“Man’s inhumanity to man,

Makes countless thousands mourn.”—Robert Burns

“As soon as we hear a siren, we run.”

“Dear God, tell me if you’ve seen my mom.”

“Books, toys, and candy create a sense of normalcy for our children… futile when the booms around scream that this is everything but normal.”

“Look for my three children! Maybe one of them is alive!”

“ [She] crawled out from under her father’s body and, full of his blood, went to a neighbor.”

“I wanted to celebrate her birthday.”

“You can still see a birthday cake.” 

“That’s my mommy, I recognize her by her hair.” 

“I brought you, my little one, three bottles of milk, I thought you would stay alive and drink.”

“They were sleeping.”

“They left without eating.”

 “I lost my firstborn son.”

“I lost my father, two brothers, three sisters, 14 nieces and nephews.”

“Two children, the parents, and a grandmother who lived together… were in a circle, hugging each other… burned to the bone.”

“Who am I going to call ‘Mom’ now?”

“If you have to lose life, if you have to take life, this cannot go on.” 

“I want to bury her with my own hands.”

“[She] was a child of light and life.”

“I’ll take my daddy in my car to bury him!”

“[He] lived his life to the fullest, almost always with a smile on his face.”

“Yesterday I put her father in a shroud, today it’s her turn.”

“Since the moment she was born till now… just rolling in my head like a film.”

“You’ll be a bird of paradise, mommy.”

“I’m almost drowning in this ocean of pain.” 

“We are all one family, suffering together.”

“Do they want to take revenge on us through our children?”

“Who will we be when we rise from the ashes and re-enter our lives?”

“How many people need to die?”

Israeli and Palestinian voices, equally represented, alternate. All quotes are verbatim from news reports and internet stories reported in English. 

Russell Vandenbroucke, syndicated by PeaceVoice, recently retired as professor of theatre at the University of Louisville. He was the founding director of the Peace, Justice & Conflict Transformation Program at the university.