3 jan 2009
Israel intensified its ground, air and naval attacks on different parts of Gaza on Saturday, killing some 30 Palestinians and injuring dozens of others.
After an airstrike that targeted a local mosque in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, ambulances transferred dozens of injured to the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital. Fourteen died in the initial blast.
The mosque was full of worshipers who had recently arrived for evening prayers. Some of the Palestinians' bodies arrived in parts.
Near another mosque, Israe's air force shelled a group of fighters in central Gaza. No injuries were reported there.
Members of the Abu Khusa family were also injured in an airstrike on Beit Lahiya, while a presidential building in Gaza was later shelled, as well.
The count since the start of the military operation on 27 December is now 457 dead and at least 2,300 injured, according to medical officials in Gaza.
At Rafah Refugee Camp on the border with Egypt, Israel's air force fired at least one missile near the so-called Philadelphi Route. As many as four Palestinians were killed in the strike, along with 30 others throughout Saturday.
Absent from the beginning of the ongoing assault on Gaza, Israeli artillery on Saturday joined in the attack, shelling Gaza City from every direction.
Israeli tanks fired around 20 artillery shells on open land and its air force continued targeting sites in Jabalia, while naval boats shelled different targets on the coast. Local witnesses said that the shelling caused a large explosion in Gaza City, in addition to a series of explosions along the region's border with Israel.
According to Israeli sources, the numbers of projectiles fired from Gaza on Israel have fallen, with as few as 20 hitting the western Negev on Saturday.
Israeli ground troops have massed along the border with the Gaza Strip in preparation for an invasion, but are awaiting the green light from Israel's political leadership.
Saturday's strikes have been reported as follows:
8:45pm The Israeli military began a limited ground invasion in the northern Gaza Strip.
8:30pm Israeli jets targeted and killed a Palestinian fighter in the Gaza Strip.
6:00pm An Israeli airstrike killed 14 Palestinians at a mosque in Beit Lahiya; dozens of others were injured when a missile struck the building during evening prayers.
12:30pm Two fighters affiliated to Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades were killed as an Israeli reconnaissance plane targeted a car in Khan Younis. Shadi Shurbaji and Mahmoud Arif arrived to Nasser Hospital "torn to pieces." The missile hit them directly.
12:15pm One Palestinian was killed in Khan Younis.
12:00pm Two Gazans succumbed to their wounds at Egyptian hospitals. They were identified as 19-year-old Bilal Suhiel Ghabyen and 34-year-old Auda Hamada Abu Al-Fatya.
7:00am Israeli warplanes destroyed the American School in northern Gaza City, killing its security guard Salim Abu Qalil.
6:00am Israeli warplanes targeted a site belonging to Hamas' military organization, the Al-Qassam Brigades, in northern Gaza City and another site near Al-Farouq Mosque in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
5:30am The home of Mousa Arafat, located in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, was targeted and damaged by a missile.
5:15am A missile landed on the home of a Hamas activist in the Jabaliya neighborhood of Tal Az-Za'tar. Several other missiles landed in open areas nearby.
Overnight
An infant girl, Sujud Dardasawi, was killed in an airstrike overnight when an Israeli missile struck her family's house in Gaza City.
Meanwhile, medical sources said Hamas military leader Abu Zakariyya Al-Jamal was pronounced dead after he succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Gaza City.
Israeli missiles destroyed several fishing boats at the Gaza seaport.
Two fighters affiliated with Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades were killed as an Israeli reconnaissance plane targeted their car in the Al-Mahatta area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources named the victims as Shadi Shurbaji and Mahmoud Arif. They arrived in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis "torn to pieces," having suffered a direct hit from an Israeli missiles.
After an airstrike that targeted a local mosque in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, ambulances transferred dozens of injured to the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital. Fourteen died in the initial blast.
The mosque was full of worshipers who had recently arrived for evening prayers. Some of the Palestinians' bodies arrived in parts.
Near another mosque, Israe's air force shelled a group of fighters in central Gaza. No injuries were reported there.
Members of the Abu Khusa family were also injured in an airstrike on Beit Lahiya, while a presidential building in Gaza was later shelled, as well.
The count since the start of the military operation on 27 December is now 457 dead and at least 2,300 injured, according to medical officials in Gaza.
At Rafah Refugee Camp on the border with Egypt, Israel's air force fired at least one missile near the so-called Philadelphi Route. As many as four Palestinians were killed in the strike, along with 30 others throughout Saturday.
Absent from the beginning of the ongoing assault on Gaza, Israeli artillery on Saturday joined in the attack, shelling Gaza City from every direction.
Israeli tanks fired around 20 artillery shells on open land and its air force continued targeting sites in Jabalia, while naval boats shelled different targets on the coast. Local witnesses said that the shelling caused a large explosion in Gaza City, in addition to a series of explosions along the region's border with Israel.
According to Israeli sources, the numbers of projectiles fired from Gaza on Israel have fallen, with as few as 20 hitting the western Negev on Saturday.
Israeli ground troops have massed along the border with the Gaza Strip in preparation for an invasion, but are awaiting the green light from Israel's political leadership.
Saturday's strikes have been reported as follows:
8:45pm The Israeli military began a limited ground invasion in the northern Gaza Strip.
8:30pm Israeli jets targeted and killed a Palestinian fighter in the Gaza Strip.
6:00pm An Israeli airstrike killed 14 Palestinians at a mosque in Beit Lahiya; dozens of others were injured when a missile struck the building during evening prayers.
12:30pm Two fighters affiliated to Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades were killed as an Israeli reconnaissance plane targeted a car in Khan Younis. Shadi Shurbaji and Mahmoud Arif arrived to Nasser Hospital "torn to pieces." The missile hit them directly.
12:15pm One Palestinian was killed in Khan Younis.
12:00pm Two Gazans succumbed to their wounds at Egyptian hospitals. They were identified as 19-year-old Bilal Suhiel Ghabyen and 34-year-old Auda Hamada Abu Al-Fatya.
7:00am Israeli warplanes destroyed the American School in northern Gaza City, killing its security guard Salim Abu Qalil.
6:00am Israeli warplanes targeted a site belonging to Hamas' military organization, the Al-Qassam Brigades, in northern Gaza City and another site near Al-Farouq Mosque in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
5:30am The home of Mousa Arafat, located in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, was targeted and damaged by a missile.
5:15am A missile landed on the home of a Hamas activist in the Jabaliya neighborhood of Tal Az-Za'tar. Several other missiles landed in open areas nearby.
Overnight
An infant girl, Sujud Dardasawi, was killed in an airstrike overnight when an Israeli missile struck her family's house in Gaza City.
Meanwhile, medical sources said Hamas military leader Abu Zakariyya Al-Jamal was pronounced dead after he succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Gaza City.
Israeli missiles destroyed several fishing boats at the Gaza seaport.
Two fighters affiliated with Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades were killed as an Israeli reconnaissance plane targeted their car in the Al-Mahatta area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources named the victims as Shadi Shurbaji and Mahmoud Arif. They arrived in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis "torn to pieces," having suffered a direct hit from an Israeli missiles.
Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades said their fighters have already fired 302 projectiles from Gaza since the beginning of Israeli offensive, or an average of 44 per day.
Israel says it launched it's massive air bombardment to stop the barrages of homemade rockets that target Israeli towns near Gaza. On Saturday morning, armed factions in Gaza, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, theAl-Aqsa Brigades and others, vowed to continue their attacks.
Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility to have launched two homemade rockets towards the Israeli border town of Sderot on Saturday.
Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing three mortar rounds at an Israeli intelligence building at the Kissufim military instalation.
"We assure occupation that they should expect a tougher response from our fighters. They wanted an open war; let it be open war," said the Al-Aqsa Brigades in a statement.
Both groups said the shelling was in response to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed 434 Palestinian lives in eight days.
Separately, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Nir Oz Kibbutz east of the Palestinian city of Khan Younis on Friday evening.
Also on Friday, the military wing of to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, along with the Al-Aqsa Brigades, for firing two homemade projectiles at Sderot.
Jailed Fatah lawmaker: Attack on Gaza is 'genocide'
A senior Fatah lawmaker issued a statement from his Israeli prison cell on Saturday condemning Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip as "genocide."
Jamal At-Tirawi, the speaker of Fatah parliamentarian bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said "This aggression, using one of the most advanced military arsenals in the world against an area under the attacker's occupation, is a war crime and genocide."
434 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,200 injured by Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire over eight days of an Israeli offensive.
"The crippling siege of the Gaza Strip over more than a year and a half, along with closure of crossing points with Arab countries, is not less harmful than military aggression going on now," he added.
At-Tirawi also reiterated the resentment of the Arab public at their governments for not taking more effective action to aid the people of Gaza.
He said: "We expected Arab foreign ministers who met in Cairo to come up with a decision that matches the pulse of the streets in Arab countries who showed extreme solidarity with Gaza and Palestine. Unfortunately, they cancelled an Arab League summit which was scheduled to be held soon in order to adopt a joint Arab stance towards Israeli aggression on Gaza and to demand immediately lifting the crippling siege."
At-Tirawi applauded calls by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' leader Khalid Mash'al for unity.
Israel says it launched it's massive air bombardment to stop the barrages of homemade rockets that target Israeli towns near Gaza. On Saturday morning, armed factions in Gaza, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, theAl-Aqsa Brigades and others, vowed to continue their attacks.
Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility to have launched two homemade rockets towards the Israeli border town of Sderot on Saturday.
Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing three mortar rounds at an Israeli intelligence building at the Kissufim military instalation.
"We assure occupation that they should expect a tougher response from our fighters. They wanted an open war; let it be open war," said the Al-Aqsa Brigades in a statement.
Both groups said the shelling was in response to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed 434 Palestinian lives in eight days.
Separately, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Nir Oz Kibbutz east of the Palestinian city of Khan Younis on Friday evening.
Also on Friday, the military wing of to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, along with the Al-Aqsa Brigades, for firing two homemade projectiles at Sderot.
Jailed Fatah lawmaker: Attack on Gaza is 'genocide'
A senior Fatah lawmaker issued a statement from his Israeli prison cell on Saturday condemning Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip as "genocide."
Jamal At-Tirawi, the speaker of Fatah parliamentarian bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said "This aggression, using one of the most advanced military arsenals in the world against an area under the attacker's occupation, is a war crime and genocide."
434 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,200 injured by Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire over eight days of an Israeli offensive.
"The crippling siege of the Gaza Strip over more than a year and a half, along with closure of crossing points with Arab countries, is not less harmful than military aggression going on now," he added.
At-Tirawi also reiterated the resentment of the Arab public at their governments for not taking more effective action to aid the people of Gaza.
He said: "We expected Arab foreign ministers who met in Cairo to come up with a decision that matches the pulse of the streets in Arab countries who showed extreme solidarity with Gaza and Palestine. Unfortunately, they cancelled an Arab League summit which was scheduled to be held soon in order to adopt a joint Arab stance towards Israeli aggression on Gaza and to demand immediately lifting the crippling siege."
At-Tirawi applauded calls by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' leader Khalid Mash'al for unity.
Israeli TV commentators have become impatient with the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.
In the early days of the operation TV personalities encouraged Israelis to be brave and endure the ongoing Palestinian projectile launches. Now military experts and analysts are expressing anger and impatience at the continued flow of projectiles from Gaza. Several, hosted live from Ashdod and Ashkelon, urged the Israeli army to launch a ground operation.
"Let's attack them live on air and show them what a real Israeli strike is; lets teach them the meaning of Israeli power," said one commentator.
A resident of Ashdod told a radio station "Why do you ask us every day 'how are you?' we are fine and ready to stay in the shelters for weeks and months! What is important is to go and attack Gaza because we will not accept to stay in these bunkers once an Israeli operation is finished."
Palestinians and Israelis alike are wondering if there will be a ground war, but no one has given a concrete answer. What is certain is that Israeli public opinion is rapidly shifting towards total support for a massive ground invasion, despite the close to 450 dead in Gaza.
Concluding his transmission one analyst said "Hamas is like Israel, afraid of a ground war but they will be forced into the outcome sooner or later."
In the early days of the operation TV personalities encouraged Israelis to be brave and endure the ongoing Palestinian projectile launches. Now military experts and analysts are expressing anger and impatience at the continued flow of projectiles from Gaza. Several, hosted live from Ashdod and Ashkelon, urged the Israeli army to launch a ground operation.
"Let's attack them live on air and show them what a real Israeli strike is; lets teach them the meaning of Israeli power," said one commentator.
A resident of Ashdod told a radio station "Why do you ask us every day 'how are you?' we are fine and ready to stay in the shelters for weeks and months! What is important is to go and attack Gaza because we will not accept to stay in these bunkers once an Israeli operation is finished."
Palestinians and Israelis alike are wondering if there will be a ground war, but no one has given a concrete answer. What is certain is that Israeli public opinion is rapidly shifting towards total support for a massive ground invasion, despite the close to 450 dead in Gaza.
Concluding his transmission one analyst said "Hamas is like Israel, afraid of a ground war but they will be forced into the outcome sooner or later."
Armed groups affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Islamic Jihad shelled an engineering unit within the Israeli military on Saturday, according to a statement.
The unit, PFLP's Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, was operating east of Beit Hanoun at the time of the attack, the group said.
Its fighters targeted the Erez and Naveh Ha'tsera areas of Israel, near the border with Gaza, on Saturday afternoon, the statement said.
It announced joint responsibility for another operations, claiming to work with Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades, for an attack on Ashkelon with two homemade projectiles around noon on Saturday.
The group said it shelled Sderot with four homemade projectiles, in addition to shelling the Ashkol compound and two others nearby. The group claimed responsibility for launching a total of eight projectiles on Saturday.
Both Al-Quds and Abu Ali Mustafa said the shelling came as fighters' "continuous response to Israeli attacks and the holocaust in Gaza."
PFLP calls for all Palestinians to help lift Gazan spirit, encourage steadfastness
Turkey delivers 13 tons medical aid to Gaza Strip
Salah Ad-Din Brigades: No talk of truce as long as Israeli attacks continue
Bishop refuses to seek personal safety while Gaza attacked
Japan pledges to deliver 10 million USD of humanitarian aid to Gaza
The unit, PFLP's Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, was operating east of Beit Hanoun at the time of the attack, the group said.
Its fighters targeted the Erez and Naveh Ha'tsera areas of Israel, near the border with Gaza, on Saturday afternoon, the statement said.
It announced joint responsibility for another operations, claiming to work with Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades, for an attack on Ashkelon with two homemade projectiles around noon on Saturday.
The group said it shelled Sderot with four homemade projectiles, in addition to shelling the Ashkol compound and two others nearby. The group claimed responsibility for launching a total of eight projectiles on Saturday.
Both Al-Quds and Abu Ali Mustafa said the shelling came as fighters' "continuous response to Israeli attacks and the holocaust in Gaza."
PFLP calls for all Palestinians to help lift Gazan spirit, encourage steadfastness
Turkey delivers 13 tons medical aid to Gaza Strip
Salah Ad-Din Brigades: No talk of truce as long as Israeli attacks continue
Bishop refuses to seek personal safety while Gaza attacked
Japan pledges to deliver 10 million USD of humanitarian aid to Gaza
Israeli warplanes leveled an American-style private school on Saturday morning that employees say had no connection to the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip or to armed activity in the Strip.
The American International School in Gaza (AISG) in Beit Lahiya was founded by Americans in 2001. An elite private institution, AISG stressed teaching English as a second language and instilling progressive, enlightened values in its students using an American curriculum.
Now, more than 200 students and dozens of faculty and staff will have nowhere to go when Israel ends its aggression on the Gaza Strip.
"I have no idea what will happen to us," said Rawan Al-Masri a first grade teacher at the K-12 school. "Where will the students study? Now there is nothing."
The school, according to its website, has a mission to teach such ideals as "An understanding and appreciation of global interrelationships to face the opportunities and challenges of a constantly changing world," and "Engage social consciousness," is culturally distant from Hamas' political Islam.
Al-Masri, spoke on the phone from her home in Gaza City, where she and her family have been hunkered down for eight days. An airstrike nearby blew out the windows, so the family is shivering, without electricity or gas to cook with.
The school consisted of two to three buildings, which Al-Masri said would have taken separate rockets to destroy. The early morning airstrike killed just one person, security guard Salim Abu Qalil.
The American International School is just one of the targets destroyed in the 700 separate aistrikes Israel launched out since 27 December. The Israeli military on Saturday morning said it had destroyed a "college" that was linked with Hamas military activity.
Explosions cracking in the background, Al-Masri expressed despair for the children at the school who have known only war. "They didn't live their childhood," she says.
"But they do know the difference between an F16 and an Apache," explaining that Gazans of all ages have learned to differentiate between the sounds of the American-made jets and helicopters that have rained fire down on them. She says they have come to prefer the thump of helicopter blades, knowing that the supersonic jets will be less accurate with their missiles.
"It's a disaster," she adds, "Their target is now the civilians. They won't finish until they kill all of us."
Fighter reported killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza Strip
Israeli source: Ground invasion has begun
Israeli woman injured by projectile fire
The American International School in Gaza (AISG) in Beit Lahiya was founded by Americans in 2001. An elite private institution, AISG stressed teaching English as a second language and instilling progressive, enlightened values in its students using an American curriculum.
Now, more than 200 students and dozens of faculty and staff will have nowhere to go when Israel ends its aggression on the Gaza Strip.
"I have no idea what will happen to us," said Rawan Al-Masri a first grade teacher at the K-12 school. "Where will the students study? Now there is nothing."
The school, according to its website, has a mission to teach such ideals as "An understanding and appreciation of global interrelationships to face the opportunities and challenges of a constantly changing world," and "Engage social consciousness," is culturally distant from Hamas' political Islam.
Al-Masri, spoke on the phone from her home in Gaza City, where she and her family have been hunkered down for eight days. An airstrike nearby blew out the windows, so the family is shivering, without electricity or gas to cook with.
The school consisted of two to three buildings, which Al-Masri said would have taken separate rockets to destroy. The early morning airstrike killed just one person, security guard Salim Abu Qalil.
The American International School is just one of the targets destroyed in the 700 separate aistrikes Israel launched out since 27 December. The Israeli military on Saturday morning said it had destroyed a "college" that was linked with Hamas military activity.
Explosions cracking in the background, Al-Masri expressed despair for the children at the school who have known only war. "They didn't live their childhood," she says.
"But they do know the difference between an F16 and an Apache," explaining that Gazans of all ages have learned to differentiate between the sounds of the American-made jets and helicopters that have rained fire down on them. She says they have come to prefer the thump of helicopter blades, knowing that the supersonic jets will be less accurate with their missiles.
"It's a disaster," she adds, "Their target is now the civilians. They won't finish until they kill all of us."
Fighter reported killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza Strip
Israeli source: Ground invasion has begun
Israeli woman injured by projectile fire
Israeli ground troops backed by tanks and helicopters have invaded the Gaza Strip on the eighth day of a major offensive on the tiny coastal territory.
Heavy fighting has been reported, with both sides claiming to inflict losses on the other. Reports of casualties are nearly impossible to verify during the nighttime incursion.
The Hamas-affiliated television station based in Gaza reported that five Israeli soldiers had been killed in the fighting, but an Israeli military spokesman said he had no information about casualties on either side.
Separately, medical officials at the local hospital in the town of Beit Hanoun, the northernmost town in the Strip, said the bodies of four dead Palestinians had arrived.
Earlier in the day Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in Beit Lahiya, Rafah and Ash-Shuja'ieyah earlier in the day. At least 465 Palestinians have been killed and some 2300 injured over eight days of intense Israeli shelling and air bombardment.
Al-Jazeera television said Israeli troops had been observed moving into Gaza from three points in the north of the Strip and two more in the center and south. The Israeli military spokesman would only confirm that ground forces "are operating throughout the Gaza Strip."
It appears Israeli forces have not yet entered the densely-populated areas in Gaza City and the surrounding refugee camps. However, residents of Gaza City told Ma'an that American-made Israeli F16 warplanes and Apache helicopters continue to strike every 10 to 15 minutes.
Palestinian fighters affiliated to the Popular Resistance Committees said they detonated a 50 kilogram bomb near in Hayeh Zaytoun, near Gaza City. Palestinian gunmen have also been seen using anti-tank missiles.
Palestinians in the besieged Strip are hunkered down in fear as Israeli warplanes continue to strike. During a phone interview with one resident of Gaza City, explosions could be heard in the background.
Israel: long invasion ahead
All public statements from the Israeli government point to a long operation.
Israeli military spokesperson Avi Benayahu told Israeli Channel Two, "This is not going to be a school trip. We are talking about long days."
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a televised press conference during which he said, "The ground assault on Gaza, will be expanded in order to bring calm and stop the rocket fire." He also ordered a state of alert along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
The decision to carry out a ground invasion came during a meeting held by the Israeli cabinet during a secret session on Friday. According to an Israeli spokesperson the cabinet specified targets of the invasion, intended to "to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the aim of the invasion, Phase Two of the ongoing offensive on Gaza, is intended to take control of border areas from which Palestinians fire homemade rockets.
"A graveyard"
As the ground invasion began, Hamas leader Isma'il Radwan and Hamas movement spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum held a press conference broadcast from an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip.
Radwan said Gaza would become a "graveyard" for Israeli soldiers. He called on Arab countries to open borders with Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Hamas' military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades warned in a statement that Israel would pay a heavy toll in the ground confrontations in the Gaza Strip.
Airstrikes
According to Ma'an's reporter in Gaza, three Palestinians; a child, a woman and an elderly man have been killed in Israeli air strike on Ash-Shuja'yya neighborhood in Gaza City. A gas station in the area caught fire after it was bombed from the air.
An orphanage and a mosque were targeted at Ar-Rimal neighborhood in the center of Gaza City, and one man was killed.
Meanwhile, a number of people from Abu Khusa family were injured as Israeli warplanes launched missiles at the town of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces also shelled the presidential compound known as As-Saraya in Gaza City was shelled again, after bombarding it in the opening days of the current offensive.
Massive force
Since last Saturday, tens of thousands of Israeli reservists were called up in advance of the invasion. By some reports, 9,000 troops were stationed along the border. It is impossible to measure at this time how many of those were ordered to breach the border.
A reporter for Israel's Channel Two satellite television station, Roni Daniel, said that exchanges of fire have been reported between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza. Hamas also said that its fighters had exchanged fire with the invading forces.
More reservists have been called for the beginning Israeli ground invasion, Daniel added.
The Israeli cabinet also approved the arrival of thousands of reservists in accordance with top military leaders' requests.
Heavy fighting has been reported, with both sides claiming to inflict losses on the other. Reports of casualties are nearly impossible to verify during the nighttime incursion.
The Hamas-affiliated television station based in Gaza reported that five Israeli soldiers had been killed in the fighting, but an Israeli military spokesman said he had no information about casualties on either side.
Separately, medical officials at the local hospital in the town of Beit Hanoun, the northernmost town in the Strip, said the bodies of four dead Palestinians had arrived.
Earlier in the day Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in Beit Lahiya, Rafah and Ash-Shuja'ieyah earlier in the day. At least 465 Palestinians have been killed and some 2300 injured over eight days of intense Israeli shelling and air bombardment.
Al-Jazeera television said Israeli troops had been observed moving into Gaza from three points in the north of the Strip and two more in the center and south. The Israeli military spokesman would only confirm that ground forces "are operating throughout the Gaza Strip."
It appears Israeli forces have not yet entered the densely-populated areas in Gaza City and the surrounding refugee camps. However, residents of Gaza City told Ma'an that American-made Israeli F16 warplanes and Apache helicopters continue to strike every 10 to 15 minutes.
Palestinian fighters affiliated to the Popular Resistance Committees said they detonated a 50 kilogram bomb near in Hayeh Zaytoun, near Gaza City. Palestinian gunmen have also been seen using anti-tank missiles.
Palestinians in the besieged Strip are hunkered down in fear as Israeli warplanes continue to strike. During a phone interview with one resident of Gaza City, explosions could be heard in the background.
Israel: long invasion ahead
All public statements from the Israeli government point to a long operation.
Israeli military spokesperson Avi Benayahu told Israeli Channel Two, "This is not going to be a school trip. We are talking about long days."
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a televised press conference during which he said, "The ground assault on Gaza, will be expanded in order to bring calm and stop the rocket fire." He also ordered a state of alert along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
The decision to carry out a ground invasion came during a meeting held by the Israeli cabinet during a secret session on Friday. According to an Israeli spokesperson the cabinet specified targets of the invasion, intended to "to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the aim of the invasion, Phase Two of the ongoing offensive on Gaza, is intended to take control of border areas from which Palestinians fire homemade rockets.
"A graveyard"
As the ground invasion began, Hamas leader Isma'il Radwan and Hamas movement spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum held a press conference broadcast from an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip.
Radwan said Gaza would become a "graveyard" for Israeli soldiers. He called on Arab countries to open borders with Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Hamas' military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades warned in a statement that Israel would pay a heavy toll in the ground confrontations in the Gaza Strip.
Airstrikes
According to Ma'an's reporter in Gaza, three Palestinians; a child, a woman and an elderly man have been killed in Israeli air strike on Ash-Shuja'yya neighborhood in Gaza City. A gas station in the area caught fire after it was bombed from the air.
An orphanage and a mosque were targeted at Ar-Rimal neighborhood in the center of Gaza City, and one man was killed.
Meanwhile, a number of people from Abu Khusa family were injured as Israeli warplanes launched missiles at the town of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces also shelled the presidential compound known as As-Saraya in Gaza City was shelled again, after bombarding it in the opening days of the current offensive.
Massive force
Since last Saturday, tens of thousands of Israeli reservists were called up in advance of the invasion. By some reports, 9,000 troops were stationed along the border. It is impossible to measure at this time how many of those were ordered to breach the border.
A reporter for Israel's Channel Two satellite television station, Roni Daniel, said that exchanges of fire have been reported between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza. Hamas also said that its fighters had exchanged fire with the invading forces.
More reservists have been called for the beginning Israeli ground invasion, Daniel added.
The Israeli cabinet also approved the arrival of thousands of reservists in accordance with top military leaders' requests.
The armed wing of Fatah claimed responsibility for shelling an Israeli intelligence building in Kisufim on Saturday.
In a statement sent to Ma'an, the Al-Aqsa Brigades said it fired three homemade projectiles toward the building.
The group noted that the shelling "comes to affirm the option of resistance" and that it was in response to "Israeli massacres against Palestinians in Gaza."
"They want an open war; so be it," the statement added.
In a statement sent to Ma'an, the Al-Aqsa Brigades said it fired three homemade projectiles toward the building.
The group noted that the shelling "comes to affirm the option of resistance" and that it was in response to "Israeli massacres against Palestinians in Gaza."
"They want an open war; so be it," the statement added.
Israeli jets shelled the building of Islamic newspaper of Ar-Resalah in Gaza City, destroying the three-floor building on Saturday.
Fire spread through the rubble that was first shelled during the second intifada. The Israeli army considers the newspaper a terrorism-inciting media platform.
Palestinian sources said that five Palestinians who were living around the building were injured and transferred to Ash-Shefa Hospital in Gaza City.
Meanwhile, Israel's air force shelled a publishing house in Gaza City, completely destroying it.
Israeli army computer hackers jammed an Al-Aqsa TV transmission, which is affiliated with Hamas, for a few minutes, during which they transmitted calls for residents to call the Israeli army to inform them of the locations of resistance fighters.
In the jammed transmission appeared images of four Hamas leaders while cell phones are ringing and they do not answer. The army then says that Israel is prepared to answer any phone call.
The Israeli army destroyed the Al-Aqsa TV station during the first day of the ongoing attack.
Fire spread through the rubble that was first shelled during the second intifada. The Israeli army considers the newspaper a terrorism-inciting media platform.
Palestinian sources said that five Palestinians who were living around the building were injured and transferred to Ash-Shefa Hospital in Gaza City.
Meanwhile, Israel's air force shelled a publishing house in Gaza City, completely destroying it.
Israeli army computer hackers jammed an Al-Aqsa TV transmission, which is affiliated with Hamas, for a few minutes, during which they transmitted calls for residents to call the Israeli army to inform them of the locations of resistance fighters.
In the jammed transmission appeared images of four Hamas leaders while cell phones are ringing and they do not answer. The army then says that Israel is prepared to answer any phone call.
The Israeli army destroyed the Al-Aqsa TV station during the first day of the ongoing attack.
Israeli air forces struck an orphanage in the Ar-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza city on Saturday night, Ma'an's reporter in Gaza said.
One person was killed in an attack. The apparent target of the attack was a group of Palestinian fighters stationed near a mosque in the same neighborhood.
Residents of the Ar-Rimal neighborhood said that explosions could be seen in the vicinity of the Al-Amal (Hope) orphanage.
One person was killed in an attack. The apparent target of the attack was a group of Palestinian fighters stationed near a mosque in the same neighborhood.
Residents of the Ar-Rimal neighborhood said that explosions could be seen in the vicinity of the Al-Amal (Hope) orphanage.
Palestinian fighters detonated a 50 kilogram bomb as Israeli forces crossed into the Gaza Strip, a spokesperson of one of the key armed Palestinian armed groups said on Saturday evening.
Abu Mujahid, the spokesman of the An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, told Al-Jazeera television that their forces had set off the massive explosion in an area called Hayeh Zaytoun.
It was not clear if anyone was injured.
He also said that his group is coordinating the defense of the Gaza Strip with all other armed factions, including the Al-Aqsa Brigades, an armed group loyal to Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, and others.
He said the fighters' confidence is "soaring," and that the armed factions are weighing "all options" in their defense of Gaza.
Hamas threatens Israeli soldiers over Gaza invasion
Hamas leader Ismail Radwan warned Israeli soldiers that the operation into the Gaza Strip "will not be a picnic" in a news conference late on Saturday night.
"Gaza will be a graveyard for you," Radwan added, insisting that the Israeli miiltary is not prepared for the Hamas response.
"You will see it soon," Radwan told Palestinians, following comments that "Hamas has prepared a statement of victor for you."
An Israeli military spokesperson had similarly threatening words for the Hamas leadership in Gaza. Avital Leibovitch said that the operation will "destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure."
Abu Mujahid, the spokesman of the An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, told Al-Jazeera television that their forces had set off the massive explosion in an area called Hayeh Zaytoun.
It was not clear if anyone was injured.
He also said that his group is coordinating the defense of the Gaza Strip with all other armed factions, including the Al-Aqsa Brigades, an armed group loyal to Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, and others.
He said the fighters' confidence is "soaring," and that the armed factions are weighing "all options" in their defense of Gaza.
Hamas threatens Israeli soldiers over Gaza invasion
Hamas leader Ismail Radwan warned Israeli soldiers that the operation into the Gaza Strip "will not be a picnic" in a news conference late on Saturday night.
"Gaza will be a graveyard for you," Radwan added, insisting that the Israeli miiltary is not prepared for the Hamas response.
"You will see it soon," Radwan told Palestinians, following comments that "Hamas has prepared a statement of victor for you."
An Israeli military spokesperson had similarly threatening words for the Hamas leadership in Gaza. Avital Leibovitch said that the operation will "destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure."
Hizbullah's spiritual leader warned Israel over its ongoing ground invasion of the Gaza Strip late on Saturday night.
According to Hasan Nasrallah on Hezbollah's official satellite television station, Al-Manar, Israel should expect "big losses" in their incursion into Gaza.
"We will be witnessing new victories of blood over the sword" in Gaza, Nasrallah told a crowd of tens of thousands on in south Beirut on Saturday night.
"Israel's incursion into Gaza is aimed at dividing Gaza and imposing a new status quo," the Hezbollah leader insisted.
According to Hasan Nasrallah on Hezbollah's official satellite television station, Al-Manar, Israel should expect "big losses" in their incursion into Gaza.
"We will be witnessing new victories of blood over the sword" in Gaza, Nasrallah told a crowd of tens of thousands on in south Beirut on Saturday night.
"Israel's incursion into Gaza is aimed at dividing Gaza and imposing a new status quo," the Hezbollah leader insisted.
“They know no limits now”: a New Nakba
Live from Palestine, 3 January 2009 By Eva Bartlett
In the haze of dust and smoke from the latest F-16 strike, a family self-evacuates. The dispatcher at the Jabaliya Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) receives call after call from terrified residents fleeing their homes. It’s a new year, a new Nakba, and an old scene; Israel is bombarding Gaza once again and the world is standing idly by, sitting on a fence very different from the electrified border fence encaging Gaza, or the separation wall dividing and ghettoizing the West Bank. The world sits on the fence, justifying Israel’s massacre of a civilian population already dying from the siege.
We are four ambulances out tonight, versus two last night. The ambulances weave nimbly along blacked-out streets of a manufactured ghost town — like the streets all over Gaza — dodging fresh piles of rubble,
It’s absolutely impossible, unbelievable, it’s a massacre. “They know no limits now,” the medics report. “They are going crazy.”
We pass shells of houses, mosques, schools and shops, and see streams of panicked residents fleeing for their lives. Many more began to flee this morning after yet another night of bombardment on and around their houses. I saw the remains of rubble. This morning when Israel dropped the fliers announcing their intention to bomb the northern regions in collective punishment, residents believed it. The lights in Jabaliya’s PRCS stations are out, the power has just cut. In the dark, and cold, the sounds of explosions outside are more pronounced.
In the haze of dust and smoke from the latest F-16 strike, a family self-evacuates. The dispatcher at the Jabaliya Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) receives call after call from terrified residents fleeing their homes. It’s a new year, a new Nakba, and an old scene; Israel is bombarding Gaza once again and the world is standing idly by, sitting on a fence very different from the electrified border fence encaging Gaza, or the separation wall dividing and ghettoizing the West Bank. The world sits on the fence, justifying Israel’s massacre of a civilian population already dying from the siege.
We are four ambulances out tonight, versus two last night. The ambulances weave nimbly along blacked-out streets of a manufactured ghost town — like the streets all over Gaza — dodging fresh piles of rubble,
It’s absolutely impossible, unbelievable, it’s a massacre. “They know no limits now,” the medics report. “They are going crazy.”
We pass shells of houses, mosques, schools and shops, and see streams of panicked residents fleeing for their lives. Many more began to flee this morning after yet another night of bombardment on and around their houses. I saw the remains of rubble. This morning when Israel dropped the fliers announcing their intention to bomb the northern regions in collective punishment, residents believed it. The lights in Jabaliya’s PRCS stations are out, the power has just cut. In the dark, and cold, the sounds of explosions outside are more pronounced.
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Acrid smoke from the shelling poisons the air. The feeling of being utterly surrounded by war planes, tanks, bulldozers and warships increases as news comes of the latest attack around Gaza: an orphanage in Gaza City, near the Palestine Mosque, with whispers that the holy place is next, marking at least 10 mosques destroyed. The number of dead and injured from the attack on the Ibrahim al-Makadma Mosque today is 11 and 50 respectively, and rising.
The calls for help from the northwest region, and from 500 kilometers east of this ambulance station, must go unanswered. The medics must coordinate with Israel via the ICRC. A bitter irony; the occupier denies permission to leave, the occupier invades, the invader kills and injures, and — beyond belief — holds the power to grant permission to retrieve those that the invader has injured or killed. My article ends in continued disbelief — to the thuds of explosions and Apache blades; to the staccato of firing into the night; and to blasts hitting unknown targets with an unknown end. |
GAZA: 3 January
The American International School in Gaza was hit in an Israeli strike
As I finish writing this I am having to move to the basement of my house with seven members of my family, including a baby aged seven months.
Loud explosions are going off all around and a colleague from the UK is writing down my words as I speak to her on the phone.
I am trying very hard to hide the fear in my voice but I don't think I'm doing a very good job.
The ground invasion has started and now nobody knows what will happen next.
My colleague is asking me if the rest of our team are safe - I spoke to them one hour ago and as far as I know everyone is OK for now.
The colleagues who live in Jabaliya camp have moved out deeper into Gaza so that they can try and stay safe. Jabaliya is a very exposed place and it's safer for people to move out of this area.
Before this ground invasion was launched I had been out visiting children who should have been in school, but of course all the schools are closed.
I heard the news that the American International School was hit in a strike. Of course the school was empty - they all are.
I spoke to 12-year-old Nour today. He studies at Dar Al Arqam school. It was hit in the first few days of the bombing.
Instead of sitting his exams, he sits at home reading books trying desperately to blank out the bombing.
"I have a number of story books. I love reading but I read all the stories. There is no electricity to watch cartoons and there is no safety to go and buy new story books, it's terrifying and boring to stay under fire all this time," he said.
The schools have called the winter holidays early as the security situation is getting worse each day.
But these holidays won't be the same for Nour or his friends. They won't be playing in the streets of Gaza, instead they will be sitting terrified in their houses.
"I'll never enjoy this holiday. Every day I listen to bad news about people being killed.
"I will also not go to my desk if schools open because my class is among the classes which were destroyed," he said.
Nine-year-old Masa is another Gazan child who is trying to make sense of what is happening. "I fill my time in studying, but the sound of planes and shelling is not letting me focus on the lessons. I try to stay near my mother and father and hug them several times a day," she said.
"I got bored of staying at home all this time. I want to play with my friends and cousins. I want the shelling to stop because I become scared when I hear it every day."
It's sad speaking to these children and hearing their stories and thoughts.
They should be playing in the streets, but instead they spend their time hiding indoors - terrified and confused.
More than 50 children were killed during the last week. Schools are shut down and students are not going to their exams.
Tomorrow [Sunday] we had planned to deliver blankets and food parcels to three shelter locations which have been opened in schools for families who live in the border areas and who have been evacuated from their homes.
Now that the ground invasion has started... well, we simply have no idea if we will be able to leave our homes. It's going to be a very long night in Gaza.
As I finish writing this I am having to move to the basement of my house with seven members of my family, including a baby aged seven months.
Loud explosions are going off all around and a colleague from the UK is writing down my words as I speak to her on the phone.
I am trying very hard to hide the fear in my voice but I don't think I'm doing a very good job.
The ground invasion has started and now nobody knows what will happen next.
My colleague is asking me if the rest of our team are safe - I spoke to them one hour ago and as far as I know everyone is OK for now.
The colleagues who live in Jabaliya camp have moved out deeper into Gaza so that they can try and stay safe. Jabaliya is a very exposed place and it's safer for people to move out of this area.
Before this ground invasion was launched I had been out visiting children who should have been in school, but of course all the schools are closed.
I heard the news that the American International School was hit in a strike. Of course the school was empty - they all are.
I spoke to 12-year-old Nour today. He studies at Dar Al Arqam school. It was hit in the first few days of the bombing.
Instead of sitting his exams, he sits at home reading books trying desperately to blank out the bombing.
"I have a number of story books. I love reading but I read all the stories. There is no electricity to watch cartoons and there is no safety to go and buy new story books, it's terrifying and boring to stay under fire all this time," he said.
The schools have called the winter holidays early as the security situation is getting worse each day.
But these holidays won't be the same for Nour or his friends. They won't be playing in the streets of Gaza, instead they will be sitting terrified in their houses.
"I'll never enjoy this holiday. Every day I listen to bad news about people being killed.
"I will also not go to my desk if schools open because my class is among the classes which were destroyed," he said.
Nine-year-old Masa is another Gazan child who is trying to make sense of what is happening. "I fill my time in studying, but the sound of planes and shelling is not letting me focus on the lessons. I try to stay near my mother and father and hug them several times a day," she said.
"I got bored of staying at home all this time. I want to play with my friends and cousins. I want the shelling to stop because I become scared when I hear it every day."
It's sad speaking to these children and hearing their stories and thoughts.
They should be playing in the streets, but instead they spend their time hiding indoors - terrified and confused.
More than 50 children were killed during the last week. Schools are shut down and students are not going to their exams.
Tomorrow [Sunday] we had planned to deliver blankets and food parcels to three shelter locations which have been opened in schools for families who live in the border areas and who have been evacuated from their homes.
Now that the ground invasion has started... well, we simply have no idea if we will be able to leave our homes. It's going to be a very long night in Gaza.
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