Rafah residents ordered to flee homes ahead of Israeli bombardment

Date: 08 / 01 / 2009  Time:  00:58
Gaza - Ma'an –

More than 800 Palestinian families have fled their homes in the city of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, as Israeli terrorist warplanes bombed the area.

The displaced Palestinians have taken refuge in UN schools in the area.

Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad reported the bombing in Rafah in an interview with Ma'an. ”Israel is demolishing dozens of houses in Rafah in the pretext of targeting tunnels,” he said.

“Israeli missiles destroyed the homes of people near the border and made the area a testing ground for their weapons,” he added.

Earlier on Wednesday night, Israeli terrorist jets spread leaflets over the southern Gaza Strip area of Rafah, ordering residents to flee their homes in advance of impending shelling.

The papers urged Palestinian residents to escape what will apparently be a major air operation in the southern Gaza Strip later on Wednesday night.

Israel has been shelling homes on the pretext that they were constructed over tunnels, calling on the 30,000 residents to flee the area, while many believe the Israeli occupation terrorist forces are planning to take over the area that serves as a border between Gaza and Egypt.

Death toll of Israeli military aggression on Gaza rose to 680 Palestinians

[ 07/01/2009 - 04:44 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The continued Zionist Israeli terrorist war of aggression on the Gaza Strip raised the death toll of Palestinians to more than 680 victims so far, half of them were children and women, and the injuries to at least 3,100.

The Israeli bombings focused on civilian homes and schools belonging to the UN sheltering hundreds of Palestinian families who fled the indiscriminate Israeli shelling.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, declared that it attacked a gathering of Israeli terrorist troops and armored vehicles behind the auto market in the Zaytoon neighborhood, where its fighters managed to detonate homemade explosive devices in an Israeli Merkava tank and troops leading to the destruction of the tank and the death of many troops.

Al-Qassam Brigades added that after the detonation of the explosive devices, its fighters fired heavy machine guns and RPGs at the IOF troops before withdrawing from the area.

12th day under attack: death toll in Gaza reaches 700

Wednesday January 07, 2009 18:33 by Gaza office - IMEMC News

Palestinian local sources in Gaza reported that the Israeli occupation terrorist army has killed five Palestinian civilians on Wednesday evening.

The five, from the same family which include a father and his three children, were killed when Israeli tanks invading the Gaza strip shelled homes located in Beit Lahyia town in the northern part of the Gaza strip.

With those five killed this evening medical sources in Gaza said that the death toll now has reached 700, at least half of them were children and women, and more than 2900 injured among them 200 in critical conditions.

The Israeli occupation terrorist army embarked on its military offensive on Saturday December 27th 2008. Israeli warplanes started by shelling all the Palestinian security posts there. In the following days the shelling was expanded.

Hospitals, homes, blacksmith workshops, schools, and mosques where targeted. Day and night all the Palestinian coastal region were under attack. On Saturday January 3rd, 2009 Israeli ground forces entered the Gaza strip and divided it into two sections.

The latest civilian target was hit on Tuesday Jan. 3rd 2009, the Israeli troops launched an attack on a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya. The attack left 43 Palestinians dead and around 100 wounded.

Doctors said all the dead were either people sheltering in the school or residents of the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.

Thousands of people flee their homes in southern Gaza after threats by the Israeli occupation terrorist army

Wednesday January 07, 2009 20:04 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Thousands of Palestinian residents from the southern Gaza strip city of Rafah were forced to flee their homes on Wednesday after threats by the Israeli army of shelling them.

Homes attacked by Israeli shelling in Gaza this week Photo by PCHR

Local media sources reported that Israeli jet fighters drooped leaflets warning people that they are going to shell their homes. The Sources added that around three thousand people have left their homes so far since the morning due to the warnings.

The military leaflet told residents to run for their lives "Because Hamas uses your houses to hide and smuggle military weapons, the IDF will attack the area, between the Egyptian border until the beach road," local residents said.

The Israeli occupation terrorist army confirmed the leaflets, Israeli sources reported.
After 12 days of Israeli continued attacks on Gaza the death toll reached today 700 people, half of that number is from children and women, and more than 2900 injured among them 200 in critical conditions.

Gaza hospitals on the brink of collapse as Israeli offensive continues

Wednesday January 07, 2009 19:23 by Oxfam -

Civilian casualties mount as talks on ceasefire hit political obstacles.
Tens of thousands of families under siege in Gaza are facing desperate conditions as mounting civilian casualties swamp a hospital system that is close to collapse, international aid agency Oxfam warned today.

The conflict is also preventing the highly inadequate amount of aid trickling into Gaza from reaching families trapped by the fighting, the agency said, but international efforts to achieve a ceasefire are being obstructed by political positioning of various parties..

“Doctors working in Gaza’s hospitals say they’ve been swamped by casualties but lack essential drugs, medicines, medical equipment, and spare parts. Several paramedics have also been killed after coming under tank and artillery fire.

A number of clinics have been forced to close because of clashes nearby,” said Oxfam Great Britain’s Country Director in Jerusalem, John Prideaux-Brune.

“Additionally, hospitals are struggling to function because of round-the-clock power cuts. Fuel for back-up generators is now dangerously low. Scores of patients in intensive care face certain death if those generators stop.

Yesterday, generators at Ministry of Health ambulance stations, vaccine stores, labs and warehouses shut down temporarily after running out of fuel,” he said.

The UN has managed to deliver food to some hospitals and southern areas in the past few days but
has had to cancel distributions elsewhere. Similarly, a small amount of fuel has been trucked into the Strip recently but clashes have prevented distribution to most of those who need it.

“Many families who need vital supplies such as food and water are simply too frightened to leave their homes,” said Prideaux-Brune. “Other families are just keeping their heads down and some are able to move about locally – but their conditions can change at any moment as we’ve seen when shells have fallen on busy market places.”

Moreover, the Israeli ground offensive has cut the densely populated Gaza Strip into at least two sections. This has cut these areas off from each other, blocked the transport of injured people and medical supplies, and prevented access to the few border crossings that are intermittently open.

Oxfam welcomes diplomatic efforts by regional and international leaders to encourage a ceasefire but is concerned that time is being wasted by political positioning and finger-pointing.

“Every day that passes without a truce is costing innocent lives. Foreign diplomats, governments and parties to the conflict must stop wasting time apportioning blame, and give priority to humanitarian imperatives over political objectives,” said Prideaux-Brune.

Oxfam is calling for a binding UN Security Council resolution to demand:

an immediate halt to violence in Gaza and Israel by all parties,
all parties to commit to an immediate, comprehensive and permanent truce,
Israel, Hamas and other parties to do all in their power to permit immediate and unhindered access to and from Gaza for humanitarian and commercial goods, and for people, thereby ending the blockade.

For further information contact:

Shaheen Chughtai +972 575538536
Michael Bailey +972572233014
John Prideaux-Brune +972 5 77399772
Ian Bray +44 1865 472289, +44 7721 461339

Michael Bailey
Advocacy and Media Manager
Jerusalem Office
Tel + 972 (0)2 656 6234 ext 223
mob + 972 0572233014

Israeli Airstrike kills three sisters during supposed lull

Gaza death toll approaching 700
Date: 07 / 01 / 2009  Time:  18:04
Gaza – Ma’an –

Israeli Israeli occupation terrorist warplanes killed three Palestinian civilians on Wednesday afternoon during what Israel had earlier declared to be a unilateral three hour halt in its attacks on Gaza.

Israeli occupation terrorists had announced that it would halt attacks between 1:00pm and 4:00pm on Wednesday afternoon to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Medics at Kamal Udwan Hospital confirmed that three sisters were killed by Israeli fire in the east of Jabaliya Refugee Camp. The sisters were identified as two-year-old Amal, four-year-old Su'ad and six-year-old Samar. Others were injured, medics said.

Meanwhile, Ma'an's Gaza corrspondent reported back that early on Wednesday evening Israeli warplanes struck a car in Beit Lahiya, killing the four Palestinians inside.

Medical officials report that 682 Gazans have been killed since the Israeli war on Gaza began 12 days ago. More than 3,000 have been injured.

Among the dead are an estimated 185 children and 41 women.

Jabaliya was the location of an Israeli artillery attack on Tuesday that killed 45 Palestinians who had taken shelter in a UN school.

Meanwhile, Red Cross teams managed to enter the Zaytoon neighborhood of southern Gaza City, which has witnessed intense fighting in the last 24 hours. Rescue workers removed two more bodies from the rubble of a house destroyed by Israeli warplanes, where more than 20 members of the same were feared dead. The removal of these bodies means 10 members of the Samuni family have been confirmed killed.

The Israeli warplanes also targeted a house related to Abu Muhadi family in Al-Nusseirat, in the central Gaza Strip and four other houses at the borders in the southern city of Rafah, killing an elderly man.

Israel confirms: Nine soldiers injured in Gaza on Wednesday

Date: 07 / 01 / 2009  Time:  20:42
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

A spokesperson for the Israeli Israeli occupation terrorist army confirmed on Wednesday night that nine Israeli soldiers were injured throughout the day in clashes with Palestinian factions in Gaza.

The injured soldiers were taken for treatment at Be-er Al-Saba'a Hospital, where they joined about 15 other wounded troops also under treatment there.

Israeli medical sources said that the soldiers were just lightly injured.

The Israeli occupation terrorist forces spokesperson said that warplanes targeted 40 places throughout the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, spreading leaflets over Rafah that called on residents to evacuate their homes in preparation for demolishment.

Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed and more than 80 injured since the beginning of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza on Saturday, the Israeli military confirmed earlier on Wednesday.

According to theIsraeli occupation terrorist army, one soldier was also injured on Wednesday morning in clashes with Palestinian fighters in Gaza City. Israeli medical sources announced that 59 soldiers are still hospitalized, including one critically injured and seven seriously so.

Armed groups fire dozens of projectiles at Israeli targets

Date: 07 / 01 / 2009  Time:  19:20
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

 Armed Palestinian groups continued their rocket barrage on southern Israeli on Wednesday, firing as many as 20 homemade projectiles at targets in the south of the country.

Israeli sources told Ma'an that four projectiles landed in Be-er Al-Saba'a, injuring eight people who were running toward shelters.

Around 20 projectiles were launched toward Israeli targets on Wednesday, causing some 20 Israelis to suffer "shock" and also causing damage to a number of homes in the western Naqab.

Palestinian fighters announced that they fired a barrage of projectiles toward the Israeli town of Ashkelon, as well, but no one was injured in those attacks.

Meanwhile, Israel's ground incursion killed dozens on Wednesday, even during a supposed three-hour "lull" in fighting at the request of France, in which three young sisters died in a shelling attack on Jabalia Refugee Camp.

At least 690 Palestinians are dead, with over 3,000 injured by the end of a 12th day of fighting.

Tens of thousands attend funeral of 45 killed at UN school

Date: 07 / 01 / 2009  Time:  16:14
Gaza – Ma’an –

Tens of thousands of Palestinians attended a funeral procession 45 civilians who were killed on Tuesday when Israeli terrorist artillery shelled a UN school in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalia.

The bodies of children, women, and elderly people were among the dead. The shelling was the deadliest single attack since the beginning of the Israeli terrorist war on Gaza 12 days ago.

The mourners walked from Kamal Udwan Hospital to the Al-Fakhoura School, the scene of Tuesday’s shelling. Angry mourners condemned the Israeli “aggression” in Gaza, and called for Israeli politicians to be tried for war crimes.

The toll in the school shelling has risen to 45 as some of the wounded died in Gaza hospitals.

The UN says some 350 Palestinians had taken shelter in the school compound, one of hundreds operated by UNRWA, the UN’s agency for international refugees.

UN: No gunmen in school at time of Israeli shelling; toll rises to 45

Date: 07 / 01 / 2009  Time:  14:47
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

The United Nations’ top official in the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday that there were absolutely no armed men inside the UN school in Jabaliya that was the target of an Israeli attack that left 47 dead.

“I can tell you categorically that there was no militant activity in that school at the time of that tragedy,” said John Ging, the director of operations of UNRWA in Gaza, speaking to Al-Jazeera.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the school shelling rose to 45 as wounded victims died in hospitals. Tens of thousands attended a funeral procession for the dead.

Ging also told the Australian newspaper The Age, “We have established beyond any doubt that the school was not being used by any militants."

“They were innocent people," said Ging, adding that around 350 Palestinians had taken shelter in the school after fleeing invading Israeli forces. The shelling of the Al-Fakhoura School was deadliest single attack on Gaza since Israel began its air bombardment 12 days ago.

Ging’s comments contradicted claims made by the Israeli military that Hamas gunmen had fired a mortar shell from the school. In a statement released on Tuesday night, the Israeli military confirmed that it had shelled the school.

The United Nations also says it provided Israel with the GPS coordinates of all its facilities in the Gaza Strip long before the current war began ten days ago.

Three other UN facilities, including schools and a health center, also came under attack by Israeli forces on Monday and Tuesday, killing at least three.

According to UN statistics, some 14,000 people have taken refuge in UNRWA installations across the Gaza Strip.

Gun battles continue - Seven Israeli soldiers killed since Saturday

Date: 07 / 01 / 2009  Time:  11:11
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed and more than 80 injured since the beginning of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza on Saturday, the Israeli military confirmed on Wednesday.

According to Israeli terrorist army, one soldier was injured on Wednesday morning in clashes with Palestinian fighters in Gaza City. Israeli medical sources announced that 59 soldiers are still hospitalized, including one critically injured and seven seriously.

Hamas’ military arm, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said they fired two homemade projectiles and 15 mortar shells at Israeli forces invading the Zaytoon neighborhood of Gaza City. By Wednesday morning the heaviest current fighting took place in the neighborhood, on the southern end of densely-populated City.

Armed Palestinian resistance groups said that an Israeli soldier was shot and injured in Al-Atatra neighborhood in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Al-Qassam Brigades also released a video on Tuesday evening they said showed Palestinian gunmen shooting an Israeli soldier

Palestinian fighters also said they detonated an explosive device in the midst of a contingent Israeli soldiers.

As the fighting continues it is impossible to verify how and under what circumstances each Israeli soldier was killed or injured.

PA seeking war crimes trials over Israeli actions in Gaza

Date: 06 / 01 / 2009  Time:  20:42
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

The Palestinian Authority has begun the process legal action against Israeli leaders it says are responsible for war crimes in the Gaza Strip, the top Palestinian diplomat in London said.

Palestinian delegate to the United Kingdom, Professor Manuel Hassassian, said that “in the absence of any tangible action from the international community, the Palestinian leadership today started the process of pursuing those Israeli terrorists responsible for these heinous crimes through the international courts."

"We owe it to the hundreds of children, women and men that have been killed and maimed to ensure that those responsible are made to account for their crimes,” he added.

Hassassian made the announcement in a statement circulated in the immediate aftermath of an Israeli terrorist artillery attack on a clearly marked, UN-operated school in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.