Gaza live feed provides startling view on the war

The silence of darkness hangs in the air. Nothing stirs. Somewhere amid the blocky apartments a rooster begins to crow. Far off, another responds, its shrill voice echoing down the city blocks. Then, a rumble breaks the moment. The thunder of artillery begins to roll in and the night sky begins to flash red and white, the buildings thrown into sharp black contrast. The flashes stop, but the booming guns continue their barrage. In the distance, tracer fire lights the streets suddenly, disappearing quickly into the darkness. A few seconds later, a shower of sparks followed by a dull “whump”. What looks like fireworks in the distance is actually the shell of a Merkava tank exploding on impact. A flare crackles into life, spiraling into the sky before falling. More tracer fire, a shower of light and sparks rains down on the distant buildings. Again, the resemblance to fireworks seems uncanny, yet this time it is a rocket. The skyline lights up again as a fireball expands into the sky, drawing shocked gasps and shouts.

This is all laid out for you when you connect to a live webcam run by the Ramattan News Agency overlooking the Gaza strip. Perched over the strip, the webcam runs 24/7, displaying the war for all to see. Connect to it at any point of the day and you are guaranteed to have front row seats to the war. It is strangely fascinating to watch, to vicariously be there with the people as the fight rages on. It is also extremely eerie. The simple fact that technology has progressed so much that one can watch a war happening hundreds of miles away live from their home computer is astounding, if not frightening as well. Is such accessibility beneficial? As I watch I struggle to comprehend that what I am seeing is in fact real. The growl of artillery and the drone of UAVs and helicopters seems like something straight out of a video game or movie, background noise to immerse the viewer. The distant cracks of gunfire seem powerless. The firework like explosions seem harmless. This could not be farther from the truth. This is as close as you can safely get the fighting yet it all seems so detached, so surreal. Something about being able to watch the fighting cheapens it, pushes it from reality. Maybe it is because we are so used to watching movies in this way, that the fighting just becomes another action flick, another war movie with fancy effects and explosions. Are we watching because we are horrified, or because we want the cheap thrill of seeing war first hand, of being able to recount the explosions and fighting to our friends. Seeing war firsthand should be a powerful tool with which we can further aims for peace, but when it is delivered in such a way, it might not attain the intended affect.

In any case, regardless of someone’s reasons for watching, there are still moments that grab you with a sense of unease. Morning Prayer is read out on loudspeakers over the city, interspersed with gunship gunfire, creating a haunting landscape. It is moments like these that remind us that somewhere between the fireworks and flashes, there are people, and they are dying.