The worsening crisis in Gaza has much of the world looking on with horror, including an astronaut whose latest photograph is going viral.
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Alexander Gerst tweeted a photo of the troubled region on Thursday. Shrouded in the darkness of night, Gaza and the surrounding area is shown through veins and clusters of lights indicating cities.
The most disturbing lights in the photo are the explosions in the densely populated region.
The German flight engineer, a geophysicist and volcanologist, is spending six months aboard the International Space Station.
He is on a European Space Agency mission with fellow engineer American Reid Wiseman and Russian flight commander Maksim Surayev.
They are among six astronauts now in space.
Mr Gerst has been orbiting the Earth for 57 days and described the photo as his saddest yet.
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, 2014
He tweets in both English and German.
Mein traurigstes Foto: von der #ISS aus sehen wir Explosionen und Raketen über #Gaza und #Israel pic.twitter.com/xRERusouyk — Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) July 23, 2014
The shelling has disrupted flight paths closer to home, with many flights to Israel cancelled after reports that Palestinians are targeting the commercial airport at Tel Aviv.
The conflict has claimed more than 600 lives - including those of 149 children - in three weeks.
The United Nations on Wednesday launched an inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that might have been committed by Israeli military.