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LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins, and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. President Barack Obama didn't waste any time diving into the caldron of Middle East diplomacy. Mr. Obama called several leaders in the region today. The White House says the President made it clear that he's committed to pursuing Arab-Israeli peace from the very start of his term. That pursuit begins in the aftermath of Israel's 22-day military offensive in Gaza. The Palestinian territory is in ruins right now, and so are the lives of many Gaza residents. The World's Quil Lawrence has one family's story.

QUIL LAWRENCE: Two weeks ago, Halid Abudrabu was trapped inside his house, several days into the Israeli ground offensive. Artillery shells hammered his neighborhood east of the Jabaliyah refugee camp. Three tanks parked outside his front door, and loudspeakers announced that civilians should leave the area. Halid says that's when his mother, wife, and three daughters stepped out the front door waving white flags. “They stood on the front steps for five minutes, waiting for instructions from the Israeli soldiers only ten yards away. But instead”, Halid says, “a soldier appeared on one of the tank turrets, raised his rifle and began shooting. All three girls fell. “ Halid's mother was shot in the upper left arm and left abdomen. Recovering at her brother's house, she tells the same story. “The soldier shot us slowly,” she says, “aiming at each one. “ The women fled back into the house dragging the bleeding little girls. Suad , 7 years old, died immediately from bullets to her chest. 2-year-old Amal survived a few moments longer. “She was asking her mother for candy and chips. Then her mother asked her, ‘Do you love me?' She said “yes”. Then she died.” The third daughter, Samar, age 4, was bleeding from a wound to her lower back. The family waited frantically inside the house for 2 more hours, hoping for an ambulance to come during a three-hour humanitarian pause in the fighting. No one came, and Halid decided to carry his wounded daughter and mother a mile to the hospital. Halid called out for help, but no one came to his aid. “The Israeli soldiers”, he says, “were eating potato chips and chocolates as they walked by.” When they reached the hospital, his daughter, Samar, was transferred to the Egyptian border and is now in Europe getting medical treatment. Contacted in Brussels, her uncle says she may never walk again. For the past several days, Halid Abudrabu has been sifting through the wreckage near his house. He's found his daughters school notebooks and some of their toys. Nearly every house in sight has been leveled by bombs and artillery, and he can't understand why. “Just last March, the Israeli army occupied my house,” he says, “during a major incursion.” Halid says the Israeli army took down the names of everyone in this part of town and they know it's not a Hamas stronghold. But Major Avitale Liebowitz, of the IDF, says there was heavy fighting in the area.

AVITALE LIEBOWITZ: I can tell you that from Jabaliyah area, there was many cases of exchange of fire between Hamas and IDF forces. We know that in that area as well, many civilian facilities were turned into military camps for Hamas's needs.

LAWRENCE: Liebowitz denied that an Israeli soldier would ever deliberately kill civilians, but in separate interviews, Halid Abudrabu, his mother, and his brother agreed on key details of the incident which left two young girls dead and another critically injured. The Israeli army says it will investigate. For The World, this is Quil Lawrence, in Gaza City.

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