- 10 sept 2010
IAF strikes Hamas Gaza training facility in wake of Qassam, mortar attacks
Fourth rocket or mortar fired from Gaza in three days explodes in western Negev region on Friday morning; Hamas officials report 5 people wounded in IAF air strikes on Thursday night.
A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in the western Negev region on Friday morning, causing no injuries or damage.
Late Thursday, Israeli aircraft struck two sites in Gaza in retaliation for rocket and mortar fire from the territory on southern Israel during the preceding 48 hours, the Israeli military said.
Security officials with the ruling militant Hamas movement and Palestinian residents reported that four sites were hit. There was no way to immediately reconcile the conflicting reports.
Hamas officials reported five people were wounded in an attack on a training base for security forces of Gaza's militant ruling Hamas movement. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
The Israel Defense Forces said aircraft also struck southern Gaza, where Palestinians operate underground tunnels to smuggle weapons and other contraband from Egypt.
In the two days before the IAF air strikes, three rockets and mortars fired from Gaza landed in Israel, the military said. No injuries were reported in those attacks.
Rocket and mortar fire from Gaza were a near-daily event for years before Israel launched a bruising war in Gaza in the winter of 2008. Attacks and border clashes continue, but on a much-reduced scale.
29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 11 sept 2010
Israel's warplanes strike on northern Gaza Strip
GAZA, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Israel's F16 warplanes raided on Friday night an open area in the northern Gaza Strip which caused no damages or injuries, witnesses and paramedics said.
Israel's airstrike came hours after militants in Gaza fired a homemade rocket from the northern Gaza Strip into southern Israel, which caused no damages or injuries, Israel Radio said.
Meanwhile, the regular protests against Israel's West Bank wall turned into clashes between protesters and Israeli soldiers. A Palestinian was injured and dozens inhaled tear gas during the clashes in the West Bank, medical sources in Ramallah said.
The weekly protests took place in the village of Bel'ein, west of Ramallah, where around 150 residents backed by international solidarity movements' activists joined the demonstration.
They chanted slogans against the separation wall that Israel builds in the West Bank and then clashes with the Israeli army forces, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to disperse the protestors.
Israel said that it built the wall to prevent Palestinian infiltrators from entering Israel to carry out attacks against the Israelis, while the Palestinians said that the wall had been built on the properties of the Palestinians in the West Bank.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/11/c_13490294.htm
29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 12 sept 2010
Israeli fire kills three in Gaza Strip
Relatives cry during the funeral of a Palestinian killed by Israeli fire.
The Israeli military's fire has three people, including an elderly man and his grandson, in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics say.
The victims were targeted by an Israeli tank on Sunday in the town of Beit Hanoun close to the coastal sliver's border with Israel, AFP reported.
They were identified as 91-year-old Ibrahim Abdullah Abu Saeed, a caretaker at a farm, his 17-year-old grandson, who died later from his injuries and Ismael Walid Abu Audeh, 20, the report said.
The deadly incident comes less than two weeks after Tel Aviv renewed direct talks with the Palestinian Authority.
The attacks are in violation of a Palestinian demand for Israel's complete withdrawal behind the borders of 1967, when it captured Gaza, the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem), which has been promised as the capital of any potential Palestinian state.
Gaza is a still far from recovering from the Israeli war at the turn of 2009, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and inflicted a damage of USD 1.6 billion on the enclave's economy.
Gaza's 1.5 million residents have also been enduring more than three years of an all-out Israeli siege, which has deprived them of food, fuel and other necessities.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/142230.html
The lucky ones had third degree burns: survivors of Israel's latest Rafah tunnel bombing tell their story
Peace talks started on September 2nd. Following the resumption of negotiations, Israel refrained from attacking Gaza for just 2 days. Then it ordered the bombing of 2 Rafah tunnels, killed 2 workers, and left 2 severely injured. ISM activists filed this report
"Out of the blue, the tunnel was bombed, there was an enormous crash and I fell unconscious, I didn't feel anything. When I woke up, I found myself at the tunnel entrance, screaming for help. There was fire all over the place, fire over me."
This was 22 year old college student Ali Al-Khodary describing the horror of Israel's bomb attack on Gazan tunnels four days ago (4 September 2010 two days after 'peace talks resumed) which left him and another man, Hassan Abu Armana, covered in severe burns. The bombing set alight the entrance of the tunnel where they were delivering gasoline.
Yet it could be said that they were lucky. Two of their co-workers, Salim Al Khatab and Khaled Halawa, were killed in the same strike. According to witnesses, at 11:30pm Saturday night, Israeli F16s flew over the area to observe it. At midnight they returned and bombed 2 tunnels, one a tunnel for gasoline and the other for delivery of goods into Gaza. The missiles they used were silent in flight, making it impossible for people to escape. Each pierced a large hole in the tunnel before exploding inside.
"I was at a house above ground and the owner took me to hospital", explains Ali. "The medics came inside and pulled out another person, also burned. I heard later that 2 people were still trapped in the collapsed tunnel." Large parts of Ali's body were severely burned: he had 3rd degree burns covering his face, hands and arms.
His father, Alaa Al-Khodary, was against his son working in the tunnels. But to continue his studies (in sociology, at the University of Al Quds) Ali needed a source of income. "I started to work in the tunnels because there are no jobs in Gaza, there was no place else to work in this region." said Ali.
"Thank god he came out in one piece. We hope he will recover from his injuries and the burns", his mother told us.
Tunnel workers are not just young men, Hassan Abu Armana, 45 years old and married with 12 children, also suffered second degree burns stretching from his chest to his head and across his arms. He started working in the tunnels 3 or 4 months ago in an attempt to earn more money for his family than he could in his previous job as a taxi driver. When his wife was informed of the attack, she was terrified and ran immediately from the house to take a car to the hospital.
Nineteen year old Khalil Muhammad Al-Hattab from Bureij Refugee Camp, central Gaza, did not survive. He had decided to begin in the tunnels only 3 weeks before. When we visited the mourning tent in Bureij, his uncle, Hussien Al-Hattab, told us that Khalil was killed while working at the petrol tunnel and was burnt to death once the petrol caught alight. Khalil had a large family who were very poor; he had wanted to contribute to his family's welfare, so he took the job.
When Khalil's brother, who had been working in the tunnels for over 4 years, heard about the bomb he went to search for his brother and began digging for him. After over an hour, 30 metres below the ground, he saw some of his brother's body and he was able to bring him up.
His uncle Hussien also had a brother, Gazy Badowy Al-Hattab, killed when he was 19 during the first intifada. He was walking in the street with his sister when he was shot during an Israeli Incursion.
"Israel can't reach the armed resistance in Gaza so they just attack civilians", Hussien told us.
The second person killed was 35-year-old Khalid Abed Al-Kareem Al-Khateeb, married, and the father of three daughters and one son. His brother told us he was killed directly by the missile's impact, in the goods delivery tunnel where the workers were operating. Their family discovered this at 2am early Sunday morning. Then they went to the hospital to see his body and take it back to Al-Bureij. Khalid also had a brother, Waleed Al-Khateeb, killed in 2003 during an Israeli incursion on Bureij camp.
"Israel wants complete control of the people of Gaza with the siege and bombings. Israel decides what it wants to do against us no matter how violent, with full support from America. The situation is so bad, if people were allowed to leave they would because of this oppression," says Alaa, the father of the badly burned Ali.
"Why are tragedies allowed to continue like this?"
For much of the Western media the 2 dead Palestinian workers and 2 severely injured during the Israeli Occupation Force bombings in Rafah on Saturday night were merely faceless, disposable lives of the Middle East "impasse". Meeting their distraught family members reminds us that they are brothers and fathers loved by their families, guilty only of having hopes for a better life when all their educational and job opportunities have been taken away from them. They were driven to work in the tunnels transporting goods from Egypt to Gaza not because they wanted to, but because of the dire conditions imposed on the Gaza Strip, which have seen their economy and infrastructure intentionally sucked dry by the four year Israeli siege.
But Palestinian civilian loss of life even in violence that occurs at a time when Israel is presenting itself as in pursuit of peace is apparently acceptable to the international community and to the Western media, as compared to the outrage that erupts over the much rarer cases which involve Israeli casualties. When the same scrutiny of, empathy with, and action to prevent Palestinian casualties exists, and the siege on Gaza, the 47 years of occupation and the 62 years of dispossession of Palestinian land are taken seriously as the crimes they are, the day might come when Middle East peace summits attempt real justice for the people of Palestine.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m69620&hd&size=1&l=e
Palestinian wounded in Gaza incident dies of wounds (now 3 dead)
The Palestinian wounded during an exchange of fire with the IDF on the Gaza Strip border has died of his wounds, bringing the total number of deaths in the incident to three. Palestinian sources said the man was Ismail Abu Uda, aged 20
http://bit.ly/ciS927
Israeli shelling kills 3 in north Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli shelling killed three people including an elderly man in the northern Gaza Strip late Sunday, witnesses said.
The bodies of shepherds Ibrahim Abu Said, 91, and Ismail Abu Odeh, 21, were taken to a hospital in Beit Hanoun, medics said.
Earlier reports said only two were killed.
An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment.
http://bit.ly/chrCfN
Reports: IDF shelling kills 2 Palestinians near Gaza border
Palestinian sources set the casualty count at 3, with Hamas claiming 2 of those killed were farmers.
An Israel Defense Forces shelling killed two Palestinians approaching the border between Israel and Gaza, Israel Radio reported on Sunday, as the number of violent incidents in recent weeks continues to increase.
Gaza medical workers and witnesses countered the Israel Radio report, claiming that the IDF shelling killed three Palestinians, with Hamas security and medical officials saying two of the Palestinian dead, in Beit Hanoun near the Israel-Gaza border, were farmers.
Last week Israel Air Force planes struck targets in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in retaliation to Palestinian militants firing a rocket from the territory into Israel.
The IDF confirmed at the time that its air force had attacked the coastal territory in response to a wave of security incidents over the last week.
The army said that it had struck smuggling tunnels used by militants planning to infiltrate Israel and commit terror acts against civilians soldiers.
The cross-border violence was the first since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington on Thursday to relaunch peace talks, and was a stark reminder of the obstacles both leaders face.
Early on Saturday, Gaza militants fired a rocket into southern Israel, causing no injuries, the Israeli military said.
Hours later, witnesses and Hamas security officials said Israeli aircraft fired rockets at targets in Gaza, including smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt.
Gaza security officials say one Palestinian was killed, one wounded and three are missing after the Israeli air strike. Hamas identified the five as smugglers working in a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border.
The Islamists of Hamas routed forces loyal to Abbas to take over the Gaza Strip in 2007. Hamas rejects Abbas's peace moves and said on Thursday that 13 militant groups had agreed to work together to launch "more effective attacks" against Israel.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for two shooting attacks in the past week in the West Bank, where Abbas holds sway, including one that killed four Israelis.
In its response to the attacks last week, the IDF said that it viewed Hamas as a terrorist organization and would not tolerate any attempts against its citizens or troops.
http://bit.ly/9zKTvI
Terror cell spotted by IDF forces as it approaches Gaza border fence; two Palestinians reportedly killed in clash. Sources in Strip: Fatalities are civilians, including 90-year-old man
Talking peace as fighting continues: Two Palestinians have been killed near the Gaza border Sunday after a Palestinian terror cell clashed with IDF troops east of Gaza City.
A Gaza source belonging to one of the Palestinian organizations in the Strip said the army directed artillery fire at the cell.
Palestinian sources said the fatalities are two civilians, a 90-year-old grandfather, Ibrahim Abu-Asad, and his 14-year-old grandchild, Hussam Abu-Asad. They were said to have been killed after a shell hit their home.
Three other grandchildren were reportedly wounded in the incident. It's unclear whether any of the Palestinian terrorists involved in the clash were killed.
Loud blasts in area
Three loud blasts were reported around 5 pm Sunday near a southern Israeli kibbutz, as a Palestinian terror cell was spotted by the IDF as it approached the Gaza border fence.
Cell members apparently fired mortar shells or RPG missiles at IDF troops, who simultaneously fired back at the terrorists.
During the incident, military officials assessed the situation and debated whether to order local residents to enter bomb shelters in the area. Following discussion, officials decided to maintain the routine and not order residents to take cover, while keeping troops in the area on high alert.
Tensions have been high in the south in recent days, after Palestinian terror groups fired several Qassam rockets at Israeli communities during and after Rosh Hashana.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3953000,00.html
Israeli artillery bombs east and north of Gaza
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Israeli artillery bombed on Sunday morning agricultural lands east and north of the Gaza Strip forcing dozens of farmers to abandon their lands.
Eyewitness said that two shells were fired at the lands located east of Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza and two others exploded east of Beit Hanoun town in northern Gaza.
The Israeli occupation forces also opened fire at Palestinian farmers east of Al-Shuhada cemetery, north of Jabaliya town, forcing them to leave.
http://bit.ly/9qIHVe
29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 12 sept 2010
Report: Israeli pilgrim stabs local in Ukraine
Soldiers pictured aiming rifle at Palestinian detainee
29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 13 sept 2010
1 dead, 1 injured from gunfire near Ma'ale Adumim
Man, 25, dead, another, 27, in moderate condition; police say the two, Arab-Israelis, involved in criminal feud between two parties.
One person was killed and another moderately injured Thursday night after being fired upon while traveling from Kfar Anata to Mishor Adumim near Ma'ale Adumim, according to the Magen David Adom Spokesperson.
MDA Jerusalem crews pronounced the death of a 25-year-old man and treated another 27-year-old in moderate condition who was shot in the jaw as they arrived at the entrance to Maale Adumim. The man was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem in Jerusalem.
According to initial investigations by the police, the incident appeared to be a result of a criminal feud between two sides, both of which are Arab. The two were fired upon during a drive-by shooting.
Security forces were in the area.
Police were looking into the background of the incident which remained unclear.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=187651
Israeli tanks roll into Gaza Strip
Israeli tanks have attacked Palestinian refugee camp of al-Burage in their second invasion of the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.
The Israeli military claimed Monday that the attack was in retaliation for mortar attacks by Hamas fighters on southern Israel.
There have been no immediate reports of casualties, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The raid came after an Israeli tank on Sunday killed three people in the town of Beit Hanoun.
The Israeli violation of the coastal enclave comes after the Palestinian Authority engaged in direct talks with Tel Aviv.
The incursion is in violation of a Palestinian demand for Israel's complete withdrawal behind the borders of 1967, when it captured Gaza, the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Gaza is still far from recovering from the Israeli war at the turn of 2009, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/142340.html 29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 13 sept 2010
Gaza subjected to air strikes, water crisis
Sewage flowing into the sea at Gaza.
Three Palestinian farmers were killed by Israeli tank shelling late at night 12 September in the northernmost occupied Gaza Strip, along the no-go "buffer zone" enforced by the Israeli military. Al-Jazeera reported that a 91-year-old farmer, Ibrahim Abdullah Abu Saeed, and 20-year-old Ismael Walid Abu Audeh were killed immediately. Abu Saeed's 17-year-old grandson, Hossam Khaled Abu Saeed, was critically injured and died shortly afterwards ("Israeli shelling kills Palestinians," 12 September 2010).
Israeli officials claim the three men were armed fighters, preparing to fire a rocket into Israel.
The "buffer zone" Israel has imposed on Gaza land along the boundary with Israel has taken 35 percent of the territory's open agricultural land, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) ("Between the fence and a hard place," 19 August 2010).
OCHA adds that between January 2009 and July 2010, 22 Palestinian civilians were killed by the Israeli military inside the "buffer zone," including six children. An additional 146 Palestinians, including 27 children, have been injured by live fire.
These killings come on the heels of several concurrent air strikes launched by Israel over the occupied Gaza Strip on the evening of 9 September, on the eve of the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the month of Ramadan. Israel says the attacks were in response to two rockets fired from armed resistance groups in Gaza earlier in the day, though no group claimed responsibility.
According to Ma'an news agency, Israeli missiles struck Gaza City and the southern border city of Rafah, and another missile hit the northern town of Beit Hanoun ("Overnight air strikes hit Gaza, 5 said injured," 10 September 2010). Ma'an reported that five Palestinian security service officers were injured during the attacks on Gaza City, which struck a Hamas security compound. An additional Palestinian-fired rocket landed in the Negev desert following the Israeli air strikes, Ma'an added.
These Israeli air strikes were the second round since the US-brokered peace talks resumed last week in Washington, DC. On 4 September, Israeli warplanes bombed two tunnels in Rafah, killing two Palestinians and wounding two others.
On Sunday 12 September, a rocket fired from Gaza hit southern Israel without causing damage or casualties, the latest in a series of rockets fired from armed groups inside the Gaza Strip in the last week.
Gaza families denied visits to prisoners
Preceding the 9 September attacks by the Israeli military, a committee of Palestinian mothers of political prisoners held an annual rally outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City, protesting the continued incarceration of their sons and daughters inside Israeli prisons. Ma'an reported that the group has held demonstrations and vigils on the eve of the Eid celebrations for the past four years ("Mothers of prisoners mark Eid in protest," 10 September 2010).
As part of its broad-based policies of blockade against Gaza -- following the electoral victory of the Hamas party in 2006 -- Israel has prohibited Palestinians living inside the Gaza Strip from visiting their relatives in Israeli prisons. Recent estimates from Israeli human rights group B'Tselem indicate that more than 6,100 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are currently imprisoned in Israel (Statistics on Palestinians in the custody of the Israeli security forces).
Water crisis
Meanwhile, B'Tselem released an in-depth report on the expanding water crisis inside the occupied Gaza Strip, stating that 95 percent of the area's groundwater is polluted and unfit for human consumption as Israel's ongoing blockade prevents entry to essential industrial materials needed to repair the water infrastructure ("Water supplied in Gaza unfit for drinking; Israel prevents entry of materials needed to repair system," 23 August 2010).
"Since it began its siege on the Gaza Strip, in June 2007, Israel has forbidden the entry of equipment and materials needed to rehabilitate the water and wastewater-treatment systems there," states B'Tselem. "The prohibition has remained despite the recent easing of the siege."
Citing reports from the United Nations' Environment Program, the Palestinian Water Authority, the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility and international aid organizations, B'Tselem's report says that children are being especially affected by the water crisis in Gaza. The report references the over-pumping of groundwater, combined with poor wastewater management systems and the toxification of ground soil from waste disposal sites -- where asbestos, medical waste, oils and fuels were dumped after Israel's three-week attacks in 2008-09. As a result, according to B'Tselem, chemicals such as chlorides and nitrates are contributing to excessive diseases and internal injuries, especially in Gaza's children.
Israeli air strikes during the winter attacks also damaged wastewater treatment plants in Gaza, and damaged thirty kilometers of water networks, eleven wells and six thousand residential water tanks. Reports estimate that the damage to the water infrastructure amounted to approximately $6 million.
"According to international aid organizations, twenty percent of Gazan families have at least one child under age five who suffers from diarrhea as a result of polluted water," B'Tselem reports. "A UN study published in 2009 estimates that diarrhea is the cause of 12 percent of children's deaths in Gaza. The lack of potable drinking water is liable to cause malnutrition in children and affect their physical and cognitive development."
"Since the beginning of the siege," adds B'Tselem, "Israel has prohibited the entry of equipment and materials that can be used to improve water quality and taste, and to develop and rehabilitate the water infrastructure and the wastewater treatment facilities in Gaza. The prohibition has remained in force even after the recent easing of restrictions, and despite the [Israeli government] Cabinet's decision to allow the entry of building materials for projects that have been approved by the Palestinian Authority and are supervised by international organizations. The equipment needed includes water pumps, pipes, generators, computers, building cement and chloride. Israel classifies these materials as dual-use items that are liable to be used for military purposes, and therefore prohibits their entry."
B'Tselem called on the Israeli government to "immediately allow the entry of materials and equipment needed to rehabilitate and develop the water and wastewater treatment systems there."
Siege on medical treatment
Additionally, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) released a report on the effects of regular and sustained power cuts in the Gaza Strip on medical patients, especially those in need of kidney dialysis treatment ("Gaza: power cuts put lives at risk," 7 September 2010). During Israeli attacks in 2006, Gaza's sole power plant was destroyed. It was heavily damaged again during the strikes in 2008-09, and the ICRC reports that Palestinians in Gaza are deprived of electricity for seven to twelve hours a day on average.
Finding spare parts to repair electricity generators at hospitals is often a "protracted process," reports the ICRC. "Several factors have led to this situation," explains Palina Asgeirsdottir, ICRC's health program manager in Gaza, in the report. "Years of armed conflict and occupation have made it extremely difficult just to keep up with routine maintenance and repairs on the generating equipment and electricity network, let alone to increase capacity to meet the growing needs."
The ICRC adds that kidney patients face a shortage of medications they need, which, due to the blockade, are not readily available in Gaza. Asgeirsdottir states that "patients with chronic conditions need certain medication. Examples include drugs for kidney transplant patients, Factor VIII and IX for patients with hemophilia and special food for infants and children with food intolerance and digestive problems. Cancer patients have their treatment protocols interrupted. Without these drugs, patients suffer. They may even die."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11517.shtml 29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 13 sept 2010
Shells kill three as IDF targets militant on Gaza Strip border
A Palestinian woman weeping in a Gaza City morgue on September 12, after three people were killed by an IDF tank shell.
A 91-year-old man and his 17-year-old grandson were among three Palestinian civilians killed. It was not immediately clear whether the third casualty, identified as Liad Abbu Uda, 21, was the wanted militant.
A 91-year-old man and his 17-year-old grandson were among three Palestinians killed by Israel Defense Forces tank shells near the Gaza-Israel border yesterday.
It appears the grandfather and grandson, Ibrahim Abu Assad and Hussam Abu Assad, were civilians who got caught in an attack on a militant aiming an antitank rocket at Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border fence, in the northern Strip. It was not immediately clear whether the third casualty, identified as Liad Abbu Uda, 21, was the militant.
Palestinian militants fired four mortar shells on southern Israel yesterday, a continuation of a recent increase in rocket and mortar fire that has contributed to a rise in tension ahead of tomorrow's peace talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. The talks come a day after the 17th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords
Three rockets or mortar shells were also fired over the Rosh Hashanah holiday. No Israelis were injured in any of the attacks.
Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin said yesterday that Israel has received intelligence indicating planned terror attacks aimed at scuttling the renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Diskin told ministers at yesterday's weekly cabinet meeting that the Hamas military wing in Gaza is behind the two separate terror attacks that took place two weeks ago, one near Ramallah and one near Hebron, in which Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis and wounded two others.
Hamas appears to be exerting pressure on its cells in the West Bank to go back to carrying out terror attacks, as well as lifting some of the restraints it had imposed on smaller militant factions in Gaza, which had led to a decrease in rocket attacks in the last few months.
Israeli security officials said Hamas and other militant groups have intensified their efforts to undermine direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. However Hamas, which has the support of Iran and other radical Islamist forces in the region, does not appear to be directly involved in the rocket fire coming from Gaza.
The relative quiet that has prevailed over the past two years is likely to be shattered even further as two of Israel's largest security concerns - Palestinian terrorism and a nuclear Iran - become increasingly intertwined.
Recent incidents that have led to a rise in regional tension include rocket fire from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in August (and in April before that ), which hit Eilat and Aqaba, Jordan. The attack was ordered by the head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari, and spurred a harsh response from Egypt.
Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Gomhuria, wrote at the time that Hamas, which he referred to as "the Iranian gang ruling in Gaza" was acting on the orders of Tehran and "has no Arab agenda."
"It's our right to use an iron fist to hit these lowlifes who were taught to be traitors and to stick a knife in your back," he wrote.
A short time later, Cairo prevented Hamas leaders from leaving Gaza through Egypt to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
France points to training camps in Gaza
Somewhat further afield, French intelligence services announced over the weekend that they uncovered a Palestinian plan to carry out an attack at a pro-Israel rally that took place early this year in Paris.
The intelligence services said several French citizens, including those of Palestinian or North African origin, snuck into Gaza to undergo extensive training in a terrorist camp - indicating the Gaza Strip has become the kind of hotbed of terrorism European Muslims go to for training, as has been the case with Afghanistan and Iraq as well.
The Gaza training camp was apparently run by a radical group identified with the global jihad. A number of the French citizens left Gaza after several months but were arrested in Egypt, en route to France.
http://bit.ly/bDu5s3
Gaza: A photo for the three martyers who were killed today. A request from me to all the members of our page, Please pray for them and keep them in your doaa! http://bit.ly/9ebZup
29 oct 2012, 11:35 , Respect -
Maria 13 sept 2010
Settlers Break Into The Yards Of The Al Aqsa Mosque
Settlers Occupy Palestinian Farmlands Near Nablus
PA official: Settlers set fire to car in 'revenge, steal Palestinian farmland'
New report focuses on Settler harassment of Palestinians in Jerusalem
29 oct 2012, 11:36 , Respect -
Maria 14 sept 2010
Israel: 3 killed in Gaza not involved in 'act of terror'
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Israeli army said Tuesday that investigations into the killing of three Palestinians on Sunday in northern Gaza have revealed that those killed were "not involved in an act of terror," the Commander of the Gaza Regional Division said.
Following a Ma'an inquiry, Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg said in a statement that while the investigations into the incident have not yet concluded "we understand from a re-creation that we undertook that the three casualties were no involved in act of terror."
An Israeli military spokesman said at the time that forces identified a number of suspects attempting to fire an RPG toward an Israeli position in the Beit Hanoun area. He said forces fired on the Palestinians, apparently hitting them. The bodies of shepherds Ibrahim Abu Said, 91, and Ismail Abu Odeh, 21, were taken to a hospital in Beit Hanoun, medics said. Ibrahim was apparently Ismail's grandfather.
According to a report issued Tuesday by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Israeli forces had fired five shells toward the victims, who were in the area tending to land and grazing sheep. Ismail was behead as a result of the shelling, while the body of Hosam Khaled Ibrahim Abu Es'ayed, 16, was found later when residents reported citing a corpse in the area.
Eisenberg added that "We can say with certainty" that one the killed found a loaded RPG "that appears to have been hidden by a terrorist cell, picked up the weapon, toyed with it, and even pointed it towards the forces on the other side of the border fence.
"The soldiers, believing they were in imminent danger and about to be shot, fired in response."
PCHR denounced the killings, saying the rights group "Confirms that these crimes are part of a series of the Israeli crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which reflect IOF's disregard for the lives of Palestinians."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314909
IDF report: Palestinians killed in Gaza Sunday were not terrorists
The IDF has announced that an investigation into an incident in which three Palestinians were shot by the army Sunday has revealed that the victims were not involved in terror activity.
The army said soldiers saw one of the victims pick up an RPG launcher ready for firing and aim it towards the force, and thus opened fire at him. In the fray the man's father and son, who were standing nearby, were also killed.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3953948,00.html
Israeli rights group: Probe IDF soldiers over deaths of Palestinian civilians
B'Tselem report concludes no IDF soldier has been indicted for such deaths over the last four years.
A new report by the human rights group B'tselem concludes that during the past four years not a single IDF soldier was indicted for killing Palestinian civilians in the territories.
The report claims that between 2006 and2009, 617 Palestinian civilians not involved in combat operations were killed in the territories - a count that does not include those killed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.
The rights group filed complaints with the IDF in half of the cases, but only 23 cases were deemed justified for investigation by the Military Police. In 42 other cases the Military Advocate General decided not to indict, and in the rest of the cases are still formally under investigation. In none of the cases were charges brought against the soldiers involved.
Prior to the start of the second intifada, the Military Police would investigate every incident in which an innocent Palestinian civilian was killed. However, in 2001 a decision was made to define violent incidents in the territory as "armed conflict," and subsequently the IDF made do with an operational investigation of the unite involved and did not take the matter further.
B'tselem petitioned the High Court of Justice recently to alter the definition of violent incidents in the territories and set rules that would force the army to investigate cases in which civilians were killed.
The IDF spokesman said in response that "most of the issues and claims raised by the report are pending the petition to the High Court which was filed by the group. The state responded to the petition in detail and it would be appropriate to await the court's decision."
http://bit.ly/9g9TyQ 29 oct 2012, 11:36 , Respect -
Maria 14 sept 2010
Jerusalem man killed over allegedly fleeing from Israeli police
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli police shot and killed a young man from Jerusalem early Tuesday morning in Tel Aviv for allegedly not stopping when police instructed him to do so.
Israeli radio said two other Palestinians were arrested during the incident and another fled the scene.
Israeli police claim one officer shot the man after he and three other youths attempted to break into a car in a Tel Aviv neighborhood.
Police said they became suspicious of the four youths when they by chance saw them breaking into a car while patrolling the area. One policeman opened fire when the youths resisted the arrest.
Police are searching for the man who fled.
In a separate incident, Israeli troops arrested ten Palestinians Tuesday after raiding several locations in Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem, and Ramallah.
The Israeli military arrested ten wanted Palestinians during routine operations in the West Bank, Israeli radio reported.
http://bit.ly/aw9FBj
Israel confirms fire in central Gaza
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel's military said Tuesday that a group of militants fired an anti-tank missile at soldiers operating near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip.
"No injuries were caused," the army said in a statement.
"The force retaliated by firing tank shells and light fire at the suspects and identified hitting one of the militants, who was apparently killed," the statement said.
"Terrorist organizations are constantly aiming to harm IDF soldiers and the citizens of Israel."
The statement quoted Brig.-Gen. Eyal Eisenberg, who said, "The Gaza Strip is controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization. We hold it accountable for anything that takes place in the strip."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=315016 29 oct 2012, 11:36 , Respect -
Maria 14 sept 2010
Palestinians: IDF fire kills 1, wounds 4
Gunmen in Gaza
Israeli forces fire artillery at group of gunmen belonging to Qaeda-linked Salafi faction; it remains unclear if gunmen hit; no soldiers hurt.
Sources in Gaza said a Palestinian gunman was killed and four others were injured Tuesday afternoon from IDF artillery fire near the security fence, east of the Zeitoun neighborhood in north Gaza City.
According to the report, the artillery fire was directed at a group of gunmen belonging to the radical Salafi faction, which is linked to al-Qaeda. The gunmen planned to attack IDF forces. It remains unclear whether the inured Palestinians are gunmen. Two of those injured in the incident are said to be in light to moderate condition. The condition of the two others remains unclear.
The past few days have seen an increase in Qassam rocket attacks and border incidents. The escalation in violence is part of the militant organizations' efforts to hinder the recently launched peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
On Sunday three Palestinians were killed when IDF soldiers clashed with gunmen in north Gaza. Among the casualties were an elderly shepherd and his grandson. According to the Palestinians, the Israelis fired artillery at gunmen approaching the security fence, but one shell hit a Palestinian home. There were no injuries among the soldiers.
A number of Qassams and mortar shells were fired at Israel since the Jewish New Year, but there were no reports of injury or damage.
Earlier this week, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin warned that terror groups may step up their activity against Israel as long as the peace talks progress.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3954243,00.html
Palestinians report 1 killed, 4 wounded from IDF fire in Gaza Strip
Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported that the IDF attacked a group of armed Palestinians in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, killing one and wounding four. According to reports, the group was from a faction associated with al-Qaeda.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3954241,00.html
14 sept 2010
Five Palestinians wounded in IOF artillery shelling
GAZA, (PIC)-- Two Palestinian men were seriously wounded in artillery shelling by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday evening southeast of Gaza city.
Adham Abu Salmiya, the military services coordinator, told the PIC that one of them was carried to Shifa hospital, adding that contacts were underway with the Red Cross to facilitate entry of ambulance vehicles to Juhr Al-Deek to evacuate the other casualty.
Security sources told the PIC reporter that three other citizens were injured in the area including one in serious condition.
IOF troops advanced 400 meters into the area earlier on Tuesday in six army tanks and four tractors and bulldozed land lots as the IOF artillery fired a number of shells.
IOF soldiers almost daily raid border areas in the Gaza Strip to bulldoze land amidst random firing.
http://bit.ly/amqo0Z
Israel army fires on central Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinians were injured Tuesday after Israeli forces crossed into the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
One Palestinian was seriously hurt following the incident near Juhor Ad-Dik, east of Al-Bureij refugee camp, medical officials reported.
An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces opened fire at a march held to protest the army's imposed no-go zone along the border near the Erez crossing in the north, peace activists said. No injuries were reported.
The latest attacks come two days after Israeli shelling left dead three shepherds in northern Gaza on Sunday. Two of the victims were identified as Ibrahim Abu Said, 91, and his grandson Ismail Abu Odeh, 21.
An Israeli military investigation determined that the three were not "terrorists," as was initially claimed.
The Israeli army says that investigations into the incidents reveal that those killed were "not involved in an act of terror," the commander of the Gaza Regional Division said in response to a Ma'an inquiry.
Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg said that while the investigations into the incident have not yet concluded, "we understand from a re-creation that we undertook that the three casualties were no involved in act of terror."
At the time, a military spokesman said identified a number of suspects attempting to fire an RPG toward an Israeli position in the Beit Hanoun area. He said forces fired on the Palestinians, apparently hitting them.
The upsurge in violence comes amid reports that operatives in Gaza launched six homemade projectiles into Israel in the past 48 hours. Israel has initiated airstrikes across the coastal enclave in response.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314981
Israeli attack injures 2 Palestinians
At least two Palestinians have been wounded by an Israeli shelling east of Gaza City following recent Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, medics say.
The attack occurred near the village of Juhr al-Dik on Tuesday, AFP reported.
Adham Abu Salima, a spokesman for the Hamas health ministry, said one of the injured was taken to al-Shifa hospital with moderate wounds.
Medics were trying to access the area to recover others, he added.
The raid came after Israeli tanks on Monday attacked Palestinian refugee camp of al-Burage.
On Sunday, an Israeli tank killed three people in the town of Beit Hanoun.
The incursion is in violation of a Palestinian demand for Israel's complete withdrawal behind the borders of 1967, when it captured Gaza, the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
http://www.presstv.com/detail/142514.html 29 oct 2012, 11:36 , Respect -
Maria 14 sept 2010
Yishai: Ease weapons laws for settlers
Settlers remove furniture from East Jerusalem home
29 oct 2012, 11:37 , Respect -
Maria 15 sept 2010
South under attack; IDF strikes Gaza
Casualties reported in Strip after Air Force bombs Palestinian tunnels in response to rocket, mortar fire targeting southern Israel; Gaza terrorists step up attacks, Qassam explodes in Ashkelon, shells fired at south throughout day .
Response to peace talks? Southern Israel communities have been under fire since Wednesday morning, as Gaza terrorists have stepped up their rocket and mortar attacks at Negev residents.
Security forces were searching Wednesday morning for a Qassam rocket that apparently exploded Tuesday night in Ashkelon's southern industrial zone, the IDF announced.
It was the first time in over a month that Gaza's terrorists fired at the city.
By midday Wednesday, the Air Force responded by bombing the Gaza Strip; at least one person was killed and two others were wounded in a southern Gaza strike near Rafah, Palestinian sources said.
The IDF reportedly targeted Palestinian smuggling tunnels, killing a Palestinian who worked in the tunnel, AP reported. He was later identified as 21-year-old Wajdi al-Qadi from Rafah.
Early Wednesday morning, two mortar shells exploded in Eshkol Regional Council. Another blast was heard in the same area around noon, believed to be the result of another mortar shell. Later, three more mortar shells exploded in the Negev.
No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
Haim Yelin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, said he and his associates have been preparing for an escalation in the south as result of the recently launched peace talks.
"There hasn't been anything like this since operation Cast Lead," he said. "But we are prepared, as the peace talks continue to progress. If this is the price of peace, it's tolerable."
However, Yellin noted that 900 Israelis were killed after the Oslo Accords. "The question is how much Israel is willing to pay. On our part, we are not willing to stop our activity, the construction, and our agricultural work just because peace is being discussed," he added.
A secretary for one of the Negev communities also said the violence had been expected.
"Every time we have peace talks, rockets and mortars rain down on us from above, but we try to maintain our daily routine," he said. "As the talks proceed it will only get worse, but it all depends on the other side. We can only hope for calm."
The rocket and mortar attacks are the latest developments in escalating Palestinian violence since direct peace talks with the Palestinian Authority began.
On Tuesday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Sharm el-Sheikh, terrorists fired an RPG missile at soldiers stationed on the border with Gaza.
The soldiers remained uninjured and returned fire towards the source. The Palestinians later reported one dead and four wounded. The attackers belonged to a group identified with al-Qaeda.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3954408,00.html
UPDATE 1-Israel bombs Gaza tunnels after Palestinian rockets
GAZA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft bombed smuggling tunnels under the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt on Wednesday, killing a Palestinian, witnesses said, after militants stepped up rocket and mortar bomb attacks during peace talks in Israel.
The violence coincided with a visit to Jerusalem by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was taking part in negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Witnesses in the Palestinian town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, said the Israeli air strikes killed a tunnel worker and wounded two other people. The Israeli army said it bombed a tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said a rocket and eight mortar bombs fired from the Gaza Strip, territory run by Hamas Islamists opposed to Abbas's peace efforts, landed in southern Israel. No one was hurt.
She said it was the largest number of projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip in a single day since March 2009. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Israel launched a devastating 22-day offensive in Gaza in December 2008 with the aim of stopping cross-border rocket attacks.
The Israeli military said some 150 rockets and mortar bombs have been fired from the Gaza Strip so far this year.
http://bit.ly/c4FI4W
Palestinian killed, two wounded in Israeli air raid on Rafah
RAFAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian medical source said that one Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded Wednesday in an Israeli aerial attack on an area of tunnels in the Rafah border city.
Spokesman for medical services in Gaza Adham Abu Salmiya said that the body of an unknown Palestinian arrived at Abu Yousuf Al-Najjar hospital ripped apart.
Palestinian security sources affirmed earlier today that Egyptian security men, tunnel workers, and citizens living near the borderline with Egypt left the area after receiving warnings of Israeli intentions to bomb the tunnels there.
The sources also said that the Egyptian security asked the Palestinian national security forces to leave their positions in the area after they got information about possible Israeli air raids.
http://bit.ly/a0OAmA
Israel kills 1 in Gaza airstrike
RAFAH (Ma'an) -- Medics said one was killed and two others were injured in an airstrike launched by the Israeli airforce on the Rafah tunnels area shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
Two missiles were fired on the tunnel located in the Brazil neighborhood south of Rafah, witnesses said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the strike, saying it targeted a tunnel on the Pheladelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border.
The victims were tunnel workers, military medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmya said, adding that the three were taken to the Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.
Abu Salmya identified the man killed as 23-year-old Wajdi Jihad Al-Qadi.
Eyewitnesses said warplanes remained in Gaza skies long after the attack.
Minutes before 2 p.m., the Israeli military announced the launch of two projectiles from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, adding that the military had counted a total of nine mortar and projectile launches from Gaza since the morning. No injuries or damages were reported as a result of the launches.
No Gaza faction had claimed the launches as of press time.
The exchange of fire followed the death of three Gaza shepherds which Israeli investigations revealed targeted civilians, and not militants as first stated, during an attack near the border on Tuesday.
On Thursday, six airstrikes targeted areas in Gaza City and the southern Gaza Strip. Reports in the Israeli press said one was killed in the bombings, and two were injured.
Israeli military officials said the strikes were all in retaliation for projectiles fired from Gaza, though factions have only claimed one launch, on Saturday, which Israeli officials denied.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=315159