- 3 dec 2011
Rafah comes under Israeli occupation fire from land and sea
RAFAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces on Saturday evening shelled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip without reports of any casualties.
Local sources told PIC correspondent that Israeli occupation navy boats opened machinegun fire at fishing boats opposite the Rafah coast, while troops stationed near the Karm Abu Salem crossing fired at farmers and shepherds to the east of Rafah, without reports of casualties in either incident.
Occupation forces often fire at Palestinian areas in the east of the Gaza Strip and the occupation's navy often harass Palestinian fishermen.
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30 oct 2012, 15:16 , Respect -
Maria 3 dec 2011
Israel spreads military preparations along Syrian border
(2:22) Israel spreads military preparations along Syrian border
The Israeli army has accelerated the implementation of several steps and measures along the border with Syria the urgent preparations have raised fears and sparked debates in the light of the events that are taking place in Syria.
30 oct 2012, 15:16 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:16 , Respect -
Maria 4 dec 2011
Clashes with Israeli Police Injure 16 Palestinians in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – Sixteen Palestinians were injured Saturday in clashes that broke out between Palestinians and Israeli police manning the checkpoint just outside Shu’fat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, according to local sources.
Witnesses said the clashes broke out late Saturday evening after Israeli forces closed the only checkpoint crossing to Jerusalem for several hours, as well as provocatively and slowly inspecting Palestinian vehicles and passengers crossing the checkpoint.
A Palestinian was shot with a rubber bullet in the eye and 15 others suffered from gunshot injuries, added the local sources.
In addition, Israeli police launched dozens of tear gas and stink bombs to keep Palestinians from the checkpoint. A group of Arabic-speaking undercover Israeli police pursued several Palestinians around the entrance of the camp, but no arrests were reported.
Two Israeli policemen were stoned and transferred to hospital.
Tension in the area is escalating with the Israeli decision to hasten the construction of a new pedestrian terminal to replace the checkpoint, and new parts of the Apartheid Wall that will isolate the entire refugee camp from Jerusalem.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18226
Israeli violent quelling wounds 15 Palestinians in OJ
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli soldiers dressed in plain clothes shot and injured 15 Palestinians in Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem on Saturday evening.
Eyewitnesses said that the young men were protesting the opening of a military roadblock at the entrance to the camp when the Israeli soldiers violently attacked them, using rubber bullets and tear gas.
The witnesses said that most of the youth suffered injuries in the eyes and feet, adding that the young men threw stones and firebombs at the soldiers, three of whom were hurt.
A Palestinian youth was arrested in the incident for throwing stones, locals reported.
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30 oct 2012, 15:16 , Respect -
Maria 4 dec 2011
IDF to hold drill near Upper Galilee, Kiryat Shmona on Monday
The IDF Spokesman announced a military drill will be held Monday around the Upper Galilee and Kiryat Shmona area. Explosions and sirens are expected to go off.
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30 oct 2012, 15:16 , Respect -
Maria 4 dec 2011
Israeli navy harasses Palestinian fishermen, international observers off Gaza coast
(8:43) Israeli navy harasses Palestinian fishermen, international observers off Gaza coast
On Saturday, 3 December 2011, the Israeli navy harassed Palestinian fishermen and international observers three miles off the coast of Gaza. Between 10:00 and 11:00 am, two warships repeatedly charged a group of seven hasakas, one trawler, and the Civil Peace Service Gaza boat Oliva.
30 oct 2012, 15:16 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:17 , Respect -
Maria 5 dec 2011
Israeli Army Launches Military Maneuvers in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (WAFA) – The Israeli army Monday launched large-scale military training maneuvers in the northern Jordan Valley, east of the West Bank, according to local sources.
Head of Al-Maleh village council, Aref Daraghmeh, told WAFA that convoys of tanks and hundreds of Israeli soldiers spread in several areas for the military exercise, while the Israeli army shut off large areas in the Jordan Valley as “closed military zones.”
In addition, heavy artillery engaged in the training as bombardment continued around the grazing fields since dawn, he added.
Israeli maneuvers usually result in the burning of wide areas of grazing fields.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18240
30 oct 2012, 15:17 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:17 , Respect -
Maria 6 dec 2011
IOF troops enter northern Gaza, gunboats fire at fishermen
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced hundreds of meters into northern Gaza Strip, to the east of Beit Hanun town, at dawn Tuesday, local sources said.
They told the PIC reporter that the soldiers opened indiscriminate machinegun fire at residential neighborhoods in the area.
Meanwhile, Israeli navy gunboats fired at Palestinian fishing boats off the Sudaniya coast to the northwest of Gaza city, but no casualties were reported.
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Israeli Forces Raid Beit Hanoun
GAZA, December 6, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli forces raided some areas east of Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip, according to local sources.
Witnesses said a number of Israeli military vehicles raided the east of Beit Hanoun and fired heavily at open areas.
Israeli gunboats also opened fire at Palestinian fishermen’s boats in Al-Sudaniyya area northwest of Gaza City.
No injuries were reported.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18255
30 oct 2012, 15:17 , Respect -
Maria 6 dec 2011
IOF soldiers storm offices of Hamas MPs
TULKAREM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed offices of Hamas MPs in Tulkarem on Tuesday morning and confiscated computers of three of them along with work documents.
MP Fathi Qarawi told the PIC reporter that the soldiers blasted their way into the offices and savagely searched them before confiscating the PCs and official papers.
He lashed out at the IOF for trying to intimidate the lawmakers in a fresh violation of their immunity, calling on the PA security to assume its role in protecting Palestinian institutions.
Hamas MPs in the West Bank issued a statement condemning the act, describing it as “piracy”.
They said that the best response to such an aggressive step is national unity to confront the “Zionist arrogance”.
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Witnesses say Israeli military vehicles enter Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Israeli military vehicles briefly entered the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, crossing the border on the outskirts of Beit Hanoun, witnesses said.
Locals told Ma'an that they saw military vehicles to the north of an agricultural college east of Beit Hanoun.
Gunfire was heard in the area, locals added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=442369
30 oct 2012, 15:17 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:17 , Respect -
Maria 7 dec 2011
Palestinian Killed and Five Injured in Israeli Raids on Gaza
GAZA, (WAFA) – 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
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) – 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
- 25 nov 2011
Soldier injures Palestinian in altercation near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces assaulted a 22-year-old Palestinian man Friday at the entrance of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the West Bank, medical officials said.
Muhammad Said Sabarna, 22, was reported to have sustained bruises and moderate injuries.
Additional details of the incident were not clear late Friday, as Israeli security officials observed the Shabbat and were not readily available for comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=439407
30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 26 nov 2011
Israeli army holds maneuvers simulating attack on Gaza
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Israeli army’s Gaza battalion has held maneuvers simulating an attack on the Gaza Strip following chief of staff Benny Gantz’s statement that there was a need for a military campaign against Gaza.
An officer with the battalion said that the Palestinian resistance factions have improved their combat abilities, but added that the Israeli army had taken lessons and upgraded its capabilities.
He said that the army was anticipating stronger resistance in Gaza compared to the one in the December-January war of 2008-2009.
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30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 27 nov 2011
Update: Israeli warplanes strike targets in the Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Israeli warplanes hit several targets in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, causing material damage but no reported injuries.
Ma’an’s reporter said an Israeli plane fired a missile at an open area in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza. No casualties have been reported.
Also on Sunday, Israeli fighter jets launched two missiles at greenhouses in the Khan Younis district, southern Gaza, causing material damage.
"In response to rocket fire towards Israel this weekend, the air-force targeted sites of terrorist activity in the south and the center of the Gaza strip during the night," an Israeli spokesman said.
Militants in the Gaza Strip fired a projectile into the Eshkol region of southern Israel on Saturday morning causing no casualties, Israeli police said.
Earlier this month, the Israeli chief of staff warned MPs that repeated rocket fire from Gaza would push Israel into taking "aggressive" action in the Gaza Strip.
Militant groups say they are observing an Egypt-brokered truce agreement but have reserved the right to reply to any Israeli fire. Israel has said it will target any militants poised to fire rockets across the border.
AFP contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=439703
30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 27 nov 2011
Update: Israel threatens to cut off power, water to Gaza
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel warned on Saturday that it would cut the supply of water and electricity to the Gaza Strip if rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas form a unity government.
"The foreign ministry is examining the possibility of Israel pulling out of the Gaza Strip in terms of infrastructure," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the daily Yediot Aharonot website.
A unity government deal "would transform the Palestinian Authority into a terrorist authority and would put an end to any hope for a peace agreement" with Israel, said Ayalon, who is also a Knesset deputy from the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.
On Friday, Israeli ministers decided to maintain a freeze on the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority hours after President Mahmoud Abbas held top-level talks with Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal at which they announced a new era of "partnership."
The transfer of funds, which make up a large percentage of the authority's monthly budget, was frozen on November 1 as a punitive measure after the Palestinians won full membership of the UN cultural organization.
"If the Palestinians have signed an agreement over a unity government, it would make a transfer of funds impossible," a senior government official told AFP.
In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already threatened to cut off water and power to Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas since the Islamist group ousted Fatah from the territory in 2008.
Israel, which unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and dismantled Jewish settlements in 2005, continues to supply the territory with water and 70 percent of its electrical power, the rest being supplied by neighboring Egypt or local power plants.
Israel has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the coastal enclave since 2007.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has called the blockade 'a collective punishment in clear violation of international humanitarian law' and urged the international community 'to ensure that repeated appeals by States and international organizations to lift the closure are finally heeded.'
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=439663
30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:10 , Respect -
Maria 29 nov 2011
Israeli Army Opens Fire at Gaza Homes
KHAN YOUNIS, (WAFA) – Israeli army Tuesday opened heavy artillery fire at a number of houses belonging to Palestinians east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, said a WAFA correspondent.
No injuries were reported.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18171
Israeli forces 'ransack office in Nablus'
NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces ransacked the office of a car rental company in Nablus early Wednesday morning, the company director said.
Wael Fattouh said soldiers raided his office at around 3 a.m. and confiscated documents, checks and computer equipment. He said the raid lasted around two hours.
An Israeli military spokeswoman was not immediately familiar with the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=440626
Al-Qaeda-linked group 'claims Israel rocket attack'
BEIRUT (AFP) -- A group linked to Al-Qaeda on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an overnight rocket attack from southern Lebanon against Israel, a local website announced.
Elnashra website said it had received an email from the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam claiming responsibility for the attack.
"Early this Tuesday, rockets from the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam shelled the Zionist colonies in northern Palestine... and reached their aim," the email message reads.
The same group claimed responsibility for the last rocket attack from southern Lebanon against Israel in 2009.
Tuesday's attack prompted a retaliatory strike from Israel but there were no casualties on either side.
Abdullah Azzam was late Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's mentor. He was killed in a 1989 bomb blast.
The area from where the rockets were launched against Israel on Tuesday is largely controlled by Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah.
The Shiite group, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006, had no immediate comment on the incident which raised tension in the volatile region.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=440539
Rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Several rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel on Tuesday, and Israel returned fire across the border in response, military officials said.
Two buildings in the western Galilee area were damaged, Israeli media said, but there were no reported casualties. Residents said they heard two explosions and that houses shook.
UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said it had deployed extra troops and patrols in the area and called for restraint. "This is a serious incident in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701 and is clearly directed at undermining stability in the area," UNIFIL said in a statement.
An Israeli military spokesman said the rockets were the first fired since 2009 across a border where a 34-day war was fought in 2006 between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
"Several rockets hit the western Galilee. The Israeli army considers the incident severe and is targeting origins of fire," said a statement from the military spokesman's office.
A Lebanese security official said loud explosions were heard overnight in Lebanon's southern Bint Jbeil area but could not give any further details.
"At about 2:00 a.m. we heard blasts in that area and we are checking to determine what happened," he said early Tuesday.
A similar incident more than a year ago left two Lebanese soldiers, a journalist and a senior Israeli officer dead.
And in May 2011, Israeli troops killed 10 people and wounded more than 110 others on the border in south Lebanon during a Palestinian refugee protest to mark the anniversary of the 1948 creation of Israel, which Palestinians term the "Nakba," or catastrophe.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=440338
30 oct 2012, 15:11 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:11 , Respect -
Maria 30 nov 2011
IOF soldiers raid central Gaza amidst intensive shooting
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced a few hundred meters to the east of Breij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on Wednesday amidst intensive shooting at residential quarters.
Local sources said that the soldiers in three army tanks and a number of armored vehicles escorted four bulldozers into the area as reconnaissance planes flew overhead.
They said that the bulldozers destroyed land in the area as the soldiers were firing at nearby neighborhoods to scare off citizens.
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Witnesses: Israeli army vehicles enter Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli army vehicles entered the Gaza Strip early Wednesday as soldiers fired from military towers by the border, witnesses said.
Four bulldozers, three tanks and several other military vehicles were seen leveling farm land in the Juhor al-Dik and Maqbola neighborhoods near al-Bureij refugee camp, onlookers told Ma'an.
Meanwhile, several helicopters hovered in the area and soldiers stationed in army watchtowers fired gunshots, they added.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the vehicles were "on routine activity" in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=440660
30 oct 2012, 15:11 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 15:11 , Respect -
Maria 1 dec 2011
Barak says no Iran strike 'for the moment'
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday ruled out a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities "for the moment," in remarks to public radio, but said Israel would keep all options open.
"We have no intention of acting for the moment... We should not engage in war when it is not necessary, but there may come a time or another when we are forced to face tests," Barak said.
"Our position has not changed on three points: a nuclear Iran is unacceptable, we are determined to stop that, and all options are on the table," he added.
Israel and much of the international community fears that Iran's nuclear program masks a drive for a weapons capability. Tehran denies any such ambition and says the program is for peaceful civilian energy and medical purposes only.
Israel has pushed Washington and the EU for tough sanctions against Tehran, but warned that it would not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, and that military action to stop the program remained an option.
Barak said he was confident that military action against Iran would not be devastating for Israel.
"War is not a picnic, but if Israel is forced to act, we won't have 50,000, 5,000 or even 500 dead, so long as people stay in their homes," he said, noting that rockets fired at Israel by Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War had not killed a single Israeli.
Asked about potential differences between the United States and Israel on tactics to stop Iranian nuclear development, Barak stressed that Tel Aviv would ultimately take the decisions it thought best.
"It must be understood that Israel is sovereign. The government, the army and the security services are the only ones responsible for the security and the existence of Israel," he said.
Barak declined to comment on what was behind at least two explosions in Iranian cities in recent weeks, only one of which has been confirmed by Iranian authorities.
"Anything that sets back the Iranian nuclear program, whether it is accidental or the product of other methods, is welcome," he said, refusing to say whether Israeli forces had any role in the incidents.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, last month warned it had "credible" information that Iran was carrying out "activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device."
According to the report, dated Nov. 8, Iran has produced 4,922 kilograms, nearly five tonnes, of uranium enriched to 3.5 percent, as well as 73.7 kilograms of uranium enriched to around 20 percent.
On Monday, Brigadier General Itai Brun, head of research for Israeli military intelligence, told lawmakers he estimated that Iran was "using 6,000 centrifuges regularly, out of 8,000 installed."
"Until today, they have managed to accumulate approximately 50 tons of low enriched uranium, and a bit less than 100 kilos of 20 percent enriched uranium," he said.
Brun said Iran would need at least 220 kilos of 20 percent enriched uranium if it decided on a drive for the much higher levels of enrichment necessary to produce a nuclear weapon.
On Tuesday, the former head of Israeli military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, said he estimated Iran has "enough material for four to five bombs."
But he said Tehran could not immediately assemble a nuclear weapon, if that was their goal.
"Once they decide they want to, it will take them a year to 18 months to attain a bomb," he said.
Israel is widely reported to have the Middle East's sole but undeclared nuclear arsenal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=441049
US uncertain Israel would advise before Iran strike
ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) -- The top US military officer said Wednesday he did not know whether Israel would alert the United States ahead of time if it decided to take military action against Iran.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also acknowledged differences in perspective between the United States and Israel over the best way to handle Iran and its nuclear program.
He said the US was convinced that sanctions and diplomatic pressure was the right path to take on Iran, along with "the stated intent not to take any options off the table" -- language that leaves open the possibility of future military action.
"I'm not sure the Israelis share our assessment of that. And because they don't and because to them this is an existential threat, I think probably that it's fair to say that our expectations are different right now," Dempsey said in an interview as he flew to Washington from London.
Asked whether he was talking about the differences between Israeli and US expectations over sanctions, or differences in perspective about the future course of events, Dempsey said: "All of the above." He did not elaborate.
He also did not disclose whether he believed Israel was prepared to strike Iran.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=440923