the 2 month long blockade.