Shadi Fadda
Click on the headline for the full story!
10 killed on Sunday; death toll in Gaza hits 98
Two Palestinian resistance fighters, from the Al Qassam
brigades the armed wing of Hamas, were killed and another
injured on Sunday at midday when Israeli jet fighters targeted
a group of Palestinian fighters east of Jabaliya town in the
northern part of Gaza. Earlier in the day Ahamad Abu
Wardah was killed when Israeli troops opened fire on
his house in Jabalyia town. Medics said that Israeli troops
shot Abu Wardah then prevented the ambulance from
reaching him. Abu Wardah bled to death. On Sunday
morning medics found the bodies of Raja' Attallah, 31
and her sister Ibtesam, 25. Their house is located in Jabalyia
refugee camp and was bombed by Israeli jet fighters Saturday
night. Their parents and two brothers were also killed in the
Saturday's attack. Sunday morning, Khlaid Rayian, from the
Al Qassam brigades, was pronounced dead from wounds
incurred during Jabalyia clashes with invading Israeli troops.
Another two were also killed on Sunday morning.
Thabet Dardonah, and Wesam Abed Raboh were shot by
Israeli troops in Jabalyia and left to bleed to death, Medics
said, they added that there was also a girl who shot and killed
in her home in Jabalyia but once again ambulance crews were
prevented from reaching her.
Al Jazeera video: Israel continues to bombard Gaza
No place is safe in Gaza. Child victims, photos of ambulances
with bullet holes in them, short statements from Mesh'al
asking why there can't be a truce, Abbas accusing Israel
of state terrorism, silence from the international community
Abbas suspends peace talks with Israel;
Olmert vows to continue assault
(AP) Israeli aircraft sent missiles slamming into the office
of the prime minister of Hamas-ruled Gaza on Sunday,
pressing forward with an offensive that has killed nearly
70 Palestinians in two days of fighting. Responding to the
bloodletting, the Palestinian leadership based in the West
Bank suspended U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel on Sunday rejected the
international criticism and vowed to continue the Gaza
offensive. Olmert's defense minister, Ehud Barak, said an
even broader Gaza operation was in the cards, meant to
crush militant rocket squads but also to "weaken the Hamas
rule, in the right circumstances, even to bring it down.
IDF gears up for Gaza op
Operation Warm Winter concludes first stage, as IDF forces
target rocket firing grounds in Gaza over weekend. Second stage
to include urban patrols on search-and-destroy mission
for hidden weapons – IDF forces in the field reported
most of the Palestinian casualties were affiliated with
Hamas. The IDF denied the Palestinians' claims of
mass casualties among innocent residents, citing only a
few such incidents were known. Hamas, said the IDF, often
states false casualty claims in order to generate sympathy
in the international community. [I suppose the photos and
videos were fake too?] DF officials did not rule out a
possibility of the operation leading to yet another escalation,
which in turn lead to a large-scale operation; but some
believe several in-depth pinpoint operations may cause
Hamas to rethink the ceasefire.
On Arab TV, the images from Gaza are
of women and children
The images are horrific, so much so that Al Jazeera warned
viewers about the content. A shell has hit the kitchen
of the Asliyeh family in Jebel Al-Kashf, east of Jabalya.
A TV crew bursts into the room, together with the family.
When the dust clears we see a small, charred body.
Only the hair identifies it as a little girl.
Israeli security minister Dichter:
After five days of fighting, Israel still failing
to stop Gaza rocket fire
"We did not stop the firing of rockets and we did not
stop the fire against us so what did we achieve?
Nothing has changed for us, in the Gaza Strip," he said
angrily. "Missile fire is greater than ever before and is
now reaching Ashkelon and Netivot. Now 250,000 Israelis
are under the threat of Palestinian rockets instead of
125,000," he added. According to the Israeli army six
Israelis were wounded, one of them seriously, by
long-range rockets fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday
as Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza launched over
40 rockets and mortars at southern Israel. Eight of the
missiles were long-range rockets that travelled as far as
the coastal town of Ashkelon, 11 kilometres north of the Gaza Strip
Two Israelis lightly injured as rockets slam
into western Negev
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired 23 rockets at
southern Israel on Sunday, as the IDF continued its
operation on the coastal territory. Two Israelis were
lightly wounded in separate rocket attacks. Of the
23 rockets that hit Israel on Sunday, three were Grad-
type Katyusha missiles and the other 18 were Qassams.
An Israeli woman suffered light shrapnel wounds when
a Katyusha slammed directly into a house in Ashkelon
late Sunday afternoon. Earlier Sunday, an Israeli man
was also wounded by shrapnel when a Qassam hit a
western Negev factory, sparking a fire..
Two Israeli occupation force soldiers
killed in N Gaza attack
A spokeswoman of the Israel Defense Forces (IOF)
confirmed to Xinhua on Saturday that two IOF
occupation force soldiers were killed during a military
operation in northern Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Barak to justice minister:
Can IDF legally hit civilian areas used to fire rockets?
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday asked
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann to examine whether
the Israel Defense Forces can legally target populated
areas from which Qassam rockets are being fired at the
western Negev. During Sunday's cabinet meeting,
Vice Premier Haim Ramon asked why the IDF was not
directing massive fire at the areas from which Qassams are
being launched. "According to international law, you can
do that," he said. "In the Second Lebanon War it was clear
that if they shoot from within a village, we can fire on them
even if the area is populated."
PM Olmert to Cabinet: Striking at Hamas
increases chances for peace
"Naturally, we are interested in continuing the diplomatic
negotiations. When the diplomatic negotiations began, we
made it clear that they would not, in any way, be conducted
at the expense of our right to defend the residents of Israel
against the intolerable actions of the terrorist organizations.
Nobody in the world would deny that striking at Hamas
strengthens the chance for peace. The more that Hamas is hit,
the greater the chances of reaching a diplomatic agreement and
peace. It is clear to me that beyond these and other statements
that the Palestinian leadership with whom we are trying to make
peace, understands this."
Gaza hospitals on verge of collapse
Heavy weekend fighting in Gaza funnels hundreds of
casualties to Strip's medical facilities, which find themselves
operating on a near tenfold overload – "The situation in very
hard. I have a new intensive-care patient coming in every
half-an-hour," Dr. Khalil Nahal, of the Intensive Care Unit in
Shifa Hospital, Gaza Strip's main medical facility. "Normally,
I have 11 beds in the ICU, in its full capacity," said Dr. Nahal.
"Now I have 95 beds in three locations in the hospital. We only
have four more ICU beds available right now." A former
physician at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem,
Dr. Nahal found himself caring for many civilians caught
in crossfire. "We had a four-year-old girl admitted with a
gunshot wound to the head," he said. "I hope she makes it,
but she's in critical condition." Dr. Nahal believes most of the
casualties were wounded in IAF raids, with only a few getting
hit by IDF ground troops' fire. "Most patients presented with
bombing-related injuries, usually associated with aerial strikes;
but some did present with gunshot wounds," he explained.
Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza;
Egypt takes in wounded Palestinians
(AP) Israel allowed 62 trucks carrying medical supplies and
humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through Sufa Crossing,
Sunday. The supplies included, among others, thousands
of blood units and basic foods.Earlier Sunday, Egypt opened
its only crossing with the Gaza Strip to receive wounded
Palestinians, a day after 54 people were killed in Israel's latest
offensive against militants firing rockets from the territory, said
a medical official. Egypt sent 27 ambulances to the Rafah
Crossing to transfer 150-200 wounded Palestinians to hospitals
in the Sinai Peninsula and other cities on the mainland.
Egypt admits wounded Gazans for medical care
ISMAILIA, Egypt, March 2 (Reuters) - Egypt unsealed a
sensitive border crossing on Sunday to let Palestinians
wounded in an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip cross into
Egypt for medical care. Egyptian security sources at the
Rafah border crossing -- -- largely closed since the Hamas
Islamist group seized control of Gaza last June -- said at least
40 wounded Palestinian civilians crossed into Egypt on Sunday.
Egyptian security sources said Egypt had not set a limit on how
many Palestinians would be allowed in. North Sinai Governor
Ahmed Abdel Hamid said he expected the number of wounded
Palestinians entering Egypt would exceed 200.
Get ready for the third intifada – by Zvi Bar'el
The serenity [?] of the West Bank is threatened by
only one thing: the war in the Gaza Strip, where as of
last night 60 Palestinians had been killed. Apparently
both Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have
convinced themselves that not only is this a case of two
separate countries, in which one has no effect on the
other, but it is also about two different peoples. As such,
a solution with one Palestinian state and one Palestinian
people does not necessitate a solution with another
Palestinian people. In one Palestine there will be a flourishing
economy, and in the other there will be war. In one
Palestine factories will operate and there will be dancing in
discos, and in the other, children will be killed.
Good morning Hamas – by Uri Avnery
WE ISRAELIS live in a world of ghosts and monsters.
We do not conduct a war against living persons and real
organizations, but against devils and demons which are
out to destroy us. Let's try to bring this war down from
virtual spheres to the solid ground of reality. There can
be no reasonable policy, nor even rational discussion, if
we do not escape from the realm of horrors and nightmares.
After the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections, Gush
Shalom said that we must speak with them. * What
should we speak with Hamas about? First of all, about a
cease-fire. When a wound is bleeding, the blood loss
must be stemmed before the wound itself can be treated.
14-year-old killed, 45 Palestinians injured in
clashes with Israeli forces in Hebron on Sunday
Mahmoud Muhammad Al-Masalmeh, from the town of
Beit 'Awa south-west of Hebron, was shot in the heart by
Israeli gunfire during the clashes west of the town of
Beit 'Awa. Local sources told Ma'an that the violent
confrontations continued in areas west of the town near
the separation wall, and that Israeli forces fired on
townspeople and protesters. A number of citizens were
injured during the confrontation. In Hebron 21 people
were injured during a march to demonstrate solidarity with the Gaza Strip.
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