Israel attacks Gaza, more than 1000 killed so far-medics

Israel may halt Gaza war, ignore Hamas demands

17 Jan 2009 04:27:21 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Bombing resumes before dawn

* Israel moving toward ceasefire, cool to Hamas demands

* UN asssembly calls for an halt

* Doctor's desperate call to Israeli TV

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes returned to the attack on the Gaza Strip before first light on Saturday as leaders of the Jewish state weighed a unilateral ceasefire.

Political sources said a decision could come by evening. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may declare a halt to the three-week-old offensive without concluding any deal with Hamas-led militants who control Gaza, they said.

After a relatively quiet night of only sporadic gunfire, the sound of jet aircraft at about 0300 GMT was followed by several heavy explosions flashing in the night from unseen targets, mainly to the south of the city of Gaza.

More than 1,150 Palestinians have been killed and 5,100 wounded since Israel began attacking Gaza with an air blitz on Dec. 27, then moved in with ground forces a week later.

A large majority of the dead were civilians.

Ten Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting and three Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza.

Olmert called a Saturday night security cabinet session to decide on a ceasefire, which could come less than 72 hours before the inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president.

Some say Israel wants to avoid casting a cloud on a historic day for its main ally. Israeli public support for the offensive has been almost total, but international calls for an end to the bloodshed are mounting.

An overwhelming majority of states at the U.N. General Assembly called on Friday for an immediate, durable ceasefire. Diplomats said it presented a cohesive, moderate world viewpoint that would strengthen Egyptian mediating efforts.

The unending pain of Gaza civilians is also harrowing.

Israeli television on Friday broadcast desperate cries for help from a Palestinian doctor whose his children had just been killed in an Israeli attack.

"I want to know why they were killed, who gave the order?" Izz el-Deen Aboul Aishhe cried in a voice shaking with emotion.

Troops later helped the family's survivors.

NO NEED FOR DEAL?

Dismissing notions of "proportionate" response, Israel struck on Dec. 27 with a "shock and awe" night of bombing and has used devastating firepower every day since to stop militants firing rockets at Israel civilians in southern cities.

The rockets have tapered off but not ceased. On Friday at least 15 rockets and mortar shells hit Israel, wounding five.

Israeli strikes on Friday killed 30 Gazans, including an Islamic Jihad commander in southern Khan Younis. Israeli tank fire hit the home of a Hamas militant, killing his wife and five children. The militant was not there at the time.

About 45,000 Gazans fleeing the fighting have taken refuge in U.N.-run schools in the enclave, U.N. officials said.

Israeli sources said Egyptian mediation with Hamas was not progressing. But Israel may believe it has now "taught Hamas a lesson", as Olmert described its aim, and prefer to simply stop rather than give Hamas the satisfaction of a negotiated deal.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, hoping to replace Olmert as prime minister when Israel votes on Feb. 11, said an on Friday that an end to the war "doesn't have to be in agreement with Hamas but rather in arrangements against Hamas".

Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Friday called Israel's ceasefire terms unacceptable. Demanding an end to the punitive Israeli blockade of Gaza, he said Hamas would fight on.

Hamas negotiators, however, were due to meet the Egyptians on Saturday to discuss Israel's response to their conditions.

Hamas offers a one-year, renewable truce on condition that all Israeli forces withdraw within a week and that all the border crossings with Israel and Egypt are opened.

Except for limited humanitarian supplies, the crossings have been all but closed by an Israeli-led blockade since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian factions it had defeated in a parliamentary election the previous year.

(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Angus MacSwan)

PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEMONSTRATION HALTED

16 Jan 2009 16:33:00 GMT
Source: Christian Aid - UK
Judith Melby

218275 logo
Over 300 members and supporters of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) set out to accompany an emergency delivery of medical supplies to the Gaza Strip this morning in protest at the current Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

PHR-Israel, a Christian Aid partner, has already sent four convoys of much-needed aid to the hospitals of the Gaza Strip. Donations from hundreds of individuals and organisations, both locally and worldwide, from Muslims, Jews and Christians have funded these convoys.

PHR-Israel called on its supporters to accompany the fifth delivery of emergency medical supplies to the transfer at Kerem Shalom crossing, and to hold a demonstration there.

'We wanted simply to say that we do not support our government's actions in Gaza and that the only way to ensure safety for civilians is an immediate ceasefire. We oppose the killing of civilians, the attacks on medical teams and the obstructions in getting medical care to the wounded,' says Miri Weingarten of PHR-Israel.

Three buses left Tel Aviv and others left from Jerusalem, Taybeh and Beersheba. Most of the buses were turned back by the Israeli authorities at roadblocks set up well before the crossing.

'We were turned back. It's so frustrating because there were so many people who wanted to join the quiet and peaceful accompaniment of medical supplies to the border with Gaza and we were not allowed to do this,' says Ms Weingarten.

Instead, the PHR-Israel supporters held the demonstrations in front of the Israeli Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv and at the Yad Mordechai Junction, just north of Gaza.

'The amazing thing was that many of our demonstrators were from the southern areas of Israel that have been worst affected by the rockets from Gaza. They were really taking the lead in discussions with the police.

'They were saying "I am from Sderot and I do not believe that this operation improves my safety". Joining together with them was a really great feeling, they were really amazing. It was also good, as they know all the regulations and were able to talk to the police as equals about the legality of demonstrations and public gatherings,' says Ms Weingarten.

About an hour after the demonstrations had begun, two trucks carrying intensive care beds, equipment and supplies, medical equipment for operating rooms, and food were allowed to unload at Kerem Shalom crossing. All the supplies, worth about US$ 500,000, were sent to hospitals in Gaza.

'We are asking people in the UK to understand that not everyone in Israel supports what is happening. We are asking them to tell others that there are many people in Israel who do not believe that these attacks improve Israel's security, and who believe that the only way to peace is to stop all violence on both sides.

'The only way to ensure safety for civilians is a ceasefire and the only way to get a ceasefire is international political intervention. Civilians around the world must encourage their governments to intervene,' says Ms Weingarten.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Contact details: For further information or to arrange interviews with partners in Gaza or with Janet Symes, Christian Aid head of Middle East region here in the UK, please contact Judith Melby on 07720 467 679 or jmelby@christian-aid.org

Where possible we ask if you would please publish or broadcast details for our emergency appeal:

"To donate to Christian Aid's emergency appeal for Gaza please go to www.christianaid.org.uk/gaza"

Gaza: Black smoke blocking the sun

16 Jan 2009 09:45:00 GMT
Written by: CAFOD


This blog is written by Hatem S who works for Islamic Relief (a CAFOD partner) in Gaza.

Jan. 15, 2009

I am stuck in my house. Things are very difficult today as tanks are in the area next to where I live and where my colleagues have family.

My colleague is writing my words down as I am unable to get to the office and use my computer.

Many people have left the area and are moving in with relatives deeper in Gaza City.

When I look out of the window I can see people leaving with small bags - many of those leaving are with their families. There are many women and children.

I hear a loud explosion a few metres away. The shelling is becoming more intense and rockets are also falling. I can see smoke from a building that is behind my house.

The Unrwa (UN relief agency) building is close by and my colleague has told me that it has been hit. Shelling is going on. Explosions are shaking the house.

My family are gathered in one room and we make sure everyone is OK and the house is OK. My mother shouts out to make sure we are all with her in the room.

My sisters-in-law are with us and the children, and we crouch down in case glass from the windows shatters and hits us. I can hear the neighbour's children crying and shouting.

My sister called earlier and said she will try to make it to our home. She has three young daughters and a son but we don't think she will make it as it is not safe to travel.

Some family friends are now on their way to a UN shelter. They wanted to stay with us but it was simply too dangerous for them to make their way here.

Thick black smoke is getting thicker and blocking the sun. The fighting is coming closer to our homes and the soldiers are now in urban areas.

What scares me is that our homes could come under attack and there will be more death and destruction. When I meet people I find that they have almost become indifferent to death, as we know death is not far away.

I was supposed to be out distributing aid to hospitals around Gaza with Islamic Relief's emergency relief team. Yesterday we managed to deliver hospital trolleys, heart machines and first aid equipment including bandages, disposable gloves and syringes to five hospitals around Gaza.

We were supposed to deliver more aid today but our work has been suspended due to the intensity of the attacks in the centre of Gaza.

Aid is entering Gaza through Israel and Egypt but people can't collect the food and medicine as it is not safe for them to leave their homes.

A few days ago Islamic Relief was able to receive 20 ambulances through the Rafah border which will be donated to the main Shifa hospital and other smaller hospitals.

Today is the 20th day of the attack. Every day we hope that this will be the last day but the attacks go on and people feel depressed and scared.

Gazans feel that this won't end any time soon. In the past 20 days more than 1,000 people have been killed, many of them women and children. Death has come close to the average Gazan.

My colleague is asking me how I am coping with the situation and how I overcome my fear. I take a deep breath and try to explain as best I can.

During the day when I am out working with the Islamic Relief team I stay strong and never show exhaustion or fear. I am there to help people who, in many cases, have nothing.

When I get home I try to stay strong for my family especially my nieces and nephews who are very young and frightened. At night when I read the evening prayer I can't control myself and I cry and cry all night.

In the morning I leap up and force myself to shake off the despair and hurt and get ready to go out and try to help the people of Gaza.

This post is reproduced from the CAFOD blog, Just One World, where you can read more about their work. CAFOD has pledged an initial £50,000 to support the humanitarian efforts of its partner Islamic Relief in Gaza.

Israel weighs Hamas ceasefire terms for Gaza

15 Jan 2009 18:54:54 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Hamas interior minister killed by Israeli air strike

* UN chief says Israel ceasefire decision imminent

* Washington offers Israel security guarantees

* Gaza officials says more than 1,000 Palestinians dead

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Israeli forces thrust deep into central Gaza on Thursday, killing a senior Hamas leader, in what may be a final push against the Islamist group before agreeing to a ceasefire in the 20-day-old war.

Diplomatic sources said Israeli leaders were studying Hamas's terms for a truce. They included a year-long, renewable ceasefire, the withdrawal of all Israel forces within 5 to 7 days, and the immediate opening of all Gaza border crossings, backed by international guarantees they would stay open.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking after talks in Jerusalem with Israeli leaders, said: "I understand today the Israeli government will make an important decision on a ceasefire. I hope that decision will be the right one."

In a step to bring a deal closer, the United States told Israel it would be prepared to offer security guarantees.

The Palestinian death toll from the air-and-ground offensive was at least 1,095 and over 5,000 are wounded, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. A Palestinian rights group said at least 698 of the dead were civilians.

Thirteen Israelis have been killed, including 10 soldiers and three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire.

In Damascus, the exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, reiterated his group's demands for a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, saying any ceasefire deal had to meet them.

"First, the aggression must stop; second, the Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza ... immediately, of course; thirdly, the siege must be lifted and fourth we want all crossing-points (into Gaza) reopened, first of which is Rafah (Egypt)."

An Israeli air strike on a house in Jabalya refugee camp killed Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyyam, his son, brother and half a dozen others, medical workers said. Seyyam oversaw 13,000 Hamas police and security men.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza city during the day, medical officials said. Israeli fire also hit a U.N. compound, a hospital and a TV office.

APOLOGY

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned him to say Washington would sign an agreement on measures to stop Hamas from smuggling in fresh arms via Egypt after a ceasefire.

"The secretary of state noted that the United States would be prepared to assist in solving the issue of smuggling," it said in a statement.

Israel insists Hamas must no longer be able to smuggle in weapons through tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border, and must end its rocket attacks on its southern towns.

About 25 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel on Thursday, wounding six people, police said.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said its compound, where up to 700 Palestinians were sheltering, was struck twice by Israeli fire and three staff members were injured. Thick smoke rose from its food and fuel depot.

Ban ki-Moon called it an "outrage" and Olmert apologised to him, but said the shelling was prompted by fire from Palestinian gunmen at the compound.

"It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place," Olmert said in broadcast remarks.

CATASTROPHE


In Geneva, a spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said al-Quds hospital was hit by either Israeli shelling or air strikes.

"We can't be certain in the heat of the conflict whether it was deliberate targeting," the spokesman, Paul Conneally, said.

No one was reported hurt at the hospital, where its administrative offices were set ablaze and dozens of patients moved in panic to the ground floor, seeking safety.

A rocket hit the downtown Al-Shurouq Tower, where the Reuters bureau and other media offices are located. Gulf-based Abu Dhabi Television said it believed its two journalists were targeted by an Israeli aircraft as they filmed from the office.

The Israeli military had no comment throughout the day on the attacks on the hospital and media offices.

Dozens of terrified residents of neighbourhoods near the Gaza city centre fled on foot. Thousands more huddled in their homes as explosions tore through rubble-strewn streets.

"It is a catastrophe," one woman said, walking quickly away from the area and carrying a child in her arms as two other children ran behind her to keep up.

"We took our money and passports. We have to carry some identification with us in case we get killed," she said. "Hamas can claim victory if it wants but we just need this bloodshed to end."

A senior Western diplomat said Israel appeared to be trying to make last-minute gains on the ground before a truce could be imposed.

"It's a classic Israeli strategy," the diplomat said. (Additional reporting by Nadim Ladki, Adam Entous and Lou Charbonneau in Jerusalem, and Cairo bureau; writing by Douglas Hamilton and Jeffrey Heller; editing by Sophie Hares)

Gaza: The situation here is not in our hands

14 Jan 2009 17:20:00 GMT
Written by: Save the Children


Salwa El Tibi, Gaza Programme Manager Save the Children UK, writes from Gaza

Jan. 13, 2009

We heard about the ceasefire at 12.30 today. It ended at 4 and, at five past 4 exactly, the shelling started again. As soon as the bombing stopped, I went to the shops where I went to get food for me and my children. I noticed Gaza is very sad. There are few cars on the street. I expected to see 100s of people out on the street but there weren't many at all. I saw some going to the shops. I didn't manage to get bread for my children as there were so many people waiting. I went to 4 bakers and I didn't find any for my children.

3 hours believe me, is not enough. It finished so quickly. If we want to work and go to the north and to the south to reach children who need our help, we need more time. It takes time to distribute humanitarian aid.

I went to the Save the Children office to download my emails for the first time since 27th December. Imagine, it was quarter to 3 when I looked at my watch and I had to rush to the shop.

Everyone was in a hurry to get food and supplies. Most of the people out were complaining and saying 'It's not enough, it's not enough'. There were lots of people queuing. Children, women, old men, youths. Everyone was waiting.

So far Save the Children have distributed 2103 aid parcels in total in the Gaza strip. It's so important for us to provide aid in this situation. I feel so happy when I find we're one of the first organisations in terms of the aid we are providing. It's really good for the people.

Save the Children have even found 750 food parcels with a vendor in the south who started to distribute today. We were keeping parcels in our warehouse in Gaza city for the south, but, because Gaza has been split into 2, we can't reach them, so are using them for the north.

But, even now, Gaza city has only received 180 food parcels and there's such a high need for more. We only have 600 food parcels left in the Save the Children stores. We need more.

We didn't get anything across the border today. But toys, blankets, first aid kits and hygiene kits are expected tomorrow. This is what I heard yesterday. Inshallah, I hope they will succeed to get them into Gaza.

I have heard that there will be another ceasefire tomorrow for 3 hours but it's not confirmed. If there is, we hope to contact our volunteers in Gaza city and in the North to come to our warehouse and to help distribute more food.

All of the people are suffering. A huge number. Yesterday I received an appeal from a school in Beach Camp who haven't got any mattresses. Some people haven't got blankets even. There are 7000 living in this beach camp. And everyone's trying to sleep in these schools. They are getting some food here, but it's not enough.

We started to look for mattresses yesterday, but there aren't any in Gaza. We need more money so we can find these supplies and bring them across the border. The children are suffering such trauma too. They're thinking such bad thoughts about the killing and about the blood.

As I talk, we haven't heard bombing for half an hour, so my daughter is so happy. I can hear her laughing.

The ceasefire today was good. When I was walking outside and seeing people going to the shop and seeing the children playing football, I was very happy. But only having 3 hours! We were so angry. We thought 'Come on! So quickly!' They started bombing at 4pm exactly and demolished a house in the north!

Yesterday was the first time in nine days that I was able to leave my house.

It is about a 10 minute journey from my home to the warehouse where the Save the Children food parcels are stored - but even as I drove the Save the Children car to work, I felt very afraid.

The noise from the bombings was so loud. There were very few cars on the roads and all of the shops were closed.

I saw three buildings that had been completely destroyed.

At the warehouse I waited for our volunteer staff who help to distribute our food parcels across different parts of Gaza.

When we distribute the parcels we work in groups because it is so dangerous.

The volunteers packed their cars with the parcels and headed out to different parts of Gaza City and the north.

Although they are volunteers we will give them some money because it is dangerous work.

One of our volunteers, Eyad, was distributing parcels in the beach camp when a huge bomb went off. By chance he is still alive.

It is really very difficult but we have to do this. It is an excellent achievement that we can provide humanitarian aid in these areas.

When I had spent more than four hours working in the warehouse I asked the warehouse owner to call my husband to let him know that I was okay. My husband said that I should come back home, so I left the warehouse feeling very afraid about the journey back.

We prioritise distributing our food parcels to families with many children. Our selection criteria mean that every home with five or more children should receive our parcels but we wish we could reach more families. Some are in dire need of our help.

Eyad distributed 184 parcels in Gaza yesterday.

Half of all the parcels have now been handed out. The other half will go to the south but there are some areas we cannot reach because of the situation.

Today we are very busy because we are trying to assess the needs of some hospitals in the Gaza. A doctor told us they are in urgent need of bed covers, doctor's coats, scrubs and gauze pads.

We are lucky because when we called the medical vendors we managed to track down some of these supplies. Right now we are assessing our budget and then tomorrow we will start to distribute these supplies to the Kamal Edwan hospital in the north and to other clinics in Gaza.

Every morning, I evaluate the situation to see if I can leave the house. Today, for example, I could not move at all so I am working from home. Ramsey, my colleague, lives close to the office and the warehouse is working with me to get these supplies out to the places where they are needed.

I cannot promise that I will be able to leave the house tomorrow either but I can promise that by 11am tomorrow, Ramsey will get these medical supplies to the hospitals regardless of the security situation.

It is like an earthquake here. If you could only hear the bombs going off.

I have five blankets covering my legs because it is so cold. All of my children have five blankets on them too. Every minute there is a bomb.

I am a strong woman. If I saw a person die, I can stop and help and be strong, but in this situation I feel that I cannot do anything.

When I was driving the car yesterday, I felt very faint. How will they know it is a woman driving this car, I thought. Even if it has a Save the Children logo, they still would not know.

Gaza: 'Were my friends at school when it was bombed?'

13 Jan 2009 09:40:00 GMT
Written by: Jawad Harb


Jan. 12, 2009 - 12 pm, local time

My son's school was destroyed today in an air strike. Ziad is just six years old - he started going to school in September. He loves it, especially the physical education class and art class, where he loves drawing.

But for 16 days, since these horrible attacks began, he has not been able to go to school, and he has not seen any of his friends. Throughout all the bombings, and the sleepless nights, the one thing he looked forward to was going back to school. But now, his school is completely demolished.

Ziad, who was told by his brothers about this news, to my astonishment, stood speechless and still like a statute. This frisky little boy was not able to say a word for five minutes.

"Dad, am I not going to see my friends again at school?" he finally asked me.

"Were my friends at school when it is bombed?" he asked with pain.

I tried all ways to calm him down, but he burst out crying for almost an hour.

Then it is night, it is the suffering again, it is the time we all fear. The constant air strikes. As the bombs fell, Ziad's temperature rose. He vomited on his bed, became pale and he looked sicker than any time I can remember.

It was 3 am when I called my cousin, who is a doctor. But when he checked Ziad, he said there was nothing wrong with him.

Ziad opened his eyes at 8 in the morning, and told me "Dad, I will not go to school any more. I am afraid they will bomb it again."

I cried for being helpless and as victimised as my children feel. For two weeks now, I have not been able to show my children that I understand how they feel.

Nothing hurts more than the horrible feeling that comes when you feel you are losing your child in front of your eyes.

GAZA Rafah eyewitness: CARE aid worker bombed with his family

13 Jan 2009 17:25:00 GMT
Source: CARE - USA
Website: http://www.careinternational.org

241510 logo
Shelters full, humanitarian workers among hundreds in the street

Phone interviews with Jawad Harb in Gaza available - contact: Melanie Brooks (Jerusalem) +41 795 903 047, brooks@careinternational.org Juliette Seibold (Jerusalem), +972.547797730, seibold@carewbg.org

Rafah, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories (Jan. 13, 2009) - A CARE aid worker in Gaza survived a heavy Israeli bombardment that hit his neighbourhood in Rafah an hour ago, in the fiercest attack in his area since the conflict began. Jawad Harb fled his home, along with his wife, six children and 86-year-old paralyzed grandfather. They and hundreds of their neighbours stood in the open, unprotected street as the bombs fell around them.

Below are Jawad Harb's direct quotes.

"The leaflets came yesterday, telling us our neighbourhood would be attacked. The whole population of the area is terrified. We have nowhere to go. My neighbour checked at the UNRWA shelter but it was full. Overflowing. There is nowhere to go. We waited to be bombed.

"The bombs came today. It was terrifying. We have nowhere to run. There was an air strike every five minutes. Thick black smoke 100m-150m away from us. People were scared, ran outside of their houses and gathered together in the street. 300-350 people in the street. The street was the safest place. If our house is bombed, we'll get trapped and die like the people we saw on television.

"My children have seen the dead bodies of children on television. They cry, they are crying now, they are terrified. When will this end? There was screaming. It is dark and cold but most of us are still outside. My family is outside next to the house. We are terrified to go inside.

"It is quiet for 20 minutes now but we don't know if it will start again. What if it is just a short break? We can't take the risk. My children are shivering. It is getting so cold. Some neighbours went back inside, but they are staying on the first floor, next to the door so they can run outside. We don't know what will come next. This is the closest it has come to our house. The neighbourhood next to ours was bombed. What do we do? We don't know. We have nowhere to go. Nowhere to go."

About CARE: CARE is one of the world's largest humanitarian aid agencies, providing assistance in nearly 70 countries. CARE has been working in Israel, West Bank and Gaza since 1948 (with a short break from 1984-1994), initially implementing programs to help immigrants after the Holocaust. Today, CARE implements programs in food security, health and water, support for civil society groups, and distributions of fresh food. Since the conflict started Dec. 27, CARE has distributed fresh food, medical supplies, heaters, blankets and plastic sheeting to hospitals, families and feeding centres in Gaza. -end-



Michael Evans, Defence Editor and Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5...

Photographic evidence has emerged that proves that Israel has been using controversial white phosphorus shells during its offensive in Gaza, despite official denials by the Israel Defence Forces.

There is also evidence that the rounds have injured Palestinian civilians, causing severe burns. The use of white phosphorus against civilians is prohibited under international law.

The Times has identified stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells from high-resolution images taken of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) artillery units on the Israeli-Gaza border this week. The pale blue 155mm rounds are clearly marked with the designation M825A1, an American-made WP munition. The shell is an improved version with a more limited dispersion of the phosphorus, which ignites on contact with oxygen, and is being used by the Israeli gunners to create a smoke screen on the ground.

The rounds, which explode into a shower of burning white streaks, were first identified by The Times at the weekend when they were fired over Gaza at the start of Israel's ground offensive. Artillery experts said that the Israeli troops would be in trouble if they were banned from using WP because it is the simplest way of creating smoke to protect them from enemy fire.

There were indications last night that Palestinian civilians have been injured by the bombs, which burn intensely. Hassan Khalass, a doctor at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, told The Times that he had been dealing with patients who he suspected had been burnt by white phosphorus. Muhammad Azayzeh, 28, an emergency medical technician in the city, said:

“The burns are very unusual. They don't look like burns we have normally seen. They are third-level burns that we can't seem to control.”

Victims with embedded WP particles in their flesh have to have the affected areas flushed with water. Particles that cannot be removed with tweezers are covered with a saline-soaked dressing.

Nafez Abu Shaban, the head of the burns unit at al-Shifa hospital, said:

“I am not familiar with phosphorus but many of the patients wounded in the past weeks have strange burns. They are very deep and not like burns we used to see.”

When The Times reported on Monday that the Israeli troops appeared to be firing WP shells to create a thick smoke camouflage for units advancing into Gaza, an IDF spokesman denied the use of phosphorus and said that Israel was using only the weapons that were allowed under international law.

Rows of the pale blue M825A1 WP shells were photographed on January 4 on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border. Another picture showed the same munitions stacked up behind an Israeli self-propelled howitzer.

Confronted with the latest evidence, an IDF spokeswoman insisted that the M825A1 shell was not a WP type. “This is what we call a quiet shell - it is empty, it has no explosives and no white phosphorus. There is nothing inside it,” she said.

“We shoot it to mark the target before we launch a real shell. We launch two or three of the quiet shells which are empty so that the real shells will be accurate. It's not for killing people,” she said.

Asked what shell was being used to create the smokescreen effect seen so clearly on television images, she said: “We're using what other armies use and we're not using any weapons that are banned under international law.”

Neil Gibson, technical adviser to Jane's Missiles and Rockets, insisted that the M825A1 was a WP round. “The M825A1 is an improved model. The WP does not fill the shell but is impregnated into 116 felt wedges which, once dispersed [by a high-explosive charge], start to burn within four to five seconds. They then burn for five to ten minutes. The smoke screen produced is extremely effective,” he said.

The shell is not defined as an incendiary weapon by the Third Protocol to the Convention on Conventional Weapons because its principal use is to produce smoke to protect troops. However, Marc Galasco, of Human Rights Watch, said: “Recognising the significant incidental incendiary effect that white phosphorus creates, there is great concern that Israel is failing to take all feasible steps to avoid civilian loss of life and property by using WP in densely populated urban areas. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in media photographs of air-bursting WP projectiles at relatively low levels, seemingly to maximise its incendiary effect.”

He added, however, that Human Rights Watch had no evidence that Israel was using incendiaries as weapons.

British and American artillery units have stocks of white phosphorus munitions but they are banned as anti-personnel weapons. “These munitions are not unlawful as their purpose is to provide obscuration and not cause injury by burning,” a Ministry of Defence source said.

Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian war surgery specialist working in Gaza, told The Times that he had seen injuries believed to have resulted from Israel's use of a new “dense inert metal explosive” that caused “extreme explosions”. He said: “Those inside the perimeter of this weapon's power zone will be torn completely apart. We have seen numerous amputations that we suspect have been caused by this.”

Gaza now Israeli weapons testing lab?

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:11:25 GMT
Israeli soldiers prepare their tanks on the Israeli side of Gaza border before rolling into the coastal sliver. Medics say the army might be testing new weapons in the densely-populated Gaza Strip.
Israel has turned Gaza into a research laboratory to test out its new "extremely nasty" weapons on Palestinians, a medical expert says.

After working for 10 days at the Shifa Hospital in the war-torn Palestinian territory, Dr. Mads Gilbert, a member of a Norwegian triage medical team in Gaza, blasted Israel for conducting experimental military work in the impoverished strip.

"There's a very strong suspicion I think that Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons," Gilbert told reporters at Oslo's Gardermoen airport upon his return home on Monday.

Dr. Gilbert said the kinds of injuries he and his colleague Erik Fosse had seen during their ten-day aid work in Gaza had proven that Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME) was being used in the embattled territory.

DIME, which is an experimental kind of explosive, is believed to have strong biological effects in those who are hit by the "low lethality" weapons.

Survivors close to the lethal range may have their limbs amputated as their soft tissues and bones are shredded to pieces. The victims may also subsequently contract cancer from the micro-shrapnel embedded in their body tissue within just four to six months.

"This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that detonates with an extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 meters (16-98 feet)," said Gilbert.

"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations... without shrapnel injuries which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME weapons," he added.

The weapon "causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different (from a shrapnel injury). I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different," said Fosse, 58.

"If you are in the immediate (vicinity of) a DIME weapon, it's like your legs get torn off. It's an enormous pressure wave and there is no shrapnel," he explained.

Israel had also used the weapon in the 2006 war with Lebanon and previously in Gaza.

"We are not soft-skinned when it comes to war injuries, but these amputations are really extremely nasty and for many of the patients not survivable," he added.

Following reports on the use of suspected chemical weapons in Gaza, the United Nations Human Rights Council decided to dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations committed in the territory.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Tuesday that "Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law," suggesting that the Council consider a mission to assess violations committed by both sides in the conflict.

The latest casualty figures according to Health officials have topped 940 since the operation began on 27 December, while some 4,400 others have been wounded.

Senior United Nations officials have expressed grave concern about reports that over 40 per cent of the Palestinians killed in the Israeli offensive, and almost half of the wounded, are women and children.

The new report comes on top of earlier reports which revealed the Israeli military had used controversial white phosphorus shells on Gazans.

The Times said on Thursday that it had identified stockpiles of M825A1, a US-made White Phosphorus munition, from high-resolution pictures taken from Israeli artillery units on the Gaza border.

A phenomenon characteristic of the chemical -- also known by the military as WP or Willie Pete is that it can burn through flesh to the bone and leave bodies "entirely shriveled with black-green skin."

Earlier last week, Gilbert's team, told Press TV that medics had found depleted uraniumin some Gaza residents.

The reports of profound human sufferings come as Israel continues to reject the fact that it has imposed a humanitarian crisis among the battle-hardened 1.5 million population of Gaza.

Israeli tanks advance more deeply into Gaza

13 Jan 2009 04:03:55 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Israeli tanks roll into built up parts of city of Gaza

* Israeli troops fight intense battles with Hamas militants

* U.N.'s Ban to visit region to press for truce

* Hamas said set to reject Egypt's ceasefire plan

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Israeli tanks rolled into densely populated parts of the city of Gaza on Tuesday and troops fought intense battles with Hamas militants as world leaders struggled to coax the sides into a ceasefire.

Hamas said its forces detonated explosives beneath Israeli armor and fought with Israeli forces backed by helicopter gunships and naval fire in what appeared to be the most ferocious fighting since Israel sent ground troops into Gaza 10 days ago.

Explosions and the din of heavy machine gun fire echoed continuously through the Hamas-ruled territory's largest city before dawn. Flashes of light lit up the skies.

The Palestinian death toll in the 18 days since Israel launched its air offensive passed 900, including many civilians. Israel has had 10 soldiers killed and three civilians from motars and rockets fired from coastal Gaza.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon headed to the region to press for a truce in a week of talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria.

"My message is simple, direct, and to the point: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now," Ban told reporters before his departure.

Egypt pursued efforts to broker a ceasefire with Gaza, a territory that sits on its northern border.

But Lebanese political sources said Hamas negotiators would on Tuesday reject Cairo's proposals to end the offensive Israel said it launched so as to halt sporadic rocket fire from Gaza that causes few casualties but disrupts life in southern Israel.

Hamas's main objections were to a proposed long-term truce and to any ceasefire being put in place before Israel withdrew all its forces from Gaza, one of the Lebanese sources said.

Israel has rejected a United Nations Security Council call for a truce but said it was ready to discuss further proposals.

TANKS DEEPER INTO GAZA

Despite a world drive to end the fighting, Israel pressed on with its offensive, sending its tanks into built-up areas in the city of Gaza, the deepest thrust since the attack began.

Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Avi Benayahu said on Monday Israel was "deeper in the territory". Reserve units had moved in to free up regular troops for the push into the city.

"We are tightening the encirclement of the city," Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg told reporters touring Israeli positions on Monday.

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in a "friendly fire" incident in Gaza on Monday night, the military spokesman said.

Violence was also reported in the occupied West Bank, where gunmen shot and wounded four soldiers while shooting at an Israeli vehicle, a military spokesman said.

Palestinian medics said at least 913 people in Gaza have been killed in the Israeli attacks launched since Dec. 27 in the territory. The health minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government said close to 400 of those were women and children.

The bloodshed has burst open faultlines in the map of Middle East diplomacy, with the Bush administration in its final week standing behind Israel, Europe pressing Israel to call off its attacks and Arab leaders speaking out against the Jewish state.

SAUDIS ACCUSE ISRAEL

On Monday, Saudi Arabia, an oil power and one of several Arab governments whose pro-American stance is far from popular with its people, accused Israel of "racist extermination".

It said it hoped Bush's successor Barack Obama would work swiftly to resolve the 60-year-old Palestinian issue.

Bush said on Monday it was up to Hamas, which won a 2006 parliamentary election and seized control of Gaza 18 months ago, to end the misery of the enclave's 1.5 million people.

"I'm for a sustainable ceasefire, and a definition of sustainable ceasefire is Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel ...I happen to believe the choice is Hamas's to make," Bush said.

Bush said Israel had a right to defend itself but he hoped it would "continue to be mindful of innocent folks" and help expedite the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Human rights groups report shortages of vital supplies including water, in Gaza, due to the fighting. A fuel shortage has brought frequent power blackouts. Israel has permitted almost daily truck shipments of food and medicine.

Israeli leaders, facing a Feb. 10 election, have given few clues on how long they would continue the offensive. Analysts have cited Obama's coming inauguration on Jan.20 as a factor pushing for an end to the fighting.

Hamas rejects Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, and opposes U.S.-backed peace talks with Israel conducted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007,

Hamas negotiators returned to Cairo late on Monday after consulting the leadership in exile in Damascus.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's leader in Gaza, said the group would negotiate a truce but only if Israel pulled back all its forces and ended a Gaza blockade.

A Lebanese source close to Hamas said the group wanted a truce for a limited time and objected to the presence of any foreign observers at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.


Israel says any ceasefire must halt Hamas rocket fire and wants measures to stop Hamas from rearming via tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border, in an area known as the Philadelphi corridor. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ori Lewis, Alastair Macdonald, Luke Baker, Alistair Lyon, Jeffrey Heller and Joseph Nasr in Jerusalem, Wafa Amr in Ramallah, Dan Williams in Gaza and Alaa Shahine in Cairo; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, editing by Angus MacSwan)

U.S. arms shipment delayed due to Gaza conflict

13 Jan 2009 01:01:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. military plan to ship munitions from a Greek port to a U.S. stockpile in Israel has been canceled due to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command issued a tender on Dec. 31 for a ship to deliver 325 standard 20-foot containers of ammunition on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January.

Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Greek port had been considered as a possible location from which to transfer ammunition from a larger ship coming from the United States.

But the request to shippers had now been canceled due to safety concerns at the final destination related to the conflict in Gaza, Ryder said. Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip seeks to halt rocket fire by Hamas militants aimed at southern Israel.

"The trans-shipment ... via the Greek port of Astakos will not take place," Ryder said.

"I can confirm that the U.S. munition shipment has been delayed and that EUCOM (U.S. European Command) is developing an appropriate course of action to deliver the items to the U.S. stockpile in Israel," he said.

"I have no information to provide on timelines or possible routes for obvious reasons of operations security."

The Pentagon said on Friday the shipment was intended only for the U.S. stockpile and not to provide ammunition to Israel, a close U.S. ally and major buyer of U.S. military equipment, for the conflict in Gaza.

The U.S. military hired a commercial ship to carry a much larger consignment of ordnance in December from the United States to Israel. Ryder said that shipment was also for the U.S. stockpile in Israel. (Reporting by Andrew Gray; Additional reporting by Stefano Ambrogi in London; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Israel weighs seizing Gaza border corridor

JERUSALEM: Israeli military plans in the Gaza Strip include the option of retaking the narrow stretch of land that separates the coastal enclave from Egypt to try to prevent Hamas from rearming, Western diplomats said on Monday. Israel intensified its aerial bombardment overnight of the so-called Philadelphi corridor to destroy smuggling tunnels that Hamas could use to move longer-ranged rockets, leaders, fighters and funds in and out of the war zone. Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, described a ground operation to retake the Philadelphi corridor and parts of the town of Rafah as one of Israel’s leading ‘third phase’ options if talks over a ceasefire founder. A ground operation along the corridor would allow Israel to use bulldozers and sonar equipment to root out tunnels that have yet to be destroyed with air power alone. Holding the nine-mile-long Philadelphi corridor could give Israel a bargaining chip in ceasefire talks, diplomats said. Israel has demanded security guarantees from Egypt and Western powers to ensure the tunnels are not rebuilt.

Western and Israeli officials said diplomats were discussing an internationally-assisted technical monitoring system to help Egypt stop weapons smuggling and intercept rocket shipments.

Israeli warplanes have repeatedly bombed the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza's 14-km (nine-mile) border with Egypt, seemingly trying to damage tunnels. Western diplomats have said Israel might also decide to send in ground troops there. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ori Lewis, Alastair Macdonald, Luke Baker, Alistair Lyon, Jeffrey Heller and Joseph Nasr in Jerusalem, Wafa Amr in Ramallah, Dan Williams in Gaza and Alaa Shahine in Cairo; Writing by Alastair Macdonald)

reuters

GAZA CLINIC DESTROYED BY ISRAELI JETS

12 Jan 2009 13:39:00 GMT
Source: Christian Aid - UK
Website: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/gaza

218275 logo
MOTHER AND BABY CLINIC TARGETTED AND DESTROYED BY ISRAELI MISSILE FIRE.



A primary health care clinic in Gaza city, funded by Christian Aid has been destroyed by Israeli missile fire.

The clinic, which provided free care to Gazans was run by the Near East Council of Churches, a Christian Aid partner organisation.

The owners of the two-storey building received a telephone warning to evacuate the building on Saturday evening 10th January within 15 minutes.

The building was evacuated quickly, just before a warning shot was fired.

That was followed by a direct hit from missiles fired by an F-16 Israeli air-force jet.

This completely destroyed the building and its contents, including hundreds of thousands of pounds of medical equipment.

There were no injuries in the attack. Nor was any reason for the attack given.

The Near East Council of Churches run various projects which have been supported by Christian Aid for over 20 years. The clinic has also received substantial funding support from the European Union during the past ten years.

The clinic provided essential free primary health care to the Gazan community, including mother and child clinics, neo-natal care, family planning, and includes a laboratory which conducted tests by doctors related to primary health care, along with a small dispensary.

'The world needs to wake up and stop this. They need to wake up and end the siege and the occupation said Constantine Dabbagh, Executive Director of the Near East Council of Churches. 'Then there will be some time for peace and reconciliation'.

'Otherwise, this bloody atmosphere will continue. The responsibility of the superpowers, including the US and Britain, is to stop these horrors.

If it does not we will all encounter more miserable conditions in the future, God forbid.'

Janet Symes, Christian Aid's head of Middle East Region, visited the clinic last year. She said: 'It was standing room only as so many mothers had brought their babies and small children for check ups or treatment'.

'The doctors were telling me how they'd increased their hours but still needed more staff to be able to cope with the huge numbers of patients. Now the whole clinic lies in ruins. All the equipment is destroyed. This just underlines how critical an immediate ceasefire is to stop this destruction.'

Christian Aid is one of several major humanitarian, human rights and development organisations calling on the European Union to immediately suspend any further enhancement of its relations with Israel to ensure an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and provided unimpeded humanitarian access. Both Israel's offensive in Gaza and Hamas rocket attacks into Israel have caused unacceptable civilian casualties.

"The EU's credibility is now at stake', said Daleep Mukarji, Director of Christian Aid UK and Ireland.

'It is inconceivable that we should extend further benefits of European partnership to a government that violates international humanitarian law and refuses negotiation in favour of continued violence. It is time for robust EU action to bring about an immediate ceasefire and end the violence on all sides.'

The coalition of organisations from over 10 European countries - including Oxfam International, World Vision and Muslim Aid - warns that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, already dire following the 18-month blockade, has been pushed to crisis point by the current military conflict.

Christian Aid are also asking ordinary members of the public to email Gordon Brown to make their voice heard in calling for a ceasefire.

www.christianaid.org.uk/gaza

Christian Aid is calling for an immediate permanent cessation of violence and unfettered humanitarian access so that our partners can provide essential services and make a real difference for the people of Gaza.. We welcome the UN Security Council Resolution and Britain's role in promoting it, but it is absolutely critical that the resolution is implemented immediately to allow desperately needed humanitarian relief to reach the people of Gaza.

Notes to editors.

Background information on NECC

Serves the Palestinian people irrespective of religion, faith, political affiliation, geographical locality, gender or creed.

The mission of the Near East Council of Churches Committee for Refugee Work (NECCCRW) in the Gaza Area is aimed at the empowerment and strengthening of Palestinian individuals and communities to help them secure a better quality of life. We seek the development of the whole human being by providing education, training and health services that enhance well-being, self-reliance and community participation in decision making and managing their affairs. Projects are undertaken in the following areas:

Promoting the Health of the Community Promoting Educational Opportunities Promoting Employment Opportunities Promoting Individual's Rehabilitation

Contact details:

For further information or to arrange interviews with partners in Gaza or with Janet Symes, Christian Aid head of Middle East region here in the UK, please contact Nadene Ghouri on 07590 710942 or email:www.christianaid.org.uk/gaza"

ISRAEL-OPT: Gazans have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide

11 Jan 2009 14:23:17 GMT

TEL AVIV, 11 January 2009 (IRIN) - Palestinians in the Gaza Strip received on 10 January air-dropped leaflets warning them that the Israeli military was about to step up operations against militant targets there and that they should take necessary precautions.

However, it remained unclear what Palestinians could do, given that UN officials have said Gazans have no safe place to hide.

"There is nowhere safe in Gaza," Allegra Pacheco, deputy head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories, said. His views were echoed by Max Gaylord, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Jerusalem.

The leaflet told Gazans that they should follow the recent example of Rafah's residents, who fled their homes in the south of the Gaza Strip after receiving similar announcements instructing them to do so just before the Israeli airforce began to pound the city, which is along the Egyptian border. Israeli officials said Palestinian militants were using tunnels to smuggle weapons under this border.

Witnesses said up to 50,000 people fled the town, and the UN reported that Israel's ongoing Operation Cast Lead, which began on 27 December, has created the largest number of forcibly displaced Palestinians since the 1967 war.

Nowhere to run

While most Gazans are already refugees from previous wars, they cannot cross a border now, as the perimeter of the territory is sealed off from all sides. They can only find a relatively safer place within the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated areas on the planet.

The latest leaflet said the Israeli military "will continue to target tunnels, weapons storage facilities and terror operatives with growing intensity throughout the Gaza Strip. For your safety and that of your families, stay away from these."

An Israeli military spokesman could not explain how a civilian in Gaza was supposed to know where a weapons storage facility was and how the person could then avoid it, particularly as the army itself has said militants were hiding in civilian areas.

Furthermore, places where Palestinians have sought refuge, including UN facilities, have been attacked, and civilians have been killed while fleeing, according to testimonies gathered by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.

What is a legitimate target?

Israel's definition of a legitimate target has been challenged by the Israeli rights group B'tselem, which, for example, rejects the military's claims that it can attack the civilian infrastructure of Hamas, including government and police facilities. International law, the group said, did not consider these military targets.

While B'tselem said Hamas was committing "war crimes" by firing rockets at Israeli civilians, it acknowledged that the Islamist group was also in charge of the enclave and provided basic services, and that these should not be targeted.

Overnight on 10 January, as has become the norm recently, Israel carried out more than 60 airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.

Medical staff on 11 January estimated that over 850 Palestinians had been killed in Israel's two-week military offensive, including some 235 children, and more than 3,500 injured. During the same period, 13 Israelis have died in the fighting.

White phosphorous allegation

Meanwhile, a military analyst with New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch said Israel was using white phosphorous illegally in its offensive.

While international law allows the use of the substance as a smokescreen, it cannot be used near civilians as it has an incidental "incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire".

The expert saw it being used over crowded residential areas and doctors in the enclave have reported untypical burns that they are having trouble treating.

The Israeli army said it followed international law and did not use illegal weapons or employ illegal tactics.

It remains difficult to independently verify information about what is going on inside Gaza as journalists and researchers are still banned from the entering the territory.

shg/ar/ed

---

Comments: Not many free and fair people have the guts to talk.

Robert Fisk’s World: Wherever I go, I hear the same tired Middle East comparisons
It all depends where you live. That was the geography of Israel's propaganda, designed to demonstrate that we softies – we little baby-coddling liberals living in our secure Western homes – don't realise the horror of 12 (now 20) Israeli deaths in 10 years and thousands of rockets and the unimaginable trauma and stress of living near Gaza. Forget the 600 Palestinian dead; travelling on both sides of the Atlantic these past couple of weeks has been an instructive – not to say weirdly repetitive – experience.
Here's how it goes. I was in Toronto when I opened the right-wing National Post and found Lorne Gunter trying to explain to readers what it felt like to come under Palestinian rocket attack. "Suppose you lived in the Toronto suburb of Don Mills," writes Gunter, "and people from the suburb of Scarborough – about 10 kilometres away – were firing as many as 100 rockets a day into your yard, your kid's school, the strip mall down the street and your dentist's office..."
Getting the message? It just so happens, of course, that the people of Scarborough are underprivileged, often new immigrants – many from Afghanistan – while the people of Don Mills are largely middle class with a fair number of Muslims. Nothing like digging a knife into Canada's multicultural society to show how Israel is all too justified in smashing back at the Palestinians.
Now a trip down Montreal way and a glance at the French-language newspaper La Presse two days later. And sure enough, there's an article signed by 16 pro-Israeli writers, economists and academics who are trying to explain what it feels like to come under Palestinian rocket attack. "Imagine for a moment that the children of Longueuil live day and night in terror, that businesses, shops, hospitals, schools are the targets of terrorists located in Brossard." Longueuil, it should be added, is a community of blacks and Muslim immigrants, Afghans, Iranians. But who are the "terrorists" in Brossard?
Two days later and I am in Dublin. I open The Irish Times to find a letter from the local Israeli ambassador, trying to explain to the people of the Irish Republic what it feels like to come under Palestinian rocket attack. Know what's coming? Of course you do. "What would you do," Zion Evrony asks readers, "if Dublin were subjected to a bombardment of 8,000 rockets and mortars..." And so it goes on and on and on. Needless to say, I'm waiting for the same writers to ask how we'd feel if we lived in Don Mills or Brossard or Dublin and came under sustained attack from supersonic aircraft and Merkava tanks and thousands of troops whose shells and bombs tore 40 women and children to pieces outside a school, shredded whole families in their beds and who, after nearly a week, had killed almost 200 civilians out of 600 fatalities.
In Ireland, my favourite journalistic justification for this bloodbath came from my old mate Kevin Myers. "The death toll from Gaza is, of course, shocking, dreadful, unspeakable," he mourned. "Though it does not compare with the death toll amongst Israelis if Hamas had its way." Get it? The massacre in Gaza is justified because Hamas would have done the same if they could, even though they didn't do it because they couldn't. It took Fintan O'Toole, The Irish Times's resident philosopher-in-chief, to speak the unspeakable. "When does the mandate of victimhood expire?" he asked. "At what point does the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews cease to excuse the state of Israel from the demands of international law and of common humanity?"
I had an interesting time giving the Tip O'Neill peace lecture in Derry when one of the audience asked, as did a member of the Trinity College Dublin Historical Society a day later, whether the Northern Ireland Good Friday peace agreement – or, indeed, any aspect of the recent Irish conflict – contained lessons for the Middle East. I suggested that local peace agreements didn't travel well and that the idea advanced by John Hume (my host in Derry) – that it was all about compromise – didn't work since the Israeli seizure of Arab land in the West Bank had more in common with the 17th-century Irish Catholic dispossession than sectarianism in Belfast.
What I do suspect, however, is that the split and near civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority has a lot in common with the division between the Irish Free State and anti-treaty forces that led to the 1922-3 Irish civil war; that Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel – and the enemies of Michael Collins who refused to recognise the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the border with Northern Ireland – are tragedies that have a lot in common, Israel now playing the role of Britain, urging the pro-treaty men (Mahmoud Abbas) to destroy the anti-treaty men (Hamas).
I ended the week in one of those BBC World Service discussions in which a guy from The Jerusalem Post, a man from al-Jazeera, a British academic and Fisk danced the usual steps around the catastrophe in Gaza. The moment I mentioned that 600 Palestinian dead for 20 Israeli dead around Gaza in 10 years was grotesque-Outlandish or bizarre,, pro-Israeli listeners condemned me for suggesting (which I did not) that only 20 Israelis had been killed in all of Israel in 10 years. Of course, hundreds of Israelis outside Gaza have died in that time – but so have thousands of Palestinians.
My favourite moment came when I pointed out that journalists should be on the side of those who suffer. If we were reporting the 18th-century slave trade, I said, we wouldn't give equal time to the slave ship captain in our dispatches. If we were reporting the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp, we wouldn't give equal time to the SS spokesman. At which point a journalist from the Jewish Telegraph in Prague responded that "the IDF are not Hitler". Of course not. But who said they were?

The unanimous support for Israeli atrocities in Gaza has morally bankrupted most Western countries and their Arab allies in government. Western leaders at large, want to give Israel enough time to liquidate Hamas and to hand Gaza to Mahmoud Abbas. The Israelis will soon find out that the battle against Hamas, Jihad Al-Islami and the PFLP forces is much harder than against Hezbullah of Lebanon in 2006. Although Israel has admitted losing few soldiers but in reality 21 Israeli soldiers have died and close to 100 have been wounded by 06.01.08. For this reason, Israel refuses flatly to allow foreign journalists to report from the front. According to some sources from inside Gaza, the real offensive fighters are those of Jihad Al-Islami led by Abu Mohammed Jinadi; who seems to have received sophisticated training on guerrilla warfare either in Lebanon or in Iraq. The Jihad fighters dress up like Israeli soldiers, speak Hebrew and lure Israelis to booby-trapped positions. The Hamas fighters are manning defensive positions with IEDs and picking up the enemy soldiers from afar using snipers. As in Lebanon, the Israelis will only accept ceasing fire when they start losing heavily. The loss of the Israelis will be a blow to Mubarak, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and may cause Barak and Livni to lose the February 10 election to terrorist Netanayhu.

The USraelis are always after disarming the people before declaring wars on them. The Americans disarmed Saddam before Iraq was invaded. The US passed an UN resolution to disarm, not Israel, but Hezbullah. Israel is angry that Iran is supplying arms to Hamas. The Americans are after stopping Iran's nuclear program but not after disamntling Israel arsenal of Nuclear Warheads. Why should we be accept to be disarmed while our lands are being occupied? To the contrary we shaould disarm the rogue state of Israel which is in breach of 39 UN Security Council resoultions.

According to some sources Hamas has close to 25000 armed men. Hamas and their allies have an advantage on the 125000 Israeli soldiers as they know the terrain and can effectively hunt the Israelis with snipers, mortars and IEDs. The Iranians believe that Hamas has enough arms to defeat Israel.The closer the Israelis come to inhabited areas the higher is the Israeli losses. Very soon we will hear the shooting down of Israeli warplanes. Arabs and Muslims are against Mubarak-Sarkozi plan for a ceasefire. The armed struggle must continue.

Israel is too small to be bothered with. If the US puts sanctions on Israel Palestinians will reach Tel Aiv un-opposed. Look at the map and see how big Israel is. The Israelis are currently benefitting for the American attempt to disarm Arabs and Muslims and heavily arm the Israelis.

Time has changed for every one. The official armies of corrupt and prostrated Arab rulers are meant to keep them in power and fight, not Israel, but their own people. As a matter of fact Arab governments have never armed their the people before past Israeli wars; allowing Israel to win Blitz Kriegs. Blitz Kriegs aren't possible when one fights the armed people. As an example, the Lebanese and the Iraqis have shown the Arabs and the world how to fight the high-tech and mighty USraeli armies. Despite all the conspiracies of the USraelis and their Arab agents in government, Hamas continues to fight. When people decide on fighting no force can beat them.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Israel says Hamas leaders hide in foreign missions

11 Jan 2009 14:59:21 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds quote from Hamas, details)

JERUSALEM, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Israel accused Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip on Sunday of hiding in foreign diplomatic missions in an effort to elude Israeli forces.

"The leaders of Hamas and the armed wing are hiding in bunkers, hospitals and foreign missions," Israeli Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel told reporters, basing his information on an intelligence briefing received by ministers.

He did not name the missions. Few countries have diplomatic missions in Gaza and even Egypt has withdrawn its staff.

The United Nations says it keeps Hamas militants out of the schools, clinics and other institutions it runs there.

Hamas leaders went to ground and cut communications with journalists when Israel launched its 16-day-old war on Dec. 27 with air strikes on their homes and many other targets.

Even the spokesmen for the Islamist movement have become hard to reach, frequently changing their mobile telephone numbers, but occasionally responding to text messages -- if the increasingly unreliable network provides a signal.

But Hamas officials reject Israeli insinuations that their behaviour is cowardly.

"Fear is the last thing we could be accused of," Hamas parliamentarian Mushir al-Masri said on Sunday. "Martyrdom is our dearest wish, but God has ordered us not to pose ourselves as easy prey for our enemies."

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth reported at the weekend that Hamas leaders were hiding in a basement at Shifa hospital, Gaza's foremost medical facility.

Israeli officials have deflected questions on this, saying only that Hamas leaders hide where they believe themselves safe.

Israel has assassinated many Hamas leaders in the past, notably its Gaza chief and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdul-Aziz al-Rantissi, in 2004.

Since then, Hamas has kept the identity of its Gaza leader a closely guarded secret. (Reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Tim Pearce)

U.S. seeks ship to move arms to Israel

09 Jan 2009 23:05:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Stefano Ambrogi

LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tonnes of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show.

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January.

A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given.

"Shipping 3,000-odd tonnes of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity.

"This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in the market over the years," he added.

The U.S. Defense Department, contacted by Reuters on Friday in Washington, had no immediate comment.

The MSC transports armour and military supplies for the U.S. armed forces aboard its own fleet, but regularly hires merchant ships if logistics so require.

The request for the ship was made on Dec. 31, with the first leg of the charter to arrive no later than January 25 and the second at the end of the month.

The tender for the vessel follows the hiring of a commercial ship to carry a much larger consignment of ordnance in December from the United States to Israel ahead of air strikes in the Gaza Strip.

A German shipping firm which won that tender confirmed the order when contacted by Reuters but declined to comment further.

CHARTERS "RARE"

Shipping brokers in London who have specialised in moving arms for the British and U.S. military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were rare.

Israel is one of America's closest allies and both nations regularly sell arms to each other.

A senior military analyst in London who declined to be named said that, because of the timing, the shipments could be "irregular" and linked to the Gaza offensive.

The ship hired by the MSC in December was for a much larger cargo of arms, tender documents showed.

That stipulated a ship to be chartered for 42 days capable of carrying 989 standard 20-foot containers from Sunny Point, North Carolina to Ashdod.

The tender document said the vessel had to be capable of "carrying 5.8 million pounds (2.6 million kg) of net explosive weight", which specialist brokers said was a very large quantity.

The ship was requested early last month to load on December 15.

In September, the U.S. Congress aproved the sale of 1,000 bunker-buster missiles to Israel. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world.

The Jerusalem Post, citing defence officials, reported last week that a first shipment of the missiles had arrived in early December and they were used in pentetrating Hamas's underground rocket launcher sites.

(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; editing by Michael Roddy)

Israel to halt Gaza attacks for 3 hours a day

07 Jan 2009 08:56:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds plan to halt Israeli attacks for 3 hours a day)

JERUSALEM, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Israel plans to halt military operations for three hours a day near the city of Gaza to enable aid to flow through a humanitarian corridor it is setting up in the Hamas-ruled territory, a military source said on Wednesday.

"The idea is for the Israeli military to lay down its weapons every day from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., starting today, in the area of the city of Gaza," the source said.

Palestinian officials in the Gaza Strip said they had been informed by Israel that it would stop its attacks during that time period to allow shops to open and for funerals to take place.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said earlier a humanitarian corridor was recommended by Israel's military chiefs and would entail granting periodic access to various areas to allow Palestinians to stock up on vital goods.

Aid agencies have complained of a mounting crisis for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli ground forces, which invaded the enclave on Saturday to counter rocket fire by armed Palestinian factions, have bisected the territory and encircled major populated areas.

An Olmert spokesman, Mark Regev, described the measure as a "special status to allow the transfer of people, foodstuffs and medicines" and said it could be implemented on Wednesday. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Joseph Nasr)

Our house was shaken by six airstrikes

31 Dec 2008 16:44:00 GMT
Written by: Jawad Harb


While the Gaza strip is currently facing some of the toughest challenges in the Palestinian territories, I'm writing my own very personal story. But it is also the story of 1.6 million Palestinians living in Gaza.

The 28th of December, 2008, was a day to remember. It was 4:30 p.m. I was sitting with my six kids at my house which is 500 metres from the Egyptian border. The darkness was surrounding us like a monster, a few candles lit our path to the kitchen and bathroom. It was a moonless night full of unpredictable, unknown fear. I was telling my kids stories to distract them when suddenly it was like an earthquake - six consecutive airstrikes shook the house up and down.

The house was like a piece of paper swinging in the air. The kids were screaming, running in all directions, seeking to escape the chaos of the airstrikes. It was uncontrollable panic everywhere.

What made the situation more complicated was the screaming of kids all over the quarter. It was the only thing you could hear after the airstrikes. All the children in the neighbourhood ran downstairs to the main road, crying and screaming in such a way I have never witnessed in my whole life. The street was full of parents trying to find their kids and bring them back home. Among this chaos, I only just managed to gather my own children and get them back home.

We sat again in darkness and I started talking to them again in an effort to calm them down. Yazan, my 12-year-old son, suddenly asked: "Dad, are we ever going to live in peace again? I like to climb, I like to swing like a monkey ... and I like to fly like a bird, why can't we play like those children we watch in kids' TV programs every day?"

A burning teardrop rolled down my face, and all of a sudden, I was not able to say a word.

"Isn't it Christmas holiday now dad? Are we not supposed to have a party and eat some cake?" he added.

As I was trying to answer him, another airstrike shook the house, and this time all of my kids snuggled into me like small birds. My body was grabbed by small hands everywhere, and I wished at that moment I had ten hands to hug them all, because this was exactly what they needed.

"This is temporary," I said to them, with pain.

"Dad, yes, it is temporary forever," my 16-year-old daughter replied.

Gaza: "The only conflict in the world in which people are not even allowed to flee"

- High Commissioner Guterres
06 Jan 2009 13:07:37 GMT
Source: UNHCR

We have issued a statement by High Commissioner António Guterres calling for strict adherence to humanitarian principles in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, including respect for the universal right of those fleeing war to seek safety in other states.

Although there has been no large-scale movement out of Gaza because of the blockade, Mr. Guterres reminds neighbouring states of their responsibility to provide access to safety for civilians fleeing violence. He said those who are compelled to flee Gaza should be able to do so and to find safety and security in other countries according to international law, and he asks that all relevant borders and access routes be kept open and safe. Noting that right now, this is the only conflict in the world in which people are not even allowed to flee, he says Palestinians who may try to leave Gaza to escape the fighting should not be prevented from doing so.

In his statement, Mr. Guterres also expresses solidarity with UNHCR's sister organisation, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is in charge of providing support to Palestinians and is struggling to carry out its mission in Gaza's steadily worsening humanitarian environment. He says it is absolutely imperative that the immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian victims of this conflict be facilitated, including access from Egypt and Israel.

UNHCR has provided some emergency assistance to Egypt's Red Crescent Society in case it is needed for the care of any Palestinians admitted to Egyptian territory and we stand ready to deploy an emergency team and equipment to the area as required.

The High Commissioner says he is gravely concerned over the conflict's heavy toll on civilians, including children, and expresses his profound shock and sadness at the suffering and loss of life. He joins Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in calling for an immediate halt to hostilities.

Israel keeps up ground attack despite truce calls

06 Jan 2009 04:36:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Israeli ground offensive goes into fourth day * Three Israeli soldiers killed by "friendly fire" * Sarkozy on Middle East peace mission

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Israel pressed on with its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip for a fourth day on Tuesday despite new international calls for a ceasefire in a conflict in which more than 540 Palestinians have been killed.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 were wounded on Monday when an Israeli tank mistakenly fired at a building in northern Gaza that they had occupied in fighting against Islamist Hamas militants, the Israeli military said.

The "friendly fire" incident caused the military's highest casualty toll since Israel launched its 11-day-old offensive against Hamas. Eight Israelis, including four civilians hit in Palestinian rocket attacks, have been killed in the conflict.

Israel sent ground forces into the Hamas-controlled territory on Saturday after a week of air strikes did not stop Gaza militants from firing rockets at its southern towns.

Fighting between Israeli troops and militants intensified in the densely-populated Gaza Strip on Monday.

Israel said it had killed dozens of militants as the battle crept into the suburbs of the city of Gaza itself. Palestinian officials said more than 30 civilians were killed.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the assault could get harder for troops. Hamas, vowing to fight on in every street and alley, threatened to fire more rockets across into Israel.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a peace mission to the Middle East, and U.S. President George W. Bush, in his final weeks in the White House, both appealed for a ceasefire.

But disagreement on who should stop shooting first and on what terms made the chances of a quick truce seem remote.

Israel, whose leaders fight a parliamentary poll on Feb. 10, made clear its priority was securing the safety of its citizens. Hamas demanded a lifting of Israel's blockade of Gaza. Many of the enclave's 1.5 million people lack food, water or power.

The Jewish state launched the offensive after Hamas called off a six-month truce last month and stepped up cross-border rocket attacks in response to Israeli raids and the blockade.

SUICIDE BOMBERS

Israeli media reported that Hamas gunmen were manoeuvering within a well-fortified tunnel system and that Israeli troops had encountered Palestinian suicide bombers.

Militants had been trying to lure Israeli soldiers into built-up areas, witnesses said.

An overnight Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza town of Rafah killed a Palestinian woman, medical officials said.

Barak told Israeli legislators on Monday Hamas had been dealt a heavy blow.

"But we cannot say that its fighting capabilities have been harmed ... Difficult moments lie ahead in this operation and the main test could still be ahead," he said.

Hamas leaders, who have support from Iran and Syria but are viewed with suspicion by most Arab states, were defiant.

Thousands of fighters were waiting "in every street, every alley and at every house" to tackle the Israeli forces, Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a broadcast speech.

Hamas would increase its rocket strikes on Israel if the Jewish state kept on attacking Gaza, said Ubaida.

Hamas, which wants to reverse the events of 1948 that created the Jewish state and turned Palestinians into refugees, won a parliamentary election in 2006.

It routed rival forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, seizing control of Gaza and creating a schism that has blighted Abbas's bid to found a Palestinian state through U.S.-brokered talks with Israel.

Israel pulled its troops and more than 8,000 settlers out of Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation in a move that many at the time hoped would lead to a breakthrough for relations between Israel and the Palestinians. (Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Ralph Gowling)

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Israeli army moves on Gaza City as war toll passes 515

by Sakher Abu El Oun Sakher Abu El Oun – 1 hr 16 mins ago

GAZA CITY, (AFP) – Israeli troops and Hamas fighters battled in Gaza on Monday amid tank, artillery and air strikes, as Israel pressed on with its assault on Hamas and world leaders stepped up efforts to end the conflict.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to arrive in Israel for talks on how to end one of its deadliest offensives in Gaza in decades, which has killed more than 515 Palestinians, dozens of them children.

Israeli infantry units backed by tanks and helicopters took up positions around Gaza City after effectively cutting the coastal strip into two by taking control of the main roads leading into the capital, witnesses said.

The troops exchanged fire with Hamas militants, fighting against the deepest Israeli thrust into Gaza since it unilaterally withdrew from the coastal territory more than three years ago.

The most intensive exchanges of fire were reported to be taking place in the north around Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya.

Palestinian medics said five children were killed in two separate Israeli strikes around Gaza City early on Monday.

At least 75 Palestinians have been killed since Saturday, when Israel upped a week-long bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza by pouring in ground troops into the densely-populated territory.

Israel said one soldier was killed by a mortar shell on Sunday and another 55 were wounded since the start of the ground offensive.

Three civilians and one soldier have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza since Israel unleashed its "Operation Cast Lead" against Hamas on December 27.

In the same period, at least 517 Palestinians, including 87 children, have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded, according to Gaza medics.

Aid groups said the offensive had aggravated a humanitarian crisis for the 1.5 million residents of Gaza, most of whom depend on foreign aid in a territory that Israel has virtually sealed off since Hamas took control in June 2007.

Gaza residents currently have little electricity, no water and now face dire food shortages, aid groups say. Hospitals were only running on backup generators.

The Israeli government has fought off international pressure over its biggest military operation since its 2006 war in Lebanon.

Along with Sarkozy, EU and Russian delegations were expected in the region on Monday.

International efforts to halt the conflict sought new impetus after the UN Security Council failed to agree a statement on the conflict, with the United States giving strong backing to Israel.

France's Sarkozy was scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday, after first meeting his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo.

France hopes Egypt can rekindle its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, is heading a delegation to the Middle East, while Medvedev's Middle East envoy, Alexander Saltanov, was also on the way.

The European Union and Russia are both part of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, along with the United Nations and the United States.

Israel unleashed "Operation Cast Lead" on December 27 in response to consistent rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

Israel believes Hamas may be seeking "a respectable" way out of the conflict having underestimated the scope of the military offensive, Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog said.

He told CNN television Hamas was under "huge pressure" from the military operation.

"The intelligence reports that we've received today in the Israeli cabinet are that the Hamas is looking for a respectable way of finding a way to get out of this situation," he said.

The Israeli offensive has sparked spiralling anger in the Muslim world and protests across the globe.

The UN Security Council failed to agree a statement calling for a ceasefire in closed-door consultations late on Saturday.

That drew expressions of regret from UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday, who said he would be working with key players to facilitate a consensus to bring about an end to the violence.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum condemned the Security Council action as "a farce" dominated by the United States, which has strongly supported Israel.


-------
27 Dec 2008 11:20:10 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds Israel ready to expand assault, Hamas reprisals vow, updates death toll)

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Israel's air force fired about 30 missiles at targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, destroying several Hamas police compounds and killing more than 140 people, medical officials and witnesses said.

The Israeli military confirmed it had conducted strikes, saying they targeted "terrorist infrastructure" and pledging to continue and expand attacks if necessary.

Hamas vowed to avenge what it called "the Israeli slaughter".

Medical officials said 120 people had been killed in Gaza City and another 23 in Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza strip.

Thick black smoke billowed over Gaza city, where the port and security installations of the Islamist Hamas group were badly damaged.

Television footage showed dead bodies scattered on the ground and wounded and dead being carried away by distraught rescuers. There was widespread damage to buildings.

Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan said a police compound in Gaza City had been hosting a graduation ceremony for new personnel when it was attacked. Police chief Tawfiq Jabber was among the dead, the radio said.

Uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain. Rescuers carried those showing signs of life to cars and ambulances, while others tried to revive the unconscious, television pictures showed.

Several of the rescuers beat their heads and shouted: "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)." One badly wounded prostrate man quietly recited verses from the Koran.

At another site, there was a huge crater in the ground. Nearby medics carried people into an ambulance.

Witnesses said the attacks were carried out by warplanes and combat helicopters.

"All fighters are ordered to respond to the Israeli slaughter," said a statement by the Islamic Jihad group, echoing statements issued by Hamas and other armed factions.

An aide to Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the military was prepared to step up the assault if necessary.

"The operation will be pursued and widened as required and subject to (commanders') assessments," the aide told Reuters. "We are facing a period that will not be simple or easy."

A six-month truce expired in Gaza just over a week ago. Since then, at least six militants have been killed by Israeli air strikes and dozens of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza have slammed into Israel, damaging homes and causing panic.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Islamist group Hamas on Thursday to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price. "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad," he told Al Arabiya television, an Arab broadcaster widely watched in Gaza.

About a dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza on Friday. One accidentally struck a northern Gaza house killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and 13, and wounding a third, Palestinian medics said. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, editing by Philippa Fletcher) (for factbox on Gaza click on [nLR142363])

-------------

Israel pounds Gaza for second day, over 270 killed
28 Dec 2008 08:46:15 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Israel says no end in sight to fighting

* Israeli aircraft destroy Hamas TV station

* U.N. Security Council calls for end to violence

* Israeli armour masses at Gaza border

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Israel launched air strikes on Gaza for a second day on Sunday, piling pressure on Hamas after killing more than 270 people in one of the bloodiest days in 60 years of conflict between the Palestinians and the Jewish state.

Israeli leaders said the campaign was a response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants that intensified after Hamas, an Islamist group in charge of the coastal enclave Israel quit in 2005, ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.

"Right now, we are not considering an end to the fighting," Israeli Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel said on Israel Radio. "We have the time, patience and means ... to return life in southern Israel to normal."

Under clear morning skies, an Israeli air strike destroyed the headquarters of Hamas's al-Aqsa television stations, which continued broadcasting from an unknown location. Israeli aircraft also attacked a training facility for Hamas fighters.

Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets across the border, including one that police said landed in open territory about 30 km (18 miles) inside southern Israel. No casualties were reported.

Dozens of Israeli armoured vehicles massed along the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion and the U.N. Security Council called early on Sunday for a halt to the violence.

Israeli military affairs commentators said the Israeli offensive did not appear to be aimed at retaking the Gaza Strip or destroying the territory's Hamas government -- ambitious goals that could prove difficult and politically risky to achieve ahead of Israel's Feb. 10 parliamentary election.

Instead, they said, Israel -- after an air bombardment on Saturday -- wanted to strengthen its deterrence power and force Hamas into a new truce that would lead to a long-term halt to cross-border rocket salvoes.

Israel said its warplanes carried out about 100 strikes on Saturday and that Palestinian militants had fired some 70 rockets at the Jewish state, killing one Israeli man.

Palestinian medical officials said on Sunday 271 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours of Israeli attacks. More than 700 were wounded in Saturday's attacks, they said.

"Palestine has never seen an uglier massacre," said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. His Islamist group, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, vowed revenge including suicide bombings in Israel's "cafes and streets".

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on television: "There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight."

HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS

In a show of national unity, Israel's leading political parties suspended electioneering for the Feb. 10 ballot, which opinion polls forecast the right-wing Likud of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will win.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the head of the ruling centrist Kadima party, called for international support against "an extremist Islamist organisation ... that is being supported by Iran", Israel's arch-foe.

U.S. President George W. Bush's administration, in its final weeks in office, put the onus on Hamas to prevent more violence.

Aid groups said they feared the Israeli operation could lead to a humanitarian crisis in the poor coastal enclave, home to 1.5 million Palestinians half of whom depend on food aid.

Gaza hospitals said they were running out of medical supplies because of a long-standing Israeli-led blockade.

On Saturday, black smoke billowed over Gaza City after Israel bombed more than 40 security compounds. Uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain at a graduation ceremony for new recruits hosted by Hamas.

Saturday's death toll was the highest for a single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, when the Jewish state was established.

Hamas, which won a parliamentary election in 2006 but was shunned by Western powers over its refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel, estimated at least 180 members of its security forces had been killed with at least 15 women and some children.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah forces were routed in Gaza when Hamas won control last year, said Israel's action was "criminal" and urged world powers to intervene.

(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Dan Williams, Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Douglas Hamilton and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, and Wafa Amr in Ramallah, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

-----------

Israeli planes strike government buildings in Gaza

01 Jan 2009 09:34:04 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Israeli assaults, rocket fire enters sixth day

* Israel rejects calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire

* Hamas says attacks must stop before truce

* Palestinian toll 396 dead

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes attacked government buildings in the Gaza Strip on New Year's Day after Israel and its Islamist Hamas foe both spurned ceasefire calls in a conflict that has killed about 400 Palestinians.

Israeli tanks and troops were massed near the border of the Hamas-controlled territory and the Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday the Israeli army had recommended a major but short-term ground offensive into the densely populated enclave.

In fresh raids on the sixth day of hostilities, Israeli aircraft and naval forces attacked about 20 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.

Hamas security officials said buildings housing the education and transportation ministries had been virtually destroyed. The Palestinian parliament building was also hit, they said. Gazans who ventured out of their homes walked along rubble-strewn streets to survey the destruction.

Hamas rockets hit the southern city of Beersheba on Wednesday, scaring residents and hardening Israel's resolve to stamp out a threat that has killed three Israeli civilians and a soldier since hostilities broke out on Dec. 27.

Foreign pressure grew on both sides to hold their fire but Israel brushed aside as "unrealistic" a French proposal for a 48-hour truce that would allow in more humanitarian aid for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency session but adjourned without a vote after Arab countries pushed for a demand for an immediate ceasefire. Western delegates described the Arab-drafted resolution as unbalanced and said negotiations would continue to reach an agreed text.

Diplomats said the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades could get even bloodier after days of air strikes that have killed at least 396 Palestinians, about a quarter of whom, U.N. figures showed, were civilians.

France said it would host Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday and an Israeli official said French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to visit Jerusalem on Monday.

Israel Radio said Israeli forces massed at the Gaza border were readying for a possible ground offensive.

"This is only the beginning," Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said on Israel's Army Radio.

"We are operating now, for exactly what we have said from the start, and nothing has changed, to deal Hamas a heavy blow. It has already been wounded." He said Israel would insist on an end to all rocket fire from Gaza.

PUBLIC SUPPORT

The Gaza operation, launched after a six-month ceasefire expired on Dec. 19 and Hamas intensified rocket strikes, could affect the outcome of the national election Israel is to hold on Feb. 10.

A poll in the Haaretz daily showed a majority of Israelis, 52 percent, favoured pursuing the attacks in Gaza, with just 20 percent backing calls for a ceasefire, and 19 percent favouring the launch of a ground offensive into Gaza.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli attacks must stop before any truce proposals could be considered. Israel must also lift its economic blockade of Gaza and open border crossings.

"After that it will be possible to talk on all issues without any exception," Haniyeh said in a televised speech.

U.S. President George W. Bush spoke by phone to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the White House said. Bush put the onus on Hamas to stop firing rockets as a first step to a truce.

Olmert told his security cabinet that if a diplomatic solution could be found that ensured better security for southern Israel, the government would consider it.

"But at the moment, it's not there," an aide quoted Olmert as saying. "We didn't start this operation just to end it with rocket fire continuing as it did before it began."

Israeli ministers approved the mobilisation of 2,500 army reservists, expanding on an earlier call-up of 6,500 soldiers for the force on the Gaza border.

Rain that could impede an armoured invasion largely cleared on Thursday and forecasters predicted clear skies for the next several days.

Food supplies in Gaza were running low and there were power cuts. Hospitals struggled to cope with the high number of casualties from the offensive.

Israel said it would continue to let humanitarian supplies into Gaza and that more than 90 truckloads with food and medicine would be permitted into the territory on Thursday. A similar amount of supplies went in on Wednesday. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ari Rabinovitch, Jeffrey Heller and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem, Wafa Amr and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations, James Mackenzie in Paris and Alaa Shahine in Cairo; Writing by Angus MacSwan and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Keith Weir) (For more stories on Gaza, please click on [nLO226261])


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Source: Reuters (39 minutes ago)

GAZA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Hamas said on Sunday it had captured two Israeli soldiers during fighting in the Gaza Strip.

"Two soldiers were captured," Hamas radio and television said. (editing by Tim Pearce)
GAZA CITY: Hamas said nine Israeli soldiers had been killed in Gaza and several more wounded in the ground invasion of the territory that began on Saturday night.

A statement early on Sunday from Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said that in monitoring Israeli military radio traffic, it learned that five soldiers had been killed.

It added later that the number had increased to nine with fatalities it could directly confirm.

One of the dead was said to be an officer. The Israeli army refused to comment.

Meanwhile, Palestinian medics said a number of militants had been seriously wounded in fighting in the north of Gaza, but that ambulances had been unable to reach them. ============= Israel launches Gaza offensive, kills Hamas commander Wed, Nov 14 15:58 PM EST 1 of 17 By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell". The onslaught shattered hopes that a truce mediated on Tuesday by Egypt could pull the two sides back from the brink of war after five days of escalating Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes at militant targets. Operation "Pillar of Defence" began with a surgical strike on a car carrying the commander of the military wing of Hamas, the Iranian-armed Islamist movement which controls Gaza and dominates a score of smaller armed groups. Within minutes of the death of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, big explosions were rocking Gaza, as the Israeli air force struck at selected targets just before sundown, blasting plumes of smoke and debris high above the crowded city. Panicking civilians ran for cover and the death toll mounted quickly. Nine people including three children were killed, the health ministry said, and about 40 people were wounded. Army tanks shelled border areas of Gaza in south and the Israeli navy shelled a Hamas security position from the sea. Hamas stuck back, firing at least four Grad rockets at the southern city of Beersheva in what it called its initial response. Israel reported damage but no casualties. The escalation in Gaza came in a week when Israel fired at Syrian artillery positions it said had fired into the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights amid a civil war in Syria that has brought renewed instability to Lebanon. Egypt, whose new Islamist government is still honoring the 1979 peace agreement with Israel, condemned the raids on Gaza as a threat to regional security and withdrew its ambassador from Israel. It also summoned the Israeli envoy to Cairo to deliver a protest and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Russia called for an end to the raids. A second Gaza war has loomed on the horizon for months as waves of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes grew increasingly more intense and frequent. Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 began with a week of air attacks and shelling, followed by a land invasion of the blockaded coastal strip, sealed off at sea by the Israeli navy. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed and 13 Israelis died. KILLED IN HIS CAR Hamas said Jaabari, who ran the organization's armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, died along with a Hamas photographer when their car was blown apart by an Israeli missile. The charred wreckage of a car could be seen belching flames, as emergency crews picked up what appeared to be body parts. Israel confirmed it had carried out the attack and announced there was more to come. Reuters witnesses saw Hamas security compounds and police stations blasted apart. "Today we relayed a clear message to the Hamas organization and other terrorist organizations," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "And if there is a need, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is prepared to broaden the operation. We will continue to do everything in order to protect our citizens." Immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio. "The occupation has opened the gates of hell," Hamas's armed wing said. Smaller groups also vowed to strike back. "Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences," Islamic Jihad said. Southern Israeli communities within rocket range of Gaza were on full alert, and schools were ordered closed for Thursday. About one million Israelis live in range of Gaza's relatively primitive but lethal rockets, supplemented in recent months by longer-range, more accurate systems. "The days we face in the south will, in my estimation, prove protracted," Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, Israel's chief military spokesman, told Channel 2 TV. "The home front must brace itself resiliently." Mordechai said Israel was both responding to a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes earlier this week and trying to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian factions from building up their arsenals further. Among the targets of Wednesday's air strikes were underground caches of longer-range Hamas rockets, he said. Asked if Israel might send in ground forces, Mordechai said: "There are preparations, and if we are required to, the option of an entry by ground is available." OBAMA BRIEFED Israeli President Shimon Peres briefed U.S. President Barack Obama on the operation, Peres's office said in a statement. He told Obama that Jaabari was a "mass-murderer" and his killing was Israel's response to Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza. "Israel is not interested in stoking the flames, but for the past five days there has been constant missile fire at Israel and mothers and children cannot sleep quietly at night," said Peres, who visited the border town of Sderot earlier. In the flare-up that was prelude to Wednesday's offensive, more than 115 missiles were fired into southern Israel from Gaza and Israeli planes launched numerous strikes. Seven Palestinians, three of them gunmen, were killed. Eight Israeli civilians were hurt by rocket fire and four soldiers wounded by an anti-tank missile. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi to call an emergency meeting of the League's Council to denounce "dangerous Israeli escalation and brutal aggression on our people in the Gaza Strip". The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, called on Arab states, especially Egypt, to halt the assault. Egypt's foreign ministry condemned the Israeli strikes, saying any further escalation "could have negative repercussions on the security and stability of the region". Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet said Jaabari led Hamas' takeover of Gaza in 2007, when the militant Islamist group ousted fighters of the Fatah movement of its great rival, the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. It said he instigated the attack that led to the capture of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in a kidnap raid from Gaza in 2006. Jaabari was also the man who handed Shalit over to Israel in a prisoner exchange five years after his capture. Israel holds a general election on January 22 and Netanyahu has pledged to retaliate harshly against Hamas. But Israel is also wary of the reaction from Mursi's Egypt, whose ruling Muslim Brotherhood is the spiritual mentor of Hamas. Hamas has been emboldened by its rise to power, viewing Mursi as a "safety net" who will not permit a second Israeli thrashing of Gaza, home to 1.7 million Palestinians. Hamas is also supported by Iran, which Israel regards as a rising threat to its own existence due to its nuclear program. Helped by the contraband trade through tunnels from Egypt, Gaza militias have smuggled in better weapons. But their estimated 35,000 Palestinian fighters are still no match for Israel's F-16 fighter-bombers, Apache helicopter gunships, Merkava tanks and other modern weapons systems in the hands of a conscript force of 175,000, with 450,000 in reserve. (Additional reporting by Dan Williams, Crispian Balmer and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Giles Elgood) ==============