TEL AVIV, Israel, July 24 (UPI) -- The devastating rocket fire being traded between Hamas and Israel has captured the attention of the world. It's also grabbed the eyes of astronauts orbiting in the International Space Station.
Yesterday, German astronaut Alexander Gerst tweeted what he called his "saddest photo yet" of the violence raging in the Fertile Crescent. The rockets launched into Gaza by Israel and those launched into Israel by Hamas can be seen from space.
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, 2014The picture is oriented so that cardinal north is to the right. The convex curve of darkness at the top is the Mediterranean Sea. Tel Aviv lights the night sky along the coast. Gaza City lies some 45 miles south (to the left) down the coast toward Egypt.
It's hard to pick out the explosions and rocket trails from the surrounding glitter of Israel's still lighted cities, but a video posted by Space.com to YouTube zooms in on a yellowish burst of light that is apparently the glow of an explosion.
As distressing as a distant view of the violence below might seem, the images of the now two-week long conflict from ground level offer an even more distressing idea of what life amid the violence is like.
