It is not surprising that the situation in Gaza is everybody’s talk of the day in Palestine. You hear about it in the streets, in coffee shops, in the offices.

It’s in the news 24/7. However, my usually loud with heated discussions office of WATC was very quiet this morning. All for the fact that Gaza suddenly became very close and personal to the women here.

I walked in the office in the middle of a story about one of the employees’ family, who was evicted out of their apartment in Gaza by Hamas militants last night. The mother with her teenage son were the only ones in the apartment on the 14th floor when Hamas men broke in by exploding both doors. The boy later told her sister on the phone that at least when Israelis break into Palestinian houses they give a 10-minute warning.

The apartment is being used as a Hamas strategic office right now while the boy and the mother have to seek refuge with their relatives in Gaza. The older son of the same family has a house close to the Presidential compound in Gaza city. He and his wife witnessed Hamas militants occupy neighbors’ houses while using women and children as a human wall to resist Fatah defense.

They know it is not going to be long before their house is occupied too, but they can’t leave it because all the windows and doors are monitored by the soldiers. The only choice they have left is to sit, wait, and wonder what happens next. That seems to be what the rest of Palestine is doing.