News
Panic grips Gaza residents as Israel vows to press bloody offensive
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 1/6/2009
GAZA CITY: Heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters broke out in a densely populated area of Gaza City on Monday evening, as at least 12 children became some of the latest victims of the Israeli onslaught. Israeli troops battled Hamas fighters in Gaza’s main city for the first time Monday - after dozens died in a day of clashes - while the government fended off worldwide calls for a cease-fire. Amid raging combat in Gaza City, and as the Palestinian death toll rose to at least 555, French and Russian presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev both demanded a halt to the conflict. But Israeli ministers said the offensive would go on. Large explosions and heavy gunfire rocked the Shejaiya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City as night fell. Israeli military sources confirmed there were heavy clashes.
ISRAEL-OPT: Water, sewage system 'collapsing' in Gaza, says official
ICRC, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1/6/2009
GENEVA, 5 January 2009 (IRIN) - The UN has warned that power networks were down in large parts of the Gaza Strip on 4 January, with hospitals relying on generators. Without power for pumps, 70 percent of Gazans are estimated to be without tap water. Israel has been blocking fuel supplies, and stocks are dwindling, the latest (4 January) report by the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories said. The Israeli Gisha organisation, an NGO, said seven of the 12 electricity lines in the enclave (the 12 lines normally supply about 70 percent of Gaza’s electricity) were down, and warned that the lack of power was causing sewage to flood into populated areas and farmland. There continued to be a risk of sustained flooding. "The water and sewage system in Gaza is collapsing, cutting people off from the water. . . "
Eighty-nine children and 30 women amongst Gaza’s confirmed dead
Press release, Al Mezan, Electronic Intifada 1/5/2009
On the 10th day of its aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has seriously escalated its military operations, targeting mostly civilian targets, particularly homes. Air strikes and artillery shells hit tens of homes. IOF also targeted medical facilities and ambulances. A Civil Defense team was hit as it tried to fight a fire following the bombardment of a clinic. IOF’s ground invasion into the Gaza Strip has expanded as troops and tanks landed from the sea south to Gaza City. Seventy-seven people have been killed in IOF’s attacks between 1pm yesterday and 2:30pm today. This includes 21 children and nine women. In addition, a medical rescue crew were killed during the same time period. Dozens have also been injured, most of whom were civilians. Targeting protected objects and persons represent flagrant disregard to the rules of international law relevant to
Gaza hospitals under fire
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Gaza/Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces fired in the immediate vicinity of three hospitals in the Gaza Strip on Monday, witnesses and medical personnel told Ma’an. The Al-Wafa Hospital eastern Gaza Strip received warning that they would be shelled, but the hosptial administration and staff refused to evacuate on account of the number of injured people being treated there. Some of the wounded have been injured so severely that they cannot be safely transferred. At Ash-Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes bombed the offices ofthe Health Committees, about 400 meters from Ash-Shifa hospital. Last week warplanes bombed the Ash-Shifa Mosque, which is part of the medical compound. Israeli forces also shelled the parking lot of Al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya in northern Gaza. Spanish human rights worker at the hospital Alberto Arce reported, “Two. . .
Hundreds of thousands in Strip without water
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
Between 600,000 and 700,000 Gazans have no water, some of them going on a week. About one million have no electricity, raw sewage is running in the streets in some places and various localities, especially in the northern Gaza Strip, face the threat of sewer backups. Repairmen cannot easily get out to make repairs, due to the shelling and poor conditions of roads. The mobile and land-line phone networks in the Strip have been seriously damaged from both air strikes and the power shortages. Increasingly, Gazans have no way to contact relatives, local authorities or aid and emergency services, heightening their sense of panic and isolation. That is the picture of the Gazan infrastructure that emerges from the reports of residents and of the Deputy Director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, Maher Najjar, and Maxwell Gaylard, UN Humanitarian Coordinator.
Injured Gaza family still awaits evacuation
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
As of last night, almost 48 hours after a shell struck the isolated A’aiedy family home in a farming area in the eastern Gaza Strip, all attempts to evacuate the injured family members have failed. Two 80-year-old women and three of their grandsons were injured in the strike, which destroyed part of the house. They have been treating the injuries with water and salt, but the wounds have become infected, the owner of the home, Hussein al-A’aiedy, says. Red Cross ambulances were unable to come near the area Sunday. Attempts by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) to coordinate evacuation also failed, and the family remains in one room in the yard of the damaged house. Late Sunday evening a Palestinian ambulance arrived to pick up injured people from a cluster of houses not far away. According to A’aiedy, the ambulance crew was also ready to pick up his injured family members, but the Israel Defense Forces would not let them.
Amira Hass / For 48 hours, gunbattles kept wounded Gaza family from medical aid
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
As of Monday evening, 48 hours after being wounded, all attempts to evacuate the A’aiedy family to hospital for treatment have been for naught. An IDF shell struck the family home situated in an agricultural expanse east of Gaza City. A section of the house was destroyed in the attack. Two women, both of them 80 years of age, and three of their grandchildren were wounded. Thus far they have treated their injuries with water and salt, though their wounds have become infected, according to a relative, Hussein Al A’aiedy. On Sunday, Red Cross ambulances could not approach the area of the home. Efforts by the non-governmental organization Physicians for Human Rights were also fruitless. The family is holed up in a room in the front section of the house. Late Sunday, a Palestinian ambulance arrived at a cluster of homes nearby in order to evacuate other wounded to hospital. -- See also: Hit in IDF shelling, family can't leave Gaza yard
Gaza war poses special physical, psychological threats for children
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 1/6/2009
GAZA CITY: The shelling is incessant, hospitals are overwhelmed, children are shell-shocked, the Gaza nights are miserably cold in the windowless homes. And residents fear their nightmare could worsen. After days of intense bombardment from the air, artillery shells are now pounding the Gaza Strip as resistance fighters respond with rocket-propelled grenades at Israeli tanks. Children, who make up more than half of the 1. 5 million population, are traumatized, living in fear of the next explosion that will shake their home. "Many kids have stopped eating. They are inactive, they barely talk, they cling to their parents all the time," said Sajy Elmaghinni, who works for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Gaza. "Children are now scared of the dark, which is a major problem because there’s no electricity," added Elmaghinni, whose own home has been without power for five days.
Israelis deny using phosphorus
Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian 1/6/2009
The Guardian, Israeli military spokesmen deny that their forces have used phosphorus in Gaza, despite photographs and film of munitions showing similar characteristics to the potentially lethal shells. The Israelis have not said what kind of munitions they have been using, other than saying that their use is permitted under international law. Phosphorous shells are not illegal if they are used to create a smokescreen or to illuminate targets, rather than as a weapon against people, military experts and human rights campaigners said yesterday. Mark Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch, said it seemed from news films that Israel had used "artillery-delivered obscurants" which were not illegal. White phosphorus produces layers of thick white smoke when exposed to oxygen, but phosporous from an explosion will cause serious burns that can melt flesh to the bone and kill.
Besieged families flee homes for shelter under UN flag
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem, The Guardian 1/6/2009
Mahmoud Khalil looked around the classroom and decided the safest place for his children was under the desks. UN officials had reassured the father of five he and his family would be protected by the large blue and white flag flying above the UN-run school turned refugee shelter. But with the sound of large explosions on the edge of Jabaliya refugee camp, just north of Gaza City, and his children still terrified from the trauma of their escape, Khalil was taking no chances. "They will kill us anywhere. If they can bomb the mosque, if they can kill small children, if they can blow up our parliament, why should they care if they bomb this school? They don’t care what the United Nations thinks. They don’t care what the whole world thinks," he said, when reached by telephone.
Gaza babies at risk of hypothermia
Middle East Online 1/5/2009
LONDON - Newborn babies in Gaza are at risk of hypothermia because of freezing temperatures and a cut in the power supply, the British aid charity Save the Children warned on Monday. Most homes and hospitals in Gaza, where night-time temperatures drop to freezing point, are now without power and have no heating, it said, adding that people leave windows open to stop them shattering from bombardment. "We need to deliver more food and blankets to ensure that children do not die of hunger and cold," said Jerusalem-based Save the Children spokesman Dominic Nutt, cited in a statement by the charity. Referring to a European Union mission in the region, he added: "We want (British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown and all EU leaders to push for a ceasefire so that we have safe access to those people in need in Gaza.
Two strikes, and another family lay buried in rubble
Said Ghazali and Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem, The Independent 1/6/2009
The extended Abu Eysha family were asleep when their three-storey house five minutes from Gaza’s coast was hit by the first air attack early yesterday. Five minutes and another air strike later, Amer Abu Eysha, 50, who used to work as a tiler in Israel, his 30- year-old wife, Naheel, and three of his children lay dead under a pile of rubble. Yesterday the children’s uncle, Rashad Abu Eysha, said a missile fired by an Israeli F16 went through the second and first floors before exploding on the ground floor where his brother lived with his immediate family. The attack on the Palestinian refugee family became the third since the aerial bombardment of Gaza started 10 days ago to prompt a specific call for an independent investigation by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Relatives said the dead children dug out from piles of debris were Sayed, 13, Muhammad, nine, and Ghayda, seven.
VIDEO - ’As I ran I saw three of my children. All dead’
Hazem Balousha in Gaza City and Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 1/6/2009
The small dead bodies were laid next to one another on the tiled floor of the morgue corridor, the blood drained from their cheeks. One had a bandage still wrapped around his head, another lay with his mouth half-open in his oversized, bloodstained clothes. For a week the Samouni family had taken shelter in their small, single-storey home in Zeitoun, south-east of Gaza City, and there they survived wave after wave of Israeli bombing and artillery strikes. Then came Israel’s ground offensive, the next phase in what Israel argues is a necessary and justified battle against the Palestinian militants firing rockets out of Gaza. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, promised an "iron fist" for Hamas and said he would treat the civilian citizens of Gaza with "silk gloves," though the Palestinians of Gaza know perhaps better than most that there are few silk gloves in war.
IDF shell kills Palestinian family of seven near Gaza City
Amir Hass and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
The Israel Defense Forces killed seven members of a Palestinian family in a strike on their home in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Palestinian medical officials said. The attack at Beach refugee camp, on the outskirts of the city of Gaza, followed a separate shelling which killed three children and their mother, said medical officials. They said that at least 12 civilians had been killed on Monday in total. Blasts rocked Gaza overnight after IDF soldiers moved into a northern zone. Israeli forces had asked residents to leave their homes to avoid being hurt in the clashes with Hamas militants. Some families sought refuge in nearby United Nations run schools. A military spokeswoman said the air force bombed more than 30 targets, including homes of Hamas members used as weapons depots, tunnels and a suspected anti-aircraft rocket launcher.
Fares Akram: People are fleeing the north on donkey carts
The Independent 1/6/2009
When we woke up yesterdaymorning there were people on the streets for the first time in days. Whole families, girls, women, fathers, children. They appeared to be coming from the north of the Gaza Strip, fleeing their homes. The majority were walking, some were on donkey carts. There were a few cars and trucks but each had up to 10 people crushed inside. They were carrying their belongings, such things as mattresses and bed covers. My grandfather who lives with us, watched for a while and said:"This is exactly like the immigration of Palestinians into Gaza in 1948". Overnight there were more air strikes, heavy-artillery shelling and the tanks have been coming deeper into Gaza. So you can’t blame people for seeking safety. Alaa, my wife, nine months pregnant, is nervously hanging on and I’m thanking God she hasn’t gone into labour yet.
Gaza residents live in fear
Ali Waked, YNetNews 1/6/2009
Strip residents tell Ynet of life in shadow of IDF operation, ’People don’t walk near mosques for fear they will be bombed, don’t stand next to Hamas men’s houses’. Say men flee homes for fear of arrest; 30-40 people can be found crowded in one house - Israeli pressure on the Gaza Strip is taking its toll on residents, and sources said this, the tenth day of the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead, just might be the hardest on Hamas so far. Palestinians said wide areas of the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City have suffered bombings from the air, ground and sea. Residents are on high alert and many have fled to the center of Gaza City for fear of being arrested. Most of the residents who remained in the northern Strip are those who were unable to escape or had nowhere to go. Meanwhile, those in Gaza City await the IDF.
A lottery of life and death for ambulance medics
Jack Shenker in Rafah, The Guardian 1/6/2009
On one side are the badly wounded, desperate to get out to medical attention; on the other are the bodybags of those who failed to make it waiting to be sent back in for burial. The no man’s land of Rafah’s border crossing, strewn with barbed wire and reverberating with nearby bomb blasts, is a grim patch between the Gazan and Egyptian borders. But for Dr Nadal bin-Afifi, though, it was the most reassuring thing he had seen all day. For the second time this week Afifi had made the perilous journey from his home in Gaza City down to the territory’s southern limits to ferry the injured across into Egypt. "My colleague was killed by an Israeli bomb while making the same trip three days ago," he said as volunteers rushed to unload his human cargo. "I can’t find the courage to tell my wife I’m doing this. "
AUDIO - Gaza: ’The ambulances don’t stop arriving’
Hazem Balousha, The Guardian 1/6/2009
Hazem Balousha visits Gaza’s Shifa hospital and meets grieving relatives [end]
Israel shells damage al-Awda hospital, Jabaliya
International Solidarity Movement 1/5/2009
2pm, Al-Awda hospital, Jabaliya, Gaza: The al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza has been damaged by two Israeli shells. Spanish Human Rights Activist Alberto Arce said;"Two consecutive shells just landed in the busy car park 15 meters from the entrance to the emergency room of the Al Awda hospital. The entrance of the emrgency rooml was damaged. At the time of the shelling Ambulances were bringing in the wounded that keep pouring in. Medical teams and facilities are being targeted. Nowhere is safe" Alberto Arce (Spain) - International Solidarity Movement This attack on the hospital come the day after four medics were killed by the Israeli military as they attempted to rescue injured people. Six Palestinian medical personnel have now been killed by Israeli attacks. On December 31st, medic Mohammed Abu Hassera was killed on the spot as his ambulance was shelled while trying to access the wounded.
OCHA release updates on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 1/5/2009
OCHA, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, issued a humanitarian update Sunday on the Gaza crisis since the Israeli military ground operation began. The report focuses on casualties, as well as food, health, water, sanitation and highest priority needs. The Report shows that all of Gaza City hospitals have been without main line electricity for the past 48 hours, leaving Gazans dependant on back-up generators. The hospitals warn that the generators are close to running out of fuel. OCHA reported that the military incursion compounded the humanitarian crisis, following more than a week of shelling and an 18 month-long blockade of the territory. There is an increased threat to civilians due to combat in densely populated urban areas. Hospitals continue to be overstretched because of the large number of casualties that have accumulated since the. . .
Civilian deaths mount in Gaza war
Al Jazeera 1/5/2009
Palestinian civilians are continuing to suffer as the Israeli military pushes deeper into the Gaza Strip. At least 548 people have been killed in the territory in the last 10 days, with at least 100 deaths reported since the Israeli ground offensive began on Saturday. Among the dead on Monday was a family of seven from Shati refugee camp, who were killed by Israeli navy shelling. Three siblings from one family, as well as a girl and her grandfather, also died in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza during artillery shelling. Emergency medical services have also come under attack with the al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya being hit by two Israeli shells, foreign human rights activists said. "Two consecutive shells just landed in the busy car park 15 metres from the entrance to the emergency room," Alberto Arce of the International Solidarity Movement said in a statement.
Gaza: Hundreds leave their homes and take refuge in UN schools
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 1/5/2009
Hundreds of Palestinian families have left their homes and taken refuge in UN run schools in Gaza on Monday. Local sources have reported that at least 500 families from the towns of Beit Hannon and Beit Lahyia, as well nearby villages, have left their homes in search of shelter at various UN schools. IMEMC correspondant in Gaza, Rami Al Meghari, talked to those families. Ihmedan Abu Ayiasha, age 48, left his home. "What can we do? " he asked. "We left our homes because Israeli tanks were shelling it. I came to run from the fire of the Israeli Army. " "I left everything, [even] my clothes" he added. "We have no food. The UN told us they have nothing to give us because Israel did not allow aid into Gaza. " Adnan Abu Hassna, the spokesman for the United Nation Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in Gaza said that his agency is doing what it can.
Dark and cold Gaza waits for humanitarian help
Middle East Online 1/5/2009
GAZA CITY- Frantic families across Gaza cowered in any shelter they could find on Monday morning as the Israeli army’s onslaught continued into another day. The dawn sky was lit by orange streaks from tank shells and warplane missiles while Hamas heavy machine guns took speculative shots at Israeli jets above the enclave of 1. 5 million people. Israeli infantry and resistance fighters fought in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City amid anxiety that the new day could bring an escalation of clashes in other parts of the territory’s main city. Fear was stoked up further by recorded messages sent to people’s telephones. "The Israeli army will use stronger force against Hamas," said one Israeli propaganda message received early on Monday. Another Israeli propaganda message sent was "Hamas’s leadership is bringing you destruction.
Gazans: ’We face a dark destiny’
Al Jazeera 1/5/2009
As Israeli forces push deeper into the Gaza Strip and the death toll continues to rise, Al Jazeera hears from some of the Gazans we first spoke to during the aerial bombardment. They describe the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza and explain how the Israeli ground offensive is affecting them. Majed Badra, 23, Gaza City, cartoonist and student at the Islamic University "Last night was difficult - all of Gaza was under darkness. There is no TV because there is no electricity, so all the time we sit and wait and hear news on the radio about what the Israeli forces are doing and what our resistance can do and how many of our people they have killed. I am used to air-raids and hearing the tanks come into Gaza and we are used to hearing reports on the radio in the dark. . . "
U.S. to foil any Arab bid to push Security Council resolution for Gaza cease-fire
Shlomo Shamir , and Reuters, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
The United States is determined to thwart any Arab initiative aimed at forcing the UN Security Council to assume a direct role in the Gaza crisis. Reliable sources at the UN say that the U. S. ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, has received explicit instructions from his superiors at the State Department to torpedo any initiative proposed by the Arab bloc which is designed to grant the Security Council the status of an official arbiter that will have direct involvement with disentangling the Gaza crisis. This directive can explain Washington’s persistent opposition to even a non-binding declarative statement issued by the Council, as it did during an emergency meeting late Saturday night. The U. S. policy means that the Arab foreign ministers who arrived in New York on Sunday in an effort to advance a Libyan cease-fire. . .
Israel trying to delay UN Security Council meeting
Roni Sofer, YNetNews 1/5/2009
Jerusalem making diplomatic efforts to postpone meeting and prevent further international pressure on Israel to stop fighting in Gaza. Meanwhile Olmert, Livni continue to promote US-led initiative for truce - Israel is making diplomatic efforts to postpone a UN Security Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday, in order to prevent further international pressure from being exerted on the country to halt its military operation in Gaza. Israel’s political leadership has yet to decide who should represent Israel at the meeting. Top ministers are concerned that if Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is present at the discussion, this could validate any decision made by the Security Council and leave Israel exposed to even more pressure. Livni has already noted that "even if the Security Council reaches an anti-Israeli resolution, this would not stop the military campaign against Hamas.
UN contradicts Israel over depth of crisis in Gaza
Associated Press, Jerusalem Post 1/6/2009
The United Nations said Monday there is an "increasingly alarming" humanitarian crisis in Gaza, directly contradicting Israeli denials that any such predicament has followed its military offensive. UN humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters Monday that UN officials believe as many as 25 percent of the 500 people killed in the fighting are civilians and that Gaza’s health system is "increasingly precarious" due to the more than 2,500 injured. He said Gaza is running low on clean water, power, food, medicine and other supplies since Israel began launching a heavy attack on the Hamas that controls Gaza’s government, first with airstrikes and then with troops and tanks. Israeli leaders have maintained consistently there is no humanitarian crisis for the Palestinians living in the densely populated territory, and that they have been keeping the border crossings open and are delivering vital supplies.
Arab ministers hold UN Gaza talks
Al Jazeera 1/6/2009
Arab foreign ministers have held talks at the United Nations in New York to press the Security Council for action over the crisis in Gaza. The meeting on Monday of the Palestinian, Egyptian and other ministers with Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, follows a US decision to block a Libyan-backed proposal for the UN to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza last weekend. Al Jazeera’s Ghida Fakhry at the UN in New York said UN sources now described the Libyan proposal as "dead" and said a new proposed resolution was being mooted by the French, current president of the council, who were attempting to gain Arab support for it. UN sources said the proposed new resolution would have three main points: An urging for an immediate ceasefire, the formation of some sort of "humanitarian corridor" for much-needed aid and a form of "monitoring mechanism" for the ceasefire.
Livni: Deal with Hamas would abolish peace process
Roni Sofer, YNetNews 1/5/2009
Foreign minister holds press conference ahead of European diplomats’ arrival in Jerusalem as part of efforts to reach ceasefire in Gaza. Any pact with terrorists means hindering chance for future peace agreement, she says - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday ahead of the arrival in Jerusalem of European diplomats attempting to reach a ceasefire pact between Israel and Hamas. Before the operation in Gaza Hamas fired at Israel whenever it felt like it, she said, adding that this would not longer be the equation in the region. "When Israel is attacked, it will respond," she noted. Livni stressed that "a necessary war on terror does not end with an agreement. We don’t sign agreements with terror; we fight terror. "
Israel seeking ceasefire arrangement that excludes Hamas
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Israel is seeking a diplomatic agreement to end the war in Gaza, as long as the deal excludes one of the parties to the conflict: Hamas. According to a decision made on Sunday by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel will press for this arrangement with European leaders who are in the region on Monday in an effort to bring about a ceasefire. Olmert will meet on Monday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Livni will meet three foreign ministers from Europe, including French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. On Saturday night the US blocked an attempt at the United Nations Security Council to pass a binding ceasefire resolution proposed by Libya. At the Israeli cabinet meeting on Sunday, Livni said that Israel’s own diplomatic efforts had “foiled that attempt,” according to a statement sent be the foreign ministry.
Ehud Barak: Operation going as planned
Globes Online 1/5/2009
"Gaza is partly encircled. Hamas has suffered a very heavy blow. ""The operation is going as planned. Gaza is partly encircled and our forces are meeting their targets. Since the start of the operation, 500 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly members of Hamas. Our forces have suffered one dead, four seriously wounded, and eight moderately wounded," Minister of Defense Ehud Barak told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today. Barak continued, "I send my condolences to the family that lost its son and to the families of the wounded. The decision to launch the campaign was a calculated one. We didn’t go to battle in haste, we were forced to take this action. The goal of the operation is very simple, to change the security reality in southern Israel. We are adamant in creating this new reality of no violence coming out of Gaza, not towards our civilians or towards our soldiers.
Al-Qassam Brigades threaten to target Israeli nuclear site, take more prisoners
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Al-Qassam Brigades threatened to widen their projectile attacks in a broadcast addressing Israelis aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV Monday. “We promise you that our target-sites will be vulnerable at all times and open to attack any time of day,” said Hamas’ military wing spokesman Abu Ubayda. “We will expand our targets,” he said. ”Tel Aviv and the Israeli nuclear site at Dimona have not yet been targeted, said Abu Ubayda, but we will not hesitate to launch projectiles at these sites if Israel continues its attack at the one and a half million people of the Gaza Strip. Our targets will also become the soldiers now in Israel, the spokesman assured. “Your fried Gilad Shalit is missing and we promise to bring him company. ” Your land invasion will do nothing but insure the return of Palestinian prisoners when we swap them for the Israeli soldiers.
Hamas delegation visits Cairo to discuss means of halting IOF aggression
Palestinian Information Center 1/5/2009
DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- A delegation of the Hamas Movement is set to travel to Egypt on Monday for talks with Egyptian officials on means of halting the Israeli occupation forces’ aggression on the Gaza Strip that entered its tenth consecutive day. Official Hamas sources told PIC that the delegation received an invitation from the Egyptian government last Friday. They noted that the invitation said that it was for a discussion of Gaza events, how to get out of the current situation and means of halting the aggression, and added that the Hamas delegates would listen to what the Egyptians have to say. The sources said that Hamas has its own vision on means of dealing with the current situation mainly represented in halting aggression, lifting the siege and opening all crossings. They said that any political initiative could be tabled only after halting the aggression, and expected. . .
Hamas: We accepted an Egyptian invitation for talks in Cairo
George Rishmawi, International Middle East Media Center News 1/5/2009
A high-ranking Hamas official confirmed on Monday that his movement has accepted an Egyptian invitation for cease-fire talks in Cairo. Osama Hamdan, member of Hamas’ politcal buro said in Damascus that Hamas will send a delegation to Cairo soon for talks in a bid to reach a cease-fire. Hamdan also said that Israel has failed to stop the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip, adding that the resistance is firing home-made shells at Israel on a scheduled manner. Earlier, the UN Security Council had failed to reach a Libyan-proposed cease-fire resolution in Gaza, as the US rejected the proposal. Arab leaders expressed dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, Europe has sent diplomats to boost the effort. So far, a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip seems to be far from being reached after ten days of the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.
Egypt’s Mubarak to EU: Hamas must not be allowed to win
Barak Ravid Avi Issacharoff and Zvi Bar'el, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
Hamas must not be allowed to win its conflict with the Israel Defense Forces, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told a delegation of European foreign ministers in a closed conversation Monday. The comment occurred even as Hamas, for the first time since the fighting began, sent representatives to Cairo to discuss a cease-fire. Following a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, Hamas officials said they had received an Egyptian proposal and would consider it. Also Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was visiting Jerusalem, that Israel would not honor a cease-fire imposed by the UN Security Council without its consent. Arab states are currently pushing for a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
Egypt government feels its people’s ire
Per Bjoerklund, Electronic Intifada 1/5/2009
Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets to protest the continuing Israeli aggression against Gaza and the participation of the Egyptian regime in the isolation of its population. Last Wednesday, the state responded with a major crackdown in which tens of protestors and journalists were assaulted and arrested. Around the Arab world, the Egyptian regime has been a target of severe criticism for its continuing role in the ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip and its silence in the face of intense Israeli bombardment of the enclave. Last Tuesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded to the criticism by announcing in a televised speech that the Rafah border crossing will remain closed until the Palestinian Authority led by president Mahmoud Abbas regains control of the Gaza strip -- a statement that only strengthened the impression that Mubarak approves of the Israeli military action against Hamas, perceived by the regime as a natural ally of the internal islamic opposition in Egypt.
Jordan ’reconsidering Israel ties’
Al Jazeera 1/5/2009
Jordan’s prime minister has said his country may review its diplomatic ties with Israel in the wake of the offensive in Gaza. "Jordan will look into all options, including reconsidering relations with Israel," Nader Dahabi told legislators on Sunday. "There is no way we would remain silent when this threat affects the security of the entire region. "Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab states to have normalised relations with Israel. Amman also has strong ties with the US. But with public criticism mounting, the government is facing pressure to [appear to] rethink those diplomatic links. Earlier thousands of students from universities across Jordan marched to the parliament in Amman demanding the freezing of diplomatic relations with Israel and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.
Jordan’s Queen Rania: Palestinian lives not collateral
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies - Jordan’s Palestinian queen appealed on Monday for international actors to place urgent concern on the humanitarian plight of civilians in Gaza. The Jordanian queen called on the international community to urgently step up its emergency aid to victims of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, saying the ongoing work to help civilians caught in the assault is "incomplete. " Along with other United Nations officials at a news conference in the Jordanian capital city of Amman on Monday, Rania said governments around the world should heed the UN’s Palestine refugee agency UNRWA’s call for USD $34 million in emergency aid for the besieged coastal strip. "Gaza’s children, the dead and the barely living, their mothers [and] their fathers are not acceptable collateral damage; their lives do matter and their loss does count," Rania told reporters in Amman.
Cairo aborted proposal for holding emergency Islamic summit
Palestinian Information Center 1/5/2009
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Egypt has objected to and foiled an Iranian idea to hold an emergency Islamic summit conference to discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip after earlier aborting the convening of an Arab summit. Ambassador Naela Jabr, the Egyptian foreign minister’s assistant, said in a press statement that Cairo did not find any use of such a summit in the light of the inter-Palestinian differences. She claimed that a big number of members of the Islamic conference organization supported the Egyptian position. The diplomat said that her country objected to holding the summit without "adequate preparations", and questioned the use of issuing a summit statement at a time when the Palestinians were divided. Priority should be directed towards halting the aggression and ending the internal Palestinian strife, Jabr elaborated.
Sarkozy chastises both sides, insists ’violence must halt’
Daily Star 1/6/2009
European envoys dispatched to bring a stop to 10 days of bloodshed in the Gaza Strip on Monday renewed demands for a truce and met with Egyptian, Palestinian and Israeli officials. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that he would tell Israel "the violence must halt" in Gaza, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for an "unconditional" truce. Sarkozy also criticized Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip, saying it had acted in an "irresponsible and unforgivable" way by retaliating with rockets to Israeli attacks. "I will tell [Israeli] President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in all frankness that the violence must halt," said the French president, who was scheduled to meet Israeli leaders in Occupied Jerusalem later on Monday. Abbas called "for an immediate and unconditional end to the Israeli aggression against my people in the Gaza Strip.
Erdogan blames Israel, Hamad charges ’war crime’ and Mauritania pulls envoy
Daily Star 1/6/2009
Regional leaders have stepped up their criticism of Israel’s blistering assault on the Gaza Strip, as Mauritania withdrew its ambassador to the Zionist state in protest and Turkey’s premier accused Israel of provoking the outbreak of fighting. For its part, Qatar continued to push for an emergency Arab summit over the Gaza attacks, which the nation’s emir described as a "war crime. ""The Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip is a war crime," Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said late Sunday in a televised address. He also renewed an earlier call on fellow Arab leaders to hold an extraordinary summit in support of Gaza. "The mobilization on the Arab street and several peace movements in the world have proven that this is the least the people expect from us. I believed and still do that we can do something," the emir said.
Israel: Erdogan’s words ’unacceptable’
Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post 1/5/2009
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s toxic comments Sunday that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip would lead to punishment from Allah and Israel’s "self-destruction" drew a protest from the Foreign Ministry, which told Turkey’s ambassador to Israel that these words were "unacceptable" among friendly nations. Erdogan, speaking at a municipal election campaign rally in Anatolia, said Israel was "perpetrating inhuman actions which would bring it to self-destruction. Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents. " While the Foreign Ministry registered a protest with the Turkish ambassador, it did not issue a formal statement about the remarks - not wanting, according to diplomatic officials, to exacerbate the already tense situation with the Turks. While Erdogan, who returned Sunday from an unsuccessful tour to the region. . .
Sarkozy to make lightning visit to Israel
Globes Online 1/5/2009
Israel seeks an international settlement in Gaza that will not include Hamas. French President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit Israel today and meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this evening. In a telephone call with Sarkozy, Olmert said that Israel was allowing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, even as military operations continue. Olmert told Sarkozy, "Israel cannot stop its military operation until it achieves the military goals set. " Sarkozy said yesterday, "Hamas is responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. "He nevertheless urged a cease-fire when Israel launched its ground offensive. Last night, Olmert spoke by telephone with a number of international figures, including Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, in an effort to promote a cease-fire that serves Israel’s interests.
Gaza battles rage as envoys appeal for truce
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters, The Independent 1/5/2009
Israeli tanks, planes and ground forces pounded Gaza today and the defence minister said the offensive against Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave would go on until Israel was safe. International efforts to secure a ceasefire moved ahead with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Middle East special envoy Tony Blair visiting the region, but they seemed able to offer little beyond words. The death toll in besieged Gaza rose on Monday to at least 530 people. Victims included three Palestinian children and their mother when a tank shell hit their home in Gaza City and seven members of another family were killed in a refugee camp. The Israeli army said "many dozens" of Islamist fighters had been killed since ground troops went in on Saturday in a stated attempt to end rocket fire by Hamas into southern Israel.
Sarkozy heads out for Gaza peace push
Agencies, The Independent 1/5/2009
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office says he has left for the Middle East to meet with Israeli, Palestinian and other regional leaders in a push to end the fighting in Gaza. News of the visit came as it was reported that an Israeli shell killed three Palestinian children. And the UN chief urged the divided Security Council to work toward a speedy end to the escalating crisis. Sarkozy’s two-day trip starts in Sharm el-Sheikh with lunch with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The French leader then goes to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to Jerusalem to see Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Sarkozy will also go to Syria and Lebanon. His office says he is seeking "paths for peace" in Gaza. France has been active in diplomatic efforts toward a cease-fire.
Sarkozy calls for Gaza ceasefire
News agencies, YNetNews 1/5/2009
French president arrives in Middle East, urges both sides to hold fire, negotiate truce, says ’the guns must fall silent, there must be a humanitarian truce’ - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a peacemaking mission to the Middle East, called on Monday for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip "as soon as possible". Addressing a news conference in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Sarkozy said the European Union was working to support efforts to end the bloodshed. He said he would tell Israeli leaders later in the day that the violence must stop. He also condemned Hamas for its attacks on Israel. "We in Europe want a ceasefire as quickly as possible, and that everyone understands that time is running against peace," Sarkozy said.
Israeli airline secretly flying UN peacemakers around the world
Zohar Blumenkrantz, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
While the United Nations works feverishly towards a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Israeli airline Arkia has been discreetly flying special flights around the world for UN troops as part of an international tender it won in 2008, Haaretz has learned. Last month, on the eve of the Gaza operation, Arkia flew 125 UN peacekeepers from Nigeria to and from their assignment in Haiti in a Boeing 757-300 aircraft, refueling en route in Entebbe, Uganda and the island nation of Cape Verde. The flight took off from Ben-Gurion International Airport without passengers on December 18, loaded the peacekeepers in Nigeria and left for Haiti. There it dropped the fresh peacekeepers off and received a new load of returning troops for the flight back to Nigeria. Within 48 hours, the plane was back in Israel.
Gaza diplomacy gathers pace
Al Jazeera 1/5/2009
Israel has rejected European proposals for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the deployment of international observers following talks with a high-level European Union delegation in Jerusalem. The rejection came as Hamas said it would send a delegation to Egypt for ceasefire negotiations and several other countries, including Iran, Syria and Russia, stepped up their diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Following talks with Tzipi Livni, Israel’s foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, her Czech counterpart and head of the EU delegation, on Monday said "a ceasefire should be applied as soon as possible". Livni reiterated her country’s position that it was Hamas and not the Palestinian people that were the targets and said: "This is a war against terror.
Olmert claims his army discriminates between fighters and civilians
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday night that Israel would not allow a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip claiming that his soldiers distinguish between Palestinian fighters and unarmed civilians. “The army fights resistance fighters and at the same time offers humanitarian aid to the population,” Olmert claimed. According to medical officials in Gaza, more than 100 of the Palestinians killed since the beginning of Israel’s intense bombing of Gaza were civilians. Olmert’s comments came during a telephone call with the Russian president Dimitri Medvedev, the French president Nikola Sarkozy, and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Reports say that Olmert met last night with the international Quartet envoy Tony Blair.
Hariri confident Hizbullah won’t be suckered into new war
Daily Star 1/6/2009
Parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri dismissed concerns on Monday that Hizbullah might launch attacks on Israel’s northern border to support Palestinians coping with the Zionist state’s deadly assault on the Gaza Strip. "Yesterday, Hizbullah said that they would do nothing. I think that’s a good thing for Lebanon," he said in Paris after having lunch with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon. "Lebanon’s political parties know well what would be the consequences of a war with Israel today. We can see what is happening in Gaza and I’m sure that Hizbullah will make no bad mistake this time," he added. Hariri made the remarks as France is engaged in a diplomatic campaign to rally international support for a renewed cease-fire in Gaza. In July and August 2006, Israel waged a destructive war on Lebanon after a cross-border raid by Hizbullah aimed at capturing soldiers to exchange for Lebanese held in Israel.
Israel intensifies violations of Lebanon’s airspace
Daily Star 1/6/2009
BEIRUT: Israel’s air force stepped up reconnaissance flights over Beirut on Monday after a senior Israeli intelligence chief warned politiciansthat Hizbullah could launch an attack across the Lebanese border. Several Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace on Monday, flying over Hizbullah’s political strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Speaking to The Daily Star hours after the flights, Hizbullah spokesman Hussein Rahhal condemned the "aggressive actions. " "They are violating Resolution 1701," he said, referring to the United Nations Security Council decision that brought an end to hostilities between Israel and Lebanon in 2006. The overflights come the day after Major General Amos Yadlin, the head of Israeli military intelligence, told the country’s cabinet that a response from Hizbullah to Israel’s onslaught in Gaza was a possibility.
Hezbollah will stay out of fight
Middle East Online 1/5/2009
PARIS - Leading Lebanese politician Saad Hariri on Monday dismissed concerns that Hezbollah might seize upon the fighting in Gaza to renew attacks on Israel’s northern border. "Yesterday, Hezbollah said that they would do nothing. I think that’s a good thing for Lebanon," said Hariri, who is leader of the biggest parliamentary bloc in Lebanon’s ruling coalition. "Lebanon’s political parties know well what would be the consequences of a war with Israel today. We can see what is happening in Gaza and I’m sure that Hezbollah will make no bad mistake this time," he said. Hariri was speaking in Paris, after having lunch with Prime Minister Francois Fillon at a time when France is engaged in a diplomatic campaign to rally international support for a renewed ceasefire in Gaza. Israel waged a bloody 34-day war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006 after Hezbollah fighters seized two. . .
Lebanese official: Beirut won’t be dragged into war with Israel
AFP, YNetNews 1/5/2009
Lebanese Minister of Information says country will not enter conflict with Israel, saying ’Lebanon has no interest in living a new war in the south’. Minister adds Hizbullah agrees with this position - Lebanon will not be dragged into another war with Israel and Hizbullah agrees with this position, Lebanese Minister of Information Tarek Mitri, said Monday. "Lebanon does not want to be dragged into this conflict (in Gaza). . . and we have received no evidence indicating that Hizbullah might engage the country in this war," he added. According to the Mitri, the Lebanese government has already "stressed the importance of unity among the Lebanese and stability" in the country. "Hizbullah agrees with this position. We have not heard the minister of Hizbullah (in government) say the opposite," he continued.
Gaza journalist mourns father killed by Israeli strike
Middle East Online 1/5/2009
LONDON - A Palestinian journalist working for a British newspaper in Gaza described in an article Monday how the conflict became a personal tragedy when his father was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Fares Akram wrote in the Independent how his father Akrem al-Ghoul died on Saturday as Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza after a week of airstrikes. "The phone call came at around 4. 20 pm on Saturday. A bomb had been dropped on the house at our small farm in northern Gaza. My father was walking from the gate to the farmhouse at the time," Akram wrote. He described the farmhouse north-west of Beit Lahiya as a "beloved place" where his father had decided to stay to look after their dairy cows when the Israeli military operations began. "But shortly before sunset on Saturday, as Israeli ground troops and tanks invaded Gaza in the name of shutting down Hamas rocket sites, the peace. . . -- See also: The death and life of my father
’Everyone is looking for their relatives to kiss them goodbye’
The Guardian,Tuesday 6 January 2009, The Guardian 1/6/2009
Hani Abu Komail, 42, married with two children in Gaza City - I live in the centre of where they bombed at the beginning. Behind me is a police compound which they bombed and in front of me is the presidential palace which they also bombed. I was living on the seventh floor of my building but we moved downstairs to my brother’s house on the first floor in the same building. Every day we follow the same routine. We try to sleep from 6pm to 6am because there is no electricity. When we sleep we turn the radio up to cover the noise of the drones flying overhead and the bombs. Every day we go out looking for water, food and bread. I’m always buying batteries for the radio. We haven’t had electricity for five days and fuel is low so we turn the generator on for two hours a day to charge up our mobile phones and lights.
Orthodox Christmas in Bethlehem a subdued affair in 2009
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Christmas on the eastern Orthodox calendar on Wedensday will be a subdued affair in light of the Israeli war on Gaza, officials in the West Bank City of Bethlehem say. Bethlehem Police Chief Abdul-Jabbar Burqan said that his officers have completed preparations for the celebration, including easing restrictions on movement throughout the city. The heads of Palestinian churches and the Palestinian Authority have cancelled public celebrations, including the traditional boy and girl scout parades. The lights on Manger Square will not be lit. Religious rituals will go ahead as planned. Leaders of the Syrian Church, the Roman Church and Ethiopian Church will be received in the Manger Square from 8:30am to 3:30pm. Palestinian police in Bethlehem in the southern West Bank completed preparation for Christmas Eve according to eastern calendar on Tuesday, says director of Bethlehem police Abdul-Jabbar Burqan.
Sewage polluting desert and sea with no solution in sight
Zafrir Rinat, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
Sewage from East Jerusalem and Palestinian communities near Bethlehem are polluting the Judean Desert and Dead Sea, but Israel and the Palestinian Authority have not been able to agree on a solution. Last year, Israel drafted a special program for diverting the Kidron Stream into the Jordan Valley. However, a senior official at the Environmental Protection Ministry said the plan has yet to be authorized, and in any case fails to address the sewage problem. Millions of cubic meters of waste from East Jerusalem and communities around Bethlehem flow into the Kidron Stream Valley and are eventually dumped into the Dead Sea. Last year the Jordan Valley Regional Council’s water association released a proposal for building facilities to divert the waste for purification and irrigation. Shoni Goldberger, the ministry official in charge of the Jerusalem area, said the facility cost. . .
ISRAEL-OPT: Bedouins lack protection from incoming rockets
Tom Spender/IRIN, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1/6/2009
NEGEV, 5 January 2009 (IRIN) - Israeli cities and towns within range of Palestinian militants’ rockets fired from Gaza have air raid shelters, but Bedouins in the Negev desert outside Beer Sheba, southern Israel, say they are being treated unfairly and have nowhere to hide. In the past week the incoming rocket danger zone in Israel has been extended to include areas in which Bedouins live, but the latter say there is no warning system in the area. They also say they have not been contacted by the Home Front Command about how to protect themselves. The estimated 180,000 Bedouins in the Negev are Israeli citizens and many serve in the army. Several Grad missiles (larger and more deadly than Kassams) have exploded in Beer Sheba in the past week. But while children in Beer Sheba are kept indoors and schools are shut, Bedouin children are left unprotected, say the Bedouins.
IOF troops slaughter two Palestinian families
Palestinian Information Center 1/5/2009
GAZA, (PIC)-- IOF troops have committed Monday morning two hideous massacres against two Palestinian families consisting of fathers, mothers and eight children in the Gaza Strip when they bombed their homes. The PIC reporter said that the Israeli naval artillery shelled a house in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza city, which led to the death of an entire family made up of five children and their parents. The reporter added that soon after the first attack, the Israeli artillery also razed another house to the ground killing a Palestinian family of three children and both parents. On Sunday, the IOF troops had killed a father and three of his sons along with their relatives when they bombed his house in the Rafah city, south of Gaza. An Israeli air raid yesterday on a house in the Gaza city led to the death of two children and the injury of others of the same family.
Please support ISM Palestine’s work in Gaza and the West Bank
International Solidarity Movement 1/5/2009
Dear Friends - Volunteers with the ISM from various countries are right now in Gaza, witnessing, documenting and reporting on the Israeli massacre that started December 27. They arrived on the Free Gaza Movements boats that have repeatedly broken Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza; some have been in Gaza since August. Because they on are on the ground in Gaza, these international volunteers are able to see first hand what is really going on. The eyewitness information and photographs they have been able to get out expose the true nature of Israeli war crimes. ISMvolunteers in the West Bank have been primarily working in East Jerusalem, Ni’lin, Bil’in, and the Hebron and Nablus regions. They work in coordination with the local residents in providing solidarity against ethnic cleansing by residing with local families in threatened areas, supporting. . .
It’s really hard to post from here
Eva Bartlett, International Solidarity Movement 1/5/2009
Every time I manage to make itback to Gaza to write for a period, a new calamity. "They’re shelling Awda hospital," in Jabaliya, the news reports. Our internationals there at the moment report it was two shells at a police post next to the hospital, one hospital worker getting shrapnel to the head, but surviving. The numbers slaughtered and injured are so high now -521 and 3,000 as of this morning, Gaza time "” that sitting next to a dead or dying person is becoming normal. The stain of blood on the ambulance stretcher pools next to my coat, the medic warning me my coat may be dirtied. What does it matter? The stain doesn’t revolt me as it would have, did, one week ago. Death fills the air, the streets in Gaza, and I cannot stress that this is no exaggeration.
Jabalia - 4th Jan 6pm - 5th Jan 5pm
Sharon in Gaza, International Solidarity Movement 1/5/2009
6pm: To Al Awda hospital, run by the Union of Health Work Committees. It normally has a 50 bed capacity but has been stretched to 75. E and Mo interview Ala’a, the medic from Jabalia RC who was injured when Arafa was killed yesterday. The story goes as follows: It was about 8. 30 am Saturday morning in Jabalia. Five teenagers found themselves under shell attack and tried to get away. Three escaped. One, Tha’er, 19, had his foot blown off. His friend Ali, also 19, tried to pick him up and carry him to safety, but was shot in the head and killed. It took 75- 90 minutes before a Jabalia Red Crescent ambulance could reach them. Medic Arafa, 35, and Ala’a, 22, carried Tha’er to the ambulance, and then went back for Ali’s body.
Medical committee appeals for Ramallah-area blood donors
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Ramallah - Ma’an - A Qatari-run medical committee within the International Red Crescent is accepting blood donations in Ramallah next Thursday, according to a statement. The Qatari Red Crescent and other health organizations announced the campaign, which is to take place next Thursday at the Ramallah-El-Bireh Baladna Cultural Center. Medical staff will be on hand from 9:00am-5:00pm for people interested in donating blood for injured Palestinians in Gaza. The committee specified that it is particularly interested in people with the O- blood type. [end]
AUDIO - Interview with Alberto Arce regarding the Israeli attacks on Palestinian medical personnel
International Solidarity Movement 1/5/2009
Gaza Region - Audio - Interview with Alberto Arce, International Solidarity Movement, concerning IOF attacks on medical personnel and centres. [end]
Deal to admit journalists aborted
Toni O'Loughlin in Jerusalem, The Guardian 1/6/2009
Plans to allow journalists into Gaza were aborted yesterday after Israel’s military said it was too dangerous to keep staff at the Erez passenger terminal to allow people to cross into the besieged territory. Israel argues that excluding the international media from Gaza is helpful because foreign journalists are unethical and biased in their reporting. Foreign journalists are "unprofessional" and take "questionable reports at face value without checking", said Danny Seaman, who heads Israel’s government press office, which vets and issues permits to foreign correspondents. Seaman said it was not Israel’s responsibility to give foreign media access to Gaza. "They should have been there in the first place," before Israel began restricting access on 6 November, said Seaman. "We are not going to endanger the lives of our people just to let journalists in.
Palestine Today 050109
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 1/5/2009
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 4 m 00s || 3. 66 MB ||Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org, for Monday, January 5th 2009. The Israeli military offensive entered its 10th day in Gaza, with the death toll reaching 534 by Monday, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that Israeli Army shelling on the Gaza Strip this morning has left 17 Palestinians dead. The Ministry has said that among the 17 killed this morning were five children and a family of seven, who were killed when Israeli jet fighters shelled their home. Also on Monday, Israeli tanks invading Gaza shelled the home of Arafa Abed Al Dayim, killing four people and injuring at least 40 others.
Israel arrests newsman with Iranian TV for prematurely reporting on IDF entry into Gaza
Jonathan Lis and Gili Izikovich, and DPA, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
A reporter for Iranian television was arrested by Israeli authorities on Monday for a dispatch which broadcast news of the Israel Defense Forces’ entry into the Gaza Strip. The journalist is alleged to have violated military censorship laws which forbade the news media from releasing information during the initial stages of the ground incursion. The reporter, a resident of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al Amud, was questioned by the police international investigations unit. He turned himself into authorities via his attorney. Israel maintains ban on entry of foreign journalists into Gaza The Ministry of Defense refused to allow foreign correspondents to cross over from Israel into the Gaza Strip on Monday, despite a court ruling, a representative of the foreign media in Israel said.
Police investigating Arab journalist who reported Gaza op early
Yaakov Lappin, Jerusalem Post 1/5/2009
An Arab reporter from east Jerusalem employed by an Iranian TV channel is being investigated by the Police’s National Serious and International Crimes Unit over suspicions that he violated a censorship decree and reported on the entrance of IDF ground forces into Gaza, hours before the media was permitted to mention the ground operation. An Israel Police spokesman said it was too early to say whether the reporter would be arrested, adding that the investigation was still ongoing. [end]
IOF troops kill Palestinian, wound others in different West Bank cities
Palestinian Information Center 1/5/2009
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The IOF troops on Sunday killed a Palestinian young man and wounded others during marches held in different West Bank cities in protest at the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources said that a 20-year-old young man called Mufid Walwil was shot dead and others were wounded during confrontations with the IOF troops in Qalqilya. Another Palestinian citizen called Talal Hawamdeh was wounded when an Israeli soldier shot him in the right thigh during protests in Al-Khalil city. In Ramallah, thousands of Palestinian citizens chanted slogans in solidarity with the Gaza people during a massive angry march called for by all national forces. The protesters called on the resistance factions to retaliate strongly to the Israeli aggression on Gaza in the West Bank. Dr.
Israeli forces seize four Palestinians near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized on Monday morning four Palestinians from the West Bank town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, and the village of Al-Araqa west of Jenin. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided both towns and ransacked several homes before arresting Shadi Hammad from Al-Araq and Nur Zakarna, Tayseeer Zakarna, Yousif Kameel from Qabatiya. Witnesses said Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades and gunshots into the air. Israeli media outlets reported on Monday that Israeli forces arrested 25 youths from the West Bank, citing the Israeli military, without giving details. [end]
The Israeli military kidnaps four civilians from Jenin and nearby village
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 1/5/2009
Four Palestinian civilians were kidnapped by the Israeli military during a morning invasion, which targeted the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and nearby Qabatiya town and Al Arrafa village. In Al Arrafa, north of Jenin, Israeli troops stormed the village and searched a number of homes before taking Shadi Hammad to an unknown location. Meanwhile, another military force searched homes in Qabatiya town, south of Jenin city, and kidnapped three civilians, Nur Zakarnah, age 23, Taysser Zakarnah, age 25, and Yousif Ikmeel, age 24. [end]
Major battles reported on northern outskirts of Gaza City
Ma’an News Agency 1/6/2009
Gaza/Jerusalem – Ma’an Exclusive – A fierce battle between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters raged in the northern outskirts of Gaza City just after midnight on Tuesday morning. The Israeli military confirmed that a major a confrontation is taking place in the area, Al-Jazeera reported. Near constant explosions have been lighting up the sky over the northern Gaza Strip. The apparent battle took place as Israeli tanks and ground troops pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip on the tenth day of an offensive that has killed more than 530 Palestinians, and wounded more than 2,500. As night fell on Monday, Israeli troops had encircled Gaza City after approaching the metropolis from four directions, but appeared not to be invading the center of the city. Israeli warplanes continue to pound Gaza, including the city center, from the air.
Hamas adamant to strike back at IDF
Ron Ben-Yishai, YNetNews 1/6/2009
Fighting in Strip intensifies as IDF kills some 100 terrorists. Hamas steps up attempts to target IDF forces, fights back with mortar fire, snipers, explosives - IDF forces continued to pummel Hamas Monday, as Operation Cast Lead’s 10th day saw numerous clashes between Israeli troops and Hamas gunmen in several terror hubs in northern and central Gaza. Sources estimated that somewhere between 80 and 100 terrorists were killed Monday, and 100 wanted gunmen were apprehended and taken in for interrogation. Hamas seems to have intensified its attempts to strike back at the advancing forces, utilizing mortar fire, snipers and booby trapped building and gunmen strapping explosive belts, to that effect IDF sources reported of several cases in which suicide bomber lunged at the troops but failed to detonate.
Israel closes in on Gaza City
Al Jazeera 1/6/2009
Israeli troops have tightened their military grip on the Gaza Strip as the war on Gaza enters its 11th day. Air and naval bombardments killed 45 Palestinians on Monday, bringing to 548 the number of Palestinians killed since the offensive began on December 27. Three Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 wounded in the battles around Gaza City on Monday night, the Israeli military said early on Tuesday. The military said an errant tank shell fired by its own forces hit the soldiers’ position. The deaths were the biggest blow to Israel’s military since it launched its ground assault on Saturday, with only one other soldier killed in the previous two days. Nonetheless, witnesses told Al Jazeera that the Israeli ground offensive was closing in on Gaza City, where Israel believes most of the Hamas leadership to be.
Three IDF soldiers killed, one critically wounded in Gaza blast
Amos Harel Fadi Eyadat, Yanir Yagna, and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 1/6/2009
Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the Golani brigade were killed and about 20 others wounded, one critically, after an errant IDF tank shell hit a building in which they were operating. The friendly fire incident is the most grave so far for IDF troops in 10 days of Operation Cast Lead. IDF battalion commander Colonel Avi Peled was lightly wounded in the incident, but refused to be taken for treatment and directed the evacuation of all the wounded troops and called in artillery fire and IAF air strikes on enemy targets before evacuating himself from the scene. The number of Palestinian dead Monday was estimated at about 100, although no official figure has been given. The IDF tightened its hold Monday over the outskirts of the built-up area of Gaza City as it traded fire with Hamas militants.
Gaza: 3 soldiers killed, 20 injured in friendly fire incident
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 1/6/2009
Friendly fire in northern Gaza claims lives of three soldiers, leaves one critically injured, three in serious condition; 24 others sustain minor injures - Cleared for publication: Three IDF soldiers were killed and 24 others were injured, one critically and three seriously on Monday evening, in a friendly fire incident in northern Gaza. Among the fatalities were two officers and a soldier. Colonel Avi Peled, commander of the Golani Brigade sustained minor injuries in the incident. The injured were triaged and cared for on site before being airlifted to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba, Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem and the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva. All of the families have been notified.
Four killed as Israeli forces shell market in Al-Bureij Refugee Camp.
Ma’an News Agency 1/6/2009
Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli artillery shelling killed four people and wounded 16 others in a market in Al-Bureij Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip late on Monday, witnesses told Al-Jazeera. The killings bring the total number of Palestinians killed on Monday to 46. Israeli tanks reportedly fired three shells into the market. Heavy shelling and airstrikes continues across the Strip. [end]
70 Palestinians killed on ninth day of the Gaza holocaust
Palestinian Information Center 1/5/2009
GAZA, (PIC)-- IOF troops stepped up its campaign of terror and murder against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip and killed 70 civilians on Sunday, raising the number of Palestinians killed to 520. After a number of its tanks and soldiers were ambushed by the Palestinian resistance, the Israeli occupation took its revenge on civilians by targeting houses. Medical sources said on Sunday that since the start of ground offensive, on Saturday night the number of Palestinians killed reached seventy, 23 of them children in addition to a number of women and old people. A hundred others were wounded. The same sources said that the vast majority of the casualties were civilians, and that ambulance teams could not reach some areas that came under attack because of the continued shelling from air, sea and land. In the northern Gaza Strip the IOF troops shelled a number of homes killing 12 people, including two children.
10th day under attack: death toll in Gaza reaches 534
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 1/5/2009
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that Israeli Army shelling on the Gaza Strip this morning has left 17 Palestinians dead. The Ministry has said that among the 17 killed this morning were five children and a family of seven, who were killed when Israeli jet fighters shelled their home. Medics reported that the family members where left to bleed to death because the ambulances could not reach them due to Israeli shelling in the area. On Monday, Israeli tanks invading Gaza shelled the home of Arafa Abed Al Dayim, killing four people and injuring at least 40 others. Local sources said that Abed Al Dayim was killed on Sunday when the ambulance he works in was attacked by the Israeli Army. Following his funeral, Palestinians gathered today in his home to pay their respects. Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza by Monday reached 534 with 2,530 injured including 300 in critical condition.
7 IOF tanks destroyed, one helicopter downed and 11 soldiers killed
Palestinian Information Center 1/5/2009
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on Sunday night that its fighters killed 11 IOF soldiers and wounded 48 others since the start of the land offensive 24 hours ago. The sources said that five soldiers were killed on Saturday night and six others were killed on Sunday, amongst them an officer with the rank of Colonel. The Israeli occupation admitted to only one soldier being killed and 30 others wounded. Meanwhile, Abu Ahmad, the spokesman of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said that Palestinian resistance factions managed to destroy seven IOF tanks int eh Zaitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, pointing out that the invading troops fell in many ambushes carefully prepared by the Palestinian resistance. Abu Ahmad added that the battle has not started yet as there are thousands of resistance fighters waiting for the invading forces.
Day Ten: Israeli fire kills 14 members of two families
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
531 dead - 2,500 injured - Gaza City surrounded - Some 50 Palestinians lost their lives on Monday, while Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip sparked armed Palestinian groups to launch dozens of projectiles across the border. Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip on Monday morning killed 14 members of two families whose homes came under fire. Israeli ground troops, backed by tanks, bulldozers, and helicopters have now encircled Gaza City and cut the Gaza Strip in two. On Monday the Israeli defense minister declared the City “partially besieged. ”Palestinian fighters continue to exchange fire with Israeli troops, primarily in northern towns and the outskirts of densely-populated Gaza City. Ma’an’s Gaza correspondent added that dozens of artillery shells landed in residential houses in the Az-Zaytoun neighborhood and east of Jabalia Refugee Camp.
Israeli army moves on Gaza City
Middle East Online 1/5/2009
GAZA CITY - 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.
Palestinian fighters launch projectiles at Israeli towns, resist invasion
Ma’an News Agency 1/5/2009
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian fighters continues to fire homemade projectiles into Israel on Monday despite ten days of intense Israeli military operations in Gaza the Israeli government says is aimed at stopping the rockets. Amongst the targets was an Israeli air force base which Palestinian military organizations say was targeted for the first time. According to Israeli sources, a Grad missile landed on Monday in near the coastal city of Ashdod, and six homemade projectiles landed in Ashkelon, also on the coast, closer to Gaza. Several mortar shells also landed in the Shaar Hanegev area east of the Strip. There were no reports of casualties. Hamas’ military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for firing two Grad missiles at an air force base called Hatsur in Kiryat Malachi for the first time.
32 rockets fired at southern Israel
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 1/5/2009
Grad missiles strike Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba, Sderot; one hits empty kindergarten, causing heavy damage. Nine people lightly injured, several people suffer shock. Earlier, a number of rockets hit western Negev - Rocket fire continues:A Grad rocket hit an empty kindergarten in the port city of Ashdod on Monday afternoon. An air raid siren sounded in Ashdod and Ashkelon at around 3:20 pm. Several people suffered shock, but there were no injuries. The place was heavily damaged. David Nahaisi, a resident of the city, parked his car across the street from the kindergarten when he heard the siren. "I ran to my friend and a few other people who were standing there. I shouted, ’Get in the shelters’ but they said, ’There’s no way it will fall here’. After I pushed them all inside we heard the loud explosion.
Gaza: 7 soldiers wounded
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 1/5/2009
Four IDF soldiers suffer mediocre wounds, three others lightly hurt in gunfights in Strip; Palestinians report of over 530 wounded - Clashes between IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip continued Monday: Four soldiers suffered moderate wounds and three others were lightly hurt in gunfights in Strip. All seven were hospitalized. According to Palestinian reports, the casualties in Gaza now number over 530. Gaza sources also reported that a mother and her three children were killed Monday, after a shell hit their Gaza City home. Israel Navy ships targeted a rocket launcher hidden inside a bunker overnight. The IDF said that the Air Force and Navy actions have significantly diminished Hamas’ fire on Ashkelon and northwards, but noted it could not stop it altogether.
2 Israelis injured in rocket attack on western Negev
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 1/5/2009
Mortarfired at Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council results in two people sustaining injuries; troops patrolling northern Gaza clash with Hamas gunmen -Two Israelis were injured Monday after a mortar shell fired from northern Gaza hit the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. The injured were rushed to local hospitals. Monday evening also saw heavy gunfire erupt in northern Gaza, as IDF troops operating in the Strip clashed with Hamas gunmen. The IDF is said to be using hea
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