- 20 mrt 2011
Israel detains Gaza merchant at Erez crossing
29 oct 2012, 12:53 , Respect -
Maria 21 mrt 2011
Jets strike Gaza after Hamas offers truce
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes targeted sites across the Gaza Strip late Monday injuring at least 18 people including seven children, witnesses and medics said.
Ten people arrived at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and seven others were taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north, the BBC reported.
An airstrike in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City caused considerable damage but no injuries, residents said, and at least two other nearby areas came under fire, a Ma'an correspondent said.
In Tel Aviv, an Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an that the attack targeted two "terror tunnels, two weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, and two additional terror activities sites."
The official emphasized that the attack came in response to the barrage of projectiles fired toward Israeli territory over the past week, including 50 on Saturday for which Hamas claimed responsibility.
"The IDF holds Hamas solely responsible for terror emanating from the Gaza Strip," the spokesman said. The army also "warns Hamas not to continue its aggression," he added.
Among the targets were a police post and a training facility of Hamas' military wing, said the Al-Qassam Brigades which earlier offered to stop cross-border fire into Israel if the Israelis halted attacks on Gaza.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, which lobbed about 50 mortar rounds into Israel on Saturday, made the offer in a statement released after Israeli aircraft raided the enclave earlier on Monday evening.
It said Saturday's barrage had been in response to an Israeli strike last week which killed two of its members, but that it was ready to call an end to the tit-for-tat violence if Israel also did so.
"If the enemy stops the escalation and aggression against our people we will implement the Palestinian national agreement," the statement said, referring to a truce reaffirmed by the main militant factions in January.
The offer, however, came with a warning attached: "The enemy will pay a heavy price if it continues its agression and crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip," the statement added.
In a later statement, Hamas spokesman Taher Al-Nunu said the movement's Gaza government was committed to preserving the informal truce, with the backing of other militant groups.
"The government affirms that there is consensus among the factions regarding the security situation in the strip," he said in a statement.
Shortly before the Al-Qassam Brigades offer, Israeli warplanes raided the Gaza Strip, slightly wounding one man, local witnesses and medical officials said.
Witnesses said the target of the raid was a car repair workshop east of Gaza City, owned by the powerful Doghmush clan which has links to Islamic militants.
The Israeli military, however, said its aircraft hit what a spokeswoman described as "a terrorist tunnel" intended to launch attacks under the Gaza border fence into Israel.
Also on Monday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon issued a death threat against Hamas leaders.
"If Hamas decides to escalate, we will put an end to it ... We have several actions before putting ground forces in Gaza, including direct threats against Hamas leaders," Ayalon told public radio.
A rocket fired from Gaza overnight on Sunday exploded in southern Israel, causing neither casualties nor damage, several hours after another rocket exploded harmlessly in the town of Ashkelon.
After Saturday's mortar fire Israel pounded Gaza, wounding at least five Palestinians and cutting power supplies.
The mortar attacks, the fiercest since Israel carried out a 22-day offensive codenamed "Operation Cast Lead" against Gaza rocket fire in December 2008 and January 2009, wounded two Israelis and caused minor damage.
In January this year, Gaza's main militant factions confirmed a year-old truce after weeks of increased rocket fire and spiralling tensions along the border prompted a warning from Arab leaders that Gaza risked a major new Israeli invasion.
On Saturday Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni called for just that in response to the mortar barrage.
"The right way to deal with it is with force, just like Israel did during and after Operation Cast Lead," news website Ynet quoted her as telling local authority heads in the border region.
AFP contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371003
Explosions reported in Gaza
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Residents of the Gaza Strip reported late Monday that Israeli aircraft fired on two sites in the coastal enclave, including a security facility in the south and a warehouse in Gaza City.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371004
Rights center: The killing of two children in Gaza is another Israeli war crime
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center for human rights said Israel committed a new war crime when its army killed days ago two children from Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip.
The rights center stated on Sunday that Israel used lethal and excessive force on Saturday evening, exactly at about 9:30, when its artillery bombed a civilian area east of Johr Al-Deek killing two children under age 18 immediately.
The center added that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kept shelling and bombing the same area until a late hour of the night and on Sunday morning, March 20, 2011, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles advanced 400 meters into the area.
At about 11:30 am, a Red Crescent ambulance, after the Red Cross intervened with the Israeli army, was able to enter the area and find the bodies of the two children, Imad Faraj Allah, 16, and Qasem Abu Eteiwi, 16, about 300 meters away from the eastern borderline.
The center demanded the signatories to the fourth Geneva convention to fulfill their obligations regarding the prosecution of war criminals and the protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.
http://bit.ly/f4PLLZ
29 oct 2012, 12:53 , Respect -
Maria 29 oct 2012, 12:53 , Respect -
Maria 22 mrt 2011
5 killed as Israeli tanks shell Gaza home
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A child, teenager and three adults were killed and others injured by Israeli artillery fire which hit a home east of Gaza City on Tuesday afternoon, the second shelling and third hit of the day.
Earlier, two were injured in the same area in separate incidents involving artillery fire and a drone strike.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the involvement of civilians, in a strike she said was directed toward militants.
Medics collected bodies from a home on An-Nazzaz Street in the eastern part of the Ash-Shaja'iya neighborhood in Gaza City.
Adham Abu Salmiya, spokesman of the higher committee of ambulance and emergency services, said members of the Al-Hilu family were playing football outside of their home when the shell hit.
Eyewitnesses said ambulances took the injured to Ash-Shifa hospital in Gaza city.
Medics identified the dead as:
Muhammad Jihad Al-Hilu, 11
Yasser Ahed Al-Hilu, 16
Muhammad Saber Harara, 20
Yasser Hamer Al-Hilu, 50
A fifth remains unidentified.
After 3 p.m., the National Resistance Brigades said fighters fired two projectiles toward "Israeli settlements north of the Gaza Strip," and said the move was in response to "Israeli air raids on Gaza."
A statement from the group said "resistance is the only way to gain our national rights."
Israel's military spokeswoman said an investigation was underway into the deaths of an unknown number of civilians. She said troops fired "directly toward the launch site" where hours earlier "four military-use projectiles were fired" toward Israel.
The army official said "uninvolved civilians were injured," but blamed Hamas for operating "within a civilian population."
She added that the army "does not seek an escalation with this act."
It was the third Israeli strike of the day.
Shortly before 10 a.m. artillery fire injured one man in the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, just after witnesses reported Israeli vehicles penetrating the Gaza Strip in the area.
The injured man was identified as a 21-year-old Gaza resident. Medics did not say if he was a civilian or member of resistance factions which have recently been engaged in ramped-up activity near the border against Israeli forces operating there.
In a second incident that took place before noon, a man was critically injured by a drone strike in the same area.
An Israeli military statement said the fire was aimed at a group "of terrorists preparing to launch an anti-tank missile at an adjacent force, and thwarted the attempt by firing towards it, confirming a hit."
The statement said the Israeli military would "respond with determination to any firing or other terrorist activities emanating from the Gaza Strip, and will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. The IDF warns Hamas not to continue its aggression."
Shortly before midnight the day before, a series of Israeli air strikes injured 18, including women and children.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371286
Eight Palestinians, including two children and an elderly man massacred by IOF
GAZA, (PIC)-- Eight Palestinians including two children and an elderly man were killed and at least 11 others were injured when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bombed a home east of Gaza Tuesday afternoon and an airstrike that followed.
The IOF fired at least five artillery shells at the home of Fayek Al-Hilu on Nazaz street east of Gaza, killing four and injuring around 10 residents of the house and neighbours, locals told a correspondent for the Palestinian information center (PIC).
An ambulance was rushed to the scene, the sources said, adding that some of the injuries were serious.
Gaza medical service spokesman Adham Abu Salmiyya identified those killed as Mohammed Jihad al-Halw, 11, and Yasser Ahed al-Halw, 16, Yasser Hamed al-Halw, 50, and Mohammed Saber Harara, 20.
He said the number of injured is not yet accurate and added that an initial survey inferred that eight sustained injuries, some of them lost their limbs.
This attack was followed by an airstrike when an occupation drone fired at least one rocket at a group of men outside Rantisi Mosque killing four people and wounding another.
The Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said that the victims were resistance fighters affiliated the Brigades and their names are: Sa'di Hillis, Muhammad Harazin, Adham Harazin and Muhammad Abed, all from the Shejaeyyah neighborhood.
http://bit.ly/fv1Pv3
29 mrt 2011
Gaza family mourns boy killed by Israeli shell
Abu Hamad al-Hilu stands on the spot where his son Mahmoud was killed (Rami Almeghari)
Some playing cards and other small items were all that Mahmoud Jalal al-Hilu, 10, left behind when he was killed by an Israeli tank shell on 22 March as he played near his home in the Shujaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City.
As I was heading to the mosque for afternoon prayers, Mahmoud was just coming back from school, and said, Dad, classes are canceled today because there was Israeli shelling, Abu Hamad al-Hilu, 48, told The Electronic Intifada as he received visitors who had come to offer condolences on the death of his son.
Al-Hilu, a father of six daughters and four sons, began to cry and attempted a smile as he remembered Mahmoud: He is the youngest. Myself, his mother and all other family members all liked and pampered him, but now he is lost and now his smile is no longer with us.
One of Mahmoud's favorite things was watching wrestling on TV and he was a fan of the wrestler John Cena, to the extent that he used to imitate him often by wrestling with his brothers and sisters and even with myself, al-Hilu recalled.
Mahmoud's father described to The Electronic Intifada how his son was hit.
After I came back from afternoon prayer, I saw my uncle Yasser Hamad and his grandson Yasser Ahed bleeding in front of this door, he said outside of the family's home.
I tried to aid them and I was shocked to see my son Mahmoud laying near that fence bleeding and his abdomen had been ripped open, al-Hilu said as he gestured toward the locations where the three Israeli tank shells landed.
In addition to Mahmoud, three other persons were killed in the attack: Muhammad Saber Harara, 19, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, as well as Yaser Hamad al-Hilu, 51, and his grandchild Yasser Ahed al-Hilu, 15. Another 11 civilians, including eight children, were injured, three seriously.
At Mahmoud al-Hilu's home, his mother Umm Hamad welcomed relatives and friends who came to pay condolences to his gathered family, including his grandmothers, brothers and sisters.
Just two hours before he was killed, Mahmoud argued happily with his brother Ahmad. Afterward, he asked me for one shekel, the fifth that day! Mahmoud used to like money and I never said no to him, Umm Hamad remembered as she and her husband sat in the boy's bedroom.
Since Mahmoud was killed, I began to sleep on his bed, Ahmad, Mahmoud's 15-year-old brother, said tearfully. Maybe the bed would console me or would remind me of Mahmoud.
Where is the world to protect us from such killing, where is the world? Mahmoud's grandmother, Umm Muhammad al-Hatto, 72, asked. Are we destined to inherit suffering from one generation to another?
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the Israeli military spokesperson claimed that Palestinian militants had fired mortars at Israel and that the army had fired back at the source of the fire and that it did not know civilians were in the area. There are olive groves located three hundred meters away from the al-Hilu home.
In response to the killings of the four persons, including Mahmoud, the Israeli army issued a statement regretting the deaths of civilians and accusing Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, of using Palestinian civilians as human shields for firing rockets. Israel has frequently made such claims to justify deaths of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, although human rights groups and UN investigators have seldom found evidence to substantiate such accusations.
In recent days, Israel stepped up attacks on the Gaza Strip, claiming they were in retaliation for a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. The new spate of violence in the occupied coastal region began the previous week, when Israeli warplanes killed two Hamas operatives in southern Gaza.
One day before he was killed, Mahmoud's mother remembered of her son, he came to me to apologize for not buying me a gift for Mothers Day. May God give me more patience and strength to overcome.
Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.
http://fwd4.me/zqY
29 oct 2012, 12:53 , Respect -
Maria 22 mrt 2011
Israel kills 9 Gazans in day of strikes
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes killed four Palestinians in an air strike on Az-Zaitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City on Tuesday evening, medics said.
The attack came hours after Israeli artillery fire hit a home east of Gaza City killing a child, a teenager and three adults.
Emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said the four victims of the latest strike were members of the Al-Quds Brigades. They were all in their 20s, he said.
Abu Salmiya identified those killed as Adham Al-Hazareen, Sa'dy Hals, Muhammad Atyeh Al-Harazeen and Muhammad Abed.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israeli fighter jets identified "a group of terrorists" in northern Gaza who she said were preparing to launch a projectile into Israel. The warplanes dropped missiles on the group "and confirmed a hit," she added.
The army official said the men targeted were from the same group that launched a grad rocket into Israel on February 23, but could not say how they had been identified.
Civilians killed playing football
Earlier in the day, Israeli tanks fired at a home on An-Nazzaz Street in the eastern part of the Ash-Shaja'iya neighborhood in Gaza City.
Abu Salmiya said members of the Abu Hilu family were playing football outside the home when the shell hit.
Muhammad Jihad Al-Hilu, 11,
Yasser Ahed Al-Hilu, 16,
Muhammad Saber Harara, 20,
Yasser Hamer Al-Hilu, 50,
and a fifth unidentified victim
were all killed in the attack, and several others were injured, the medical spokesman said.
Israel's military spokeswoman said forces fired toward a launch site for projectiles, but admitted that "uninvolved civilians were injured."
However, she blamed Hamas for operating "within a civilian population."
She added that the army "does not seek an escalation with this act."
On Tuesday morning, Israeli artillery fire injured one man and a drone strike critically injured another in the same area.
Shortly before midnight the day before, a series of Israeli air strikes injured 18, including women and children.
Several hours before the raids, Hamas' armed wing called for a truce.
Israel's military says Gaza militants have launched over 50 projectiles into Israel in recent days.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, said it fired mortars into Israel in response to an air strike that killed two of its members on Wednesday.
But the group said it would commit to a ceasefire if Israel stopped bombarding the Gaza Strip.
Israeli leaders have stepped up rhetoric in response to the projectiles. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would use "all means necessary to protect its citizens."
According to Israeli news site Ynet, opposition leader Tzipi Livni called for another Operation Cast Lead, Israel's devastating 22-day offensive launched in December 2008 which killed over 1,400 Palestinians.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371373
29 oct 2012, 12:53 , Respect -
Maria 22 mrt 2011
Israel Re-Invades Awarta; Troops Search Homes
Nablus PNN Israeli troops invaded the village of Awarta, in northern West Bank, at dawn on Tuesday morning and imposed a general curfew.
Witnesses told PNN that soldiers stormed the village and then called in reinforcements. Later soldiers patrolled the village and searched homes with police dogs; during the house-to-house search troops beat Raja Awad, a local English teacher, while they searched his home.
Awarta lies under constant Israeli settlers and army attack since an unidentified assailant killed a family of five settlers in the illegal settlement of Itamar, up the hill from Awarta, on March 11.
Soldiers have searched homes, overturned furniture and food stores and arrested a number of Palestinians, but there is still no suspect for the crime and no evidence has been released to suggest that the perpetrator was a Palestinian.
The village was under a general curfew for the week immediately following the murders, but it has been relaxed in the last few days. Tuesday's restrictions may mark a new phase of interrogations.
http://jnoubiyeh.com/2011/03/israel-re-invades-awarta-troops-search.html
Israeli forces re-enter Awarta
NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces re-entered the northern West Bank village of Awarta at sunrise on Tuesday morning, announcing via loudspeaker that the community was being placed under curfew, for a second time.
The village had been under a military curfew from 12-16 March, as Israeli police, military and intelligence forces searched the area for evidence relating to a knife attack which saw five settlers murdered in the adjacent illegal settlement community of Itamar.
An as yet unknown attacker or attackers stabbed five members of the Fogel family, including two children and an infant. Israeli leaders immediately pointed the finger at Palestinian militant groups, and put a total gag order on the investigation for the Israeli press.
A military spokeswoman confirmed that there was a curfew put in place, but said she could not disclose how long it would remain on the village. She said the search was in relation on the ongoing investigation into the Itamar murders, and that troops were trying not to disrupt normal life in the village.
Head of the Awarta village council Qays Awwad told Ma%u2019an that a large number of Israeli forces entered the town and set up checkpoints at all of its entrances.
Villagers were told that they were prohibited to leave their homes and enter the streets.
"So far, we have not been informed about the motive behind the incursion," the Awwad said.
The last closure of the village prevented patients in need of medical treatment from getting to hospital, with villagers reporting at least two children suffering bites from sniffer dogs, and teens with broken bones after attempting to stave off a settler attack, when Itamar residents walked to the village in an apparent protest, which turned violent when the group began throwing rocks and bottles at Awarta homes.
Official accusations of Palestinians, despite denial of involvement from militant groups in the West Bank, sparked a string of settler attacks against Palestinian civilians.
On Monday, one settler in the southern West Bank opened fire on a funeral procession in Beit Ummar, injuring one man critically and hospitalizing a second with moderate injuries from a gunshot wound to the thigh.
Further south, a settler from the Ma'on outpost stabbed a Palestinian man on a donkey en route to a local clinic for treatment.
Two Palestinians were stabbed earlier in the week as they went to work in the industrial area of the Shilo settlement.
Tens of acts of vandalism and harassment have also been reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371021
UN slams Israel's killing of children
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned the killing of four Palestinian children by an Israeli tank shell in the Gaza Strip.
Ban's spokesman issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that the UN chief is "very concerned at an escalating situation in Gaza."
At least 10 Palestinians, including four children, were killed and dozens injured after an Israeli tank fired shots at a home in the Gaza Strip, medics reported on Tuesday.
"He calls on all to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law," the statement added.
Israel regularly carries out attacks on Gaza, killing and injuring Palestinians. Tel Aviv launched a deadly war on the coastal enclave at the turn of 2009.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished sliver. The offensive also inflicted $1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.
Some 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.
Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent in the Gaza Strip respectively, reports say.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171247.html
UN's Serry condemns killing of civilians in Gaza
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The UN's envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry on Tuesday condemned Israel's killing of civilians in Gaza.
On Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli tank fired at a family playing football outside their home in the eastern part of the Ash-Shaja'iya neighborhood in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said it regretted harm to innocent civilians, but blamed Hamas, who it said operated in civilian areas.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Serry condemned the attack and expressed concern at the escalating situation in Gaza and southern Israel.
"Serry condemns the killing of three Palestinian children and their uncle and the wounding of thirteen other civilians by an Israeli tank shell in the Gaza Strip earlier today," the statement said.
"Israeli firing into densely populated areas is extremely dangerous and appalling incidents such as today's raise serious questions."
The Special Coordinator also condemned the sharp escalation in rocket fire from Gaza, which he said endangered Israeli civilians.
Gaza militants have launched a barrage of projectiles at Israeli forces operating in the coastal enclave and across the border.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said two Israeli civilians were lightly injured by mortar fire from Gaza on Saturday.
Serry said the UN was working urgently to prevent any further escalation, and called for "an urgent halt to all acts of violence and full respect of international humanitarian law by all parties before more civilian lives are lost."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371419
29 oct 2012, 12:53 , Respect -
Maria 22 mrt 2011
Germans back Israelis after Gaza fighting flares
BERLIN (DPA) -- Germany voiced support Tuesday for Israel after a flare-up of fighting with Hamas radicals the previous day.
"We condemn the massive missile bombardment of Israel from the Gaza Strip in the strongest terms. We demand that Hamas cease such acts of violence immediately," said Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at a Berlin news conference.
"Israel has the right to protect its citizens against terrorist activities like this. A new spiral of violence must be prevented at all costs."
Israeli military jets carried out a series of airstrikes Monday night against the armed wing of the Islamic Hamas movement. The raids were retaliation for mortar and homemade rocket attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli communities in southern Israel.
http://bit.ly/dL9vi5
Israel Bombs Residential Area of Gaza City - March 22, 2011 - Ken O'Keefe
(12:57) Israel Bombs Residential Area of Gaza City - March 22, 2011 - Ken O'Keefe
The American taxpayer continues to pay for Israel to terrorise children by dropping bombs on residential areas of Gaza. Women and children were injured in Israel's latest bombing.
Air Force strikes in Gaza; 'children hurt'
Sources in Strip say Israeli aircraft bomb various targets, including 'metal foundry', police outpost. Hamas says will agree to ceasefire if Israel commits to 'stopping its aggression'.
Palestinian sources in Gaza said Israeli aircraft bombed a number of targets in the Hamas-ruled territory late Monday night. At least 17 people, among them seven children and two women, were injured in the air raids, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Adham Abu Salmia said.
The IDF has yet to confirm or deny the report.
According to the sources, one of the targets was a Palestinian police outpost in north Gaza. The outpost was vacant at the time of the strike. The Air Force also attacked in the Jabal al-Ris area in eastern Gaza. Palestinians said another aerial raid targeted a construction material factory near the al-Shaaf neighborhood, located east of Gaza city.
The Air Force also bombed a "metal foundry" in Gaza City's Zeitun neighborhood and an unidentified target in the Shati refugee camp. One of the outposts attacked was manned by terrorists from the Hamas-affiliated Al-Ahrar organization.
On Monday evening it was reported that Israeli helicopters opened fire on a garage in the Sajaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City. The structure was damaged, but there were no reports of injury.
Hamas has stepped up rocket fire at Israel after a lengthy hiatus since a war of two years ago, claiming responsibility for the firings of more than two dozen mortars and rockets at the weekend.
Earlier Monday, the spokesman for Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, said his organization was once again ready to impose an unofficial ceasefire in the Gaza Strip "if Israel commits to stopping its aggression".
In an official statement Abu Obeida said, "We will also commit to this and toe the line with the national consensus." He warned, however, that Israel would "pay dearly" if it continued its airstrikes.
"The recent operations by the military wing are a response to Israel's ongoing crimes, which caused the deaths of two people and destruction of buildings in Gaza," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4045723,00.html
Israeli artillery, strike injure 2 east of Gaza City
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Following a series of Israeli air strikes that injured 18 overnight, artillery fire and a drone strike injured two more in separate incidents east of Gaza City.
Shortly before 10 a.m. artillery fire injured one man in the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, just after witnesses reported Israeli vehicles penetrating the Gaza Strip in the area.
The injured man was identified as a 21-year-old Gaza resident. Medics did not say if he was a civilian or member of resistance factions which have recently been engaged in ramped-up activity near the border against Israeli forces operating there.
A second incident that took place before noon, saw a man critically injured by a drone strike in the same area.
An Israeli military statement said the fire was aimed at a group "of terrorists preparing to launch an anti-tank missile at an adjacent force, and thwarted the attempt by firing towards it, confirming a hit."
The statement said the Israeli military would "respond with determination to any firing or other terrorist activities emanating from the Gaza Strip, and will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. The IDF warns Hamas not to continue its aggression."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371085
Hamas urges global move to halt Israel
The Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas has called upon international organizations to intervene as Israel intensifies its attacks on the blockaded Gaza Strip.
In urgent messages conveyed to the United Nations, Arab League and a number of European Union nations, Hamas has disclosed the scope of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The government in the Gaza Strip [Hamas] has asked for their immediate intervention to stop Israel's aerial attacks on the enclave, the Palestine Information Center quoted Yousef Rizqa, a political advisor to the democratically elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, as saying on Monday.
Rizqa underlined that the recent surge in Israeli assaults on Gaza come in the wake of revolutions and popular uprisings in the Middle East. Such developments have seriously challenged Tel Aviv's expansionist policies in the region.
Israeli forces have carried out large numbers of ground and air attacks on Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead against the enclave.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal sliver during the winter of 2008-2009. The offensive also inflicted USD 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.
A United Nations inquiry led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone, detailed what investigators had described as Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during their offensive against the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli regime laid an economic siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, after Hamas took control of the enclave.
The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively, in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171156.html
Israeli Air Strikes Injure 17 in Gaza, Two Arrested near Hebron
Gaza PNN - Israeli warplanes struck several targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, injuring 19 Palestinians while in the refugee camp of al-Arroup, the Israeli army arrested two 17-year-old youths.
Israeli sources confirmed the airstrikes, which come in retaliation to Monday's 50 rocket attacks in southern Israel, claimed by Hamas. Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip say that of the 19, seven were children and two women.
Local sources said a blacksmith, a plastic factory, and a Hamas-run police station were hit, while Israeli sources claimed the army targeted Qassam rocket sites and training grounds.
Eyewitnesses said the wounded Palestinians were transported to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and Kemal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya for treatment. According to Palestinian state-run news wire Wafa, huge damage was reported to homes and property and school children were terrified.
In the southern West Bank refugee camp of al-Arroup, north of Hebron, Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians during a nighttime raid. Local sources told Wafa that Muhammad al-Balati and Ibrahim al-Balati, both 17, were arrested during a home invasion and taken to an unknown location.
Another raid were reported in the southern West Bank city of Yatta, resulting in no arrests.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9745
Children and women wounded during Israeli air raids on impoverished Gaza
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli warplanes at a late hour Monday bombed civilian areas in the densely-populated Gaza Strip wounding 18 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and inflicting considerable damage on property.
Spokesman for the emergency and ambulance authority Adham Abu Salmiya told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the hospitals received 18 casualties including seven children and six women, 11 of them were taken to Al-Shafa hospital and the others to Kamal Adwan hospital.
Last night, Israeli aerial attacks were waged on densely-populated area in Khan Younis, south of Gaza, destroying homes and a mosque.
Warplanes also bombed Abdel Aziz Al-Rantissi police site in Al-Tu'am area, northwest of Gaza city which led to its destruction and the injury of a number of Palestinians, a security source told the PIC.
A clinic in Tu'am area was also damaged as a result of the bombing. It is the only medical center in the northwestern areas of Gaza.
Other Air raids were carried out on the same day on an empty piece of land in Jabal Al-Rayes area and a factory for the manufacture of concrete blocks in Al-Tufah neighborhood east of Gaza city as well as a foundry in Al-Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza.
Earlier, warplanes bombed a workshop for repairing cars east of Gaza city and destroyed it completely.
It was also reported that a site belonging to Al-Ahrar resistance movement behind Al-Maqousi towers were bombed.
http://bit.ly/f8hmgC
Gaza: Militant group calls for coordinated response to strikes
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Spokesman for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's armed wing, Abu Khaled, condemned Tuesday the recent string of Israeli air strikes targeting the Gaza Strip.
The official, speaking on behalf of the National Resistance Brigades, accused Israel of using the strikes as an attempt to block the progress of Palestinian reconciliation.
"Military units should coordinate, and determine together how to respond to such attacks," Abu Khaled said in a statement.
On Monday evening Israeli airplanes struck five sites in Gaza, injuring at least 18 people including seven children, witnesses and medics said.
The strike followed a projectile launch carried out by resistance factions in Gaza targeting an Israeli military site, which was precipitated by Israeli artillery fire along the border.
Back and forth fire has been escalating over the past week. Israeli military officials say 56 projectiles have been launched at Israeli targets over the past five days.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371014
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 22 mrt 2011
Foundation: Israeli forces enter Al-Aqsa compound
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Tuesday morning and detained five worshipers, a statement by the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said.
The statement said 25 extremist settlers toured and desecrated the Al-Haram Ash-Sharif compound.
After that forces raided the compound at 8:30 a.m. and detained Muhammad Mansour from Majd Al-Kroum, Ali Hani Zeidan from Kafr Manda, and Obada Nathim, Bilal Jabarin and Ahmad Sharif from Umm Al-Fahm, the group said, quoting eyewitnesses.
All the detainees were students learning Islamic teachings.
The statement said Mansour was released later, while the other four remained in custody.
http://bit.ly/hHIJEL
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 22 mrt 2011
Six Palestinian Arrested by Israeli Troops During West Bank Raids
Israeli forces detain journalist in Awarta
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 23 mrt 2011
Early morning fire on Gaza injures 1
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces resumed military strikes on the Gaza Strip Wednesday morning injuring a militant in a string of attacks that have left 8 dead, including five civilians. Another 12 civilians were wounded, including three young children.
Israeli forces struck twice Wednesday, the first time with artillery fire, and the second from helicopters, both in the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood east of Gaza City.
Palestinian medical sources told Ma'an that the injured militant, affiliated to the Islamic Jihad's military wing, had his leg amputated as a result of the morning artillery strike.
The Al-Quds Brigades released a statement shortly after midnight Wednesday morning, saying fighters had launched a Grad-style missile toward the Israeli town of Ashdod and three mortar shells at the Israeli military base Nahal Oz east of Gaza City.
A second statement released by the group after sunrise said a second Grad had been launched at Beersheba 5:30 a.m. "in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression."
Israsel's military confirmed the strikes, saying at 1:30 a.m. that a fighter jet "targeted a terrorist in the northern Gaza Strip, in the same location from which a Grad missile was fired towards the city of Ashdod a number of hours ago. A hit was confirmed."
Shrapnel from the rocket, which struck the centre of Beersheba, hit a man in the chest, injuring him moderately, officials said.
Gaza border tension rose significantly after 16 March, after more than a week of calm, when an Israeli air strike hit a training base near the former settlement of Nitzarim, killing two Hamas militants and injuring a third.
An army spokesman said at the time that the strike was in response to a projectile that had been fired from Gaza earlier in the day, though there were no claims of fire from Gaza factions, and Israeli media did not report projectile fire.
Hamas retaliated for the deaths, sparking the current back-and forth projectile launches and strikes.
On 19 March Hamas launched 50 projectiles toward Israel, and Israeli forces retaliated killing two teenagers, and sending artillery fire at fighters in at least two areas of the border zone.
On 21 March Hamas' armed wing says it will commit to a truce if Israel stops bombarding the Gaza Strip. The offer was ignored and Israeli jets struck sites overnight across the Strip, injuring 18.
Successive projectile launches have caused one civilian injury in Israel, while Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 10 in the past week, including at least five civilians, who were outside playing soccer when they were hit with fire. An 11-year old and teenager were among the dead. Another 12 people were wounded, including three young children.
AFP contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371442
Haneyya appeals to UN security council to protect Gazans against Israel's crimes
GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya appealed to the UN security council to take effective and quick decisions to protect the Palestinian people in Gaza and punish the Israeli occupation state for its crimes.
"The security council, which did not hesitate to issue resolutions and implement them fast as happened with Libya, is demanded to do the same thing in order to protect our Palestinian people and punish the occupation," Haneyya said in a brief statement on Tuesday evening.
The premier also called for activating Goldstone report and urged the Arab revolutionists to make Gaza and Palestine high on their list of priorities.
He expressed his hope that the new Egyptian leadership would open the Rafah border crossing and allow all humanitarian needs into Gaza including building materials in response to Israel's war crimes against the Palestinians there.
http://bit.ly/ifTeB9
PCHR condemns killing of Gaza teens
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The death of two Gaza teens on Saturday, killed by Israeli fire 300 meters from the border area was an act of "excessive and lethal force," a condemnation from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said.
The two, both 17, were killed east of Johur Ad-Dik in the central Gaza Strip. Medics were only permitted to retrieve their bodies more than 12 hours after they had been killed.
According to an investigation conducted by the PCHR, the organization said, at approximately 9:30 p.m. on 19 March Israeli forces fired several artillery shells at the teens killing them instantly.
Israeli fire on the area continued until late in the evening, PCHR said.
The following day, witnesses told the rights group, Israeli forces entered Gaza some 400 meters and conducted surveillance in the area.
Medics confirmed that the two teens' bodies were picked up 300 meters from the border. They were identified as Imad Mohammed Issa Faraj Allah and Qasem Salah Abu Uteiwi, both from the An-Nuseirat refugee camp.
According to PCHR, they were both civilians.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=370911
Arab League condemns Israeli attacks on Gaza
CAIRO, The Arab League (AL) condemned on Tuesday the latest Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, calling international community to intervene to halt the attacks.
After an extraordinary meeting of permanent delegates, the pan- Arab body urged in a statement the United Nations and the Quartet to shoulder the responsibility to halt constant aggression.
"The Palestinian cause and people's rights are a top priority for all the Arab states and the AL until the declaration of an independent state according to the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital," said the statement.
Four Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in eastern Gaza City Tuesday afternoon in a blast which residents and witnesses said was Israeli bombing.
Tensions have mounted since the Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, fired tens of mortars and missiles towards Israel on Saturday, ending its commitment to a shaky cease-fire that took effect when Israel ended a three-week military offensive here in January 2009.
On Monday, the Hamas government tried to cool down the situation, urging factions to respect the cease-fire again to avoid another large-scale military operation in Gaza.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13792922.htm
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 23 mrt 2011
Army storms several villages in Jenin
West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli occupation forces raided Monday six villages in the city of Jenin without detentions reported.
Local sources confirmed that Israeli forces invaded several villages and erected a military checkpoint between the villages of Bait Qad and Jalqamous.
On the other hand, confrontations erupted between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian residents in the west of Jenin as soldiers fired sound bombs and tear gases at civilians homes.
Two Palestinians were injured yesterday by Israeli gunfire during clashes took place in Katna town in the north of Jerusalem. Israeli army also detained five Palestinians from the same area, claiming their involving in the clashes.
http://bit.ly/hogVUz
Israeli forces injure 1, detain 3 near Beit Ummar
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces injured one Palestinian and detained three others, during a funeral north of Beit Ummar on Wednesday, local sources said.
The southern West Bank town's popular committee spokesman, Muhammad Ayyad Awad, said forces fired sound grenades and tear gas at mourners, after stones were thrown at a settler's car in the area.
The Israeli military reported one Israeli civilian was lightly injured near the Hebron-area settlement Karmi Zur.
Awad said that Israeli forces shot one young Palestinian male.
Those detained were identified as
Muhammad Hussein Khalil Abu Ayyash, 27,
Nabil Hamad Humeidan Abu Maria, 28, and
Saddam Hussein Za'aqeeq, 32.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371703
Hamas calls day of mourning; Abbas demands end to fire
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Gaza government officials declared Wednesday a day of mourning, with a collective funeral in central Gaza City at midday, for the four civilians and four militants killed by Israeli fire the day earlier.
Officials called on residents of Gaza to join in the funeral procession.
In Moscow, President Mahmoud Abbas asked the Russian foreign minister to exert pressure on Israel, and demand a halt to what he described as an "escalation" against Gaza.
PLO Executive Committee Member in Gaza Zakariyya Al-Agha condemned the deaths as a "massacre" of the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, saying in a statement that the deaths "translated into deeds the Israeli minister's remarks threatening another Cast Lead."
Israel's opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni said Saturday that the time had come for a fresh military campaign against Gaza, in the wake of a barrage of 50 projectiles which landed in the western Negev, causing no damage or injuries.
"The right way to deal with it is with force, just like Israel did during and after Operation Cast Lead," the Israeli news website Ynet quoted her as telling local authority heads in the border region.
In January, Gaza's main militant factions confirmed a year-old truce after weeks of increased rocket fire and spiralling tensions along the border prompted a warning from Arab leaders that Gaza was risking a major new Israeli invasion.
Abbas told reporters in Moscow that "there has always been an Israeli escalation in Gaza, West Bank, and Jerusalem," adding that the latest proof of escalation "should not be a reason not to achieve national unity."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371509
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 23 mrt 2011
Gaza: 8-year-old injured in IDF fire
An 8-year-old Palestinian boy injured from IDF fire in Gaza Tuesday was transferred to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot for medical care.
Fatah calls for intervention in Israeli strikes
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian political group Fatah issued a statement Wednesday calling for an international intervention that would put "immediate pressure on Israel to stop its attacks against Palestinian civilians in Gaza."
Fatah spokesman, Ahmad Assaf, who issued the statement on behalf of the party, said "The international position should be courageous," and called on the sides to take measures to stop Israel from "considering itself above the law."
Assaf labeled the killing of civilians in Gaza on Saturday and Tuesday, on top of persistent attacks against Gaza residents, a "genocide, which the international community must put a stop to."
He said Fatah believed Israel had a political aim to their Tuesday attacks, which saw four civilians and four militants killed in separate incidents. "The strikes aimed at destroying national unity," he said.
Assaf further called on Hamas to "spare the Palestinian people from new human tragedies and destruction," in an apparent reference to the steady flow of projectile fire launched by factions toward Israel, and a prod to the party to push forward with unity measures.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier in the week that Abbas could choose between "peace with Israel or Hamas," while the leader of the country's opposition Tipzi Livni was quoted Saturday by Israeli news website Ynet saying, "The right way to deal with it [projectile fire from Gaza] is with force, just like Israel did during and after Operation Cast Lead."
On Wednesday morning, Abbas asked the Russian foreign minister to exert pressure on Israel, and demand a halt to what he described as an "escalation" against Gaza, as the UN's Middle East Peace envoy Robert Serry condemned the "killing of three Palestinian children and their uncle and the wounding of thirteen other civilians by an Israeli tank shell."
Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights called the recent set of Israeli strikes a "war crime," and said evidence indicated that there were deliberate attacks on civilians, including the two killed on Saturday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371603
'Israel may have to launch fresh operation against Gaza'
Grad rocket strikes Be'er Sheva, March 23, 2011
Silvan Shalom says IDF has to consider possibilities, although war would 'bring region to more combustible situation'; Minister Livnat: Israel may have to start Operation Cast Lead 2.
Vice Premier Silvan Shalom warned Wednesday that Israel may have to consider launching a fresh military offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, following days of rocket and mortar shell fire on the western Negev.
Islamic Jihad, a smaller Gaza faction and occasional Hamas ally, claimed responsibility for the two attacks on Be'er Sheva and one on Ashdod. The attacks followed a surge of shelling between Israel and Hamas that killed four Palestinian civilians and five militants on Tuesday.
Vice Premier Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio that the situation recalled the run-up to Israel's 2008-2009 Gaza war, which killed around 1,400 Palestinians. Hamas had mostly held fire from the enclave since.
"We may have to consider a return to that operation," Shalom told Israel Radio. "I say this despite the fact that I know such a thing would, of course, bring the region to a far more combustible situation."
If the rocket fire continues, Israel would have to embark on a wide-scale operation to topple the Hamas regime, Shalom told Israeli Radio. The operation would have to target leaders and commanders of terrorist movements, said Shalom, rather than just tunnels and open areas.
Culture Minister Limor Livnat echoed Shalom's remarks, saying Israel may have no choice but to launch Operation Cast Lead 2 if the rocket fire continued.
With dissident movements rocking the Arab world, U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has broached reconciliation with Islamist Hamas, which bested his Fatah faction in a 2006 ballot and seized control of Gaza in a civil war a year later.
Shalom said Hamas might have opened a new front with Israel "to stop any possibility of dialogue among the Palestinians or to come to the intra-Palestinian negotiation in a far stronger position".
In a statement following the rocket attacks, Islamic Jihad said it sought to avenge "the Zionist massacres against our fighters and people" and would continue to fight "until the full liberation of our lands" - a reference to Israel, as well as the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamas has described its attacks, which included the firing of more than two dozen mortar shells and rockets at the weekend, as retaliation for Israeli strikes. Hamas has at times proposed a long-term truce with Israel.
After Tuesday's deaths in Gaza, Netanyahu voiced regret for the civilian casualties, which he said resulted from errant Israeli shelling. He said Israel sought no further flare-up but would continue to respond to Palestinian attacks.
http://bit.ly/fxFHVD
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 23 mrt 2011
Daily Roundup: Two More Injured in Gaza Airstrikes, Five Arrests in Hebron
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 24 mrt 2011
Northern Gaza Strip Airstrikes Injure Three; Escalation Increases
Gaza City PNN - Three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army gunfire in the Gaza Strip, one day after an explosion at a bus station in Jerusalem killed one Israeli and two days after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed eight Palestinians.
Israeli radio broadcasted on Thursday morning that Israeli soldiers opened fire on one Palestinian who was dressed as a militant and approaching the security fence in the al-Shouja'iya neighborhood of Gaza City.
Al-Shouja'iya is the same neighborhood in which four Palestinian civilians were killed on Tuesday when an Israeli missile struck a local soccer game. Eyewitnesses said that the Thursday morning strikes were perpetrated by unmanned drones.
Two other Palestinians were wounded in an airstrike in Beit Lahiya, one of them taken straight away to Kemal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya and another with moderate injuries was treated at the scene.
Electricity was cut throughout most of Gaza City as a result of Wednesday night and Thursday morning airstrikes. Eyewitnesses said Israel specifically targeted electricity generator in the Sheikh Ajlayn area of Gaza City.
Other strikes targeted Hamas training facilities in the northern Gaza Strip and tunnels in the south.
The attacks follow a rare explosion near the central bus station in Jerusalem, which killed a 59-year-old Israeli woman and injured 38 others. Gaza groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad did not claim responsibility for the operation but called it a natural response to Israeli crimes. Israel struck the Gaza Strip heavily on Tuesday, killing eight people, including three children aged 11, 16, and 17.
In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian Authority (PA) arrested two militants from the Islamic Jihad group in connection with the Jerusalem bombing, according to a statement released by the group.
The Jerusalem bomb attack was roundly condemned by Palestinian and international leaders, including President Abbas, Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, and US President Barack Obama.
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the bombing in Jerusalem today, as well as the rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in recent days, said Obama in a press statement. Together with the American people, I offer my deepest condolences for those killed.
We also express our deepest condolences for the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza yesterday, the statement continued.
http://bit.ly/dOQ3Xo
Sameh_Habeeb Palestine Telegraph
ISRAELI NAVAL FORCES OPEN HEAVY MACHINE GUNS ON CIVILIAN FISHERMEN IN GAZA. 2 BOATS PARTIALLY DAMAGED.
ISRAELI TANKS CENTRAL GAZA FIRE AT CIVILIAN FARMERS IN CITY OF KHAN YONIS
Omar_Gaza Less than an hr ago, F16 targeted a crowd in Jabaliya refugee camp; 1 reportedly injured & rushed to Al Shifa Hospital
Israel strike injures Palestinian commander
A local commander of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees has been injured during a fresh Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip.
The commander of Nasser Brigades was injured in the strike which happened between Gaza City and the northern town of Beit Layiha on Thursday, AFP reported.
Israeli fighter jets also carried out three other air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight, but no casualties have been reported.
Two of the strikes hit the city of Gaza and the third targeted a tunnel near the Egyptian border at Rafah, the witnesses said early Thursday.
On Tuesday, an Israeli tank fired shots at a home in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 10 Palestinians, including four children and injuring over 50 others.
Israel regularly carries out attacks on Gaza, killing and injuring Palestinians. Tel Aviv launched a deadly war on the coastal enclave at the turn of 2009.
Some 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171458.html
SoulFya Soul Fya just heard a deep explosion! I dont know where! F16 in the air! Gaza
F16 striked again a while ago,targeted a crowd in jabalya, 1 injured!
One Hurt In Israeli Strike On Northern Gaza
One person was lightly injured Thursday in an Israeli airstrike on militants in northern Gaza who were trying to fire rockets at an Israeli port city, witnesses said.
The strike hit an open area between Gaza City and the northern town of Beit Layiha from which militants were trying to fire rockets into Israel, medical sources and witnesses told AFP.
The injured man was a local commander of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the Nasser Brigades, who was trying to fire rockets towards the port city of Ashkelon, the group said in a statement.
The army confirmed the strike, with a spokeswoman saying the military had "targeted a group of people launching rockets" in northern Gaza.
The air raid came hours after Israeli jets staged three strikes on Gaza, causing no casualties, Palestinian sources said.
Two of the raids hit targets in Gaza City while a third hit tunnels in Rafah on the southern border with Egypt.
Since Saturday, militants have fired at least 26 rockets and mortars into southern Israel, including two which hit the southern desert city of Beersheva, home to 186,000 people.
For the most part, the rocket fire was claimed by the Al Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, which has vowed to strike ever deeper into Israel following a series of deadly Israeli raids on Gaza City earlier this week which killed four militants and four civilians.
Israel has yet to respond forcefully to the upsurge in attacks, and on Wednesday, Gaza's Hamas leadership vowed "to restore calm" in the coastal enclave.
http://www.ytwhw.com/2011/0324/-One-Hurt-In-Israeli-Strike-On-Northern-Gaza.html
Ken O'Keefe on Press TV - March 22 - Israel's ongoing mass-murders/war crimes
(11:39) Ken O'Keefe on Press TV - March 22 - Israel's ongoing mass-murders/war crimes
From Gaza, militant group calls for calm, unity
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The little-active Al-Mujahedin Brigades, nominally affiliated with the Fatah movement, called for calm Wednesday, and a unified response to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, a statement said.
The brigades, which have not claimed attacks since 2009, urged factions in Gaza to remain focused on Palestinian unity, and not to "let the occupation" deter them from the goal.
At the same time the statement called for a unified response to Israeli strikes and artillery fire, warning other brigades in Gaza "to take care."
It is unclear what the driving force behind the latest wave of projectile attacks has been. A Saturday barrage of projectiles sent toward Israeli targets was claimed by Hamas, in retaliation for the death of two fighters in an Israeli air strike on 16 March.
Since the barrage, however, Hamas fighters have no claimed involvement in any attacks against Israeli military or civilian targets, with the majority being claimed by fighters affiliated with Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees.
Hamas officials have twice called for calm, offering a truce on Monday, hours before Israeli strikes killed eight.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371757
IAF strikes rocket launchers in Gaza after attacks on South
Israeli airstrikes hit rocket-launching terrorists, smuggling tunnels along Gaza-Egypt border and Hamas training camp; action follows rocket attacks in Beersheba, Ashkelon; no reports of injured in attack.
The IAF bombed terrorists that were attempting to shoot rockets into Israel on Thursday morning.
IDF aircraft struck four targets in the Gaza Strip in the early hours on Thursday, Hamas said, a day after Palestinians fired about a dozen rockets and mortars across the border, striking deep into Israel. There were no reports of injuries in the attacks.
Hamas said Israel targeted smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, as well as one of its training camps in central Gaza.
A third strike hit a power transformer, causing blackouts in the area, witnesses said. Medical workers said no one was injured in the strikes.
The IDF confirmed that several strikes were carried out in Gaza in response to earlier rocket attacks and that direct hits on multiple targets were recorded.
On Wednesday, Israel vowed to retaliate for rocket attacks against Beersheba and Ashkelon as Hamas evacuated most of its manned positions throughout the Gaza Strip in anticipation of IDF air strikes.
At 5:30 Wednesday morning the first Grad-model Katyusha rocket slammed into Beersheba for the first time in almost a month, lightly wounding one person.
Several hours later, another rocket hit the Negev city.
Yet another rocket landed south of Ashkelon on Wednesday, a day after a rocket fell near Ashdod.
Authorities announced that schools would be closed in Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon on Thursday as a result of the security situation.
Also Wednesday, seven mortar shells containing white phosphorous hit the Eshkol region, followed shortly after by three more near a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev region. The IAF later destroyed the launcher that was used to fire the rocket into Ashdod.
The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the missile fire, which came after Israel killed four terror operatives in a missile strike on Tuesday night. The four were behind the firing of two Katyusha rockets into Beersheba in late February, the IDF said.
Fearing a further escalation, the IDF Home Front Command ordered residents in Beersheba, Ashkelon and Ashdod to stay close to their homes and near bomb shelters, out of concern that additional rockets will be fired in the coming days from the Gaza Strip.
The IDF will continue to act to protect Israeli citizens and will take preemptive action along the Gaza border, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. There will be highs and lows; not everything will end tomorrow, but we are determined to restore quiet and security to the South.
Meanwhile, police in the South increased the number of officers and patrol cars on the streets, in response to the threat of further rockets and shells from Gaza.
On Wednesday, the IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration coordinated the transfer of an 8-year-old Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip to Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot after he was injured in an Israeli mortar attack on Tuesday.
The boy was injured after IDF troops fired mortar shells into an open field in northern Gaza and accidentally hit a number of civilians nearby, killing four members of a family and wounding several others, including the boy, who was transferred Wednesday to Israel for medical treatment.
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=213583
2nd wave of strikes injures 1 in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The second strike of the morning hit a group men beside a gas station in the northern Gaza Strip, around 8:30 a.m., hours after a wave of strikes targeted sites across the coastal enclave, causing damage but no injuries.
Spokesman of the higher committee of ambulance and emergency services Adham Abu Salmiya said the latest bombing targeted a site near the Jabaliya refugee camp.
A statement from Israel's military said the air force "identified a group of terrorists preparing to launch rockets at Israeli territory, and thwarted the attempt by firing at them."
Shortly before 2 a.m., Israeli aircraft opened fire on several areas in the Gaza Strip.
Aircraft targeted a tunnel in the south and a site connected to Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades west of Gaza City, onlookers said.
Jets also struck a power station causing blackouts in Gaza City, Reuters reported.
Abu Salmiya said no injuries were reported, but sent waves of panic through homes across the Strip.
An Israeli military statement confirmed that the targets included a smuggling tunnel, a and "terror activity site," noting "Direct hits were confirmed."
The strikes, according to the statement, came "as a response to the barrage of Grad rockets, Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza at the Israeli home front in the south over the past few days."
The armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees claimed that their fighters were behind the launch of the six shells in Ashkelon. A statement said operatives attacked the Zikim military zone "in response to Israeli crimes in Gaza."
Late Wednesday Hamas leaders vowed "to restore calm" in the coastal enclave, after a Saturday barrage of nearly 50 projectiles fired toward Israel in retaliation for the slaying of two Hamas fighters by Israel on 16 March marked the start of Israel's latest wave of strikes.
Latest in series of strikes
Gaza residents reported late Wednesday a strike targeting a car in the northern Gaza Strip, an act Israeli forces denied.
In the past three days, Israeli fire has killed 8 and injured nearly 40. Four of the dead were civilians caught in artillery fire while playing soccer in their yard east of Gaza City, and more than half of the injured were civilians.
Officials have condemned the strikes, and called on Israel to stem its military activity on Gaza.
In a statement following the death of four civilians, including a child and a teenager, the military said the act was not intended as an "escalation."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371818
29 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 24 mrt 2011
Israeli airstrikes across Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on targets in Gaza City late Thursday injuring one person, witnesses and medical personnel said.
Drones fired four missiles at the Palestinian Authority intelligence headquarters and an Al-Qassam Brigades site.
Warplanes carried out raids on an agricultural area east of Beit Hanoun and four artillery shells were fired around the Karni crossing.
One young man was injured by shrapnel, medical sources said. He was taken to Ash-Shifa Hospital for treatment of light wounds.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the airstrikes targeted a "terror activity site" in northern Gaza. The attack came in response to the barrage of projectiles fired at Israel in the past week, she added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=372149
Iran slams 'brutal' Israeli Gaza hit
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has condemned a string of new Israeli military strikes which have killed a number of Palestinians including children in the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Mehmanparast blasted Tel Aviv for the recent spate of attacks on the blockaded coastal sliver, saying it was a repeat of Israel's brutal aggression on the coastal enclave.
The illegal Zionist regime (Israel) uses the current warmongering atmosphere in the region as a pretext to achieve its own ominous objectives, The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
He noted that Israel has once again slain innocent people in Gaza.
As in the past, the Iranian nation will stand by the resistant Palestinian people and insists on the firm determination of free nations in the world to defend holy ideals of the Palestinians, the official added.
At least 10 Palestinians, including four children, have been killed and more than 50 injured after Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The Israeli attacks began with the unprovoked killing of two Hamas security personnel on March 16.
Israeli forces have carried out large numbers of ground and air attacks on Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead against the enclave.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal sliver during the winter of 2008-2009. The offensive also inflicted USD 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.
Israel laid an economic siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, after Hamas took control of the enclave.
The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively, in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171466.html
Israeli warplanes strike 4 Gaza targets
Israeli fighter jets have struck four targets in the Gaza Strip, injuring several Palestinians, security sources and witnesses said.
The four strikes were launched on Gaza on Thursday evening and injured three Palestinians, AFP reported.
It follows three airstrikes carried out on Gaza early Thursday morning, targeting the city as well as a tunnel near the Egyptian border at Rafah.
On Tuesday, at least 10 Palestinians, including four children, were killed and dozens injured after an Israeli tank fired shots at a home in the Gaza Strip.
Adham Abu Selmiya an emergency services spokesman said the deaths occurred when Israel "opened fire on young people who were playing football in Shejaiya on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City.
Israel regularly carries out attacks on Gaza, killing and injuring Palestinians. Tel Aviv launched a deadly war on the strip at the turn of 2009.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal enclave. The offensive also inflicted $1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.
Some 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.
Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent in the Gaza Strip respectively, reports say.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171524.html
Al Mezan calls on world to save Gaza's children from Israeli aggression
GAZA, (PIC)-- Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza has said the international community's non-interest in bringing Israel to justice has placed the Gaza Strip on the brink of disaster.
The international community must refrain from double standards. As armies deploy to enforce a no-fly zone [in Libya], are they unable to stop the killing of children in the Gaza Strip? Al Mezan director Esam Younis said to the Palestinian information center.
Israel sent Tuesday evening a reconnaissance drone to fire missiles at the Al-Shajaa'iyya community east of Gaza city. The blasts killed three children, an elderly man and injured dozens.
A few hours later, a separate airstrike killed four resistance fighters in the Al-Zaytoun district.
They have killed civilians in cold blood, Younis said.
He maintained that it is crucial that the world community fulfils its legal and moral obligations towards residents of the Palestinian territories, and said he believes certain countries have been providing impunity to Israel.
http://bit.ly/fo7Tvl
Israel is Playing with Fire
PNN - Fadi Abu Sa'ada - Editor-in-Chief - It looks as though Israel has decided to take the initiative to stop any initiatives to reach a Palestinian national unity.
First, the Israeli government continues to shrug off external pressure to end the imposed siege on Gaza, which has entered its fifth year.
Second, it continues to slight the new Arab democracies, especially the Egyptian one. Finally, it continues to block the road to an imminent Palestinian state, which could be accomplished by September.
Israel's latest military escalation on Gaza is a clear indication of its intention to escape all commitments and once again cast itself in the role of the victim, accumulating solidarity from foreign nation something that we grew sick of a long time ago. Israel knows that whenever they kill people in Gaza, as they have in the past few days, unrest will not settle down any time soon. And it is certain that the ensuing escalation only benefits Israel.
The Jerusalem bombing, in which a bomb was left at a bus stop in West Jerusalem, killed one and injured 30. I have no doubt that Israel did this. There is no evidence that Palestinians perpetrated the attack. The attack had no repercussions; the army didn't even impose a blockade on the West Bank and we haven't seen Israeli countermeasures common to every Palestinian attack. The government's attempts to use Itamar attack in which a family of five settlers were killed by an unknown assailant as a weapon to attack Palestine and its leaders has been unsuccessful, simply because there is no decisive evidence who carried out the murders.
The Israeli public should be aware of what their government is doing, and in which direction it is heading. The public should know that this will not end the international pressure on Israel to end its occupation, nor will it jam Palestinian reconciliation for very long. Considering what is it planning to do, this government might lead to things that no Israeli citizen wants, especially in light of the rabid changes sweeping the region, which has a clear impact on Israel's relationship with its neighbors.
Israel must be much clearer with its people, the Palestinians and the world; it has to admit in a clear voice that it wants to maintain the occupation and eschew peace. It was not interested in the 2002 Arab peace initiative nor the recent superficial peace negotiations to escape its suffering from hardline positions on everything. Israel must understand that giving the Palestine the choice between peace and Hamas does not interest us. No one doubts that Palestinians want peace, because we are the ones under occupation and we continually demand freedom.
Israel, it is time for you to stop using security issues to hamper peace. Haven't you had enough of military checkpoints, barbed wire, and walls over land and sea? And you want the world to believe that we are the ones responsible for the Jerusalem bombing? Or that we terrify and want to eliminate you? Time has come for you to rethink your strategies and evaluate your policies that have led you to war rather than peace, bloodshed rather than life. Time has come for you to decide whether you want your futures government to live in peace with the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab world to end this shameful chapter of humanity as a whole.
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