12 mar 2012
Bassam Salem Al Ejla 24
Two Palestinians were killed Monday evening in Israeli shelling east of Gaza City, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 25 since Friday, medics said.
Bassam al-Ajla and Muhammad Thaher were killed in an airstrike on the Shujaiyeh neighborhood, medical officials told Ma'an. They were members of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, a Ma'an reporter said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said warplanes targeted a "terror squad" that was preparing to fire a rocket at Israel. The squad had fired rockets at Israel in recent days, she added.
Israeli aircraft simultaneously shelled an area near Beit Lahiya wounding two Palestinians and struck an open area north-west of Gaza City, a Ma'an correspondent said. Israel also bombed a tunnel near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, he added.
In a statement, the Israeli army said its warplanes targeted two rocket launching sites in northern Gaza and a "terror tunnel" in the south.
The shelling comes amid intense efforts by Egyptian mediators and diplomats to broker a ceasefire following four days of heavy Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip.
The latest escalation began Friday evening when Israel killed the head of the Popular Resistance Committees in an airstrike near Gaza City. Since Friday, 25 Palestinians have been killed and at least 80 injured including militants, civilians and children.
Earlier Monday, two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in strikes on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and a 65-year-old man and his 35-year-old daughter were killed in Israeli shelling in Beit Lahiya in the north. A 17-year-old boy was also killed in Beit Lahiya on Monday but the Israeli army denied responsibility for his death.
Militants in Gaza have fired a barrage of rockets over the border in response to the shelling, causing no casualties in Israel.
Armed factions affiliated with Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Fatah said they fired projectiles into southern Israel on Monday.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said 42 rockets landed in Israel on Monday, reaching as far north as Gedera. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that rockets landed 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv.
The violence has drawn condemnation from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who called for restraint. The Arab League also urged the United Nations to intervene and stop the conflict.
But Israel signaled that it would not halt what it calls "preventive targeting" operations aimed at stopping rocket fire and cross-border attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of his Likud party in Parliament: "The Israeli army will continue to attack the terrorists in Gaza with strength and determination."
He also said the Israeli military was prepared to widen its operations and continue them for as long as necessary.
A senior Israeli military official told the Israeli news site Ynet on Monday that the army was prepared for any situation, including a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
"We have everything we need and are ready to step it up if needed. There are many measures that we haven't employed yet," the army official added.
Two Palestinians were killed Monday evening in Israeli shelling east of Gaza City, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 25 since Friday, medics said.
Bassam al-Ajla and Muhammad Thaher were killed in an airstrike on the Shujaiyeh neighborhood, medical officials told Ma'an. They were members of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, a Ma'an reporter said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said warplanes targeted a "terror squad" that was preparing to fire a rocket at Israel. The squad had fired rockets at Israel in recent days, she added.
Israeli aircraft simultaneously shelled an area near Beit Lahiya wounding two Palestinians and struck an open area north-west of Gaza City, a Ma'an correspondent said. Israel also bombed a tunnel near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, he added.
In a statement, the Israeli army said its warplanes targeted two rocket launching sites in northern Gaza and a "terror tunnel" in the south.
The shelling comes amid intense efforts by Egyptian mediators and diplomats to broker a ceasefire following four days of heavy Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip.
The latest escalation began Friday evening when Israel killed the head of the Popular Resistance Committees in an airstrike near Gaza City. Since Friday, 25 Palestinians have been killed and at least 80 injured including militants, civilians and children.
Earlier Monday, two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in strikes on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and a 65-year-old man and his 35-year-old daughter were killed in Israeli shelling in Beit Lahiya in the north. A 17-year-old boy was also killed in Beit Lahiya on Monday but the Israeli army denied responsibility for his death.
Militants in Gaza have fired a barrage of rockets over the border in response to the shelling, causing no casualties in Israel.
Armed factions affiliated with Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Fatah said they fired projectiles into southern Israel on Monday.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said 42 rockets landed in Israel on Monday, reaching as far north as Gedera. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that rockets landed 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv.
The violence has drawn condemnation from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who called for restraint. The Arab League also urged the United Nations to intervene and stop the conflict.
But Israel signaled that it would not halt what it calls "preventive targeting" operations aimed at stopping rocket fire and cross-border attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of his Likud party in Parliament: "The Israeli army will continue to attack the terrorists in Gaza with strength and determination."
He also said the Israeli military was prepared to widen its operations and continue them for as long as necessary.
A senior Israeli military official told the Israeli news site Ynet on Monday that the army was prepared for any situation, including a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
"We have everything we need and are ready to step it up if needed. There are many measures that we haven't employed yet," the army official added.
Mohammed Amin Daher 24
Medical sources say two Palestinians have been killed in new Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from the Israeli air raids in the past few days to 20.
The latest attacks were carried out against the city of Khan Yunis during the early hours of Monday.
Nearly 40 more Palestinians, including nine children, were also injured in earlier Israeli aerial attacks against Gaza on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blatantly said on Sunday that the Tel Aviv regime will continue airstrikes against Gaza “as long as necessary.”
Meanwhile, the Jordanian government condemned the “barbaric aggression” of the Tel Aviv regime on Sunday.
In addition to Jordan, Turkish activists from the Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People held a demonstration in the capital Ankara to condemn the Israeli airstrikes on Sunday.
Israel imposed a war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the conflict.
Two more Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza
Two more Palestinians have been killed in a fresh Israeli airstrike on the besieged Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from the Israeli air raids in four days to 23.
Medical sources say two Palestinians have been killed in new Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from the Israeli air raids in the past few days to 20.
The latest attacks were carried out against the city of Khan Yunis during the early hours of Monday.
Nearly 40 more Palestinians, including nine children, were also injured in earlier Israeli aerial attacks against Gaza on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blatantly said on Sunday that the Tel Aviv regime will continue airstrikes against Gaza “as long as necessary.”
Meanwhile, the Jordanian government condemned the “barbaric aggression” of the Tel Aviv regime on Sunday.
In addition to Jordan, Turkish activists from the Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People held a demonstration in the capital Ankara to condemn the Israeli airstrikes on Sunday.
Israel imposed a war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the conflict.
Two more Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza
Two more Palestinians have been killed in a fresh Israeli airstrike on the besieged Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from the Israeli air raids in four days to 23.
11 mar 2012
'Israel Gaza attack has full US backing'
'Israel Gaza attack has full US backing'
Israel has launched a major military attack on the besieged Gaza Strip under the auspices of the United States in an attempt to empty the Palestinian leadership.
Press TV has interviewed Ralph Schoenman, author of the Hidden History of Zionism from Berkeley who shares his insight about what is exactly behind this latest Israeli assault based on factual reports. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: There is death and destruction in Gaza yet we see silence by the international community. Why do we see such silence when the West in particular claims to be the flag bearer of human rights and democracy?
Schoenman: Let me make clear to you that this was a process initiated by the Israelis whp killed top Palestinian leader al-Qaesi and two of his aides and this is not the first such attack.
They assassinated Kamal al-Nairab, al-Qaesi's predecessor in August and indeed the Israeli assault was a deliberate process of armed attack with the intention of assassinating political leaders of Hamas and of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The US State Department's immediate response was to condemn the Palestinians as terrorists for the response on the part of the Palestinian people to these assassination attacks.
I should point out to you that the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has published a report: The US has sent over 600,000 teargas canisters to Israel and more than 670 million weapons including rounds of ammunition and tear gas, chemical weapons and related equipment over a period of nine years.
Israel in targeted assassination has killed 2,969 unarmed Palestinians including 1,128 children with US weapons in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act and Arms Control Act.
In reality, in the US Memorandum of Understanding with Israel, the US pledged 30 billion dollars in additional military assistance to Israel and a 25-percent increase in the average annual military aid over previous years - 3.1 billion in US military for the fiscal year 2012 alone.
So we have to understand that this event is a deliberate attack on the part of the Zionist state with complete backing of the US. The Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta reaffirmed America's "security commitment to Israel including financing for missiles and fighter jet weapons" in a speech during the AIPAC conference recently.
What we're seeing here is a coordinated operation and indeed there is a report by the Agence France Press a few hours ago that the US has "offered Israel new arms if they wait on the attack on Iran until just after the elections" - advanced weaponry, which is spelled out.
So, this attack on Gaza and on the Palestinian leadership and on the Palestinian people is a deliberate provocation to increase the scale of violence and to facilitate renewed attacks on the part of Israel against leaders of the Palestinian people specifically targeted for assassination.
Press TV has interviewed Ralph Schoenman, author of the Hidden History of Zionism from Berkeley who shares his insight about what is exactly behind this latest Israeli assault based on factual reports. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: There is death and destruction in Gaza yet we see silence by the international community. Why do we see such silence when the West in particular claims to be the flag bearer of human rights and democracy?
Schoenman: Let me make clear to you that this was a process initiated by the Israelis whp killed top Palestinian leader al-Qaesi and two of his aides and this is not the first such attack.
They assassinated Kamal al-Nairab, al-Qaesi's predecessor in August and indeed the Israeli assault was a deliberate process of armed attack with the intention of assassinating political leaders of Hamas and of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The US State Department's immediate response was to condemn the Palestinians as terrorists for the response on the part of the Palestinian people to these assassination attacks.
I should point out to you that the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has published a report: The US has sent over 600,000 teargas canisters to Israel and more than 670 million weapons including rounds of ammunition and tear gas, chemical weapons and related equipment over a period of nine years.
Israel in targeted assassination has killed 2,969 unarmed Palestinians including 1,128 children with US weapons in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act and Arms Control Act.
In reality, in the US Memorandum of Understanding with Israel, the US pledged 30 billion dollars in additional military assistance to Israel and a 25-percent increase in the average annual military aid over previous years - 3.1 billion in US military for the fiscal year 2012 alone.
So we have to understand that this event is a deliberate attack on the part of the Zionist state with complete backing of the US. The Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta reaffirmed America's "security commitment to Israel including financing for missiles and fighter jet weapons" in a speech during the AIPAC conference recently.
What we're seeing here is a coordinated operation and indeed there is a report by the Agence France Press a few hours ago that the US has "offered Israel new arms if they wait on the attack on Iran until just after the elections" - advanced weaponry, which is spelled out.
So, this attack on Gaza and on the Palestinian leadership and on the Palestinian people is a deliberate provocation to increase the scale of violence and to facilitate renewed attacks on the part of Israel against leaders of the Palestinian people specifically targeted for assassination.
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Ayoub Assaleya 12
Palestinian medical sources say that a 12-year-old boy and another Palestinian have been killed in separate Israeli airstrikes against the Gaza Strip.
The raids happened early Sunday, bringing the death toll from Israeli airstrikes to 18 since Friday.
The boy identified as Ayoub Assaleya was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip. Another Palestinian was killed in a separate strike in Gaza City, according to medics.
The new killing came after a series of attacks left at least 16 Palestinian dead and 30 more injured in the past two days.
Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Ehud Barak reiterated that Israeli troops will continue their attacks on the coastal strip.
The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes.
However, disproportionate force is always used in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured.
New Israeli attack kills 12-year-old child in Gaza: Medics
Palestinian medical sources have announced that a 12-year-old child has been killed in a new Israeli airstrike against the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian medical sources say that a 12-year-old boy and another Palestinian have been killed in separate Israeli airstrikes against the Gaza Strip.
The raids happened early Sunday, bringing the death toll from Israeli airstrikes to 18 since Friday.
The boy identified as Ayoub Assaleya was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip. Another Palestinian was killed in a separate strike in Gaza City, according to medics.
The new killing came after a series of attacks left at least 16 Palestinian dead and 30 more injured in the past two days.
Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Ehud Barak reiterated that Israeli troops will continue their attacks on the coastal strip.
The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes.
However, disproportionate force is always used in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured.
New Israeli attack kills 12-year-old child in Gaza: Medics
Palestinian medical sources have announced that a 12-year-old child has been killed in a new Israeli airstrike against the Gaza Strip.
Location: Jabalia, North Gaza Ayoub Assaleya 12 and his cousin
On 11 March 2012, a 12-year-old boy was killed and his five-year-old cousin was injured in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza.
Twelve-year old Ayoub Asaliya lived in Jabalia, North Gaza, with his extended family. He used to play in a citrus orchard located behind his house with his relatives and friends, including his cousin Wafi.
On Sunday, 11 March 2012, the neighbourhood woke up to the sound of drone planes and F16s overhead. Ayoub’s mother recalls: “It was very frightening, and reminded us of Operation Cast Lead.” Ayoub helped her prepare breakfast “joking with his brothers and making them laugh, as was his nature.” He left the house for school around 7:00 am.
At around 7:10 am, Kolthoum, their neighbour, heard that “a home-made rocket was fired from the town cemetery, about one kilometre to the west of my house.” Kolthoum’s four-year-old grandson, Khader, was playing outside with Wafi, so she rushed to the window to tell him to come inside immediately. “Just then,” she says, “I saw Ayoub coming out of the orchard and standing in the empty land in front of the orchard.” Within minutes, there was a huge explosion. Kolthoum rushed outside to find Khader at the main door, “crying and terrified of the bombing, [...] at the same time, Wafi’s sister rushed out of her house, picked up Wafi and rushed back into the house. Wafi was shaking with fear.” Kolthoum followed them inside. “I could see that his leg was bleeding,” she says. “His family called an ambulance.”
The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and took Wafi to the hospital. He had to be treated for injuries in his leg. “I told the paramedics to look for Ayoub, as he was near the fence at the time of the bombing,” Kolthoum continues, “I think he was on his way to school because he was wearing his school uniform. One of the paramedics went to the orchard and found Ayoub in the orchard, just two metres away from the fence. They carried him out and the lower part of his body was severely injured. He was not moving.”
When Ayoub’s mother heard the explosion she rushed out of the house to look for her son. She watched as the paramedics put Ayoub on a stretcher. “I started shouting as I saw them putting him on the stretchers with his body blown in two. Some of them were carrying his legs. I could not believe it. I collapsed.” Ayoub was dead on arrival in hospital.
“What was his fault to be brutally bombed?” says his mother. “He was not a fighter. There were no fighters in the orchard in the first place. They assassinated my little child just because, as I was told by Kolthoum, he and Wafi were chasing a small dog [...] This is his destiny; to be blown into pieces that are still scattered on the leaves of the trees in the orchard. He promised to get me a present for Mother’s Day. He said he would get me a bottle of perfume and a rose. But it was me who bought the perfume and the roses to put on his body.”
Twelve-year old Ayoub Asaliya lived in Jabalia, North Gaza, with his extended family. He used to play in a citrus orchard located behind his house with his relatives and friends, including his cousin Wafi.
On Sunday, 11 March 2012, the neighbourhood woke up to the sound of drone planes and F16s overhead. Ayoub’s mother recalls: “It was very frightening, and reminded us of Operation Cast Lead.” Ayoub helped her prepare breakfast “joking with his brothers and making them laugh, as was his nature.” He left the house for school around 7:00 am.
At around 7:10 am, Kolthoum, their neighbour, heard that “a home-made rocket was fired from the town cemetery, about one kilometre to the west of my house.” Kolthoum’s four-year-old grandson, Khader, was playing outside with Wafi, so she rushed to the window to tell him to come inside immediately. “Just then,” she says, “I saw Ayoub coming out of the orchard and standing in the empty land in front of the orchard.” Within minutes, there was a huge explosion. Kolthoum rushed outside to find Khader at the main door, “crying and terrified of the bombing, [...] at the same time, Wafi’s sister rushed out of her house, picked up Wafi and rushed back into the house. Wafi was shaking with fear.” Kolthoum followed them inside. “I could see that his leg was bleeding,” she says. “His family called an ambulance.”
The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and took Wafi to the hospital. He had to be treated for injuries in his leg. “I told the paramedics to look for Ayoub, as he was near the fence at the time of the bombing,” Kolthoum continues, “I think he was on his way to school because he was wearing his school uniform. One of the paramedics went to the orchard and found Ayoub in the orchard, just two metres away from the fence. They carried him out and the lower part of his body was severely injured. He was not moving.”
When Ayoub’s mother heard the explosion she rushed out of the house to look for her son. She watched as the paramedics put Ayoub on a stretcher. “I started shouting as I saw them putting him on the stretchers with his body blown in two. Some of them were carrying his legs. I could not believe it. I collapsed.” Ayoub was dead on arrival in hospital.
“What was his fault to be brutally bombed?” says his mother. “He was not a fighter. There were no fighters in the orchard in the first place. They assassinated my little child just because, as I was told by Kolthoum, he and Wafi were chasing a small dog [...] This is his destiny; to be blown into pieces that are still scattered on the leaves of the trees in the orchard. He promised to get me a present for Mother’s Day. He said he would get me a bottle of perfume and a rose. But it was me who bought the perfume and the roses to put on his body.”
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Eighteen Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip since Friday.
A 12-year-old child and a 52-year-old man were killed in four Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City early on Sunday. The latest round of Israeli attacks has brought the Palestinian death toll to 18 since Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday the Tel Aviv regime will continue airstrikes against Gaza “as long as necessary.” More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war against Gaza. Gaza residents still live in what is known to be the “world's largest open-air prison” as Israel remains in full control of the airspace, territorial waters and border crossings of the Palestinian land. Israel attacks Gaza to test waters in Egypt: Analyst The Israeli regime has conducted its recent wave of military attacks against the Gaza Strip partly in an attempt to gauge the reaction of post-revolution Egypt, a political analyst tells Press TV. “I believe the Israelis are mainly testing waters. They are going with an airstrike on Gaza and they want to see the reaction mainly from the Arabs and from Egypt specifically,” said Bashar Zeedan, a Palestinian activist and journalist. |
“They
do not have a green card like in the days of [former Egyptian
dictator Hosni] Mubarak and they want to see how far they can go,” he
pointed out.
Since Egypt’s revolution in January 2011, which led to the ouster of Mubarak, anti-US and Israeli sentiments have intensified.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Tel Aviv in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since Egypt’s February 2011 revolution.
Zeedan also noted that Tel Aviv goes ahead with its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in an attempt “to get those Palestinians to some sort of desperation level because the Gaza strip ironically is the only Palestinian land that was liberated by resistance.
Over the past two days, the Tel Aviv regime has intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 16 Palestinians and wounding 30 more.
Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Ehud Barak reiterated that Israeli troops will continue their attacks on the coastal strip.
The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, claiming the attacks are carried out as defensive measures.
However, disproportionate force is always employed by the Israeli regime against the impoverished Palestinian population in violation of the international law, as civilians are often indiscriminately killed or injured.
One Gazan killed, another wounded in Israeli airstrike
At least one Palestinian has been killed and one more injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, Press TV reports.
According to Palestinian medical sources, Israel attacked eastern Gaza in the early hours of Sunday morning.
A total of 16 Palestinians have been killed since Friday afternoon, when Israeli warplanes, drones, and tanks began carrying out a series of attacks targeting different areas across the Gaza Strip.
The leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Al-Qaisi, was one of the Palestinians killed on Saturday. An Israeli drone struck his car in the Tel el-Hawa neighborhood west of Gaza city.
Thousands of mourners, many chanting calls for revenge and firing automatic weapons into the air, buried the victims on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Saturday that "the Israeli army will hit anyone planning to attack Israeli citizens."
Barak said Israel would continue to develop the capabilities of the Iron Dome defense system, designed to intercept rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of between four and 70 kilometers
Israeli war planes and ground forces have frequently attacked Gaza since the end of the December 2008-January 2009 war on the people of the Gaza Strip. Most of the victims of the attacks are civilians, including women and children.
Israeli airstrikes kill 2 in Gaza
Israeli airstrikes early Sunday killed two people in the Gaza Strip, including a 12-year-old boy, as cross-border violence continued for a third day.
Medical spokesman in Gaza Adham Abu Salmiya said Ayoub Useila, 12, was killed in Jabalia refugee camp. His seven-year-old cousin was injured in the attack and taken to Kamal Udwan hospital in Jabalia, north Gaza.
Israeli warplanes also fired on the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, killing Ahmad Deib Salim, 24. He was a known militant, Abu Salmiya said.
The Israeli army said that it had targeted a "terrorist squad" preparing to fire rockets from northern Gaza. It also confirmed a direct hit on "two rocket launching sites, in the northern Gaza Strip, used by terror organizations."
On Saturday evening, Israel's army said that it had targeted a "weapon storage facility" in northern Gaza.
Six more projectiles were fired from Gaza on Sunday, an Israeli police spokesman said.
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, said it had fired most of the rockets and mortars.
Sunday's attacks brought to 17 the number of Palestinians killed since Friday, when Israeli missiles killed two militant leaders.
Gaza militants responded to the targeted assassination with more than 100 rockets since Friday, injuring six Israelis, one of them seriously.
A Palestinian official speaking on condition of anonymity said Egypt had begun mediating a ceasefire on Sunday. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry had no comment.
Since Egypt’s revolution in January 2011, which led to the ouster of Mubarak, anti-US and Israeli sentiments have intensified.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Tel Aviv in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since Egypt’s February 2011 revolution.
Zeedan also noted that Tel Aviv goes ahead with its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in an attempt “to get those Palestinians to some sort of desperation level because the Gaza strip ironically is the only Palestinian land that was liberated by resistance.
Over the past two days, the Tel Aviv regime has intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 16 Palestinians and wounding 30 more.
Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Ehud Barak reiterated that Israeli troops will continue their attacks on the coastal strip.
The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, claiming the attacks are carried out as defensive measures.
However, disproportionate force is always employed by the Israeli regime against the impoverished Palestinian population in violation of the international law, as civilians are often indiscriminately killed or injured.
One Gazan killed, another wounded in Israeli airstrike
At least one Palestinian has been killed and one more injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, Press TV reports.
According to Palestinian medical sources, Israel attacked eastern Gaza in the early hours of Sunday morning.
A total of 16 Palestinians have been killed since Friday afternoon, when Israeli warplanes, drones, and tanks began carrying out a series of attacks targeting different areas across the Gaza Strip.
The leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Al-Qaisi, was one of the Palestinians killed on Saturday. An Israeli drone struck his car in the Tel el-Hawa neighborhood west of Gaza city.
Thousands of mourners, many chanting calls for revenge and firing automatic weapons into the air, buried the victims on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Saturday that "the Israeli army will hit anyone planning to attack Israeli citizens."
Barak said Israel would continue to develop the capabilities of the Iron Dome defense system, designed to intercept rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of between four and 70 kilometers
Israeli war planes and ground forces have frequently attacked Gaza since the end of the December 2008-January 2009 war on the people of the Gaza Strip. Most of the victims of the attacks are civilians, including women and children.
Israeli airstrikes kill 2 in Gaza
Israeli airstrikes early Sunday killed two people in the Gaza Strip, including a 12-year-old boy, as cross-border violence continued for a third day.
Medical spokesman in Gaza Adham Abu Salmiya said Ayoub Useila, 12, was killed in Jabalia refugee camp. His seven-year-old cousin was injured in the attack and taken to Kamal Udwan hospital in Jabalia, north Gaza.
Israeli warplanes also fired on the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, killing Ahmad Deib Salim, 24. He was a known militant, Abu Salmiya said.
The Israeli army said that it had targeted a "terrorist squad" preparing to fire rockets from northern Gaza. It also confirmed a direct hit on "two rocket launching sites, in the northern Gaza Strip, used by terror organizations."
On Saturday evening, Israel's army said that it had targeted a "weapon storage facility" in northern Gaza.
Six more projectiles were fired from Gaza on Sunday, an Israeli police spokesman said.
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, said it had fired most of the rockets and mortars.
Sunday's attacks brought to 17 the number of Palestinians killed since Friday, when Israeli missiles killed two militant leaders.
Gaza militants responded to the targeted assassination with more than 100 rockets since Friday, injuring six Israelis, one of them seriously.
A Palestinian official speaking on condition of anonymity said Egypt had begun mediating a ceasefire on Sunday. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry had no comment.
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