30 dec 2008
Gaza children too scared to step outside
Palestinians gather their belongings as they flee their home following an Israeli air strike
You can tell those moving about Gaza City by the mattresses on the car roofs. The streets are mostly deserted but some people are shifting from one house to another, trying to guess where the bombs might land and put distance between themselves and possible targets.
Others are heading to the bakeries where there are long queues for bread. There is wreckage everywhere.
On Sunday night, we were told that the Red Cross had issued a warning that the Al Kinz mosque next to our building was likely to be destroyed. My wife and four of the kids went in the lift but many others went down the stairs because they were frightened about getting stuck, given that there was no power and the elevator was operating off a generator. There were about 100 of us gathered outside in the yard and we could hear continual explosions.
I drove in convoy with my brother-in-law to his father's place. It was eerie, completely dark except for the headlights of our two cars. We drove the wrong way down one way streets to avoid going near a the Palestinian Legislative Council Building, in case the Israeli planes had it on their radar.
This is daily life in Gaza now. It was tough before but, believe me, it's a lot worse now.
I ventured back this morning. My neighbours were moving out. I went to my apartment and opened every window so they wouldn't shatter during the explosions that show no sign of stopping. I opened all the doors bar the front one, put the television on the floor and left. People have been receiving warning messages on their mobiles.
One of these was sent to my 18-year-old daughter Yasmin. It said in words to the effect of "This is the Ministry of Defence. If you have any weapons or wanted people in your house, evacuate the place. There will be no exceptions. We will expand our operations."
My nine-year-old son Ibrahim has been crying and shaking ever since the first bombardment on Saturday. His brothers are happy to play in the yard but he doesn't want to leave the house. He stays close to his mum all the time. And when I went out to get some food he says: "Please baba, don't go".
You can tell those moving about Gaza City by the mattresses on the car roofs. The streets are mostly deserted but some people are shifting from one house to another, trying to guess where the bombs might land and put distance between themselves and possible targets.
Others are heading to the bakeries where there are long queues for bread. There is wreckage everywhere.
On Sunday night, we were told that the Red Cross had issued a warning that the Al Kinz mosque next to our building was likely to be destroyed. My wife and four of the kids went in the lift but many others went down the stairs because they were frightened about getting stuck, given that there was no power and the elevator was operating off a generator. There were about 100 of us gathered outside in the yard and we could hear continual explosions.
I drove in convoy with my brother-in-law to his father's place. It was eerie, completely dark except for the headlights of our two cars. We drove the wrong way down one way streets to avoid going near a the Palestinian Legislative Council Building, in case the Israeli planes had it on their radar.
This is daily life in Gaza now. It was tough before but, believe me, it's a lot worse now.
I ventured back this morning. My neighbours were moving out. I went to my apartment and opened every window so they wouldn't shatter during the explosions that show no sign of stopping. I opened all the doors bar the front one, put the television on the floor and left. People have been receiving warning messages on their mobiles.
One of these was sent to my 18-year-old daughter Yasmin. It said in words to the effect of "This is the Ministry of Defence. If you have any weapons or wanted people in your house, evacuate the place. There will be no exceptions. We will expand our operations."
My nine-year-old son Ibrahim has been crying and shaking ever since the first bombardment on Saturday. His brothers are happy to play in the yard but he doesn't want to leave the house. He stays close to his mum all the time. And when I went out to get some food he says: "Please baba, don't go".
Five sisters killed in Gaza while they slept
Israel's target was the mosque next door. But the rocket attack claimed the lives of innocent children
The five Palestinian sisters were fast asleep when a night-time Israeli airstrike hit the next-door mosque in Gaza. One of the walls collapsed on to their small asbestos-roofed home and they were all killed in their beds. The eldest sister, Tahrir, was 17 years old, the youngest, Jawaher, just four.
"They grow up day after day and night after night. Within a second, I have lost them," the girls' father, Anwar Balousha, said yesterday. The 37-year-old, along with another three of his children, was himself injured in the attack on the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp.
The funerals of the sisters – Tahrir, 17; Ikram, 15; Samar, 12; Dina eight; and Jawaher, four – were attended by family members and thousands of mourners. But with space running out in the cemetery, the five girls had to be buried in just three graves, one for the eldest and the others forced to share.
Mr Balousha wept down the phone, saying he felt "how a father who lost his five daughters would feel". With recorded readings from the Koran audible in the background, along with occasional explosions in the distance, he added: "It is the will of Allah. We are believers in God."
Amid the pile of rubble that was the Balousha home yesterday, three torn blankets could be seen poking out from the ruins along with a painted blue iron, a broken brown cupboard and a baby's bed.
The Israeli military said it had targeted the next-door mosque because it was a "known gathering place" of Hamas adherents. It said four gunmen were inside it at the time of the attack. The mosque was named Imad Akel after the former leader of the Hamas military wing.
As Israeli strikes continued, the uncle of the dead sisters said the family had been innocent victims. "We are not those who are firing rockets against Israel," Ibrahim Balousha said. "We are just people, human beings and not animals."
The five Palestinian sisters were fast asleep when a night-time Israeli airstrike hit the next-door mosque in Gaza. One of the walls collapsed on to their small asbestos-roofed home and they were all killed in their beds. The eldest sister, Tahrir, was 17 years old, the youngest, Jawaher, just four.
"They grow up day after day and night after night. Within a second, I have lost them," the girls' father, Anwar Balousha, said yesterday. The 37-year-old, along with another three of his children, was himself injured in the attack on the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp.
The funerals of the sisters – Tahrir, 17; Ikram, 15; Samar, 12; Dina eight; and Jawaher, four – were attended by family members and thousands of mourners. But with space running out in the cemetery, the five girls had to be buried in just three graves, one for the eldest and the others forced to share.
Mr Balousha wept down the phone, saying he felt "how a father who lost his five daughters would feel". With recorded readings from the Koran audible in the background, along with occasional explosions in the distance, he added: "It is the will of Allah. We are believers in God."
Amid the pile of rubble that was the Balousha home yesterday, three torn blankets could be seen poking out from the ruins along with a painted blue iron, a broken brown cupboard and a baby's bed.
The Israeli military said it had targeted the next-door mosque because it was a "known gathering place" of Hamas adherents. It said four gunmen were inside it at the time of the attack. The mosque was named Imad Akel after the former leader of the Hamas military wing.
As Israeli strikes continued, the uncle of the dead sisters said the family had been innocent victims. "We are not those who are firing rockets against Israel," Ibrahim Balousha said. "We are just people, human beings and not animals."
|
The Balousha family had moved out of their house when the Israeli bombing started on Saturday but they had decided to return "to meet their fate" in the words of the dead girls' uncle.
He said that three missiles had been used in the airstrike at around 11.20pm on Sunday night and that hundreds of neighbours had arrived to help in the wake of the carnage. After the funeral, 16-year-old Iman, who was briefly buried in the rubble of the family home but survived, described her unlucky siblings' dying moments. "I told my sisters, you will be martyrs, this is the end." |
Her grieving uncle said that Hamas had taken advantage of the funeral to chant slogans including "Vengeance, Vengeance". Shouts of "Bomb Tel Aviv" were also heard. But Ibrahim Balousha said he had given the militant group short shrift. "I told them, this is a funeral and not a rally."
Times were already tough for the family of refugees even before the latest tragedy. The girls' father is unemployed for 11 months of the year, picking up work selling Ka'ak bread around Ramadan. The family depend on food rations from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and a $40 (£27.50) monthly handout. "The story is almost the same for decades," Ibrahim Balousha said: "Intifada and miseries, poverty and catastrophes."
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said: "The killing of these young girls is another tragic illustration that this bombardment is exacting a terrible price on innocent civilians. As with the killing of UNRWA students [on Saturday] we hope there will be a thorough and impartial and transparent investigation.
"Most important of all there has to be accountability. We need to know if international law was violated and if so, by whom," he added.
The UN yesterday issued a "conservative" estimate of the number of civilians killed in three days of unprecedentedly fierce aerial bombardment, putting the death toll at 62. It is a deliberately conservative estimate because it excludes all men in the Gaza City area to ensure that it does not accidentally include uniformed personnel.
The Palestinian Centre of Human Rights said that "most" of the more than 300 casualties were civilian but their tally includes Hamas policemen. It also said some bodies had still to be identified because they were so badly disfigured and that its field officers – who aim to chart every Palestinian casualty – are facing "extreme difficulties in visiting some areas, particularly those under multiple bombardment.
The Israeli military insists that it is doing its utmost to prevent civilian casualties but repeatedly points out that Hamas regularly and "cynically and specifically" uses locations in heavily built-up areas.
Times were already tough for the family of refugees even before the latest tragedy. The girls' father is unemployed for 11 months of the year, picking up work selling Ka'ak bread around Ramadan. The family depend on food rations from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and a $40 (£27.50) monthly handout. "The story is almost the same for decades," Ibrahim Balousha said: "Intifada and miseries, poverty and catastrophes."
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said: "The killing of these young girls is another tragic illustration that this bombardment is exacting a terrible price on innocent civilians. As with the killing of UNRWA students [on Saturday] we hope there will be a thorough and impartial and transparent investigation.
"Most important of all there has to be accountability. We need to know if international law was violated and if so, by whom," he added.
The UN yesterday issued a "conservative" estimate of the number of civilians killed in three days of unprecedentedly fierce aerial bombardment, putting the death toll at 62. It is a deliberately conservative estimate because it excludes all men in the Gaza City area to ensure that it does not accidentally include uniformed personnel.
The Palestinian Centre of Human Rights said that "most" of the more than 300 casualties were civilian but their tally includes Hamas policemen. It also said some bodies had still to be identified because they were so badly disfigured and that its field officers – who aim to chart every Palestinian casualty – are facing "extreme difficulties in visiting some areas, particularly those under multiple bombardment.
The Israeli military insists that it is doing its utmost to prevent civilian casualties but repeatedly points out that Hamas regularly and "cynically and specifically" uses locations in heavily built-up areas.
Bloodied in Gaza
Silently, the world watches. And silently, governments plotted: how shall we make the clouds rain death on to Gaza?
"There is a complete blackout in Gaza now. The streets are as still as death."
I am speaking to my father, Moussa el-Haddad, a retired physician who lives in Gaza City, on Skype, from Durham, North Carolina in the United States, where I have been since mid 2006 – the month Gaza's borders were hermetically sealed by Israel, and the blockade of the occupied territory further enforced.
He is out on his balcony. It is 2am.
"I can only see grey plumes of smoke slowly rising all over the city, everywhere I look," he says, as though they were some beautiful, comforting by-product of some hideous, malicious event.
My father was out walking when the initial strikes began – "I saw the missiles falling and prayed; the earth shook; the smoke rose; the ambulances screamed," he told me.
My mother was in the Red Crescent Society clinic near the universities, where she works part-time as a pediatrician. Behind the clinic was one of the police centres that were levelled. She said she broke down at first, the sheer proximity of the attacks having shaken her from the inside out. After she got a hold of herself, they took to treating injured victims of the attack, before transferring them to Shifa hospital.
Now, three days later, they are trapped in their own home.
My father takes a deep restorative sigh, before continuing. "Ehud Barak has gone crazy. He's gone crazy. He is bombing everywhere and everything ... no one is safe."
Explosions are audible in the background. They sound distant and dull over my laptop's speakers, but linger like an echo in death's valley. They evoke terrifying memories of my nights in Gaza only two years ago. Nights that till this day haunt my four-year-old son who refuses to sleep on his own.
"Can you hear them?" my father continues. "Our house is shaking. We are shaking from the inside out."
My mother comes to the phone. "Hello, hello dear," she mutters, her voice trembling. "I had to go to the bathroom. But I'm afraid to go alone. I wanted to perform wudu' before prayer but I was scared. Remember days when we would go to the bathroom together because you were too afraid to go alone?" She laughs at the thought. It seems amusing to her now, that she was scared to find her death in a place of relief; that she is now terrified of the same seemingly ridiculous scenario.
It was really the fear of being alone. When you "hear" the news before it becomes news, you panic for clarity – you want someone to make sense of the situation, package it neatly into comprehensible terms and locations. Just to be sure it's not you this time.
"It's strange, my whole body is shaking. Why is that? Why is that?" she rambles on, continuous explosions audible in the background. "There they go again. One boom after another. Fifteen. Before that, one or two, maybe 20 total so far."
Counting makes it's easier. Systemising the assaults makes them easier to deal with. More remote.
We speak to each other throughout the day. Last night, she called to let me know there were gunships overhead, as though there was something I could do about it; as though my voice would somehow make them disappear.
Eventually, her panic subsided ..."OK, OK, your father says it was the navy gunships ... they hit the pier ... the poor fishermen, it's not like it's even a real pier ... it's just the pier, just the pier ..."
They cracked the windows opened, to prevent an implosion.
"By the way we are sleeping in your room now, it's safer," she tells me, of my empty, abandoned space.
My mother's close friend, Yosra, was asked to evacuate her building. They live in a flat near many of the ministry complexes being targeted. They were advised not to go to the mosque for services, lest they be bombed.
Another family friend, an elderly Armenian-Palestinian Christian and retired pharmacist, is paralysed with fear and confined, like many residents, to her home. She lives alone, in front of the Saraya security complex on Omar al-Mukhtar Street. The complex has already been bombed twice.
The rains of death continue to fall in Gaza. And silently, the world watches. And silently, governments plotted: how shall we make the thunder and clouds rain death on to Gaza?
It will all seem, at the end of the day, that this is somehow a response to something: rockets; broken truces; irreconcilability ...
It is as though the situation were not only acceptable, but normal in the period prior to it all. As though a calm that provides no relief – political, economic, or otherwise – for Gaza's stateless, occupied, besieged Palestinians were tenable. As though settlements did not continue to expand; walls did not continue to extend and choke lands and lives; families and friends were not dislocated; life was not paralysed; people were not exterminated; borders were not sealed and food and light and fuel were in fair supply.
But it is the prisoners' burden to bear: they broke the conditions of their incarceration. Nevertheless, there are concerns for the "humanitarian situation": as long as they do not starve ...
The warden improves the living conditions now and then, in varying degrees of relativity, but the prison doors remain sealed. And so when there are 20 hours of power outages in a row, the prisoners wish that they were only eight; or 10; and dream of the days of four.
My friend Safah Joudeh is also in Gaza city. She is a 27-year-old freelance journalist.
"At this point we don't feel that it is Hamas being targeted, it's the entire population of Gaza," she says. "The strikes have been and I need to stress this, indiscriminate. They claim that the targets have been buildings and people that are Hamas-affiliated, but the employees in these buildings are public sector employees, not political activists ... other targets include homes, mosques, the university, port, fishing boats, the fish market."
No one has left their home since Saturday, she says.
"The streets were full of people the first day of the attacks, naturally. They were unexpected and came at a time when people were going about their daily business. The streets have been completely empty the past two days. People have closed up shop and trying to stay close to their families and loved ones. Many homes are without bread, the bakeries stopped working two days before the attack because of lack of fuel and flour."
The small shop down the street from my parents' home, next to the Kinz mosque where many of the Remal neighbourhood's affluent residents attend, opens for a little while after prayer. My father goes and gets whatever he can – while he can.
They have one package of bread left, but insist they are OK.
"Those with children are the ones who are truly suffering. Umm Ramadan's grandchildren will only sleep in her arms now. They are wetting their pants again."
My son, Yousuf, chimes into the conversation unceremoniously, popping his head into my laptop screen.
"Sido? I like the fatoosh you used to make! Sido ... are you OK?"
"Habibi, when we see each other again – if we see each again – I'll make it for you." he promises. The very possibility seems to comfort him, no matter how illusory.
It is my daughter Noor's birthday on January 1. She will be one year old. I cannot help but think: who was born in bloodied Gaza today?
"There is a complete blackout in Gaza now. The streets are as still as death."
I am speaking to my father, Moussa el-Haddad, a retired physician who lives in Gaza City, on Skype, from Durham, North Carolina in the United States, where I have been since mid 2006 – the month Gaza's borders were hermetically sealed by Israel, and the blockade of the occupied territory further enforced.
He is out on his balcony. It is 2am.
"I can only see grey plumes of smoke slowly rising all over the city, everywhere I look," he says, as though they were some beautiful, comforting by-product of some hideous, malicious event.
My father was out walking when the initial strikes began – "I saw the missiles falling and prayed; the earth shook; the smoke rose; the ambulances screamed," he told me.
My mother was in the Red Crescent Society clinic near the universities, where she works part-time as a pediatrician. Behind the clinic was one of the police centres that were levelled. She said she broke down at first, the sheer proximity of the attacks having shaken her from the inside out. After she got a hold of herself, they took to treating injured victims of the attack, before transferring them to Shifa hospital.
Now, three days later, they are trapped in their own home.
My father takes a deep restorative sigh, before continuing. "Ehud Barak has gone crazy. He's gone crazy. He is bombing everywhere and everything ... no one is safe."
Explosions are audible in the background. They sound distant and dull over my laptop's speakers, but linger like an echo in death's valley. They evoke terrifying memories of my nights in Gaza only two years ago. Nights that till this day haunt my four-year-old son who refuses to sleep on his own.
"Can you hear them?" my father continues. "Our house is shaking. We are shaking from the inside out."
My mother comes to the phone. "Hello, hello dear," she mutters, her voice trembling. "I had to go to the bathroom. But I'm afraid to go alone. I wanted to perform wudu' before prayer but I was scared. Remember days when we would go to the bathroom together because you were too afraid to go alone?" She laughs at the thought. It seems amusing to her now, that she was scared to find her death in a place of relief; that she is now terrified of the same seemingly ridiculous scenario.
It was really the fear of being alone. When you "hear" the news before it becomes news, you panic for clarity – you want someone to make sense of the situation, package it neatly into comprehensible terms and locations. Just to be sure it's not you this time.
"It's strange, my whole body is shaking. Why is that? Why is that?" she rambles on, continuous explosions audible in the background. "There they go again. One boom after another. Fifteen. Before that, one or two, maybe 20 total so far."
Counting makes it's easier. Systemising the assaults makes them easier to deal with. More remote.
We speak to each other throughout the day. Last night, she called to let me know there were gunships overhead, as though there was something I could do about it; as though my voice would somehow make them disappear.
Eventually, her panic subsided ..."OK, OK, your father says it was the navy gunships ... they hit the pier ... the poor fishermen, it's not like it's even a real pier ... it's just the pier, just the pier ..."
They cracked the windows opened, to prevent an implosion.
"By the way we are sleeping in your room now, it's safer," she tells me, of my empty, abandoned space.
My mother's close friend, Yosra, was asked to evacuate her building. They live in a flat near many of the ministry complexes being targeted. They were advised not to go to the mosque for services, lest they be bombed.
Another family friend, an elderly Armenian-Palestinian Christian and retired pharmacist, is paralysed with fear and confined, like many residents, to her home. She lives alone, in front of the Saraya security complex on Omar al-Mukhtar Street. The complex has already been bombed twice.
The rains of death continue to fall in Gaza. And silently, the world watches. And silently, governments plotted: how shall we make the thunder and clouds rain death on to Gaza?
It will all seem, at the end of the day, that this is somehow a response to something: rockets; broken truces; irreconcilability ...
It is as though the situation were not only acceptable, but normal in the period prior to it all. As though a calm that provides no relief – political, economic, or otherwise – for Gaza's stateless, occupied, besieged Palestinians were tenable. As though settlements did not continue to expand; walls did not continue to extend and choke lands and lives; families and friends were not dislocated; life was not paralysed; people were not exterminated; borders were not sealed and food and light and fuel were in fair supply.
But it is the prisoners' burden to bear: they broke the conditions of their incarceration. Nevertheless, there are concerns for the "humanitarian situation": as long as they do not starve ...
The warden improves the living conditions now and then, in varying degrees of relativity, but the prison doors remain sealed. And so when there are 20 hours of power outages in a row, the prisoners wish that they were only eight; or 10; and dream of the days of four.
My friend Safah Joudeh is also in Gaza city. She is a 27-year-old freelance journalist.
"At this point we don't feel that it is Hamas being targeted, it's the entire population of Gaza," she says. "The strikes have been and I need to stress this, indiscriminate. They claim that the targets have been buildings and people that are Hamas-affiliated, but the employees in these buildings are public sector employees, not political activists ... other targets include homes, mosques, the university, port, fishing boats, the fish market."
No one has left their home since Saturday, she says.
"The streets were full of people the first day of the attacks, naturally. They were unexpected and came at a time when people were going about their daily business. The streets have been completely empty the past two days. People have closed up shop and trying to stay close to their families and loved ones. Many homes are without bread, the bakeries stopped working two days before the attack because of lack of fuel and flour."
The small shop down the street from my parents' home, next to the Kinz mosque where many of the Remal neighbourhood's affluent residents attend, opens for a little while after prayer. My father goes and gets whatever he can – while he can.
They have one package of bread left, but insist they are OK.
"Those with children are the ones who are truly suffering. Umm Ramadan's grandchildren will only sleep in her arms now. They are wetting their pants again."
My son, Yousuf, chimes into the conversation unceremoniously, popping his head into my laptop screen.
"Sido? I like the fatoosh you used to make! Sido ... are you OK?"
"Habibi, when we see each other again – if we see each again – I'll make it for you." he promises. The very possibility seems to comfort him, no matter how illusory.
It is my daughter Noor's birthday on January 1. She will be one year old. I cannot help but think: who was born in bloodied Gaza today?
Escalation goes on, more Israeli air raids kill more civilians
Lama Hamdan 4
Escalation goes on, more Israeli air raids kill more civilians
Israeli air force still launching the heaviest bombardments in Gaza ever. The fourth day of Israeli military operation started with heavy bombings took place west of Gaza City in addition to killing 2 children and around 10 in various places in Gaza to raise death toll to 390 while wounded people up to 1 thousand and 700 most of them civilians.
Escalation goes on, more Israeli air raids kill more civilians
Israeli air force still launching the heaviest bombardments in Gaza ever. The fourth day of Israeli military operation started with heavy bombings took place west of Gaza City in addition to killing 2 children and around 10 in various places in Gaza to raise death toll to 390 while wounded people up to 1 thousand and 700 most of them civilians.
Lama Hamdan 4
|
The Israeli announced decapitation strategy of targeting Hamas movement and avoiding civilians clearly unveiled. The F16s targeted a group of governmental building using tons of explosion resulting in killing at least 4 Palestinians. The bombings lasted for 30 minutes echoed across Gaza City causing great trauma and panic for civilians. Total damage stormed the buildings while partially destroyed some neighboring populated buildings.
Israeli warplanes, drones, artillery machines, and apache helicopters broadly took part in the nightly raids. Israeli air raids destroyed a sport club and a building inside the Islamic University of Gaza IUG. IUG was hit Monday night and 2 building were destroyed. One of the destroyed building was the laboratory funded by Islamic Development Bank estimated of millions of dollars. The bombings continued for the whole night in separated areas in Gaza Strip. Many civic targets were bombs including mosques in Khanyonis City. Old man was killed in south of Gaza in Rafah City. |
A run-Hamas police station was hit in El Burej refugee camp mid of Gaza and another one in Bait lahia. The naval forces participated in bombing Gaza destroying many buildings and premises on the coastal areas. Information office I linked to Popular Resistance Committees based in a residential building was hit and medical sources reported some that some people wounded in the raid.
Tuesday morning two female children aged 4 and 11 years killed in North of Gaza while they were on a donkey-driven carriage. The bombing of these children debunks the Israeli allegation of only targeting Hamas militants. They were bombed by High-tech F16 in daylight.
A boat sailing from Cyrprus to Gaza loaded with 3 tons of medical aids was not far away from Israeli army fire. The boat was hit despite it was not loaded with weapons for Hamas which is clearly deflate the Israeli propaganda. The boat was exposed to fire of Israeli naval gunboats and partial damage took place in the body of the boat. The relief boat still in the territorial waters and it's seeking a seaport to anchor.
On the midday of Tuesday, a new phase of the military operation started. F16s started to break the sound barrier of Gaza. Raids of sonic bombs occurred causing a trauma and panic atmosphere across Gaza residents.
The death toll has reached 390 with more than 1,700 injured, 2 hundreds are in critical conditions while there is a severe shortages in medicines. Medical sources announced a collapse in medical sector and Gaza hospitals. Muhamad El Khozndar a doctor at Al Sehfa' hospital said on a local radio station that Gaza hospitals are no longer working properly. Bandaging stuff, medical tools, medical machines and general cleaning unavailable at the hospitals. Additionally, windows of the hospitals crashed due to a nearby bombings hit a mosque.
The early hours of Tuesday night witnessed a set of Israeli missiles west of Gaza City. Medical reports said a number of injured arrived to Al shifa' hospital including some casualties. Many tanks shelled the norther eastern area of Gaza City.
It's remarkable that humanitarian stage in Gaza is totally collapsed and disastrous as aspects life vanished. All oil derivatives of fuel, gasoline and cocking gas unavailable in Gaza due to a siege imposed two years ago. Bread, milk, rice, sugar, cooking oil are not available and what is inside Gaza is limited quantities stored at homes.
Add to that, it is very dangerous for people to leave their house in search of food supplies. Any mobile car, bicycle or walking persons turned to targets for Israeli military machine.
============================================================
Main Military Actions in Day 4
*Casualties of Israeli heavy bombings reached 360 while wounded rise up to 1800 persons, a big number of them civilians. Around 200 in critical conditions and they are exposed to slow death due to lack of medicines.
*Israel started the day with 20 heavy missiles of F16s. The bombardments targeted governmental offices and damaged some houses nearby. The sound of bombings echoed in all Gaza city resulting in a panic status and trauma for children.
*Two siblings aged 4 and 11 years killed in Israeli air raid north of Gaza town of Bait Lahia.
*Many houses shelled in the early morning in the North of Gaza. Victims of the north area are 60 alone.
*Neither fuel, nor gasoline nor Benzin in Gaza. Power cuts up to 21 hours.
*Israeli navy fired on the dignity boat and hurting it. The boat was to deown and now it has gone to Lebanon ports. The boat was loaded with 3 tons of Medical aids needed to Gaza hospitals.
*Medical sector collapsed in Gaza. Doctors request medical airplane to evacuate wounded people who are slowly dying. Only 10 wounded left to Egypt due to lack of Ambulances equipped with ICU.
*Windows of Al shifa' hospital destroyed in bombings nearby while stormy and rainy weather in Gaza
*Two Israelis killed in Palestinian homemade rockets.
Tuesday morning two female children aged 4 and 11 years killed in North of Gaza while they were on a donkey-driven carriage. The bombing of these children debunks the Israeli allegation of only targeting Hamas militants. They were bombed by High-tech F16 in daylight.
A boat sailing from Cyrprus to Gaza loaded with 3 tons of medical aids was not far away from Israeli army fire. The boat was hit despite it was not loaded with weapons for Hamas which is clearly deflate the Israeli propaganda. The boat was exposed to fire of Israeli naval gunboats and partial damage took place in the body of the boat. The relief boat still in the territorial waters and it's seeking a seaport to anchor.
On the midday of Tuesday, a new phase of the military operation started. F16s started to break the sound barrier of Gaza. Raids of sonic bombs occurred causing a trauma and panic atmosphere across Gaza residents.
The death toll has reached 390 with more than 1,700 injured, 2 hundreds are in critical conditions while there is a severe shortages in medicines. Medical sources announced a collapse in medical sector and Gaza hospitals. Muhamad El Khozndar a doctor at Al Sehfa' hospital said on a local radio station that Gaza hospitals are no longer working properly. Bandaging stuff, medical tools, medical machines and general cleaning unavailable at the hospitals. Additionally, windows of the hospitals crashed due to a nearby bombings hit a mosque.
The early hours of Tuesday night witnessed a set of Israeli missiles west of Gaza City. Medical reports said a number of injured arrived to Al shifa' hospital including some casualties. Many tanks shelled the norther eastern area of Gaza City.
It's remarkable that humanitarian stage in Gaza is totally collapsed and disastrous as aspects life vanished. All oil derivatives of fuel, gasoline and cocking gas unavailable in Gaza due to a siege imposed two years ago. Bread, milk, rice, sugar, cooking oil are not available and what is inside Gaza is limited quantities stored at homes.
Add to that, it is very dangerous for people to leave their house in search of food supplies. Any mobile car, bicycle or walking persons turned to targets for Israeli military machine.
============================================================
Main Military Actions in Day 4
*Casualties of Israeli heavy bombings reached 360 while wounded rise up to 1800 persons, a big number of them civilians. Around 200 in critical conditions and they are exposed to slow death due to lack of medicines.
*Israel started the day with 20 heavy missiles of F16s. The bombardments targeted governmental offices and damaged some houses nearby. The sound of bombings echoed in all Gaza city resulting in a panic status and trauma for children.
*Two siblings aged 4 and 11 years killed in Israeli air raid north of Gaza town of Bait Lahia.
*Many houses shelled in the early morning in the North of Gaza. Victims of the north area are 60 alone.
*Neither fuel, nor gasoline nor Benzin in Gaza. Power cuts up to 21 hours.
*Israeli navy fired on the dignity boat and hurting it. The boat was to deown and now it has gone to Lebanon ports. The boat was loaded with 3 tons of Medical aids needed to Gaza hospitals.
*Medical sector collapsed in Gaza. Doctors request medical airplane to evacuate wounded people who are slowly dying. Only 10 wounded left to Egypt due to lack of Ambulances equipped with ICU.
*Windows of Al shifa' hospital destroyed in bombings nearby while stormy and rainy weather in Gaza
*Two Israelis killed in Palestinian homemade rockets.
Israeli helicopters and navy continue to fire on Gaza’s port
The shelling of Gaza’s port continued on the evening of December 30th, as Israeli Apache helicopters began firing rockets on the area and Naval vessels continued their ongoing shelling.
Eva Bartlett, a Canadian human rights worker, heard and witnessed the attack from a building 150 meters away. She reports that the first explosion began at 9:18 pm.
For the next half hour, the Naval ships and Apache helicopters continued firing intermittently. At 9:57, the intensity of the attack increased and more than 15 shells and rockets were fired in quick succession, with the Apaches specifically targeting the landing dock and the breakwater. Eyewitnesses in the area report that a Port Authority office and a boat anchored in the port were destroyed. The rockets and shelling continued into the night, while Israeli drones could also be heard circling overhead.
Gaza city port, the only port for the whole of the Gaza strip, houses a large number of Palestinian fishing boats on its piers. Many of these boats have also undoubtedly been damaged in the heavy shelling, further destabilizing the already fragile fishing industry upon which Gazans have been heavily reliant since Israel imposed its blockade on the strip in June 2007. The extent of the damage, however, is at this time indeterminable, as the continued presence of the warships in the harbor makes any assessment impossible.
This is the second time that Gaza’s port has been destroyed by Israeli bombing since construction began in 1999. Israeli Navy warships previously bombed the port in 2002, under the pretext that it could be utilized for arms smuggling. Repairs on the port were agreed upon in negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2005, after illegal Israeli settlements were withdrawn from Gaza, with the hope that an open sea port would not only provide a much-needed boost to Gaza’s economy, but would also function as an important symbol of Palestinian independence.
The Palestinian dream for the port – an independent harbour that would enable Gazan’s to freely import and export, creating jobs and freedom from Israel’s control of all Gazan borders – was, however, never realized. Whilst the port was repaired, Israel’s illegal control of Gazan waters continued unabated; illegally preventing Gazan boats, including fishermen, from venturing farther than 6 miles from shore, maintaining the imprisonment of Gaza. This oft-denied Israeli policy was exemplified most recently on Monday 29th December, when the Israeli Navy attacked the Free Gaza boat, “The Dignity”, in international waters as it attempted to carry 3 tonnes of desperately-needed medical aid into Gaza’s now-ruined port.
The destruction of the port has rendered humanitarian missions such as these even more difficult. Should further boats manage break the Israeli blockade, there is now nowhere left to unload.
Eva Bartlett, a Canadian human rights worker, heard and witnessed the attack from a building 150 meters away. She reports that the first explosion began at 9:18 pm.
For the next half hour, the Naval ships and Apache helicopters continued firing intermittently. At 9:57, the intensity of the attack increased and more than 15 shells and rockets were fired in quick succession, with the Apaches specifically targeting the landing dock and the breakwater. Eyewitnesses in the area report that a Port Authority office and a boat anchored in the port were destroyed. The rockets and shelling continued into the night, while Israeli drones could also be heard circling overhead.
Gaza city port, the only port for the whole of the Gaza strip, houses a large number of Palestinian fishing boats on its piers. Many of these boats have also undoubtedly been damaged in the heavy shelling, further destabilizing the already fragile fishing industry upon which Gazans have been heavily reliant since Israel imposed its blockade on the strip in June 2007. The extent of the damage, however, is at this time indeterminable, as the continued presence of the warships in the harbor makes any assessment impossible.
This is the second time that Gaza’s port has been destroyed by Israeli bombing since construction began in 1999. Israeli Navy warships previously bombed the port in 2002, under the pretext that it could be utilized for arms smuggling. Repairs on the port were agreed upon in negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2005, after illegal Israeli settlements were withdrawn from Gaza, with the hope that an open sea port would not only provide a much-needed boost to Gaza’s economy, but would also function as an important symbol of Palestinian independence.
The Palestinian dream for the port – an independent harbour that would enable Gazan’s to freely import and export, creating jobs and freedom from Israel’s control of all Gazan borders – was, however, never realized. Whilst the port was repaired, Israel’s illegal control of Gazan waters continued unabated; illegally preventing Gazan boats, including fishermen, from venturing farther than 6 miles from shore, maintaining the imprisonment of Gaza. This oft-denied Israeli policy was exemplified most recently on Monday 29th December, when the Israeli Navy attacked the Free Gaza boat, “The Dignity”, in international waters as it attempted to carry 3 tonnes of desperately-needed medical aid into Gaza’s now-ruined port.
The destruction of the port has rendered humanitarian missions such as these even more difficult. Should further boats manage break the Israeli blockade, there is now nowhere left to unload.
Israel pounds Hamas in Gaza
Palestinian children flee past a bombed Hamas ministry building in Gaza City.
• Government buildings destroyed in latest air strikes
• Hospitals overflow with casualties as civilian death toll mounts
Israel has continued bombing Gaza for a fourth day, hitting government buildings in Gaza City today and threatening a drawn-out conflict as the Palestinian death toll rose to at least 364.
Palestinian militants stepped up rocket attacks that yesterday killed three Israeli civilians in towns in southern Israel: among them, a woman was killed at a bus stop in the city of Ashdod, the farthest north a rocket from Gaza has so far reached, and a soldier was killed by a mortar fired from Gaza.
Early today, Israeli planes dropped at least 16 bombs on five government buildings in Gaza, destroying them and starting several fires. Palestinian officials said 10 people died in the latest attacks.
Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, who has said his government does not want another ceasefire with Hamas, said his army was fighting a "war to the bitter end".
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, had told the country's president, Shimon Peres, that the current aerial phase of the operation was "the first of several" that had been approved, an Olmert spokesman said.
Israel has declared the border area around Gaza a closed military zone. Together with preparations to call up thousands of reservists, this could suggest a large ground invasion is planned next. Barak said the military campaign would be "widened and deepened as needed".
The number of civilians killed has continued to rise. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees and has large programmes in Gaza, said it believed at least 62 civilians were dead, at a conservative estimate. The overall number of injured is thought to be as high as 1,400, although Gazan hospitals are so overcrowded and short of medicine and equipment that they are turning away all but the most seriously wounded.
The Israeli interior minister, Meir Sheetrit, said there was "no room for a ceasefire" with Hamas until the threat of rocket fire had been removed. "The Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel," he told Israel Radio. Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence minister, said the military "has made preparations for long weeks of action".
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, called for swift and decisive action to end the "unacceptable" violence, and urged world leaders to step up pressure for a political solution. In his third statement on Gaza in three days, Ban said he was "deeply alarmed" by the escalation of violence. While recognising Israel's right to defend itself, he condemned its "excessive use of force".
The Bush administration refused to call on Israel to show restraint, instead blaming the conflict solely on Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. "Israel is going after terrorists who are firing rockets and mortars into Israel, and they are taking the steps that they feel are necessary to deal with the terrorist threat," said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman.
"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire."
Israel had told the US it was not planning to retake Gaza, Johndroe said.
Apart from anger in the Arab world, governments elsewhere have been quiet, with little public criticism of Israel – in contrast with previous similar offensives.
The pope had been scheduled to make his first trip to Israel in May, but a spokesman interviewed by Vatican radio said this was no longer certain. "There is a need to be rather prudent," Father Federico Lombardi said. The pontiff urged both sides to restore a truce and not to yield to the "perverse logic of confrontation and violence".
Despite mounting public pressure, Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, said today he would not fully open the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip while Hamas, rather than the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority, remains in control of the border.
"We will not deepen the division and that breach [between Hamas and Fatah] by opening the Rafah border crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and the European Union monitors," Mubarak said.
In the Yemeni city of Aden, hundreds of protesters stormed the Egyptian consulate, setting fire to the national flag on the roof and throwing computers out of the windows, in the latest sign of anger in the region at Egypt.
In Damascus, a senior Hamas leader said the group's conditions for a fresh ceasefire were a halt to Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank and a reopening of the crossings into Gaza – conditions Israel has previously refused.
"We are going to defend ourselves, defend our people and defend our land," Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of the Hamas politburo, told Associated Press. "We need our liberty, we need our freedom and we need to be independent. If we don't accomplish this objective then we have to resist. This is our right." Hamas leaders in Gaza were in hiding last night.
One of Israel's targets in bombing raids before dawn yesterday was the Islamic University in Gaza City, the territory's main university and one with links to Hamas. Two buildings housing science and engineering laboratories were flattened and six others damaged.
Gaza's streets were empty again and Israeli military drones and jets could be heard overhead. The only crowds were queues at bakeries. Israel again prevented journalists from entering Gaza to report on the bombing.
• Government buildings destroyed in latest air strikes
• Hospitals overflow with casualties as civilian death toll mounts
Israel has continued bombing Gaza for a fourth day, hitting government buildings in Gaza City today and threatening a drawn-out conflict as the Palestinian death toll rose to at least 364.
Palestinian militants stepped up rocket attacks that yesterday killed three Israeli civilians in towns in southern Israel: among them, a woman was killed at a bus stop in the city of Ashdod, the farthest north a rocket from Gaza has so far reached, and a soldier was killed by a mortar fired from Gaza.
Early today, Israeli planes dropped at least 16 bombs on five government buildings in Gaza, destroying them and starting several fires. Palestinian officials said 10 people died in the latest attacks.
Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, who has said his government does not want another ceasefire with Hamas, said his army was fighting a "war to the bitter end".
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, had told the country's president, Shimon Peres, that the current aerial phase of the operation was "the first of several" that had been approved, an Olmert spokesman said.
Israel has declared the border area around Gaza a closed military zone. Together with preparations to call up thousands of reservists, this could suggest a large ground invasion is planned next. Barak said the military campaign would be "widened and deepened as needed".
The number of civilians killed has continued to rise. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees and has large programmes in Gaza, said it believed at least 62 civilians were dead, at a conservative estimate. The overall number of injured is thought to be as high as 1,400, although Gazan hospitals are so overcrowded and short of medicine and equipment that they are turning away all but the most seriously wounded.
The Israeli interior minister, Meir Sheetrit, said there was "no room for a ceasefire" with Hamas until the threat of rocket fire had been removed. "The Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel," he told Israel Radio. Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence minister, said the military "has made preparations for long weeks of action".
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, called for swift and decisive action to end the "unacceptable" violence, and urged world leaders to step up pressure for a political solution. In his third statement on Gaza in three days, Ban said he was "deeply alarmed" by the escalation of violence. While recognising Israel's right to defend itself, he condemned its "excessive use of force".
The Bush administration refused to call on Israel to show restraint, instead blaming the conflict solely on Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. "Israel is going after terrorists who are firing rockets and mortars into Israel, and they are taking the steps that they feel are necessary to deal with the terrorist threat," said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman.
"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire."
Israel had told the US it was not planning to retake Gaza, Johndroe said.
Apart from anger in the Arab world, governments elsewhere have been quiet, with little public criticism of Israel – in contrast with previous similar offensives.
The pope had been scheduled to make his first trip to Israel in May, but a spokesman interviewed by Vatican radio said this was no longer certain. "There is a need to be rather prudent," Father Federico Lombardi said. The pontiff urged both sides to restore a truce and not to yield to the "perverse logic of confrontation and violence".
Despite mounting public pressure, Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, said today he would not fully open the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip while Hamas, rather than the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority, remains in control of the border.
"We will not deepen the division and that breach [between Hamas and Fatah] by opening the Rafah border crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and the European Union monitors," Mubarak said.
In the Yemeni city of Aden, hundreds of protesters stormed the Egyptian consulate, setting fire to the national flag on the roof and throwing computers out of the windows, in the latest sign of anger in the region at Egypt.
In Damascus, a senior Hamas leader said the group's conditions for a fresh ceasefire were a halt to Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank and a reopening of the crossings into Gaza – conditions Israel has previously refused.
"We are going to defend ourselves, defend our people and defend our land," Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of the Hamas politburo, told Associated Press. "We need our liberty, we need our freedom and we need to be independent. If we don't accomplish this objective then we have to resist. This is our right." Hamas leaders in Gaza were in hiding last night.
One of Israel's targets in bombing raids before dawn yesterday was the Islamic University in Gaza City, the territory's main university and one with links to Hamas. Two buildings housing science and engineering laboratories were flattened and six others damaged.
Gaza's streets were empty again and Israeli military drones and jets could be heard overhead. The only crowds were queues at bakeries. Israel again prevented journalists from entering Gaza to report on the bombing.
|
Free Gaza Movement: URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship! TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY!Press Release by the Free Gaza Movement:
The Dignity, a Free Gaza boat on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, is being attacked by the Israeli Navy in international waters. The Dignity has been surrounded by at least half-a-dozen Israeli warships. They are firing live ammunition around the Dignity, and one of the warships has rammed the civilian craft causing an unknown amount of damage. Contrary to international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to Cyprus – despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do so. Fortunately, no one aboard the ship has yet been seriously injured. There are 15 civilian passengers representing 11 different countries (see below for a complete list). At approximately 5am (UST), well out in international waters, Israeli warships began surrounding the Dignity, threatening the ship. At 6:45am (UST) we were able to establish brief contact with the crew and were told that the ship had been rammed by the Israeli Navy in international waters, and that the Israelis were preventing the ship from finding safe harbor. We heard heavy gunfire in the background before all contact was lost with the Dignity. It is urgent that you TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION! CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking the Dignity and endangering the lives of its passengers! CALL Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office at: +972 2670 5354 or +972 5062 3264 [email protected] CALL Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at: +972 33697 5339 or +972 50629 8148 [email protected] BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29 December, bound for war-devastated Gaza with a cargo of over 3 tons of desperately needed medical supplies donated by the people of Cyprus. At our request, the ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to departure, to certify that there was nothing “threatening” aboard – only emergency medical supplies. |
Israel accused of ramming Gaza aid boat
Activists trying to bring aid to Gaza today claimed their boat had been rammed by Israeli gunboats in a "criminal attack" in international waters.
The Free Gaza Movement said its vessel, the Dignity, was intercepted by several Israeli ships as it headed to the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli aerial bombardment since Saturday.
One gunboat rammed the Dignity on the port bow side, causing heavy damage, although no one was hurt, the group said.
"When attacked, the Dignity was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza," the group said on its website. "The gunboats also fired their machine guns into the water in an attempt to stop the mercy ship from getting to Gaza.
"Israel thumbs its nose in the face of maritime law by attacking a human rights boat in international waters and has put all of these human rights observers at risk.
"At no time was the Dignity ever close to Israeli waters. They clearly identified themselves, and the Israeli attack was wilful and criminal."
The group said the attack took place as the Dignity carried 16 passengers and three tonnes of medical supplies at the request of doctors in Gaza.
The crew and passengers had hoped to treat some of those injured in four days of the Israeli air strikes, with hospitals in the territory overwhelmed.
The Dignity later arrived in the Lebanese port of Tyre, where it was met by cheering crowds.
Lubna Masarwa, a Free Gaza spokeswoman, said the boat had gone to Lebanon – despite Israeli navy orders that it sail to Cyprus – because of a lack of fuel.
Masarwa said the ship was "in bad shape" due to damage sustained in the collision and was taking on small amounts of water.
The Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman, ordered that the Dignity be "rescued" and welcomed back in Lebanon.
Markos Kyprianou, the Cypriot foreign minister, told public radio his country would lodge a formal protest over the incident.
He said that although the boat was neither Cypriot-owned nor Cypriot-registered, the fact that it left Cyprus and had Cypriot nationals on board accorded the government "the right to be informed and to protest".
Kyprianou said he had instructed the Cyprus embassy in Israel to lodge the protest.
The Dignity flies the flag of Gibraltar and is piloted by an English captain. Its 16 passengers include Cynthia McKinney, a former US congresswoman.
It left for Gaza from Lanarca in Cyprus yesterday. The group said journalists on board filmed the attack.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, told Reuters there had been no shooting, although two ships had made "physical contact".
Palmor said the boat had failed to respond to Israeli naval radio contact and an Israeli vessel had "clashed with the ship". He said nobody was hurt, and the Israeli ship escorted the aid boat back to Cypriot territorial waters.
Israel declared the coastal territory a closed military zone after it launched air attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday in response to Hamas firing rockets into Israel. Israel said the Free Gaza movement boat would not be permitted to dock in the Gaza Strip.
The Free Gaza group has made five boat deliveries of aid to Gaza since August, defying a blockade imposed by Israel when Hamas won control of the territory in June 2006.
Aid ships for the Palestinian coastal territory often stop at Cyprus before heading to Gaza, opting for the indirect route to deprive Israel of any excuse not to allow them in.
The last boat to make the trip on December 20 carried a Qatari delegation, Lebanese activists and journalists from Israel and Lebanon. Qatar has good relations with both Israel and Hamas.
More than 360 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza since Saturday. In the same period, four Israelis have died in rocket strikes from Gaza.
The UN relief and works agency, which supports Palestinian refugees and has large programmes in Gaza, said 62 civilians were dead at a conservative estimate.
The overall number of injured is thought to be as high as 1,400 although Gazan hospitals are so overcrowded and short of medicine and equipment that they are turning away all but the most seriously wounded.
Activists trying to bring aid to Gaza today claimed their boat had been rammed by Israeli gunboats in a "criminal attack" in international waters.
The Free Gaza Movement said its vessel, the Dignity, was intercepted by several Israeli ships as it headed to the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli aerial bombardment since Saturday.
One gunboat rammed the Dignity on the port bow side, causing heavy damage, although no one was hurt, the group said.
"When attacked, the Dignity was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza," the group said on its website. "The gunboats also fired their machine guns into the water in an attempt to stop the mercy ship from getting to Gaza.
"Israel thumbs its nose in the face of maritime law by attacking a human rights boat in international waters and has put all of these human rights observers at risk.
"At no time was the Dignity ever close to Israeli waters. They clearly identified themselves, and the Israeli attack was wilful and criminal."
The group said the attack took place as the Dignity carried 16 passengers and three tonnes of medical supplies at the request of doctors in Gaza.
The crew and passengers had hoped to treat some of those injured in four days of the Israeli air strikes, with hospitals in the territory overwhelmed.
The Dignity later arrived in the Lebanese port of Tyre, where it was met by cheering crowds.
Lubna Masarwa, a Free Gaza spokeswoman, said the boat had gone to Lebanon – despite Israeli navy orders that it sail to Cyprus – because of a lack of fuel.
Masarwa said the ship was "in bad shape" due to damage sustained in the collision and was taking on small amounts of water.
The Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman, ordered that the Dignity be "rescued" and welcomed back in Lebanon.
Markos Kyprianou, the Cypriot foreign minister, told public radio his country would lodge a formal protest over the incident.
He said that although the boat was neither Cypriot-owned nor Cypriot-registered, the fact that it left Cyprus and had Cypriot nationals on board accorded the government "the right to be informed and to protest".
Kyprianou said he had instructed the Cyprus embassy in Israel to lodge the protest.
The Dignity flies the flag of Gibraltar and is piloted by an English captain. Its 16 passengers include Cynthia McKinney, a former US congresswoman.
It left for Gaza from Lanarca in Cyprus yesterday. The group said journalists on board filmed the attack.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, told Reuters there had been no shooting, although two ships had made "physical contact".
Palmor said the boat had failed to respond to Israeli naval radio contact and an Israeli vessel had "clashed with the ship". He said nobody was hurt, and the Israeli ship escorted the aid boat back to Cypriot territorial waters.
Israel declared the coastal territory a closed military zone after it launched air attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday in response to Hamas firing rockets into Israel. Israel said the Free Gaza movement boat would not be permitted to dock in the Gaza Strip.
The Free Gaza group has made five boat deliveries of aid to Gaza since August, defying a blockade imposed by Israel when Hamas won control of the territory in June 2006.
Aid ships for the Palestinian coastal territory often stop at Cyprus before heading to Gaza, opting for the indirect route to deprive Israel of any excuse not to allow them in.
The last boat to make the trip on December 20 carried a Qatari delegation, Lebanese activists and journalists from Israel and Lebanon. Qatar has good relations with both Israel and Hamas.
More than 360 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza since Saturday. In the same period, four Israelis have died in rocket strikes from Gaza.
The UN relief and works agency, which supports Palestinian refugees and has large programmes in Gaza, said 62 civilians were dead at a conservative estimate.
The overall number of injured is thought to be as high as 1,400 although Gazan hospitals are so overcrowded and short of medicine and equipment that they are turning away all but the most seriously wounded.
Days: Jan 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Dec 31 - 30 - 29 - 28 - 27