If absolute callousness has not gotten the better of you yet, you would be aware of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza. Such is the prominence of the mutual attacks that even the astronauts aboard the International Space Station can quite clearly witness them from such a long distance. An astronaut from the European Space Agency, Alexander Gerst admitted that his team could quite clearly see the rockets and explosions over Israel and Gaza. He also confessed that the photos he shot and shared on Twitter and Facebook were the “saddest ones he ever took”. Here is one of them.
Israel seems to peg back Gaza each day with missiles and explosives. Only recently, an air strike on a hospital killed five people in Gaza. The death toll rises each day in this merciless slaughter with one-third of the martyrs constituting children. At the time of writing this, it has risen to 1000 Palestinians. The United Nations claims that the displacement of over 100,000 Palestinians is now complete. John Kerry has pledged that the United States would offer $47 million as part of its humanitarian aid to help ease the pain of those affected by the havoc.
Mind you, this is not the first time that astronauts have witnessed such a catastrophe. Frank Culbertson captured the World Trade Center back in 2001 when the two planes crashed into it. Astronauts also captured floodwaters when Tsunami hit large parts of Japan in 2011. If you think you are cut off from the world when you enter space, you better think again.
My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel pic.twitter.com/jNGWxHilSy
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) July 23, 2014
