Bodies of 95 residents located under rubble in Gaza Strip

Sunday January 18, 2009 22:02 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Sunday that medics and residents located the bodies of 95 Palestinians who were killed during the Israeli offensive; buried under the rubble of shelled homes and facilities in several different areas in Gaza.

The sources added that 1,350 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, and more than 5,450 were wounded. Among the killed residents were 417 children, 108 women, 120 elderly, 14 medics, 4 reporters and five internationals.

Medics and civil defense teams started a search campaign on Sunday morning in areas that they were unable to enter during the Israeli shelling, and located the bodies of 35 residents during early morning hours.

Dr. Mu'awiya Hassanain, of the Palestinian Ministrer of Health, reported that by the end of the day on Sunday, the bodies of 95 residents were found under the rubble in al-Tuffah area, Jabal al-Rayyis, al-Kashif, al-Atatra, al-Qarm, al-Zaytoon and Jabalia.

Dr. Hassanain added that dozens of residents are still missing and are believed to be dead, and added that the search campaign would continue for several days.

In spite of the ceasefire, Israeli war jet were seen flying over the Gaza Strip and fired at a number of homes in eastern Gaza on Sunday morning.

Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks and armored vehicles withdrew from some areas in southern and northern Gaza. The tanks did not fully withdraw from Gaza, but only pulled out to areas away from the civilian homes, especially in al-Zaytoon neighborhood, al-Sha'af and al-Tuffah.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad agree to ceasefire, give Israeli troops one week to fully withdraw

Sunday January 18, 2009 20:12 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Although the Israeli ceasefire, declared on Saturday, did not include a timeline for troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Palestinian resistance factions have given the occupying military one week to fully retreat to the border of the occupied Gaza Strip.

Young boy stands over the body of a dead resistance fighter in Gaza

The joint statement of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza declared “We the Palestinian resistant factions, announce a ceasefire from our side in Gaza Strip. We confirm our stance and our demand for Israeli troops to withdraw from Gaza in a week, that Israel opens the borders, and crossing points for humanitarian aid convoys.”

The resistance groups further stated their readiness to ensure that Israel agrees to a plan introduced by Arab leaders in Egypt, Turkey, Syria and Qatar to have Israel lift its 18-month long siege of the Gaza Strip, and reopen Gaza's borders for commerce. Israeli officials have shown no willingness to agree to the plan.

At least one Palestinian resistance group has claimed that Israel was forced to withdraw, and declared victory for the Palestinian resistance. Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, stated, “The resistance won on the ground and now we will go on to the political battle.”

As bodies continue to be uncovered under the rubble of Palestinian homes destroyed by the Israeli military's bombs and artillery shells, the final count of the dead in the 3-week long massacre is at least 1,250. As many as 18 Israeli soldiers were killed in the offensive. The death toll on the Palestinian side is around the same number killed by Israeli forces in their 2006 invasion of Lebanon, which lasted for one month. As in the invasion of Lebanon, the vast majority of those killed in Gaza in the last three weeks were civilians.

Israel, in its 'ceasefire' agreement made with Egypt and the US, has given itself an open invitation to remain in Gaza, and re-invade whenever it wants. According to U.S. News and World Report commentator Larry Derfner, “[Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi] Livni's position is a hawkish one: Because Hamas's agreements are, in her view, 'meaningless,' a cease-fire would restrain only Israel, so it's best to exit without any commitments and remain free to punish Hamas when necessary.”

Israel's indiscriminate attacks on civilians during the last three weeks has led to a strengthening of the Palestinian resistance, as people who lost everything decide to fight the Occupying Army, even if they had not considered violence as an option before.

The Islamic Jihad spokesman said that if Israeli troops do not withdraw by next Saturday, “Then all options are open and no one would dare talk or hold us accountable because our decision isn’t out of weakness but out of common interest.”