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Guest: Dr. Mona El Farra, a physician who works and lives in Gaza, and writes for the blog, From Gaza with Love.

Last week the Israeli Army entered the Gaza strip and killed 13 Palestinians, including a 12 year old boy. It was the bloodiest fighting that Gaza has seen since its takeover by the Hamas party two weeks ago. While Hamas fighters were among the dead, the organization has reduced its attacks on Israel since the end of major fighting with the rival Fatah party. After Hamas won a majority of seats in the Parliamentary elections in 2006, Israel, the US, and the European Union imposed sanctions on the Palestinian government, leading to tensions between the ruling Fatah party and Hamas. Those tensions resulted in an all-out civil war between the two groups in late 2006 and 2007. Hamas now has complete control of the Gaza strip while Fatah remains in charge of the West Bank. The context of this in-fighting is of course the on-going Israeli occupation. This week former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami offered to mediate between the two parties and warned against Israeli exploitation of Palestinian division. I spoke recently with Dr. Mona El Farra, a physician who works and lives in Gaza, and writes for the blog, From Gaza with Love. She is the Vice president of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the Middle East Children’s Alliance Project director in Gaza, and a member of the Union of Health Workers Committee. Dr. El Farra is currently in the United States at the US Social Forum and joined us for an interview.