9 dec 2011
Ramadan al-Za'lan 9
Ramadan al-Za'lan 9
Nature of incident: Killed in Israeli air strike
On 9 December 2011, a nine-year-old boy is killed and his eight-year-old bother is injured when their house is hit in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City.
Nine-year-old Ramadan lived with his family in the Al Murabetin neighbourhood of Gaza City, near a training camp of Hamas’ military wing, Al Qassam Brigades. On the evening of 8 December 2011, “planes were bombing different targets in Gaza, and drone planes were circling overhead,” recalls Ramadan’s mother, Sa’da. “Their sound was very annoying and they interrupted the television signal, so my husband had to turn it off.”
“I prepared the beds as usual to put the children to sleep,” she continues. “That day, my husband had bought new blankets for the children, and Yousif and Ramadan started fighting to choose them. They were so excited about the new blankets. When they slept I went to bed with my husband and my little baby, Ahmad. Everything was quiet, and my husband told me that the training site had been evacuated in case there was bombing,” Sa’da explains.
At around 2:00 am, “I was half asleep breastfeeding Ahmad, when I felt the house was collapsing and rubble and stones falling on me. I covered Ahmad’s face and mine with the blanket to protect him, and immediately after that I heard an explosion shaking the entire place. More stones started falling on me, and the walls started collapsing. The window fell on my chest and abdomen. I turned my body to cover Ahmad. I was in a lot of pain and could not understand what was going on.”
The next thing Sa’da remembers is hearing the neighbours shouting, rescuing her and her family out from under the rubble. At the hospital, Sa’da regained consciousness and asked about her family. She was told that her husband had been killed, and both Yousif and Ramadan were being treated at the hospital. “I was discharged from hospital the next day at around 3:00 pm, and went back home to say goodbye to my husband before the burial. Later that day, at around seven in the evening, I received shocking news. People started crying around me and I asked: “Who died?” They said it was my son Ramadan.”
Speaking to DCI on 11 December 2011, Sa’da says: “I haven’t been able to cry. I couldn’t even cry when they brought Ramadan on Saturday for me to say goodbye. Yousif has been transferred to an Israeli hospital for further treatment... If he dies, I won’t be able to bear the loss of my two sons and their father. I am now living at my father-in-law’s house. Rima (3) was not injured but she spends her time sleeping. She opens her eyes and cries because she is very scared. She clings to me and cries herself to sleep. Iman (5) is still little but when you ask her about what happened, she says the house collapsed on us and her father went to heaven. She never mentions Yousif or Ramadan. She thinks the mourning tent in the neighbourhood is a party we are having because her father went to heaven. I should cry, right? But I cannot. I pray for Yousif to get better and come back home, and for God to have mercy on his brother and his father.”
Gaza boy succumbs to wounds from Friday airstrike
A 9-year-old boy who was injured in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier Friday has succumbed to his wounds, Palestinian medical officials said.
Ramadan Bahjat Zaalan had been placed in ICU at Shifa hospital after the airstrike which injured several members of his family. Five family members are still hospitalized.
Zaalan's death raises the death toll to five in the past 48 hours.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443550
Gaza Attack: “My Uncle Died in my Arms”
“My uncle was breathing when I found him under the rubble,” said Migdad Elzalaan. “He told me, ‘Look after our family, look after the children. Look after them,’ and then he died, right in my arms.”
At around 2am on Thursday night, Israeli forces bombed the area beside the Elzalaan household in northern Gaza City, injuring thirteen members of his family and killing his uncle. Migdad’s 9-year-old cousin, Ramadan, died in hospital from his injuries less than a day after the attack.
As 20-year-old Elzalaan stood recalling the night’s attack, he dislodged blocks of rubble poking through large holes in the roof, fearing that they might fall on our heads. He stumbled through the remains of his home while rubble cracked and snapped underfoot, small pieces of house falling occasionally while a drone buzzed heavily, circling above the ruins of the house.
Elzalaan was sitting at the computer before the first bomb hit.
“I brought my younger sisters, Samaa and Samar into the living room, with my grandmother. I tried to shield them and as the first bomb hit, I was injured in my back and leg by pieces of falling rubble. Afterwards, I took my family out of the house to safety.”
After the second bomb struck, Elzalaan headed to his uncle’s house, which shares a wall with his own. “My uncle, his wife and their baby were under the rubble. My aunt told me to leave her, just to take her baby, Ahmed, to safety. I picked him out of the rubble and handed him to someone.”
As soon the 6-month-old was taken to safety, Israeli forces dropped a third bomb. “I shielded my aunt during the third bomb, and then afterwards helped her out of the house.” Elzalaan then returned for his uncle, Bahjat, who was buried underneath the rubble.
The 33-year-old father-of-five told Migdad to look after his family before dying in his nephew’s arms.
“I carried my uncle out of the building and then we brought a jeep to take everyone to hospital, because no ambulances came. By the dawn call to prayer, we were on our way to hospital.”
“During the bombing I was yelling and pulling my hair out,” Elzalaan explained, “Absolutely everyone was injured – thirteen members of my family. My two cousins are still in hospital, they are critically wounded. They are ten and twelve years old.” Hours later, Ramadan, the elder of Elzalaan’s cousins, died of his injuries.
Elzalaan’s neighbor passed through the house, pointed to the rubble and yelled, “This is what Israel does. There were no fighters here, just children and a family. This isn’t a home anymore.”
Migdad Elzalaan’s home was also badly damaged in an Israeli airstrike during the 2008-2009 war and repaired by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
http://paper.li/danmike1/1310118405
Child, 9, Dies Of Wounds Suffered During Israeli Shelling On Gaza
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that a child identified as Ramadan Bahjat Az-Za’lan, 9, died of wounds he suffered when the army bombarded his family’s’ home on Friday, north of Gaza City. His father died instantly after the bombardment; 17 residents, including several members of his family, were injured.
The child and several members of his family were injured in the Israeli bombardment and were moved to the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
He remained in a serious condition at the Intensive Care Unit until he died of his injuries, medical sources in Gaza reported.
Five members of his family are still hospitalized; they were all wounded when an Israeli missile hit their home as they slept.
Bahjat Az-Zalan, 42, the father of the child, was immediately killed in the Israeli bombardment; thousands participated in his funeral on Friday afternoon.
With the death of the child and his father, the number of Palestinians killed in the latest Israeli escalation (in 48 hours) arrived to five, while several others were wounded.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62643
Nature of incident: Killed in Israeli air strike
On 9 December 2011, a nine-year-old boy is killed and his eight-year-old bother is injured when their house is hit in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City.
Nine-year-old Ramadan lived with his family in the Al Murabetin neighbourhood of Gaza City, near a training camp of Hamas’ military wing, Al Qassam Brigades. On the evening of 8 December 2011, “planes were bombing different targets in Gaza, and drone planes were circling overhead,” recalls Ramadan’s mother, Sa’da. “Their sound was very annoying and they interrupted the television signal, so my husband had to turn it off.”
“I prepared the beds as usual to put the children to sleep,” she continues. “That day, my husband had bought new blankets for the children, and Yousif and Ramadan started fighting to choose them. They were so excited about the new blankets. When they slept I went to bed with my husband and my little baby, Ahmad. Everything was quiet, and my husband told me that the training site had been evacuated in case there was bombing,” Sa’da explains.
At around 2:00 am, “I was half asleep breastfeeding Ahmad, when I felt the house was collapsing and rubble and stones falling on me. I covered Ahmad’s face and mine with the blanket to protect him, and immediately after that I heard an explosion shaking the entire place. More stones started falling on me, and the walls started collapsing. The window fell on my chest and abdomen. I turned my body to cover Ahmad. I was in a lot of pain and could not understand what was going on.”
The next thing Sa’da remembers is hearing the neighbours shouting, rescuing her and her family out from under the rubble. At the hospital, Sa’da regained consciousness and asked about her family. She was told that her husband had been killed, and both Yousif and Ramadan were being treated at the hospital. “I was discharged from hospital the next day at around 3:00 pm, and went back home to say goodbye to my husband before the burial. Later that day, at around seven in the evening, I received shocking news. People started crying around me and I asked: “Who died?” They said it was my son Ramadan.”
Speaking to DCI on 11 December 2011, Sa’da says: “I haven’t been able to cry. I couldn’t even cry when they brought Ramadan on Saturday for me to say goodbye. Yousif has been transferred to an Israeli hospital for further treatment... If he dies, I won’t be able to bear the loss of my two sons and their father. I am now living at my father-in-law’s house. Rima (3) was not injured but she spends her time sleeping. She opens her eyes and cries because she is very scared. She clings to me and cries herself to sleep. Iman (5) is still little but when you ask her about what happened, she says the house collapsed on us and her father went to heaven. She never mentions Yousif or Ramadan. She thinks the mourning tent in the neighbourhood is a party we are having because her father went to heaven. I should cry, right? But I cannot. I pray for Yousif to get better and come back home, and for God to have mercy on his brother and his father.”
Gaza boy succumbs to wounds from Friday airstrike
A 9-year-old boy who was injured in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier Friday has succumbed to his wounds, Palestinian medical officials said.
Ramadan Bahjat Zaalan had been placed in ICU at Shifa hospital after the airstrike which injured several members of his family. Five family members are still hospitalized.
Zaalan's death raises the death toll to five in the past 48 hours.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443550
Gaza Attack: “My Uncle Died in my Arms”
“My uncle was breathing when I found him under the rubble,” said Migdad Elzalaan. “He told me, ‘Look after our family, look after the children. Look after them,’ and then he died, right in my arms.”
At around 2am on Thursday night, Israeli forces bombed the area beside the Elzalaan household in northern Gaza City, injuring thirteen members of his family and killing his uncle. Migdad’s 9-year-old cousin, Ramadan, died in hospital from his injuries less than a day after the attack.
As 20-year-old Elzalaan stood recalling the night’s attack, he dislodged blocks of rubble poking through large holes in the roof, fearing that they might fall on our heads. He stumbled through the remains of his home while rubble cracked and snapped underfoot, small pieces of house falling occasionally while a drone buzzed heavily, circling above the ruins of the house.
Elzalaan was sitting at the computer before the first bomb hit.
“I brought my younger sisters, Samaa and Samar into the living room, with my grandmother. I tried to shield them and as the first bomb hit, I was injured in my back and leg by pieces of falling rubble. Afterwards, I took my family out of the house to safety.”
After the second bomb struck, Elzalaan headed to his uncle’s house, which shares a wall with his own. “My uncle, his wife and their baby were under the rubble. My aunt told me to leave her, just to take her baby, Ahmed, to safety. I picked him out of the rubble and handed him to someone.”
As soon the 6-month-old was taken to safety, Israeli forces dropped a third bomb. “I shielded my aunt during the third bomb, and then afterwards helped her out of the house.” Elzalaan then returned for his uncle, Bahjat, who was buried underneath the rubble.
The 33-year-old father-of-five told Migdad to look after his family before dying in his nephew’s arms.
“I carried my uncle out of the building and then we brought a jeep to take everyone to hospital, because no ambulances came. By the dawn call to prayer, we were on our way to hospital.”
“During the bombing I was yelling and pulling my hair out,” Elzalaan explained, “Absolutely everyone was injured – thirteen members of my family. My two cousins are still in hospital, they are critically wounded. They are ten and twelve years old.” Hours later, Ramadan, the elder of Elzalaan’s cousins, died of his injuries.
Elzalaan’s neighbor passed through the house, pointed to the rubble and yelled, “This is what Israel does. There were no fighters here, just children and a family. This isn’t a home anymore.”
Migdad Elzalaan’s home was also badly damaged in an Israeli airstrike during the 2008-2009 war and repaired by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
http://paper.li/danmike1/1310118405
Child, 9, Dies Of Wounds Suffered During Israeli Shelling On Gaza
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that a child identified as Ramadan Bahjat Az-Za’lan, 9, died of wounds he suffered when the army bombarded his family’s’ home on Friday, north of Gaza City. His father died instantly after the bombardment; 17 residents, including several members of his family, were injured.
The child and several members of his family were injured in the Israeli bombardment and were moved to the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
He remained in a serious condition at the Intensive Care Unit until he died of his injuries, medical sources in Gaza reported.
Five members of his family are still hospitalized; they were all wounded when an Israeli missile hit their home as they slept.
Bahjat Az-Zalan, 42, the father of the child, was immediately killed in the Israeli bombardment; thousands participated in his funeral on Friday afternoon.
With the death of the child and his father, the number of Palestinians killed in the latest Israeli escalation (in 48 hours) arrived to five, while several others were wounded.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62643
Gaza death toll rises to 4
Violence has flared between Israel and Gaza, with the Israeli air force killing four Palestinians and armed groups firing rockets far across the border.
The fighting erupted on Thursday when an airstrike on a car killed an operative for Hamas' armed wing and another from a group affiliated with Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Israel accused them both of planning to send gunmen to attack it through Egypt.
Fighters responded to Thursday's airstrike with a barrage of rockets, some of which landed near Beersheba. No one was hurt. Air-raid sirens summoned residents of southern Israel to shelters.
Another Israeli airstrike followed before dawn Friday, hitting a Hamas facility in Gaza City.
The blast flattened a nearby home, killing its owner; the man's 12-year-old son was pronounced dead hours later. The man's wife and five other children were wounded, hospital officials said.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the series of Israeli attacks.
PLO official Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio that Israel was trying to "sabotage" the calm that had prevailed in the region following reconciliation efforts, the PA news agency Wafa reported.
Hamas accused Israel of a "massacre", while Israel both expressed regret for the civilian casualties and alleged that Hamas had stored rockets next to the camp, leading to the explosion.
Israel's chief of staff Benny Gantz, meanwhile, gathered his top army officials to review the security situation following renewed violence in Gaza and the Negev, Israeli media said.
Army, air force and naval commanders attended the meeting, Ynet news reported.
Militants stepped up rocket attacks as night fell.
Three groups said they had fired more than a dozen projectiles across the border. Israel police said at least 10 landed in Israeli territory, causing no casualties.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said it fired three "Aqsa missiles" at Ashkelon.
The brigades also said it fired three missiles toward the Shaar Hanegev regional council a day earlier in response to Israel's "aggression" which accelerated over the past 24 hours.
Witnesses in Gaza reported heavy activity of Israeli drones over head.
Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister in Gaza, said he was "pursuing intensive contacts with several Arab and international parties, and we stress the necessity of this aggression being stopped immediately".
Speaking after Friday prayers in Gaza City, Haniyeh told reporters that Israel's latest flare up in aggression was preceded by threats of a new military action by Israeli leaders.
The raids demonstrated Israel's intentions toward the Palestinian people in Gaza, he said. Such violence will fail because of the resolve of Gaza's residents and the resistance's ability to protect the enclave, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443575
Violence has flared between Israel and Gaza, with the Israeli air force killing four Palestinians and armed groups firing rockets far across the border.
The fighting erupted on Thursday when an airstrike on a car killed an operative for Hamas' armed wing and another from a group affiliated with Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Israel accused them both of planning to send gunmen to attack it through Egypt.
Fighters responded to Thursday's airstrike with a barrage of rockets, some of which landed near Beersheba. No one was hurt. Air-raid sirens summoned residents of southern Israel to shelters.
Another Israeli airstrike followed before dawn Friday, hitting a Hamas facility in Gaza City.
The blast flattened a nearby home, killing its owner; the man's 12-year-old son was pronounced dead hours later. The man's wife and five other children were wounded, hospital officials said.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the series of Israeli attacks.
PLO official Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio that Israel was trying to "sabotage" the calm that had prevailed in the region following reconciliation efforts, the PA news agency Wafa reported.
Hamas accused Israel of a "massacre", while Israel both expressed regret for the civilian casualties and alleged that Hamas had stored rockets next to the camp, leading to the explosion.
Israel's chief of staff Benny Gantz, meanwhile, gathered his top army officials to review the security situation following renewed violence in Gaza and the Negev, Israeli media said.
Army, air force and naval commanders attended the meeting, Ynet news reported.
Militants stepped up rocket attacks as night fell.
Three groups said they had fired more than a dozen projectiles across the border. Israel police said at least 10 landed in Israeli territory, causing no casualties.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said it fired three "Aqsa missiles" at Ashkelon.
The brigades also said it fired three missiles toward the Shaar Hanegev regional council a day earlier in response to Israel's "aggression" which accelerated over the past 24 hours.
Witnesses in Gaza reported heavy activity of Israeli drones over head.
Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister in Gaza, said he was "pursuing intensive contacts with several Arab and international parties, and we stress the necessity of this aggression being stopped immediately".
Speaking after Friday prayers in Gaza City, Haniyeh told reporters that Israel's latest flare up in aggression was preceded by threats of a new military action by Israeli leaders.
The raids demonstrated Israel's intentions toward the Palestinian people in Gaza, he said. Such violence will fail because of the resolve of Gaza's residents and the resistance's ability to protect the enclave, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443575
Update: Israeli airstrikes kill 3, hurt 15 Gazans
Israel has conducted a number of aerial attacks against the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding over a dozen others, Press TV reports.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes launched several airstrikes which left 15 people including seven children injured.
Two of the wounded children are in critical condition, hospital officials said.
The air raids follow another Israeli attack in Gaza on Wednesday, which left two Palestinians dead.
The Israeli military frequently also uses the assassination drones to launch attacks or to detect targets for Israeli F16 jets and Apache helicopters.
Gaza Strip remains under an Israeli blockade as international calls for the lifting of the siege falls on deaf ears in Tel Aviv.
The blockade even stood throughout the 22-day war Israel waged against Gazans at the turn of 2009. The deadly onslaught claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians and devastated a large portion of the infrastructure in the impoverished enclave.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/214639.html
Israel has conducted a number of aerial attacks against the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding over a dozen others, Press TV reports.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes launched several airstrikes which left 15 people including seven children injured.
Two of the wounded children are in critical condition, hospital officials said.
The air raids follow another Israeli attack in Gaza on Wednesday, which left two Palestinians dead.
The Israeli military frequently also uses the assassination drones to launch attacks or to detect targets for Israeli F16 jets and Apache helicopters.
Gaza Strip remains under an Israeli blockade as international calls for the lifting of the siege falls on deaf ears in Tel Aviv.
The blockade even stood throughout the 22-day war Israel waged against Gazans at the turn of 2009. The deadly onslaught claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians and devastated a large portion of the infrastructure in the impoverished enclave.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/214639.html
Bahjat Ramadan Yousef al-Za'lan , 37
Israeli airstrikes again struck the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing one Palestinian and wounded 13 others, mostly women and children, Palestinian medical officials said.
Israeli war planes hit a Hamas training camp, damaging nearby houses and killing 38-year-old father Bahjat al-Zaalan and wounding 13 members of his family, including seven children.
The airstrike prompted retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian fighters, with the Israeli Army reporting three rockets landed in Israel causing no casualties.
The attack came a day after Israeli fighter jets again struck Gaza, killing two brothers in a car in Gaza City.
Palestinian fighters responded to that airstrike last night with a volley of rockets into southern Israel, again with no casualties reported.
A Hamas spokesman said the initial airstrike was a crime and accused Israel of escalating violence in the area.
"We hold the government of the Zionist occupation fully responsible for this crime and for the new escalation," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
Hamas government official, Ahmad Abu Ayesh al-Najjar, said Israel had violated an "undeclared truce."
“The Zionist entity does not need any excuses to attack Palestinians...the Israeli army is trying to escalate things and force the Palestinians to respond,” al-Najjar told al-Akhbar.
Gaza-based journalist, Ruqaya Izzidien, said the latest Israeli escalation in Gaza could be more to do with internal Israeli politics, than any attempt to ignite a new war with Hamas.
Izzidien pointed to the prisoner exchange deal involving Israeli soldier Gilat Shalit in October, which she claims cost the Israeli government some public support.
The attacks also occurred on the 24th anniversary of the first Palestinian intifada, Izzidien noted.
"It is plausible that the Israeli military is attempting to save face and rekindle some of the lost support from its public, both on this important anniversary and ahead of the second round in the prisoner exchange," Izzidien told al-Akhbar.
An Israeli military spokesperson said the Thursday attack was carried out because the two men were believed to be planning an operation to attack Israeli civilians near the border with Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
This was denied by al-Najjar, who said the men were in civilian clothes when attacked.
"This is the repeated story of the Zionist entity, all the time they claim the civilians they target are planning to attack the Zionist entity, but it's only Palestinians getting killed," he said.
"[Israel's accusations are] just an excuse to justify this monstrous attack on the Palestinian people," he added.
The Israeli spokesperson also said one of the men was suspected to be involved in the planning of a suicide attack five years ago, but these allegations could not be confirmed.
http://paper.li/danmike1/1310118405
Israel Holds Hamas Responsible For Latest Escalation
The Israeli Army and the Defense Ministry held the Hamas movement in Gaza responsible for the death of a Palestinian father, on Friday, and the injury of 17 residents, including seven children of the same family, when the army bombarded an area believed to be a training center of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
A spokesperson of the Israeli army claimed that explosions took place after the army carried out an air strike in Gaza City, adding that side explosions took place following the strike and attributed the explosions to the claim that Hamas and other armed groups stored weapons and explosives near the targeted area”.
The spokesperson added that “he is sorry that innocent civilians were killed, and injured, in the Air Strikes”, and stressed that “Hamas is fully responsible for this outcome due to its terrorist activities”.
Adham Abu Salmiyya, spokesperson of the Higher Committee of the Medical and Emergency Services in Gaza, reported Friday that resident Bahjat Az-Za’lan, 38, from Gaza City, was killed while twelve residents, most of them members of his family- including his wife and a number of their children- were injured. Two of his wounded children are in serious condition. The injured include seven children, two women and two elderly.
Abu Salmiyya described the attack as a “Massacre targeting the civilians.” Also, medics provided treatment to five more residents who were injured by shrapnel.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior in Gaza issued a statement on Friday holding Israel responsible for targeting a civilian car in central Gaza on Thursday afternoon leading to the death of Sobhi Ala’ Al Batsh, 21, and Isam Al Batsh, while several bystanders were injured, some seriously. The two are members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement.
The Ministry called on the International Community and human rights groups to intervene and stop the Israeli military escalation on Gaza.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62640
One Palestinian killed, 17 others wounded in occupation airstrikes
Israeli airstrikes again struck the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing one Palestinian and wounded 13 others, mostly women and children, Palestinian medical officials said.
Israeli war planes hit a Hamas training camp, damaging nearby houses and killing 38-year-old father Bahjat al-Zaalan and wounding 13 members of his family, including seven children.
The airstrike prompted retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian fighters, with the Israeli Army reporting three rockets landed in Israel causing no casualties.
The attack came a day after Israeli fighter jets again struck Gaza, killing two brothers in a car in Gaza City.
Palestinian fighters responded to that airstrike last night with a volley of rockets into southern Israel, again with no casualties reported.
A Hamas spokesman said the initial airstrike was a crime and accused Israel of escalating violence in the area.
"We hold the government of the Zionist occupation fully responsible for this crime and for the new escalation," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
Hamas government official, Ahmad Abu Ayesh al-Najjar, said Israel had violated an "undeclared truce."
“The Zionist entity does not need any excuses to attack Palestinians...the Israeli army is trying to escalate things and force the Palestinians to respond,” al-Najjar told al-Akhbar.
Gaza-based journalist, Ruqaya Izzidien, said the latest Israeli escalation in Gaza could be more to do with internal Israeli politics, than any attempt to ignite a new war with Hamas.
Izzidien pointed to the prisoner exchange deal involving Israeli soldier Gilat Shalit in October, which she claims cost the Israeli government some public support.
The attacks also occurred on the 24th anniversary of the first Palestinian intifada, Izzidien noted.
"It is plausible that the Israeli military is attempting to save face and rekindle some of the lost support from its public, both on this important anniversary and ahead of the second round in the prisoner exchange," Izzidien told al-Akhbar.
An Israeli military spokesperson said the Thursday attack was carried out because the two men were believed to be planning an operation to attack Israeli civilians near the border with Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
This was denied by al-Najjar, who said the men were in civilian clothes when attacked.
"This is the repeated story of the Zionist entity, all the time they claim the civilians they target are planning to attack the Zionist entity, but it's only Palestinians getting killed," he said.
"[Israel's accusations are] just an excuse to justify this monstrous attack on the Palestinian people," he added.
The Israeli spokesperson also said one of the men was suspected to be involved in the planning of a suicide attack five years ago, but these allegations could not be confirmed.
http://paper.li/danmike1/1310118405
Israel Holds Hamas Responsible For Latest Escalation
The Israeli Army and the Defense Ministry held the Hamas movement in Gaza responsible for the death of a Palestinian father, on Friday, and the injury of 17 residents, including seven children of the same family, when the army bombarded an area believed to be a training center of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
A spokesperson of the Israeli army claimed that explosions took place after the army carried out an air strike in Gaza City, adding that side explosions took place following the strike and attributed the explosions to the claim that Hamas and other armed groups stored weapons and explosives near the targeted area”.
The spokesperson added that “he is sorry that innocent civilians were killed, and injured, in the Air Strikes”, and stressed that “Hamas is fully responsible for this outcome due to its terrorist activities”.
Adham Abu Salmiyya, spokesperson of the Higher Committee of the Medical and Emergency Services in Gaza, reported Friday that resident Bahjat Az-Za’lan, 38, from Gaza City, was killed while twelve residents, most of them members of his family- including his wife and a number of their children- were injured. Two of his wounded children are in serious condition. The injured include seven children, two women and two elderly.
Abu Salmiyya described the attack as a “Massacre targeting the civilians.” Also, medics provided treatment to five more residents who were injured by shrapnel.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior in Gaza issued a statement on Friday holding Israel responsible for targeting a civilian car in central Gaza on Thursday afternoon leading to the death of Sobhi Ala’ Al Batsh, 21, and Isam Al Batsh, while several bystanders were injured, some seriously. The two are members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement.
The Ministry called on the International Community and human rights groups to intervene and stop the Israeli military escalation on Gaza.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62640
One Palestinian killed, 17 others wounded in occupation airstrikes
Issam al-Batsh
A Palestinian man was killed and 17 others were wounded, most of them were from the same family as a result of a series of Israeli occupation airstrikes at dawn Friday in what is seen as a fresh escalation of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Spokesman for the Emergency and Ambulance Services in the Gaza Strip, Adham Abu Selmeyya, told the PIC correspondent that
-- Bahjat al-Za’lan (38 years) was killed
while 12 others, including seven children, two women and two elderly persons, were wounded as a result of the airstrikes. Most of the wounded are from the family of the man who was killed in the attack.
Abu Selmeyya said that amongst the wounded are the wife of Martyr and a number of his children, two of them suffering critical wounds. He added that medical crews provided field first aid to five others who were slightly injured as a result of shrapnel and glass from broken windows as a result of the attack.
The PIC correspondent said that the airstrikes which targeted a site near the Makousi towers to the north West of Gaza City resulted in the complete distruction of the house of Bahjat al-Za'lan, his death and the wounding of 12 of his family members.
Local sources told PIC correspondent that occupation F16 aircraft carried out three airstrikes against that targeted Martyr Imad Abu Qadous and Martyr Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi in Gaza City.
Israeli occupation aircraft also carried out airstrikes targeting a deserted area in the area of the evacuated colonies to the north west of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported.
These attacks come only hours after an airstrike targeting a car in Gaza City resulting in the death of
-- Isam al-Batsh and his nephew
-- Subhi al-Batsh.
Israeli airstrikes kill 1, hurt 15 Gazans
Israeli warplanes regularly launch air attacks on Gaza.
Israel has conducted a number of aerial attacks against the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding over a dozen others, Press TV reports.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes launched several airstrikes which left 15 people including seven children injured.
Two of the wounded children are in critical condition, hospital officials said.
The air raids follow another Israeli attack in Gaza on Wednesday, which left two Palestinians dead.
The Israeli military frequently also uses the assassination drones to launch attacks or to detect targets for Israeli F16 jets and Apache helicopters.
Gaza Strip remains under an Israeli blockade as international calls for the lifting of the siege falls on deaf ears in Tel Aviv.
The blockade even stood throughout the 22-day war Israel waged against Gazans at the turn of 2009. The deadly onslaught claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians and devastated a large portion of the infrastructure in the impoverished enclave.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/214639.html
A Palestinian man was killed and 17 others were wounded, most of them were from the same family as a result of a series of Israeli occupation airstrikes at dawn Friday in what is seen as a fresh escalation of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Spokesman for the Emergency and Ambulance Services in the Gaza Strip, Adham Abu Selmeyya, told the PIC correspondent that
-- Bahjat al-Za’lan (38 years) was killed
while 12 others, including seven children, two women and two elderly persons, were wounded as a result of the airstrikes. Most of the wounded are from the family of the man who was killed in the attack.
Abu Selmeyya said that amongst the wounded are the wife of Martyr and a number of his children, two of them suffering critical wounds. He added that medical crews provided field first aid to five others who were slightly injured as a result of shrapnel and glass from broken windows as a result of the attack.
The PIC correspondent said that the airstrikes which targeted a site near the Makousi towers to the north West of Gaza City resulted in the complete distruction of the house of Bahjat al-Za'lan, his death and the wounding of 12 of his family members.
Local sources told PIC correspondent that occupation F16 aircraft carried out three airstrikes against that targeted Martyr Imad Abu Qadous and Martyr Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi in Gaza City.
Israeli occupation aircraft also carried out airstrikes targeting a deserted area in the area of the evacuated colonies to the north west of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported.
These attacks come only hours after an airstrike targeting a car in Gaza City resulting in the death of
-- Isam al-Batsh and his nephew
-- Subhi al-Batsh.
Israeli airstrikes kill 1, hurt 15 Gazans
Israeli warplanes regularly launch air attacks on Gaza.
Israel has conducted a number of aerial attacks against the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding over a dozen others, Press TV reports.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes launched several airstrikes which left 15 people including seven children injured.
Two of the wounded children are in critical condition, hospital officials said.
The air raids follow another Israeli attack in Gaza on Wednesday, which left two Palestinians dead.
The Israeli military frequently also uses the assassination drones to launch attacks or to detect targets for Israeli F16 jets and Apache helicopters.
Gaza Strip remains under an Israeli blockade as international calls for the lifting of the siege falls on deaf ears in Tel Aviv.
The blockade even stood throughout the 22-day war Israel waged against Gazans at the turn of 2009. The deadly onslaught claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians and devastated a large portion of the infrastructure in the impoverished enclave.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/214639.html
8 dec 2011
Two Palestinians killed in Israeli raid
Two Palestinian operatives were killed in downtown Gaza city on Thursday in an Israeli aerial raid while two citizens were wounded, medical sources said.
The sources told the PIC reporter that the Israeli warplanes fired one missile at the car while in a main street in Gaza city, adding that the bodies were disfigured in the blast.
The reporter pointed out that Israeli warplanes were still hovering over the coastal enclave spreading fears of further air strikes.
Media sources said that one of the martyrs was affiliated with the Hamas armed wing while the other was affiliated with the Fatah armed wing.
Two Palestinians killed in Israeli raid
Two Palestinian operatives were killed in downtown Gaza city on Thursday in an Israeli aerial raid while two citizens were wounded, medical sources said.
The sources told the PIC reporter that the Israeli warplanes fired one missile at the car while in a main street in Gaza city, adding that the bodies were disfigured in the blast.
The reporter pointed out that Israeli warplanes were still hovering over the coastal enclave spreading fears of further air strikes.
Media sources said that one of the martyrs was affiliated with the Hamas armed wing while the other was affiliated with the Fatah armed wing.
7 dec 2011
Isma’il Salama Hussein al-‘Ar’eir, 22
A Palestinian man was killed and five others injured in an Israeli air raid and artillery fire east of Shajaiyya neighborhood in Gaza City, said medical sources.
An Israeli warplane targeted a group of Palestinians with a missile, east of Shajaiyya neighborhood, killing Ismail Salama Arir, 22, and injuring four others, two of them critically.
Israeli artillery fire and penetration in the same area, previous to the air raid, had injured a fifth Palestinian.
WAFA correspondent also said Israeli forces razed barracks and poultry farms during their raid of the area, accompanied by heavy artillery gunfire at residential areas east of Shajaiyya and Zaytoun neighborhoods.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18268
Islamic Jihad fighter killed in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
An Islamic Jihad fighter was killed and five others injured early Wednesday in an Israeli bombing raid on the Gaza Strip, medics said.
Ismail al-Areer, a 22-year-old member of Islamic Jihad's military wing the al-Quds Brigades, was killed in an airstrike on a home east of Shujaiyeh in Gaza City, medics and Islamic Jihad told Ma'an. Three others were injured in the same strike.
Two fighters were injured in another strike which targeted an open area in Zaiton, south of the city.
Medics said the injured were all taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement that al-Areer was killed and five other fighters injured in the raids, including one man who was critically wounded.
The movement added: "Martyrs' blood will not be in vain and the retaliation to the Israeli crime will come in the right time and place."
The Israeli army said in a statement that its air force targeted "two terrorist squads" that were preparing to launch rockets at soldiers.
"Successful hits were identified, preventing the rocket launches," the military said.
Rare ground incursion
Meanwhile, witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip, escorting bulldozers which leveled farmland east of Gaza City. Soldiers fired machine guns as they crossed the border, witnesses added.
An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on a ground operation, in which Hamas said a small number of armored vehicles crossed about 150 meters beyond the border, east of Gaza City.
Hamas also dispatched fighters to the area.
Islamic Jihad at times is allied with Gaza's Hamas rulers but the group has chafed at recent efforts by the more powerful faction to impose de facto truces across the coastal territory.
Hamas and Israel carried out an Egyptian- and German-brokered prisoner swap in mid-October that stirred expectations of a possible broader accommodation, although the governing Islamist movement spurns permanent peace with Israel.
Fighting between Israeli forces and Islamic Jihad later that month killed nine gunmen from the group and an Israeli civilian who was hit by a cross-border Palestinian rocket salvo.
In November, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians and injured 15 during attacks on the enclave, Gaza medical official Adham Abu Salmiya said.
Mohammad Zaher al-Kilani, Mohammad Amer Abu Halima and Nasr Ibrahim Elayan were killed in airstrikes in northern Gaza and Abdullah Eid Mhannaa near Khan Younis in the south.
Among the 15 injured were the French consul and his wife, who suffered a miscarriage as a result of shelling near a police station along the coast, Abu Salmiya noted.
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=442684
A Palestinian man was killed and five others injured in an Israeli air raid and artillery fire east of Shajaiyya neighborhood in Gaza City, said medical sources.
An Israeli warplane targeted a group of Palestinians with a missile, east of Shajaiyya neighborhood, killing Ismail Salama Arir, 22, and injuring four others, two of them critically.
Israeli artillery fire and penetration in the same area, previous to the air raid, had injured a fifth Palestinian.
WAFA correspondent also said Israeli forces razed barracks and poultry farms during their raid of the area, accompanied by heavy artillery gunfire at residential areas east of Shajaiyya and Zaytoun neighborhoods.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18268
Islamic Jihad fighter killed in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
An Islamic Jihad fighter was killed and five others injured early Wednesday in an Israeli bombing raid on the Gaza Strip, medics said.
Ismail al-Areer, a 22-year-old member of Islamic Jihad's military wing the al-Quds Brigades, was killed in an airstrike on a home east of Shujaiyeh in Gaza City, medics and Islamic Jihad told Ma'an. Three others were injured in the same strike.
Two fighters were injured in another strike which targeted an open area in Zaiton, south of the city.
Medics said the injured were all taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement that al-Areer was killed and five other fighters injured in the raids, including one man who was critically wounded.
The movement added: "Martyrs' blood will not be in vain and the retaliation to the Israeli crime will come in the right time and place."
The Israeli army said in a statement that its air force targeted "two terrorist squads" that were preparing to launch rockets at soldiers.
"Successful hits were identified, preventing the rocket launches," the military said.
Rare ground incursion
Meanwhile, witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip, escorting bulldozers which leveled farmland east of Gaza City. Soldiers fired machine guns as they crossed the border, witnesses added.
An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on a ground operation, in which Hamas said a small number of armored vehicles crossed about 150 meters beyond the border, east of Gaza City.
Hamas also dispatched fighters to the area.
Islamic Jihad at times is allied with Gaza's Hamas rulers but the group has chafed at recent efforts by the more powerful faction to impose de facto truces across the coastal territory.
Hamas and Israel carried out an Egyptian- and German-brokered prisoner swap in mid-October that stirred expectations of a possible broader accommodation, although the governing Islamist movement spurns permanent peace with Israel.
Fighting between Israeli forces and Islamic Jihad later that month killed nine gunmen from the group and an Israeli civilian who was hit by a cross-border Palestinian rocket salvo.
In November, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians and injured 15 during attacks on the enclave, Gaza medical official Adham Abu Salmiya said.
Mohammad Zaher al-Kilani, Mohammad Amer Abu Halima and Nasr Ibrahim Elayan were killed in airstrikes in northern Gaza and Abdullah Eid Mhannaa near Khan Younis in the south.
Among the 15 injured were the French consul and his wife, who suffered a miscarriage as a result of shelling near a police station along the coast, Abu Salmiya noted.
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=442684
24 nov 2011
Israel killed 20 journalists over the past decade
The Palestinian center for development and media freedom (MADA) has launched a campaign on the international day to end impunity in cooperation with IFEX in which it would shed light on the Israeli crimes against Palestinian journalists.
MADA said in a statement on Wednesday that it would organize a photo exhibition for journalists who came under Israeli fire and would produce a video clip on the 20 Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since 2000.
It urged all media centers and journalists to join the campaign to explain to the world the suffering of Palestinian journalists.
The center also asked the international community to pressure Israel into halting such practice, which is in violation of article 19 in the universal declaration of human rights.
The international freedom of expression exchange (IFEX) has issued a statement on the occasion on Wednesday saying:
“Today, 23 November, is the International Day to End Impunity (IDEI). The IFEX community has chosen this day to honour those who have been silenced forever for exercising their right to freedom of expression, and to raise awareness that their killers often go unpunished.
This day marks the anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre in the Philippines in 2009, which was the single deadliest incident for journalists in recent history and is a solemn reminder of the risks taken to inform the public and speak truth to power.
It is also meant to be a day to recognise the work IFEX members and others are doing to combat impunity and to inspire action everywhere to demand justice and advance efforts to stop impunity in the killings of journalists, musicians, artists, politicians, and other free expression advocates.”
Palestinian rights groups call for legal protection for women in war
Palestinian rights groups spoke out Thursday on the role of women in conflict and peace-building.
Gaza-headquartered Palestinian Center for Human Rights said Israeli forces killed three women and injured 35 in 2011 in the West Bank and Gaza, in a statement to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Friday.
Israel's closure also impacts the human rights, welfare and social life of women "due to which the local community's violence against them has increased," the statement said.
PCHR documented three women killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip "due to misuse of weapons and security chaos," it added, while applauding President Mahmoud Abbas' removal of legal obstacles to prosecuting so-called 'honor crimes' in May.
Ramallah-based Human Rights and Democracy Media Center SHAMS applauded the struggle of Arab women to restore their rights, and stressed "the important role that women can play in achieving peace and dissemination of its culture," in a statement marking the anniversary of UN resolution 1325, which demands attention to the role of women in conflict and peace.
It called on the international community to implement the resolution in Palestine, noting that "living for decades under the yoke of Israeli occupation has dramatically curtailed development opportunities for the Palestinian people in general and has increased violence and discrimination against Palestinian women in particular."
PCHR added that it "hopes, in view of the Palestinian reconciliation, that the Palestinian Legislative Council will resume its activities and will develop a unified Palestinian penal code that conforms to the spirit and essence of the Palestinian Basic Law and to international human rights standards in order to guarantee public rights and freedoms."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=439081
Israel killed 20 journalists over the past decade
The Palestinian center for development and media freedom (MADA) has launched a campaign on the international day to end impunity in cooperation with IFEX in which it would shed light on the Israeli crimes against Palestinian journalists.
MADA said in a statement on Wednesday that it would organize a photo exhibition for journalists who came under Israeli fire and would produce a video clip on the 20 Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since 2000.
It urged all media centers and journalists to join the campaign to explain to the world the suffering of Palestinian journalists.
The center also asked the international community to pressure Israel into halting such practice, which is in violation of article 19 in the universal declaration of human rights.
The international freedom of expression exchange (IFEX) has issued a statement on the occasion on Wednesday saying:
“Today, 23 November, is the International Day to End Impunity (IDEI). The IFEX community has chosen this day to honour those who have been silenced forever for exercising their right to freedom of expression, and to raise awareness that their killers often go unpunished.
This day marks the anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre in the Philippines in 2009, which was the single deadliest incident for journalists in recent history and is a solemn reminder of the risks taken to inform the public and speak truth to power.
It is also meant to be a day to recognise the work IFEX members and others are doing to combat impunity and to inspire action everywhere to demand justice and advance efforts to stop impunity in the killings of journalists, musicians, artists, politicians, and other free expression advocates.”
Palestinian rights groups call for legal protection for women in war
Palestinian rights groups spoke out Thursday on the role of women in conflict and peace-building.
Gaza-headquartered Palestinian Center for Human Rights said Israeli forces killed three women and injured 35 in 2011 in the West Bank and Gaza, in a statement to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Friday.
Israel's closure also impacts the human rights, welfare and social life of women "due to which the local community's violence against them has increased," the statement said.
PCHR documented three women killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip "due to misuse of weapons and security chaos," it added, while applauding President Mahmoud Abbas' removal of legal obstacles to prosecuting so-called 'honor crimes' in May.
Ramallah-based Human Rights and Democracy Media Center SHAMS applauded the struggle of Arab women to restore their rights, and stressed "the important role that women can play in achieving peace and dissemination of its culture," in a statement marking the anniversary of UN resolution 1325, which demands attention to the role of women in conflict and peace.
It called on the international community to implement the resolution in Palestine, noting that "living for decades under the yoke of Israeli occupation has dramatically curtailed development opportunities for the Palestinian people in general and has increased violence and discrimination against Palestinian women in particular."
PCHR added that it "hopes, in view of the Palestinian reconciliation, that the Palestinian Legislative Council will resume its activities and will develop a unified Palestinian penal code that conforms to the spirit and essence of the Palestinian Basic Law and to international human rights standards in order to guarantee public rights and freedoms."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=439081
21 nov 2011
The tale of the targeted killing
Op-ed: Operational strategy vis-à-vis Gaza doesn’t work and is unfair, immoral; there must be another way.
A nation is waiting, waiting with bated breath to receive an unequivocal miracle – that of the targeted killing. Like the deus ex machina of the Greek theater, that higher power which is independent of time, space and circumstance; like an axiom – an absolute proposition that needs no proof or explanation; like a celestial element, free of rationale or, heaven forbid, morals, which seems to wreak security and political havoc, but in fact introduces order to a chaotic world. The targeted killing is here again.
Reality as we know it is so convenient. The language is familiar: The “target” is always a “senior member of a military wing.” They have many senior members – apparently it's an army of generals. He is always taken out moments before launching a terror attack (“a ticking bomb”) or moments afterwards (“retaliation”). It always follows an “imminent threat” and an “operational opportunity,” and the consequences be damned.
There is no resisting the temptation of the “targeted killing,” even if the target's focus is a little murky. A “surgical strike” may be executed at the heart of a residential area or on a school's doorstep, and we'll leave the innocent casualties to the surgeons at the Shifa Hospital. Just as long as the IDF “settles the score,” as if this was a dusty noontime western and not the defense force of a sovereign state, which is supposed to consider the overall interests of its citizens.
Ambiguous routine
“High alert in the southern communities” will follow: A million Israeli citizens, who are just as important as those living in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, will be called to stay near “bunkers” and “secure areas.” “Qassams” and “Grads” will follow next, landing in “open areas” for the most part or somewhere within the “Sha'ar Henegev Regional Council limits.” The Military Censor trumps everything – one mustn't help the terrorists with their aim. And the tangible price of the sacred assassination becomes more and more ambiguous along the way.
The defense establishment will declare the fire a “breach of the understandings,” the media will quickly report that “the terror is back” and a “strike” will scramble along. First, a drone will hum, an aerial strike of “terror hubs” or “training facilities” will follow; babies and their parents from the building next door will be rushed to nearby hospitals or cemeteries, and the IDF will “regret” that innocent people were hurt, but will stress that “Hamas is responsible.”
Anyone who dares question the political, strategic, tactical, operational or moral logic of the events will immediately be labeled as a “leftist,” and mostly as a pest. Silence – there's shooting in progress. Meanwhile, another “escalation” will be brewing: More rockets, more strikes, more targets and more victims. Eventually, with Egyptian “mediation”, a “lull” will be achieved. Until the next round.
Where does this cycle of blood draw its strength from? How has an entire nation, the descendants of the wisest people in history, become subjected to its bizarre rules and language? How could it have miraculously hypnotized Israelis, while simultaneously imposing mind-numbing paralysis on their common sense?
And the most important question of all: When will someone in the chain of command – an operations NCO, or a pilot, or a squadron commander, or the Air Force commander, or the IDF chief, or a minister without portfolio, or a defense minister, or the prime minister, ever get up and say – either whisper or shout: “Enough.”
We've been here before. It doesn’t work. It's not beneficial. It's immoral and unfair – to the children and parents in Gaza and to the children and parents in the Gaza vicinity communities. There has to be another way.
The tale of the targeted killing
Op-ed: Operational strategy vis-à-vis Gaza doesn’t work and is unfair, immoral; there must be another way.
A nation is waiting, waiting with bated breath to receive an unequivocal miracle – that of the targeted killing. Like the deus ex machina of the Greek theater, that higher power which is independent of time, space and circumstance; like an axiom – an absolute proposition that needs no proof or explanation; like a celestial element, free of rationale or, heaven forbid, morals, which seems to wreak security and political havoc, but in fact introduces order to a chaotic world. The targeted killing is here again.
Reality as we know it is so convenient. The language is familiar: The “target” is always a “senior member of a military wing.” They have many senior members – apparently it's an army of generals. He is always taken out moments before launching a terror attack (“a ticking bomb”) or moments afterwards (“retaliation”). It always follows an “imminent threat” and an “operational opportunity,” and the consequences be damned.
There is no resisting the temptation of the “targeted killing,” even if the target's focus is a little murky. A “surgical strike” may be executed at the heart of a residential area or on a school's doorstep, and we'll leave the innocent casualties to the surgeons at the Shifa Hospital. Just as long as the IDF “settles the score,” as if this was a dusty noontime western and not the defense force of a sovereign state, which is supposed to consider the overall interests of its citizens.
Ambiguous routine
“High alert in the southern communities” will follow: A million Israeli citizens, who are just as important as those living in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, will be called to stay near “bunkers” and “secure areas.” “Qassams” and “Grads” will follow next, landing in “open areas” for the most part or somewhere within the “Sha'ar Henegev Regional Council limits.” The Military Censor trumps everything – one mustn't help the terrorists with their aim. And the tangible price of the sacred assassination becomes more and more ambiguous along the way.
The defense establishment will declare the fire a “breach of the understandings,” the media will quickly report that “the terror is back” and a “strike” will scramble along. First, a drone will hum, an aerial strike of “terror hubs” or “training facilities” will follow; babies and their parents from the building next door will be rushed to nearby hospitals or cemeteries, and the IDF will “regret” that innocent people were hurt, but will stress that “Hamas is responsible.”
Anyone who dares question the political, strategic, tactical, operational or moral logic of the events will immediately be labeled as a “leftist,” and mostly as a pest. Silence – there's shooting in progress. Meanwhile, another “escalation” will be brewing: More rockets, more strikes, more targets and more victims. Eventually, with Egyptian “mediation”, a “lull” will be achieved. Until the next round.
Where does this cycle of blood draw its strength from? How has an entire nation, the descendants of the wisest people in history, become subjected to its bizarre rules and language? How could it have miraculously hypnotized Israelis, while simultaneously imposing mind-numbing paralysis on their common sense?
And the most important question of all: When will someone in the chain of command – an operations NCO, or a pilot, or a squadron commander, or the Air Force commander, or the IDF chief, or a minister without portfolio, or a defense minister, or the prime minister, ever get up and say – either whisper or shout: “Enough.”
We've been here before. It doesn’t work. It's not beneficial. It's immoral and unfair – to the children and parents in Gaza and to the children and parents in the Gaza vicinity communities. There has to be another way.
19 nov 2011
OCHA: Israel killed 6 Palestinians, wounded 40 in two weeks
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed six Palestinians and wounded 40 others in the period 2 – 15 November, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied lands (OCHA) said.
It added in a report that the IOF troops killed five Palestinians in Gaza Strip while a Jewish settler killed a Palestinian in the West Bank.
The report noted that the Israeli occupation authority demolished ten Palestinian homes in the same period in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem at the pretext of lack of construction permits.
It said that the IOA was threatening to raze a Palestinian house in Silwan town, in occupied Jerusalem, which would displace twelve citizens including four children.
OCHA registered seven attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian citizens and property that led to casualties and damages mostly during the olive harvest season.
It recalled that three Palestinians, including a child, were killed since the start of 2011 in Jewish settlers’ hit and run incidents in the West Bank, adding that 19 others were injured including 14 children.
OCHA: Israel killed 6 Palestinians, wounded 40 in two weeks
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed six Palestinians and wounded 40 others in the period 2 – 15 November, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied lands (OCHA) said.
It added in a report that the IOF troops killed five Palestinians in Gaza Strip while a Jewish settler killed a Palestinian in the West Bank.
The report noted that the Israeli occupation authority demolished ten Palestinian homes in the same period in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem at the pretext of lack of construction permits.
It said that the IOA was threatening to raze a Palestinian house in Silwan town, in occupied Jerusalem, which would displace twelve citizens including four children.
OCHA registered seven attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian citizens and property that led to casualties and damages mostly during the olive harvest season.
It recalled that three Palestinians, including a child, were killed since the start of 2011 in Jewish settlers’ hit and run incidents in the West Bank, adding that 19 others were injured including 14 children.
15 nov 2011
The French Consul Wounded in an Israeli Attack on a Palestinian Navy Site
On Monday, 14 November 2011, the French Consul in the Gaza Strip, Majdi Jameel Yaseen Shaqqoura, 44, and his two children were wounded in an Israeli attack on the Palestinian Navy site in the southwest of Beit Lahia, located in northern Gaza.
They were in their home when they were injured by shrapnel. Additionally, as a result of the same attack the consul's wife suffered from hemorrhage that led to a miscarriage.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Majdi Shaqqoura was in his home, located behind al-Nawras Resort in al-Soudaniya area, southwest of Beit Lahia, at the time of the attack. Shaqqoura was watching TV in the house’s sitting room which is surrounded by large windows, together with his relative and three children:
Arwa, 9,
Rawan, 13, and
Mohammed, 8.
At 2:00 in the morning they suddenly heard an explosion that rocked the house. In his testimony to PCHR, Shaqqoura said that windows of the sitting room broke in the blast. Him and his relative rushed to protect the children. Then a second explosion took place which broke all the windows, and resulted in shrapnel injuries to Shaqqoura’s leg and Rawan’s hand and back.
Shaqqoura added that, at the same time, his wife Majda Shaqqoura, 42, and her brother were on their way to the home in her car. They were 150 meters away from the bombardment site. As a result, Majda suffered from a hemorrhage injury. Her brother transported her to al-Awda Hospital, where she miscarried, being in the second month of her pregnancy.
At approximately 01:55 on Monday, 14 November 2011, the Israeli warplanes launched four missiles at a Palestinian Navy site located at the beach, in front of al-Nawras Resort, in the al-Soudaniya area. This area is located in the southwest of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The attack resulted in the killing of first sergeant Mohammed Zaher Zaki al-Kilani, 22, from Beit Lahia, whose body was torn into pieces. The Civil Defense found al-Kilani's body buried under the rubble after approximately one hour of searching for him.
Five other members were wounded, one of whom sustained serious wounds.
The attack resulted in the full destruction of the Navy's site, which is has an approximate surface of 2,000 square meters. The building consists of an operation office, bedroom, place for prayer, administration office, office of the site's chief, and five additional offices for meetings and detention. Besides, a blue Magnum jeep and a motorbike were destroyed.
Additionally, two other civilians were wounded by glass shrapnel throughout their bodies and were transported to the hospital for treatment.
PCHR reiterates its condemnation of these crimes, and:
1. Stresses that these crimes form part of systematic violations perpetrated in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the Gaza Strip, which reflects Israeli forces’ disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians;
2. Warns of further escalation in hostilities, which may result in the targeting of civilians and their property, in light of statements made by Israeli politicians and military leaders; and
3. Calls upon the international community to immediately take an action to stop such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 which stipulates "the High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances," and their obligations under Article 146 which requires that the Contracting Parties prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and under Protocol I Additional to Geneva Conventions.
The French Consul Wounded in an Israeli Attack on a Palestinian Navy Site
On Monday, 14 November 2011, the French Consul in the Gaza Strip, Majdi Jameel Yaseen Shaqqoura, 44, and his two children were wounded in an Israeli attack on the Palestinian Navy site in the southwest of Beit Lahia, located in northern Gaza.
They were in their home when they were injured by shrapnel. Additionally, as a result of the same attack the consul's wife suffered from hemorrhage that led to a miscarriage.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Majdi Shaqqoura was in his home, located behind al-Nawras Resort in al-Soudaniya area, southwest of Beit Lahia, at the time of the attack. Shaqqoura was watching TV in the house’s sitting room which is surrounded by large windows, together with his relative and three children:
Arwa, 9,
Rawan, 13, and
Mohammed, 8.
At 2:00 in the morning they suddenly heard an explosion that rocked the house. In his testimony to PCHR, Shaqqoura said that windows of the sitting room broke in the blast. Him and his relative rushed to protect the children. Then a second explosion took place which broke all the windows, and resulted in shrapnel injuries to Shaqqoura’s leg and Rawan’s hand and back.
Shaqqoura added that, at the same time, his wife Majda Shaqqoura, 42, and her brother were on their way to the home in her car. They were 150 meters away from the bombardment site. As a result, Majda suffered from a hemorrhage injury. Her brother transported her to al-Awda Hospital, where she miscarried, being in the second month of her pregnancy.
At approximately 01:55 on Monday, 14 November 2011, the Israeli warplanes launched four missiles at a Palestinian Navy site located at the beach, in front of al-Nawras Resort, in the al-Soudaniya area. This area is located in the southwest of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The attack resulted in the killing of first sergeant Mohammed Zaher Zaki al-Kilani, 22, from Beit Lahia, whose body was torn into pieces. The Civil Defense found al-Kilani's body buried under the rubble after approximately one hour of searching for him.
Five other members were wounded, one of whom sustained serious wounds.
The attack resulted in the full destruction of the Navy's site, which is has an approximate surface of 2,000 square meters. The building consists of an operation office, bedroom, place for prayer, administration office, office of the site's chief, and five additional offices for meetings and detention. Besides, a blue Magnum jeep and a motorbike were destroyed.
Additionally, two other civilians were wounded by glass shrapnel throughout their bodies and were transported to the hospital for treatment.
PCHR reiterates its condemnation of these crimes, and:
1. Stresses that these crimes form part of systematic violations perpetrated in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the Gaza Strip, which reflects Israeli forces’ disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians;
2. Warns of further escalation in hostilities, which may result in the targeting of civilians and their property, in light of statements made by Israeli politicians and military leaders; and
3. Calls upon the international community to immediately take an action to stop such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 which stipulates "the High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances," and their obligations under Article 146 which requires that the Contracting Parties prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and under Protocol I Additional to Geneva Conventions.
