25 aug 2011
Israel kills 11 Palestinians in 24 hrs
The death of a Palestinian during the latest round of Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip has raised to 11 the total number of the fatalities caused by Tel Aviv in the besieged enclave over the past 24 hours.
On Thursday, Israeli airstrikes against the coastal sliver claimed the life of a Gaza resident, a Press TV correspondent reported, without specifying the site of the death.
The precise locations, where several of the fatalities were caused, were yet to be known.
Reports, however, noted that two Palestinians were killed during Israeli military aircraft's attacks against different areas across Gaza, including the Toffah and al-Zeytoon neighborhoods located respectively in the east and southeast of the Gaza City in the north of the impoverished sliver.
On Wednesday, Israel launched a series of pre-dawn attacks across the Gaza Strip that continued into the early hours of Thursday, killing six people and wounding 30 others.
Tel Aviv has intensified its attacks against the territory over the past few days. The escalation followed last Thursday's deaths of eight people near Israel's Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
The offensives have left at least 22 Palestinians dead and scores more injured.
Israeli officials have blamed the Gaza-based resistance groups for the Eilat deaths and vowed a 'full force' response targeting Gaza.
Hamas has said that it had nothing to do with the assault and has warned against any act of aggression against the sliver.
The recent Israeli assaults come amid the increasing possibility of another large-scale Israeli invasion against the besieged enclave.
In December 2008, Israel waged a 22-day war against the blockaded sliver, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians and leaving thousands of others injured.
Three weeks of unrelenting aerial, land, and sea strikes also destroyed thousands of civilian and government buildings, devastating a major part of Gaza's infrastructure.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195772.html
Update from aug 25th: 7 killed in overnight airstrikes on Gaza
Seven Palestinians were killed and at least 30 injured as multiple Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza overnight Wednesday.
-- Hisham Adnan Abu Harb was killed as an airstrike hit a smuggling tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Earlier, reports said that three people were unaccounted for after the Rafah airstrike. Four bodies were later pulled from rubble in the Rafah area.
Hamas official Imad Muhammad Hamada had earlier said that crews were searching for the missing persons.
Another Palestinian, -- Salama Al-Masri, was killed and 20 more injured as Israeli planes fired at a gym in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma'an.
-- Ala' Adnan Al-Jakhbir, 22, died Thursday morning from wounds sustained in the strike in Beit Lahiya, medics said.
Among the injured were seven children and four women, Abu Salmiya added.
"The sites were targeted in response to the firing of rockets from Gaza at Israel yesterday evening," an Israeli army statement said. Over 10 projectiles hit southern Israel Wednesday night, injuring an infant, the statement added.
Eilat deadly ambushes spark border violence
The latest airstrikes come amid renewed cross border violence as hostilities flared following a series of shooting attacks in southern Israel last Thursday.
A fragile truce among Gaza militants was announced Sunday evening following four days of border violence.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 19 Palestinians following last Thursday's attacks, of whom at least 14 have been identified as militants, and more than 50 people have been wounded.
During this time Palestinians have fired more than 150 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities in the south, killing one man and injuring more than 20, one critically.
Projectiles and airstrikes renew Tuesday
The truce, reportedly brokered by Egyptian officials, seemed to come unstuck on Tuesday after an Islamic Jihad commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike and a barrage of projectiles from Gaza hit Israel.
The Tuesday strike in the Tal As-Sultan area of southern Gaza killed Ismail Al-Asmar, a field commander in the Al-Quds Brigades, and injured one other person, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmiya.
Palestinian medics later reported finding the body of Ismail Amoum, 65, in the same area. They said his body was blown to pieces, suggesting he may have been caught in the strikes.
Six projectiles were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with no injuries reported, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
The projectiles landed near Hof Askelon, Ofakim, Pithat Shalom and Eshkol in the south of Israel.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for firing 5 Grad rockets towards Ashkelon and Eshkol on Wednesday to avenge the murder of Al-Asmar, a statement said.
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the PFLP, also claimed responsibility for firing a rocket towards Ofakim on Wednesday, a statement said.
Israeli warplanes struck Gaza late Wednesday killing one Palestinian, identified as Atieh Maqat of the Al-Quds Brigades, and injuring another in the Ash-Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, a Ma'an correspondent reported.
The Israeli army said that it had targeted a "terrorist squad" firing projectiles at the Eshkol regional council, south Israel.
The Hamas government accused Israel of violating the unwritten ceasefire agreement with its airstrikes late Wednesday and called for UN intervention.
"Such aggressive behavior confirms that Israel has no true intention of maintaining the truce and insists on escalating the situation," Hamas said.
AFP contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415898
Bahr: Israel's wants a truce without stopping to kill Gaza people
First deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC) Ahmed Bahr said that Israel's military escalation is aimed at imposing what he called the formula of a unilateral "truce with continued killing" in the Gaza Strip.
In a press release on Thursday, Bahr stated that the Israeli occupation state wants the Palestinian people to keep their arms folded and stay idly watching it shedding their blood.
He stressed that the Palestinian people rejects such dysfunctional equation and the truce must be mutual and unconditional in order to survive and last.
The occupation government wants to tailor the truce to its own desire, so that it can give itself the right to violate it at will, the lawmaker said.
"The truce proposed by the occupation is aimed to impose the terms of surrender and submission on the Palestinian people and their resistance, and this cannot be accepted in any way," he added.
Three Killed, 25 Injured, In A Number Of Air Strikes Targeting Gaza
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that three residents were killed, and more than 25 were injured, as the Israeli Air Force bombarded several areas, including a sports center, on Wednesday at night and on Thursday at dawn; a total of five residents were killed, and dozens were wounded in less than 24 hours. 18 residents, including children, were killed since in one week.
The sources stated that resident Hisham Adnan Abu Harb, and another unidentified resident, were killed when the army bombarded a tunnel in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip; three residents went missing.
Also, resident Salama Al Masry was killed, while 20 residents, including 7 children and 4 women, were injured when the army bombarded a sports center in Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip; some of the wounded are in critical conditions.
The sports center was crowded as a sports event was being held when the army bombarded it; medical teams are searching among the rubble to trying to locate and save additional potential casualties.
On Wednesday at night, the Israeli Air Force assassinated a fighter of the Al Quds Brigades, of the Islamic Jihad, in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, in central Gaza. The fighter was identified as Atiyya Maqat.
On Wednesday evening, medics located the remains of a 65-year-old resident, under the rubble of a shelled building east of the Al Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza. Medical sources reported that the body of Ismail Amom, 65, was severely mutilated.
Meanwhile, the Al Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for firing five Grad missiles into Asqalan (Ashkelon) and Eshkol. The Brigades said the shelling come in retaliation to the ongoing Israeli escalation and the assassinated of its fighters.
Israel sources reported that two Grad missiles were fired on Wednesday evening into southern Asqalan and near Ofakim; Israel claimed the shells landed in open areas.
Several shells were also fired at areas in the Eshkol Regional Council in the Negev. No injuries were reported while residents of Shear Hanegev and Eshkol were asked to head to the shelters.
On Sunday, and after Palestinian factions declared truce, Israel killed three Palestinians in Gaza and wounded four others.
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that a total of eighteen Palestinians, including children, were killed and dozens were injured, in ongoing Israeli attacks since last Thursday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61883
The death of a Palestinian during the latest round of Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip has raised to 11 the total number of the fatalities caused by Tel Aviv in the besieged enclave over the past 24 hours.
On Thursday, Israeli airstrikes against the coastal sliver claimed the life of a Gaza resident, a Press TV correspondent reported, without specifying the site of the death.
The precise locations, where several of the fatalities were caused, were yet to be known.
Reports, however, noted that two Palestinians were killed during Israeli military aircraft's attacks against different areas across Gaza, including the Toffah and al-Zeytoon neighborhoods located respectively in the east and southeast of the Gaza City in the north of the impoverished sliver.
On Wednesday, Israel launched a series of pre-dawn attacks across the Gaza Strip that continued into the early hours of Thursday, killing six people and wounding 30 others.
Tel Aviv has intensified its attacks against the territory over the past few days. The escalation followed last Thursday's deaths of eight people near Israel's Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
The offensives have left at least 22 Palestinians dead and scores more injured.
Israeli officials have blamed the Gaza-based resistance groups for the Eilat deaths and vowed a 'full force' response targeting Gaza.
Hamas has said that it had nothing to do with the assault and has warned against any act of aggression against the sliver.
The recent Israeli assaults come amid the increasing possibility of another large-scale Israeli invasion against the besieged enclave.
In December 2008, Israel waged a 22-day war against the blockaded sliver, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians and leaving thousands of others injured.
Three weeks of unrelenting aerial, land, and sea strikes also destroyed thousands of civilian and government buildings, devastating a major part of Gaza's infrastructure.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195772.html
Update from aug 25th: 7 killed in overnight airstrikes on Gaza
Seven Palestinians were killed and at least 30 injured as multiple Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza overnight Wednesday.
-- Hisham Adnan Abu Harb was killed as an airstrike hit a smuggling tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Earlier, reports said that three people were unaccounted for after the Rafah airstrike. Four bodies were later pulled from rubble in the Rafah area.
Hamas official Imad Muhammad Hamada had earlier said that crews were searching for the missing persons.
Another Palestinian, -- Salama Al-Masri, was killed and 20 more injured as Israeli planes fired at a gym in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma'an.
-- Ala' Adnan Al-Jakhbir, 22, died Thursday morning from wounds sustained in the strike in Beit Lahiya, medics said.
Among the injured were seven children and four women, Abu Salmiya added.
"The sites were targeted in response to the firing of rockets from Gaza at Israel yesterday evening," an Israeli army statement said. Over 10 projectiles hit southern Israel Wednesday night, injuring an infant, the statement added.
Eilat deadly ambushes spark border violence
The latest airstrikes come amid renewed cross border violence as hostilities flared following a series of shooting attacks in southern Israel last Thursday.
A fragile truce among Gaza militants was announced Sunday evening following four days of border violence.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 19 Palestinians following last Thursday's attacks, of whom at least 14 have been identified as militants, and more than 50 people have been wounded.
During this time Palestinians have fired more than 150 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities in the south, killing one man and injuring more than 20, one critically.
Projectiles and airstrikes renew Tuesday
The truce, reportedly brokered by Egyptian officials, seemed to come unstuck on Tuesday after an Islamic Jihad commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike and a barrage of projectiles from Gaza hit Israel.
The Tuesday strike in the Tal As-Sultan area of southern Gaza killed Ismail Al-Asmar, a field commander in the Al-Quds Brigades, and injured one other person, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmiya.
Palestinian medics later reported finding the body of Ismail Amoum, 65, in the same area. They said his body was blown to pieces, suggesting he may have been caught in the strikes.
Six projectiles were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with no injuries reported, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
The projectiles landed near Hof Askelon, Ofakim, Pithat Shalom and Eshkol in the south of Israel.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for firing 5 Grad rockets towards Ashkelon and Eshkol on Wednesday to avenge the murder of Al-Asmar, a statement said.
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the PFLP, also claimed responsibility for firing a rocket towards Ofakim on Wednesday, a statement said.
Israeli warplanes struck Gaza late Wednesday killing one Palestinian, identified as Atieh Maqat of the Al-Quds Brigades, and injuring another in the Ash-Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, a Ma'an correspondent reported.
The Israeli army said that it had targeted a "terrorist squad" firing projectiles at the Eshkol regional council, south Israel.
The Hamas government accused Israel of violating the unwritten ceasefire agreement with its airstrikes late Wednesday and called for UN intervention.
"Such aggressive behavior confirms that Israel has no true intention of maintaining the truce and insists on escalating the situation," Hamas said.
AFP contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415898
Bahr: Israel's wants a truce without stopping to kill Gaza people
First deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC) Ahmed Bahr said that Israel's military escalation is aimed at imposing what he called the formula of a unilateral "truce with continued killing" in the Gaza Strip.
In a press release on Thursday, Bahr stated that the Israeli occupation state wants the Palestinian people to keep their arms folded and stay idly watching it shedding their blood.
He stressed that the Palestinian people rejects such dysfunctional equation and the truce must be mutual and unconditional in order to survive and last.
The occupation government wants to tailor the truce to its own desire, so that it can give itself the right to violate it at will, the lawmaker said.
"The truce proposed by the occupation is aimed to impose the terms of surrender and submission on the Palestinian people and their resistance, and this cannot be accepted in any way," he added.
Three Killed, 25 Injured, In A Number Of Air Strikes Targeting Gaza
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that three residents were killed, and more than 25 were injured, as the Israeli Air Force bombarded several areas, including a sports center, on Wednesday at night and on Thursday at dawn; a total of five residents were killed, and dozens were wounded in less than 24 hours. 18 residents, including children, were killed since in one week.
The sources stated that resident Hisham Adnan Abu Harb, and another unidentified resident, were killed when the army bombarded a tunnel in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip; three residents went missing.
Also, resident Salama Al Masry was killed, while 20 residents, including 7 children and 4 women, were injured when the army bombarded a sports center in Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip; some of the wounded are in critical conditions.
The sports center was crowded as a sports event was being held when the army bombarded it; medical teams are searching among the rubble to trying to locate and save additional potential casualties.
On Wednesday at night, the Israeli Air Force assassinated a fighter of the Al Quds Brigades, of the Islamic Jihad, in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, in central Gaza. The fighter was identified as Atiyya Maqat.
On Wednesday evening, medics located the remains of a 65-year-old resident, under the rubble of a shelled building east of the Al Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza. Medical sources reported that the body of Ismail Amom, 65, was severely mutilated.
Meanwhile, the Al Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for firing five Grad missiles into Asqalan (Ashkelon) and Eshkol. The Brigades said the shelling come in retaliation to the ongoing Israeli escalation and the assassinated of its fighters.
Israel sources reported that two Grad missiles were fired on Wednesday evening into southern Asqalan and near Ofakim; Israel claimed the shells landed in open areas.
Several shells were also fired at areas in the Eshkol Regional Council in the Negev. No injuries were reported while residents of Shear Hanegev and Eshkol were asked to head to the shelters.
On Sunday, and after Palestinian factions declared truce, Israel killed three Palestinians in Gaza and wounded four others.
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that a total of eighteen Palestinians, including children, were killed and dozens were injured, in ongoing Israeli attacks since last Thursday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61883
24 aug 2011
65-year-old Palestinian found dead following raids
Isma’il Nemer Ammoum, 65
Body of an old Palestinian who died in Israeli air attacks early on Wednesday was found near the refugee camp of Al-Buraij in the center of Gaza Strip later in the day.
Adham Abu Silimeh, spokesman of the supreme committee for rescue and emergency, told KUNA that medics located the corpse of Ismail Amom, 65.
His body was badly disfigured due to shrapnel, he said. It was taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.
A ranking member of Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group, died and two others were wounded in Israeli attacks that targeted a civilian car and A motorcycle in Rafah early today.
The raids came hours after the Palestinian factions declared intention to restore adherence to the truce with Israel. The Israeli Government also declared that it would not seek escalation action against the Palestinian groups.
However, Israel declared early today that its forces were put on alert in anticipation of a new wave of rocket attacks from the Palestinian regions.
Body of an old Palestinian who died in Israeli air attacks early on Wednesday was found near the refugee camp of Al-Buraij in the center of Gaza Strip later in the day.
Adham Abu Silimeh, spokesman of the supreme committee for rescue and emergency, told KUNA that medics located the corpse of Ismail Amom, 65.
His body was badly disfigured due to shrapnel, he said. It was taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.
A ranking member of Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group, died and two others were wounded in Israeli attacks that targeted a civilian car and A motorcycle in Rafah early today.
The raids came hours after the Palestinian factions declared intention to restore adherence to the truce with Israel. The Israeli Government also declared that it would not seek escalation action against the Palestinian groups.
However, Israel declared early today that its forces were put on alert in anticipation of a new wave of rocket attacks from the Palestinian regions.
Mohammed Moqat 20
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip hours after assassinating a commander of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad Movement.
The 20-year-old Mohammed Moqat was killed in an Israeli airstrike late on Wednesday, AFP quoted Palestinian medical sources as saying.
In the morning, a leader of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, was assassinated in the Gaza Strip.
The incident occurred when an Israeli missile targeted Ismail al-Asmar's car in the southern city of Rafah.
The Wednesday attacks come a day after Palestinian factions announced an informal ceasefire with Tel Aviv.
The Egyptian-mediated ceasefire was aimed at ending the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed 20 Palestinians and left scores more injured.
The Israeli regime stepped up its latest airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, shortly after eight Israelis were killed near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
Israeli officials blamed a Gaza-based group called the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) for Thursday's attack and vowed a “full force” response targeting Gaza.
Israel claimed the attackers had infiltrated from the Gaza Strip, but the PRC, which is not affiliated with the democratically elected Hamas governmnet in Gaza, denied involvement in the incident.
Hamas has said that it had nothing to do with the assault and has warned against any act of aggression against the Palestinian enclave.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195605.html
Israeli warplanes strike Gaza, 1 killed, another injured
Israeli warplanes struck Gaza late Wednesday killing one Palestinian and injuring another, medical officials said, amid reports that six rockets had been fired into southern Israel.
An Israeli airstrike targeted a group of people in the Ash-Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, a Ma'an correspondent said.
One man died and one was injured, medics said.
Six projectiles were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with no injuries reported, the Israeli army said.
The projectiles landed near Hof Askelon, Ofakim, Pithat Shalom and Eshkol in the south of Israel.
Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for firing a grad rocket towards Ashkelon on Wednesday, a statement said, to avenge the murder of their leader Ismail Al-Asmar in an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday morning.
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility for firing a rocket towards Ofakim, a statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415898
Egypt intervention 'prevented major Gaza assault'
Egypt has prevented a major Israeli incursion in the Gaza Strip following the Eilat shootings, according to a report Wednesday in the Israeli press.
In messages conveyed to Israel, it was said that a large-scale military operation could lead Cairo to the point of suspending relations with Israel, which would critically harm the peace treaty.
In a talks held this week between a senior Egyptian official and a very high-placed official in Jerusalem, the latter told him: “We stopped the escalation in Gaza because of you,” according to the report in Maariv.
This was preceded by talks held between Defense Minister Ehud Barak with Gen. Hussein Tantawi and intelligence chief Murad Muwafi, who conveyed messages in a similar vein, the report said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415795
Al-Qassam Brigades leader dies
Hamas military wing leader Mithqal Issa died while receiving hospital treatment abroad, a statement from the Al-Qassam Brigades said Wednesday.
Issa, from Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, was being treated for injuries sustained in an attack by Israel, the statement added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415757
Medics: 1 dead in strike on south Gaza
Israeli aircraft opened fire on the southern Gaza Strip late Tuesday killing a member of Islamic Jihad's military wing, medical and security officials said.
The strike in the Tal As-Sultan area killed Ismail Al-Asmar, a field commander in the Al-Quds Brigades, and injured one other person, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmiya.
Both were taken to Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital, medics said.
Israel's army confirmed in a statement that it targeted al-Asmar, who "was involved in smuggling weapons and sought the execution of terrorist activity in Sinai. A direct hit was confirmed."
The Islamic Jihad field commander "operated with terror elements in the Gaza strip which have recently made several attempts to execute terror attacks in Sinai, on the Israel-Egypt border," the army said.
The strike came as an Egyptian-brokered halt to Palestinian rocket fire appeared to be holding, with the Israeli military saying that calm had prevailed along the border overnight.
Although four rockets were fired into southern Israel in the following hours of the agreement, Israel did not respond, with the press assessing it was unlikely to harm the truce.
"There has been nothing today, compared to 11 yesterday," an Israeli military spokesman said Tuesday, referring to the number of rockets and mortar rounds fired a day earlier.
"So far the truce has largely held," Haaretz newspaper said, referring to a "temporary" ceasefire that was announced late Sunday by a senior official in Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
The truce was announced Sunday evening following four days of violence sparked by a series of shooting ambushes near Eilat in southern Israel on Thursday in which eight Israelis died.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 15 Palestinians, 12 of whom have been identified as militants, and more than 50 people were wounded since Thursday. Among those killed was PRC chief Kamal al-Nayrab.
During this time Palestinians fired more than 100 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities in the south, killing one man and injuring more than 20, one criticall.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415699
Another Attack on Gaza: 'Retaliation' or Genocide?
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip hours after assassinating a commander of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad Movement.
The 20-year-old Mohammed Moqat was killed in an Israeli airstrike late on Wednesday, AFP quoted Palestinian medical sources as saying.
In the morning, a leader of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, was assassinated in the Gaza Strip.
The incident occurred when an Israeli missile targeted Ismail al-Asmar's car in the southern city of Rafah.
The Wednesday attacks come a day after Palestinian factions announced an informal ceasefire with Tel Aviv.
The Egyptian-mediated ceasefire was aimed at ending the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed 20 Palestinians and left scores more injured.
The Israeli regime stepped up its latest airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, shortly after eight Israelis were killed near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
Israeli officials blamed a Gaza-based group called the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) for Thursday's attack and vowed a “full force” response targeting Gaza.
Israel claimed the attackers had infiltrated from the Gaza Strip, but the PRC, which is not affiliated with the democratically elected Hamas governmnet in Gaza, denied involvement in the incident.
Hamas has said that it had nothing to do with the assault and has warned against any act of aggression against the Palestinian enclave.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195605.html
Israeli warplanes strike Gaza, 1 killed, another injured
Israeli warplanes struck Gaza late Wednesday killing one Palestinian and injuring another, medical officials said, amid reports that six rockets had been fired into southern Israel.
An Israeli airstrike targeted a group of people in the Ash-Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, a Ma'an correspondent said.
One man died and one was injured, medics said.
Six projectiles were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with no injuries reported, the Israeli army said.
The projectiles landed near Hof Askelon, Ofakim, Pithat Shalom and Eshkol in the south of Israel.
Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for firing a grad rocket towards Ashkelon on Wednesday, a statement said, to avenge the murder of their leader Ismail Al-Asmar in an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday morning.
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility for firing a rocket towards Ofakim, a statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415898
Egypt intervention 'prevented major Gaza assault'
Egypt has prevented a major Israeli incursion in the Gaza Strip following the Eilat shootings, according to a report Wednesday in the Israeli press.
In messages conveyed to Israel, it was said that a large-scale military operation could lead Cairo to the point of suspending relations with Israel, which would critically harm the peace treaty.
In a talks held this week between a senior Egyptian official and a very high-placed official in Jerusalem, the latter told him: “We stopped the escalation in Gaza because of you,” according to the report in Maariv.
This was preceded by talks held between Defense Minister Ehud Barak with Gen. Hussein Tantawi and intelligence chief Murad Muwafi, who conveyed messages in a similar vein, the report said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415795
Al-Qassam Brigades leader dies
Hamas military wing leader Mithqal Issa died while receiving hospital treatment abroad, a statement from the Al-Qassam Brigades said Wednesday.
Issa, from Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, was being treated for injuries sustained in an attack by Israel, the statement added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415757
Medics: 1 dead in strike on south Gaza
Israeli aircraft opened fire on the southern Gaza Strip late Tuesday killing a member of Islamic Jihad's military wing, medical and security officials said.
The strike in the Tal As-Sultan area killed Ismail Al-Asmar, a field commander in the Al-Quds Brigades, and injured one other person, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmiya.
Both were taken to Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital, medics said.
Israel's army confirmed in a statement that it targeted al-Asmar, who "was involved in smuggling weapons and sought the execution of terrorist activity in Sinai. A direct hit was confirmed."
The Islamic Jihad field commander "operated with terror elements in the Gaza strip which have recently made several attempts to execute terror attacks in Sinai, on the Israel-Egypt border," the army said.
The strike came as an Egyptian-brokered halt to Palestinian rocket fire appeared to be holding, with the Israeli military saying that calm had prevailed along the border overnight.
Although four rockets were fired into southern Israel in the following hours of the agreement, Israel did not respond, with the press assessing it was unlikely to harm the truce.
"There has been nothing today, compared to 11 yesterday," an Israeli military spokesman said Tuesday, referring to the number of rockets and mortar rounds fired a day earlier.
"So far the truce has largely held," Haaretz newspaper said, referring to a "temporary" ceasefire that was announced late Sunday by a senior official in Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
The truce was announced Sunday evening following four days of violence sparked by a series of shooting ambushes near Eilat in southern Israel on Thursday in which eight Israelis died.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 15 Palestinians, 12 of whom have been identified as militants, and more than 50 people were wounded since Thursday. Among those killed was PRC chief Kamal al-Nayrab.
During this time Palestinians fired more than 100 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities in the south, killing one man and injuring more than 20, one criticall.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415699
Another Attack on Gaza: 'Retaliation' or Genocide?
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By Tammy Obeidallah
The latest round of atrocities unleashed upon Palestinians proves yet again that the Israeli government is a homicidal opportunist. Instantly, the problem of mass demonstrations deploring increased cost of living and other economic issues plaguing the Jewish State was solved by rallying Israelis behind the one issue they all seem to have in common: the singular desire to annihilate Palestinians. If that assessment seems harsh, or unfair to Israeli peace activists, it certainly rings true of broader Israeli society. Joseph Dana, a Tel Aviv-based writer and journalist spoke with Aljazeera regarding the protests, |
which according to him, were mute regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestine. “The sad reality is that if Israelis discuss Palestinian rights and specifically the rights of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, they very quickly lose public support,” he stated.
Of course the Israeli spin machine claims the bombardment of Gaza was in response to the Eilat operation, although there is no evidence that Hamas or the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) perpetrated the attack. Dana also wrote in a recent article, “Israel maintains that the PRC is responsible for the attacks but has yet to release any verifiable proof connecting the Gaza based group to the attack which has so far claimed eight lives.”
It is rather sinister that 81 members of our Congress just spent a week in the Jewish State, meeting with Israeli officials at taxpayers’ expense; days later, Gaza is attacked. It is quite probable that the strikes were carefully coordinated while conveniently, world focus is on Libya and Syria.
However, even if armed groups from within Gaza were responsible for the Eilat attacks, retaliation of this sort for a blockade that has led to the deaths of untold thousands is certainly understandable. The siege of Gaza, subsequent incursions and almost daily shootings of civilians for straying too close to the “buffer zone” are acts of war in themselves, thus warrant reaction.
Israel’s 63-year campaign of mass murder and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people is neatly packaged as “retaliation” or “self-defense” against “mortars fired by Palestinian militants” or the hackneyed “homemade rockets.” Mysteriously, the media never reports on these mortars or rockets until Israeli forces “retaliate” for them; then it serves as an excuse for continued genocide.
Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 as “…any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a ) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
If Israeli strikes are “retaliation,” we are left to wonder just what the Israeli military was “retaliating” for during the first four months of 2011, when 49 Palestinians in Gaza were murdered during Israeli raids, including a missile strike that killed three children in the same family, all under age 16. A fourth family member also died in that strike and 13 others, mostly children, were wounded. The blog Occupied Palestine published a list of 160 names representing all those murdered this year alone by the Israeli military, including those in Lebanon and those in Golan, shot for the heinous crime of attempting to go home on the anniversary of Al-Nakba, May 15.
Sadly, in mainstream American media, these victims remain nameless, referred to as simply “militants” or “jihadists.”
Maybe it would not do any good to list their names and ages, anyway. After all, Mahmoud Abu Samra is just another Arabic name which the majority of news anchors could not pronounce correctly. At 13 years of age, his bright eyes and infectious smile were memorialized momentarily on a few social network pages, then joined the sea of images of dead Palestinian children: all victims of a 63-year genocide endorsed by most of the world’s nations.
Yet if his name wasn’t Mahmoud Abu Samra—if it was Tommy Smith or Billy Jones who was mutilated by an enemy missile, if he was one of our children—how many of us would be content to limit our resistance to whining for the United Nations to recognize a fragmented state cobbled together from 13 percent of our original land? Who among us wouldn’t at least consider taking matters into our own hands, thereby granting the enemy more excuses for “retaliation?”
While the Israelis have seemed to scale back their plans for an all-out assault on Gaza for the moment, perhaps waiting for a more politically opportune time, it is important to remember the word “retaliation” can only be applied to the reactions of Palestinians—whatever form they may take—to the death, destruction and humiliation visited upon them daily. If the word “retaliation” is used to describe military operations or draconian economic embargoes carried out by the Jewish State, it must be understood that this is a euphemism for genocide.
- Tammy Obeidallah contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike.
"IAF aircraft targeted the terrorist squad that fired rockets at the Eshkol Regional council from the northern Gaza Strip a short while ago. A hit was confirmed," a statement said.
The man killed was identified as Atieh Maqat, a member of the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds brigades.
Six projectiles were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with no injuries reported, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
The projectiles landed near Hof Askelon, Ofakim, Pithat Shalom and Eshkol in the south of Israel.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for firing 5 Grad rockets towards Ashkelon and Eshkol on Wednesday to avenge the murder of one of their members in an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday morning, a statement said.
The strike in the Tal As-Sultan area of southern Gaza killed Ismail Al-Asmar, a field commander in the Al-Quds Brigades, and injured one other person, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmiya.
Palestinian medics later reported finding the body of Ismail Amoum, 65, in the same area. They said his body was blown to pieces, suggesting he may have been caught in the strikes.
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the PFLP, also claimed responsibility for firing a rocket towards Ofakim on Wednesday, a statement said.
The Hamas government accused Israel of violating the unwritten ceasefire agreement with its latest air strikes and called for UN intervention.
"Such aggressive behavior confirms that Israel has no true intention of maintaining the truce and insists on escalating the situation," Hamas said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415898
Of course the Israeli spin machine claims the bombardment of Gaza was in response to the Eilat operation, although there is no evidence that Hamas or the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) perpetrated the attack. Dana also wrote in a recent article, “Israel maintains that the PRC is responsible for the attacks but has yet to release any verifiable proof connecting the Gaza based group to the attack which has so far claimed eight lives.”
It is rather sinister that 81 members of our Congress just spent a week in the Jewish State, meeting with Israeli officials at taxpayers’ expense; days later, Gaza is attacked. It is quite probable that the strikes were carefully coordinated while conveniently, world focus is on Libya and Syria.
However, even if armed groups from within Gaza were responsible for the Eilat attacks, retaliation of this sort for a blockade that has led to the deaths of untold thousands is certainly understandable. The siege of Gaza, subsequent incursions and almost daily shootings of civilians for straying too close to the “buffer zone” are acts of war in themselves, thus warrant reaction.
Israel’s 63-year campaign of mass murder and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people is neatly packaged as “retaliation” or “self-defense” against “mortars fired by Palestinian militants” or the hackneyed “homemade rockets.” Mysteriously, the media never reports on these mortars or rockets until Israeli forces “retaliate” for them; then it serves as an excuse for continued genocide.
Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 as “…any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a ) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
If Israeli strikes are “retaliation,” we are left to wonder just what the Israeli military was “retaliating” for during the first four months of 2011, when 49 Palestinians in Gaza were murdered during Israeli raids, including a missile strike that killed three children in the same family, all under age 16. A fourth family member also died in that strike and 13 others, mostly children, were wounded. The blog Occupied Palestine published a list of 160 names representing all those murdered this year alone by the Israeli military, including those in Lebanon and those in Golan, shot for the heinous crime of attempting to go home on the anniversary of Al-Nakba, May 15.
Sadly, in mainstream American media, these victims remain nameless, referred to as simply “militants” or “jihadists.”
Maybe it would not do any good to list their names and ages, anyway. After all, Mahmoud Abu Samra is just another Arabic name which the majority of news anchors could not pronounce correctly. At 13 years of age, his bright eyes and infectious smile were memorialized momentarily on a few social network pages, then joined the sea of images of dead Palestinian children: all victims of a 63-year genocide endorsed by most of the world’s nations.
Yet if his name wasn’t Mahmoud Abu Samra—if it was Tommy Smith or Billy Jones who was mutilated by an enemy missile, if he was one of our children—how many of us would be content to limit our resistance to whining for the United Nations to recognize a fragmented state cobbled together from 13 percent of our original land? Who among us wouldn’t at least consider taking matters into our own hands, thereby granting the enemy more excuses for “retaliation?”
While the Israelis have seemed to scale back their plans for an all-out assault on Gaza for the moment, perhaps waiting for a more politically opportune time, it is important to remember the word “retaliation” can only be applied to the reactions of Palestinians—whatever form they may take—to the death, destruction and humiliation visited upon them daily. If the word “retaliation” is used to describe military operations or draconian economic embargoes carried out by the Jewish State, it must be understood that this is a euphemism for genocide.
- Tammy Obeidallah contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike.
"IAF aircraft targeted the terrorist squad that fired rockets at the Eshkol Regional council from the northern Gaza Strip a short while ago. A hit was confirmed," a statement said.
The man killed was identified as Atieh Maqat, a member of the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds brigades.
Six projectiles were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with no injuries reported, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
The projectiles landed near Hof Askelon, Ofakim, Pithat Shalom and Eshkol in the south of Israel.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for firing 5 Grad rockets towards Ashkelon and Eshkol on Wednesday to avenge the murder of one of their members in an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday morning, a statement said.
The strike in the Tal As-Sultan area of southern Gaza killed Ismail Al-Asmar, a field commander in the Al-Quds Brigades, and injured one other person, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmiya.
Palestinian medics later reported finding the body of Ismail Amoum, 65, in the same area. They said his body was blown to pieces, suggesting he may have been caught in the strikes.
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the PFLP, also claimed responsibility for firing a rocket towards Ofakim on Wednesday, a statement said.
The Hamas government accused Israel of violating the unwritten ceasefire agreement with its latest air strikes and called for UN intervention.
"Such aggressive behavior confirms that Israel has no true intention of maintaining the truce and insists on escalating the situation," Hamas said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415898
23 aug 2011
He looks at the camera with bright eyes and the beginning of a smile, wearing a miniature dark blue zipper sweatshirt, the cuffs folded up a bit to make it fit.
I can imagine his mother dressing him that morning, making sure he would be warm enough. I wonder if she’s the one who took the picture. Someone has written on the photo “kisses.”
It’s not a formal picture. He’s outside on a sunny day. It looks like he was probably moving when the picture was snapped; his arms seem to be swinging a little. As with most almost two-year-olds, I suspect it was hard to get him to stay still long enough for a photo.
It’s a happy picture, the kind that makes you smile; perhaps it reminds you of funny, energetic little children you know or remember.
Until you see the next picture. It was taken on his second birthday. His name was Islam Quraiqe’.
Death from a drone strike is not pretty. The small body is charred, ripped apart; internal organs are pouring out.
He had been riding with his father and uncle on a motorcycle in Gaza when the missile hit them. His 29-year-old father, a member of the Palestinian resistance, and 32-year-old uncle physician were also killed. Five bystanders, including a woman, were injured.
The missile was fired remotely by an Israeli sitting in front of a video screen and operating one of the many drones that periodically fly over Gaza and shoot Palestinians like fish in a fishbowl. The operators are usually female, the preferred group for this kind of desk job.
The drones, which look like small, pilotless jets, are equipped with precision-guided missiles.
Those operating them receive real-time video feeds from sensors located on the drone: a color nose camera, a TV lens, an infrared camera for low light and night, and a synthetic radar for looking through smoke, clouds or haze. The cameras produce full motion video as well as still frame radar images.
Numerous articles extol the virtues of Israeli drones. An August 17th article by David Rodman reports: “The Israel Air Force (IAF) has a rich history of employing unmanned aerial vehicles in battle with excellent results.” Rodman crows that with the possible exception of the United States, “Israel is the country most closely identified with [drone] operations in the post-World War II period.”
Islam was the second two-year-old to be killed by Israeli forces in two days.
The first was killed by an Israeli “precision” rocket the day before. The boy’s name was Malek Sha’at. His father was also killed. The only picture available online is of a small shrouded body.
An article by reporter Aaron Klein proclaims that Israeli weapons are “capable of taking out stationary and moving targets with minimal collateral damage.”
Perhaps Klein is right. Two years of life is decidedly minimal. Intolerably so.
Context
During this period (August 18-20, 2011) Israeli forces killed 14 Palestinians including at least one other child, a 13-year-old, and injured at least 50, nine of them children. Gazan resistance forces killed one Israeli and injured about 20 . Gazan hospitals, hard hit by the years-long Israeli siege, report that they have run out of 150 medicines and 160 types of medical equipment z9.
The Israeli assaults were allegedly triggered by attacks on Thursday, August 18th, by unknown gunmen on the Egyptian border with Israel that killed eight Israelis. Israeli forces killed the attackers in Eilat, also shooting dead, according to the BBC, five Egyptian policemen. The Israeli Defense Minister told Egypt afterwards that “Israel regrets the deaths.”
There is no evidence connecting Gazan resistance groups to the attack, and they have denied responsibility for it. Hamas itself had maintained a unilateral de facto ceasefire since 2009 (some independent resistance groups, however, refused to take part in this truce and continued to launch rockets in response to Israeli actions). Groups in Egypt have periodically taken actions opposing Israel. Egyptian authorities say they have identified three of the attackers, who appear to have been based in the Sinai, there are reports that Israeli intelligence warned of the attack ahead of time, and there is mounting information suggesting that the attackers may have been Egyptian, not Gazan.
While many reports describe the Israeli actions as retaliatory, Israeli attacks on Gaza occur regularly and were already ongoing before the Eilat attack. Two days earlier, on Tuesday, an Israeli air strike killed a 29-year-old Palestinian man in the morning, and Israeli ground soldiers killed a disabled teenager later in the day. The youth was shot more than 10 times, mostly in the head. On Wednesday night there were more Israeli air attacks throughout Gaza. (The LA Times called this a period of “relative calm.”) Some analysts suggest that the recent Israeli escalation against Gaza may have been prompted, at least in part, by a Netanyahu desire to deflect energy from the massive social protests that have been enveloping Israel recently.
I can imagine his mother dressing him that morning, making sure he would be warm enough. I wonder if she’s the one who took the picture. Someone has written on the photo “kisses.”
It’s not a formal picture. He’s outside on a sunny day. It looks like he was probably moving when the picture was snapped; his arms seem to be swinging a little. As with most almost two-year-olds, I suspect it was hard to get him to stay still long enough for a photo.
It’s a happy picture, the kind that makes you smile; perhaps it reminds you of funny, energetic little children you know or remember.
Until you see the next picture. It was taken on his second birthday. His name was Islam Quraiqe’.
Death from a drone strike is not pretty. The small body is charred, ripped apart; internal organs are pouring out.
He had been riding with his father and uncle on a motorcycle in Gaza when the missile hit them. His 29-year-old father, a member of the Palestinian resistance, and 32-year-old uncle physician were also killed. Five bystanders, including a woman, were injured.
The missile was fired remotely by an Israeli sitting in front of a video screen and operating one of the many drones that periodically fly over Gaza and shoot Palestinians like fish in a fishbowl. The operators are usually female, the preferred group for this kind of desk job.
The drones, which look like small, pilotless jets, are equipped with precision-guided missiles.
Those operating them receive real-time video feeds from sensors located on the drone: a color nose camera, a TV lens, an infrared camera for low light and night, and a synthetic radar for looking through smoke, clouds or haze. The cameras produce full motion video as well as still frame radar images.
Numerous articles extol the virtues of Israeli drones. An August 17th article by David Rodman reports: “The Israel Air Force (IAF) has a rich history of employing unmanned aerial vehicles in battle with excellent results.” Rodman crows that with the possible exception of the United States, “Israel is the country most closely identified with [drone] operations in the post-World War II period.”
Islam was the second two-year-old to be killed by Israeli forces in two days.
The first was killed by an Israeli “precision” rocket the day before. The boy’s name was Malek Sha’at. His father was also killed. The only picture available online is of a small shrouded body.
An article by reporter Aaron Klein proclaims that Israeli weapons are “capable of taking out stationary and moving targets with minimal collateral damage.”
Perhaps Klein is right. Two years of life is decidedly minimal. Intolerably so.
Context
During this period (August 18-20, 2011) Israeli forces killed 14 Palestinians including at least one other child, a 13-year-old, and injured at least 50, nine of them children. Gazan resistance forces killed one Israeli and injured about 20 . Gazan hospitals, hard hit by the years-long Israeli siege, report that they have run out of 150 medicines and 160 types of medical equipment z9.
The Israeli assaults were allegedly triggered by attacks on Thursday, August 18th, by unknown gunmen on the Egyptian border with Israel that killed eight Israelis. Israeli forces killed the attackers in Eilat, also shooting dead, according to the BBC, five Egyptian policemen. The Israeli Defense Minister told Egypt afterwards that “Israel regrets the deaths.”
There is no evidence connecting Gazan resistance groups to the attack, and they have denied responsibility for it. Hamas itself had maintained a unilateral de facto ceasefire since 2009 (some independent resistance groups, however, refused to take part in this truce and continued to launch rockets in response to Israeli actions). Groups in Egypt have periodically taken actions opposing Israel. Egyptian authorities say they have identified three of the attackers, who appear to have been based in the Sinai, there are reports that Israeli intelligence warned of the attack ahead of time, and there is mounting information suggesting that the attackers may have been Egyptian, not Gazan.
While many reports describe the Israeli actions as retaliatory, Israeli attacks on Gaza occur regularly and were already ongoing before the Eilat attack. Two days earlier, on Tuesday, an Israeli air strike killed a 29-year-old Palestinian man in the morning, and Israeli ground soldiers killed a disabled teenager later in the day. The youth was shot more than 10 times, mostly in the head. On Wednesday night there were more Israeli air attacks throughout Gaza. (The LA Times called this a period of “relative calm.”) Some analysts suggest that the recent Israeli escalation against Gaza may have been prompted, at least in part, by a Netanyahu desire to deflect energy from the massive social protests that have been enveloping Israel recently.
The death toll among Gazans and Israelis has been notably disproportionate. In Israel’s Dec-Jan 2008-09 “Cast Lead” assault, Israeli forces killed approximately 1,387 Gazans , while resistance forces killed nine Israelis. In the preceding year Israeli forces killed 713 Gazans; Gazan resistance fighters killed eight Israelis. Since “Cast Lead” through the end of July of this year, Israeli forces killed approximately 200 Gazans; Palestinian resistance groups killed approximately five Israelis.
Most of Gaza’s residents are refugee families who were forcibly pushed out by Israel in its 1947-49 founding war, in which non-Jews, who originally made up over 70 percent of the inhabitants, were expelled.
In violation of international law, they have been prohibited from returning to their homes and have lived under crippling Israeli occupation for decades. Palestinian land is continually confiscated by Israel for Jewish-only use. A popular uprising against Israeli occupation began in the fall of 2000.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday: “Those who operate against us will be decapitated.” That night at least 100 Israeli military vehicles stormed into the West Bank city of Hebron, closing the city off for hours and rounding up more than 50 Palestinians, including several academics and members of charitable associations.
On Saturday, August 20th, Israeli Aerospace Industries proudly unveiled its latest drone, known as the “GHOST,” which the company announced, “is at the forefront of technology thanks to years of experience and knowledge acquired in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Israel partisan and author David Rodman reports that Israeli drones “played a substantial part” in Israel’s 1982 Lebanon war (in which Israeli forces killed at least 17,825 Lebanese, compared to 344 Israelis killed by the Lebanese resistance) and that their use in what he acknowledges in profound understatement were “asymmetric conflicts” – the 2006 Second Lebanon war (Israeli forces killed at least 1,125 Lebanese , almost all civilians, a third of them children; Lebanese resistance forces killed 164 Israelis, about three-quarters of them soldiers and the 2008–2009 Cast Lead operation – “sparked renewed global interest in Israeli drone operations.”
Rodman states: “In terms of the technological sophistication of its UAV force, Israel is unquestionably well ahead of the pack. Only the United States is in the same league.”
Alison Weir is president of the Council for the National Interest and executive director of If Americans Knew. She can be reached at [email protected].
Netanyahu: Escalation of Violence Must be Avoided
The Israeli Cabinet voted to take steps to reduce the possibility of an escalation in violence this week, reported Haaretz.
The cabinet voted on Monday to abide by the truce that Hamas had declared at the weekend; the meeting involved many defence and security experts and resulted in the decision to try and reduce the chances of more violence.
Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Ehud Barack offered strongly as to why Israel should reduce its attacks on the Gaza Strip. They focussed primarily on the ideas that continuing to barrage Gaza with air strikes would result in international isolation; the Iron Dome rocket system – currently used to intercept rockets fired towards Israel – has limited capabilities and cannot offer a complete form of defence; and that any all-out war with Gaza could also result in worsening diplomatic ties with Egypt.
Some MKs have been urging the Israeli government to respond more harshly to the rockets that have been fired into Southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Quoted in Israeli daily Haaretz, one of Netanyahu’s aides stated: "There's a sensitive situation in the Middle East, which is one big boiling pot; there's the international arena; there's the Palestinian move in the United Nations in September, we have to pick our way carefully.”
Talking about the Iron Dome system the aide said "If we had even one more battery, we could defend another medium-sized city. That's precisely why we need to prepare instead of rushing into war."
Most of Gaza’s residents are refugee families who were forcibly pushed out by Israel in its 1947-49 founding war, in which non-Jews, who originally made up over 70 percent of the inhabitants, were expelled.
In violation of international law, they have been prohibited from returning to their homes and have lived under crippling Israeli occupation for decades. Palestinian land is continually confiscated by Israel for Jewish-only use. A popular uprising against Israeli occupation began in the fall of 2000.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday: “Those who operate against us will be decapitated.” That night at least 100 Israeli military vehicles stormed into the West Bank city of Hebron, closing the city off for hours and rounding up more than 50 Palestinians, including several academics and members of charitable associations.
On Saturday, August 20th, Israeli Aerospace Industries proudly unveiled its latest drone, known as the “GHOST,” which the company announced, “is at the forefront of technology thanks to years of experience and knowledge acquired in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Israel partisan and author David Rodman reports that Israeli drones “played a substantial part” in Israel’s 1982 Lebanon war (in which Israeli forces killed at least 17,825 Lebanese, compared to 344 Israelis killed by the Lebanese resistance) and that their use in what he acknowledges in profound understatement were “asymmetric conflicts” – the 2006 Second Lebanon war (Israeli forces killed at least 1,125 Lebanese , almost all civilians, a third of them children; Lebanese resistance forces killed 164 Israelis, about three-quarters of them soldiers and the 2008–2009 Cast Lead operation – “sparked renewed global interest in Israeli drone operations.”
Rodman states: “In terms of the technological sophistication of its UAV force, Israel is unquestionably well ahead of the pack. Only the United States is in the same league.”
Alison Weir is president of the Council for the National Interest and executive director of If Americans Knew. She can be reached at [email protected].
Netanyahu: Escalation of Violence Must be Avoided
The Israeli Cabinet voted to take steps to reduce the possibility of an escalation in violence this week, reported Haaretz.
The cabinet voted on Monday to abide by the truce that Hamas had declared at the weekend; the meeting involved many defence and security experts and resulted in the decision to try and reduce the chances of more violence.
Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Ehud Barack offered strongly as to why Israel should reduce its attacks on the Gaza Strip. They focussed primarily on the ideas that continuing to barrage Gaza with air strikes would result in international isolation; the Iron Dome rocket system – currently used to intercept rockets fired towards Israel – has limited capabilities and cannot offer a complete form of defence; and that any all-out war with Gaza could also result in worsening diplomatic ties with Egypt.
Some MKs have been urging the Israeli government to respond more harshly to the rockets that have been fired into Southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Quoted in Israeli daily Haaretz, one of Netanyahu’s aides stated: "There's a sensitive situation in the Middle East, which is one big boiling pot; there's the international arena; there's the Palestinian move in the United Nations in September, we have to pick our way carefully.”
Talking about the Iron Dome system the aide said "If we had even one more battery, we could defend another medium-sized city. That's precisely why we need to prepare instead of rushing into war."
