GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has hit home once again for Associated Press correspondent Fares Akram. On Friday, an Israeli airstrike smashed his family’s farm in north Gaza, leaving a jagged mass of metal and splintered trees. Akram learned during the first Gaza war that while the citrus grove planted by his grandfather offered breathing space from Gaza City, it wasn’t a refuge. A previous Israeli airstrike killed his father at the farm in 2009. Each time the violence erupts and he goes to work as a reporter, the memories and fear creep back. As Gaza hurtles toward the next precipice, the cynical loop interlocking Israel and Hamas is drowning out Akram’s modest hopes for his homeland.
DIARY: In Gaza, bombs drop and the conflict again hits home
