Israel launches deadly Gaza attacks

[WembeMkali]

Wa-zayuni, ninawaungeni mkono. Hawa wafilisti wa kihamasi wataendelea kuwasumbua. wamalizeni kabisa.

Man! we still have long way to go! kweli waliosema dini ni minyororo hawakukosea.Yaani mtu anadiriki kufurahia mauaji ya watu wengine ili aende mbinguni!!! no shortcut man!

Msichanganye mambo yenu mnayoamini kwenye vitabu vyenu vya dini na haki za binadamu.Binadamu wote wanazo haki sawa hata kama ni wapagani!!au waislam au waarabu au waafrika au wazungu au wairan au wathesalonike etc.....kwa hiyo kama dini yako inafurahia mauaji ya watu wengine basi unapaswa ujiulize mara mbili mbili kabla ya kuiamini.

Pili matatizo ya Israel na wapalestina hayatatatuliwa kwa njia za mabavu hata kama Israel itawauwa wapalestina wote kule mashariki ya kati!! na kubaki na ardhi tupu!! Tunaona mpaka sasa bado maroketi yanarushwa pamoja na kuwa Israel imeshauwa mamia ya wapalestina....ili kusimamisha urushwaji wa maroketi hayo.

Ushauri wangu tu ni kuwa pande zote zirudi kwenye meza ya mapatano na kufanya majadiliano ya amani na kila upande utaishi kwa amani badala ya kutumia ushabiki wa kidini kuuwana hovyo.Kufanya mauaji ya halaiki au genocide haitaleta solution! Nadhani hata Adolf Hitler analijua hili bila ya ubishi wowote ule!

 

[Bull]

The only solutions ni WaIsrael waondoke kwenye ardhi ya WaPalestina.

 

[Mbu]

...
Ushauri wangu tu ni kuwa pande zote zirudi kwenye meza ya mapatano na kufanya majadiliano ya amani na kila upande utaishi kwa amani badala ya kutumia ushabiki wa kidini kuuwana hovyo.Kufanya mauaji ya halaiki au genocide haitaleta solution! Nadhani hata Adolf Hitler analijua hili bila ya ubishi wowote ule!

...ushauri mzuri sana huo, tatizo wa Israeli weshasema hawawezi kukaa meza moja na Terrorists wa Hamas kutafuta amani, hapo ndio mimi ninaposhangaa hao Israelis,

...they can only make peace with their enemies, not friends!

 

[Jaramba]

Huu mjadala unanichanga sana,najiweka kwenye nafasi ya Mpalestina,na pia najiweka kwenye nafasi ya Muisraeli!!Mimi sio padre na wala sio shehe ila najiuliza karne zote zilizopita kutokana na historia toka kwenye maandiko matakatifu yanavyosema ni nani amemkuta mwenzake kwenye ardhi ile?
Hivi mfano leo hii inatokea jamii ya watu flani duniani inasema sehemu ya Tanzania au Tanzania yote ni nchi yao waliyoahidiwa na mungu,kwa dhati ya moyoni kabisa tutakubali kutoka na kuwapisha hata kama tunamuamini mungu? Na kama tutowapisha hao wateule sisi tutakwenda kuishi nchi ipi? Yaani ni ipi nchi yetu ya ahadi?
Wajuzi wa dini je Israeli wamepewa green light na mungu wafanye haya wayafanyayo leo na waliyoyafanya siku zilizopita katika kuipata nchi yao ya ahadi? Na wapalestina wanachofanya ni utetezi wa ardhi ambayo wanajua wamezaliwa humo au ni uchokozi? Ukikaa ukatulia ukafikiri kwa makini bila kufuata ushabiki wa dini ipi unaiabudu utajikuta una maswali mengi majibu.Na huwezi kushabikia mapambano haya toka pande zote.Tujaribu kutafakari kuliko kuandika kwa jazba na wengine kupotosha hali halisi.

 

[MaxShimba]

sasa wewe, ulitaka waisrael wapoteze muda wa kuokota maiti na majeruhi badala ya kuendeleza vita? unafikiri wakati wanafanya hivyo hamas watakuwa wamenyamaza kimya? pale wako vitani, hawako kuokoa watu au kukusanya maiti. wananchi wa gaza wote wanastahili adhabu, kwasababu waliichagua hamas chama cha kigaidi, na wanakisapoti hadi sasa hivi, hivyo wote ni hamas as long as gaza is controlled by hamas. kama wao sio hamas, basi wasingekipigia kura, pia wasingekisapoti au wangeandamana mtaani kulaani ugaidi wa hamas. kunyamaza kwao ni kukubaliana na hamas hivyo wote wanastahili hukumu mbele ya israel. i wish israel watachukua tena gaza ili wapalestina waende wakaishi west bank. pia, wanatakiwa kuishambulia pia misri ambao wameruhusu handaki litoke kwenye ardhi ya misri hadi gaza. hii vita sio ya mto mmoja, ni ya mataifa mengi ya kiarabu, lakini kwa woga wao mbele ya israel wanaende indirectly kwa kuwatumia hamas na hezbolah. wakienda kichwakichwa wanaogopa yaliyowakuta mwaka 1967, six day war. poleni waarabu, jueni ya kuwa israel ni taifa la Mungu, hamtakuja mlishinde hata siku moja. pangeni mambo mengine, kwa israel mnapoteza muda.

Mwana wa Mungu, ubarikiwe sana, na asante kwa khabari nzuri uliyoweka ya hawa magaidi wa Kifilisti, Hamas na ndugu zao Hezbolah, walowezi wa nchi ya watu.

Kwa Waisrael wote, Mungu awabariki kwa kazi nzuri mnayofanya ya kumaliza Magaidi wa kidini na siasa. Biblia inasema IF GOD IS ON MY SIDE, WHO CAN BE AGAINST ME? HAKUNA MUHAMMADAN ATAKAYE PUMUA.

Waarabu wote wameizunguka Israel, lakini mpaka hii leo, hawana ubavu wala nguvu ya kulitikisa Taifa la Mungu. Think about that.

Bwana Yesu apewe sifa, kwa kuwa nimuweza ya yote, for we are not fighting agaist flesh and blood, but agaist powers and principalities of higher level, but Greater is HE that is in me than the one who is out there. To God be the Glory.

 

[MaxShimba]

This is what HAMAS and ISLAM practices. Hereunder, you will read the truth about ISLAM/HAMAS and how they operate since the days of Marehemu Muhammad, Mtume bandia.

“The Late Prophet Muhammad said, ‘If a Muslim discards his religion, kill him.” Bukhari: 4.52.260

Bukhari, 5-59-632 Once Muadh paid a visit to Abu Musa and saw a chained man. Muadh asked, "What is this?" Abu Musa said, "(He was) a Jew who embraced Islam and has now turned apostate." Muadh said, "I will surely chop off his neck!"

Ali burnt some people alive (former muslims)., Prophet had said, 'If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.' " Bukhari: 4.52.260

“Marehemu Prophet Muhammad said, “burn all those who had not left their houses for the prayer, burning them alive inside their homes.” Bukhari: 1.11.626

“I would order someone to collect firewood and another to lead prayer. Then I would burn the houses of men who did not present themselves at the compulsory prayer and prostration.” Bukhari: 1.11.617Fighting is a fard (obligatory) for all Muslims.

Fighting is prescribed for you,HAMAS AND ISLAMS. Q.2.216

Islam Allah has also said:

"If you march not forth, He will punish you with a painful torment and will replace you with another people, and you cannot harm Him at all, and Allah is able to do all things." (Surah at Tauba: Verse 39).

It is very clear from this aya that you have to carry Allah’s declaration to punish the jihad dodgers and eliminate them. Hamas are in compliance.

BURNING ALIVE KUFFARS IN PUBLIC

Bukhari: V4B52N260 “Ali burnt some apostates publicly’

Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 259:

CUTTING HANDS AND FEETS AND, BRANDING EYESWITH HOT IRON

Bukhari Volume 1, Book 4, Number 234:

Narrated Abu Qilaba: He then ordered to cut their hands and feet (and it was done), and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron, They were put in 'Al-Harra' and when they asked for water, no water was given to them."

SLOW BURNING BY KINDLING FIRE ON CHEST

Tabari VIII:122/Ishaq:515 “The Prophet gave orders concerning Kinanah to Zubayr, saying, ‘Torture him until you root out and extract what he has. So Zubayr kindled a fire on Kinanah’s chest, twirling it with his firestick until Kinanah was near death. Then the Messenger gave him to Maslamah, who beheaded him.”

SPLITTING THE BODY IN THE MIDDLE BY PULLING THE LEGS APART USING LARGE FORCE

Tabari VIII: 96.” Zyad tied her legs with rope and then tied her between two camels until they split her in two. She was a very old woman”

CUTTING TONGUE

Ishaq: 595 “The Marehemu Mtume Muhammad said, ‘Get him away from me and cut off his tongue.”

PULLING TEETH
Ishaq: 312 “Umar said to the Apostle, ‘Let me pull out Suhayl’s two front teeth. That way his tongue will stick out.

This is what HAMAS and Islams are doing in the name of ALLAH. This is what some JF members are supporting and wish they could practice.

 

[Saikosisi]

Wewe MaxShimba naye kumbe ni mgonjwa tu kama walivyo wengi humu, nilikuwa nakuheshimu kidogo kumbe bure tu. Unaandika kwa ushabiki wa dini badala ya kutafakari, au hata kusoma historia ukaja na point za kueleweka! Kwa heri!

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Israeli authorities admitted on the weekend that an attack last week on a UN-run school in the Jabaliya refugee camp outside Gaza City, in which more than 30 civilians were killed, had been a mistake.
Instead, according to Israelis military sources quoted in the Haaretz newspaper yesterday, an Israeli mortar shell aimed at Palestinian militants located outside the school missed its target and hit the building instead, killing many people who had sought shelter from the fighting.

The Israelis originally insisted militants had fired on their forces from inside the school itself, a claim now deemed to be wrong. Olmert met yesterday with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who said he sympathized with Israel's determination to defend its citizens but also expressed concern about the rising number of civilian casualties in the conflict.

In Washington, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama – who has been criticized in some quarters for his silence on the Middle East conflict – said on ABC television yesterday he understood the challenge facing Israel.

"I think that a basic principle of any country is that they've got to protect their citizens," Obama said.

Israeli envoy Amos Gilad, who spent several days in Cairo last week pursuing efforts to formulate a ceasefire agreement to end the fighting was due to return to the Egyptian capital today.

Efforts to forge a truce have stalled over Israeli demands for ironclad measures to ensure Hamas will not be able to rearm once the conflict is over.

Hamas insists Israel must suspend the economic siege it has imposed on Gaza since the radical Islamist group took power there in June 2007. Last month, largely in protest against the Israeli siege, Hamas terminated a six-month-old ceasefire, and resumed its rocket fire against Israel, triggering the massive Israeli offensive.

Hiyo story ipo Daily Kos: State of the Nation na ofkozi major news network nyingi zimeripoti......

IDF wana story kwamba militants walikuwa 30 yards toka kwa skuli! Lakini kama walidanganya mara ya kwanza kwa kusema mortals zilitoka kwa compound ya skuli, ni vipi tuwaamini na story hii mpya!??

Icadon....mwanzo wa thread hii i warned you kwa jinsi unaposti bila kuchallange vyanzo, ktk middle east na hasa mgogoro huu usimeza story yeyote inayosema chanzo ni anonymous!!! Hii ni aibu.......

YournameisMINE,

Always take what Israel says with a grain of salt.9 times out of 10 their first
statements hua ni kujustify whatever act they have committed bila hata
kuangalia ukweli wa mambo.Hii ishu watu walisema toka mwanzo kwamba
Israel were the aggressors during the attack na hakuna alietuma bomu
wala nini.

Same stupid statements they give after killing innocent children eti..."Hamas
are using children as human shields"..na tunajua wazi wamebwaga mabomu in
crowded neighborhoods and schools.

 

[BAK]

YournameisMINE,

Always take what Israel says with a grain of salt.9 times out of 10 their first
statements hua ni kujustify whatever act they have committed bila hata
kuangalia ukweli wa mambo.Hii ishu watu walisema toka mwanzo kwamba
Israel were the aggressors during the attack na hakuna alietuma bomu
wala nini.

Same stupid statements they give after killing innocent children eti..."Hamas
are using children as human shields"..na tunajua wazi wamebwaga mabomu in
crowded neighborhoods and schools.

Thank you Ab-Titchaz!

 

[Zungu Pule]

Why does Africa care about Gaza?
The continuing Israeli offensive in Gaza against Hamas militants has triggered protests in several African countries.

But why is a conflict thousands of miles away bringing people on the streets while events within Africa itself such as the conflicts in the D.R.Congo and Somalia provoke little public response?

Why does Palestine strike a chord with Africans? Is it purely down to muslim solidarity or are there other reasons? Are there parallels between the Israel and Gaza conflict in Africa and are there lessons both sides can learn from the continent?

Source: BBC (Have Your Say)

 

[Namtih58]

Why does Africa care about Gaza?
The continuing Israeli offensive in Gaza against Hamas militants has triggered protests in several African countries.

But why is a conflict thousands of miles away bringing people on the streets while events within Africa itself such as the conflicts in the D.R.Congo and Somalia provoke little public response?

Why does Palestine strike a chord with Africans? Is it purely down to muslim solidarity or are there other reasons? Are there parallels between the Israel and Gaza conflict in Africa and are there lessons both sides can learn from the continent?

Source: BBC (Have Your Say)

Simple realy THERE IS LITTLE DIFFERENCE FROM WHAT IS HAPPENING IN PALESTINE TODAY WITH WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE COLONIAL ERA IN AFRICA.

Mzungu kaja, na kwa kuwa yeye kajiona kujua yote, akachora mipaka (ovyo) kisha akasimama akaangalia akajiambia hakuna kama yeye. Matokeo yake mnayaona.

Israeli kama taifa kwangu mimi walipewa wayahudi kwa kuwa mzungu aliona aibu ya kuwakandamiza/kutowasaidia wayahudi hivyo basi akaona heri wawaondokee na shida zote waende nazo.

 

[MaxShimba]

Why does Africa care about Gaza?
The continuing Israeli offensive in Gaza against Hamas militants has triggered protests in several African countries.

But why is a conflict thousands of miles away bringing people on the streets while events within Africa itself such as the conflicts in the D.R.Congo and Somalia provoke little public response?

Why does Palestine strike a chord with Africans? Is it purely down to muslim solidarity or are there other reasons? Are there parallels between the Israel and Gaza conflict in Africa and are there lessons both sides can learn from the continent?

Source: BBC (Have Your Say)

I think it is Muslems who care about Gaza, and not Africans as you demonstrated. It is Muslems who run on the street and ready to die for Gazanians. It is Muslems who are crying for Gaza, while Gazanians are bussy looking for ways to kill Israelites through terrorism. It is Muslems who are ready to die as mujahidians for the sake of 72 Virgins and not Africans, etc etc etc.

I don't care about Gaza, why should I, care? I have albinos who are hunted by wicked people, I have Mafisadi who are sucking each and every thing available to be sucked, I have a lot of to care in Tanzania. NOT GAZA.

 

[Bladerunner]

Is Gaza now Israeli weapons testing lab? Israel has turned Gaza into a research laboratory to test out its new "extremely nasty" weapons on Palestinians, a medical expert says.

After working for 10 days at the Shifa Hospital in the war-torn Palestinian territory, Dr. Mads Gilbert, a member of a Norwegian triage medical team in Gaza, blasted Israel for conducting experimental military work in the impoverished strip.

"There's a very strong suspicion I think that Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons," Gilbert told reporters at Oslo's Gardermoen airport upon his return home on Monday.

Dr. Gilbert said the kinds of injuries he and his colleague Erik Fosse had seen during their ten-day aid work in Gaza had proven that Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME) was being used in the embattled territory. DIME, which is an experimental kind of explosive, is believed to have strong biological effects in those who are hit by the "low lethality" weapons.
Survivors close to the lethal range may have their limbs amputated as their soft tissues and bones are shredded to pieces. The victims may also subsequently contract cancer from the micro-shrapnel embedded in their body tissue within just four to six months.

"This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that detonates with an extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 meters (16-98 feet)," said Gilbert.

"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations... without shrapnel injuries which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME weapons," he added.

The weapon "causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different (from a shrapnel injury). I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different," said Fosse, 58.
"If you are in the immediate (vicinity of) a DIME weapon, it's like your legs get torn off. It's an enormous pressure wave and there is no shrapnel," he explained.

Israel had also used the weapon in the 2006 war with Lebanon and previously in Gaza.

"We are not soft-skinned when it comes to war injuries, but these amputations are really extremely nasty and for many of the patients not survivable," he added.

Following reports on the use of suspected chemical weapons in Gaza, the United Nations Human Rights Council decided to dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations committed in the territory.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Tuesday that "Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law," suggesting that the Council consider a mission to assess violations committed by both sides in the conflict.

The latest casualty figures according to Health officials have topped 940 since the operation began on 27 December, while some 4,400 others have been wounded.

Senior United Nations officials have expressed grave concern about reports that over 40 per cent of the Palestinians killed in the Israeli offensive, and almost half of the wounded, are women and children.

The new report comes on top of earlier reports which revealed the Israeli military had used controversial white phosphorus shells on Gazans.

The Times said on Thursday that it had identified stockpiles of M825A1, a US-made White Phosphorus munition, from high-resolution pictures taken from Israeli artillery units on the Gaza border.

A phenomenon characteristic of the chemical -- also known by the military as WP or Willie Pete is that it can burn through flesh to the bone and leave bodies "entirely shriveled with black-green skin."
Earlier last week, Gilbert's team, told Press TV that medics had found depleted uraniumin some Gaza residents.

The reports of profound human sufferings come as Israel continues to reject the fact that it has imposed a humanitarian crisis among the battle-hardened 1.5 million population of Gaza.

 

[Bazazi]

Ktk dunia hii ni jamii mbili tu (races) zinazoweza kuua watu kwa silaha zozote & go unpunished. These races are JEWS & TUTSIS only.

 

[Mbu]

Is Gaza now Israeli weapons testing lab? Israel has turned Gaza into a research laboratory to test out its new "extremely nasty" weapons on Palestinians, a medical expert says.

...wanadai wanatoa funzo kwa Iran, Hizbollah wa -Lebanon, na Syria.

 

[X-PASTER]

As Israeli troops encircle Gaza City, their commanders are faced with a painful dilemma: How far must they advance into the deadly labyrinth of slums and refugee camps where Hamas militants await with booby-trapped houses and snipers?

With each passing day, Israel's war against Hamas grows riskier and more punishing, with the gains appearing to diminish compared to the spiraling costs — to Israel's moral stature, to the lives of Palestinian civilians and to the world's hopes that an ancient conflict can ever be resolved. Ideally, in a war shaped by television images, Israelis would like a tableau of surrender: grimy Hamas commanders crawling from underground bunkers with their hands up. Instead, the deaths of at least 40 civilians taking shelter at a United Nations-run school north of Gaza City are more likely to become the dominant image of the war. Israeli politicians and generals know that the total elimination of Hamas' entrenched military command could take weeks; it might be altogether impossible. The more realistic outcome is an unsatisfactory, brokered truce that leaves Hamas wounded but alive and able to regenerate — and Israel only temporarily safe from attack.

Israel's Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, has promised a "war to the bitter end." But after 60 years of struggle to defend their existence against foreign threats and enemies within, many Israelis may be wondering, Where does that end lie? The threat posed by Hamas is only the most immediate of the many interlocking challenges facing Israel, some of which cast dark shadows over the long-term viability of a democratic Jewish state. The offensive in Gaza may degrade Hamas' ability to menace southern Israel with rocket fire, but, as with Israel's 2006 war against Hizballah, the application of force won't extinguish the militants' ideological fervor. The anti-Israeli anger swelling in the region has made it more difficult for Arab governments to join Israel in its efforts to deal with Iran, the patron of both Hamas and Hizballah and a state whose leaders have sworn to eliminate Israel and appear determined to acquire nuclear weapons. (See pictures of grief in the Middle East.)

Just as ominous for many Israelis is a ticking demographic time bomb: the likelihood that Arabs will vastly outnumber Jews in the land stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean is a catastrophic prospect for a nation that defines itself by its faith. At some point, Israelis will have to choose between living with an independent Palestinian state or watching Jews become a minority in their own land.

As much as any other nation on earth, Israel is based on a dream: the aspiration to establish a home for the Jews in the birthplace of their ancestors. To a remarkable extent, that dream has been fulfilled, as Israel has grown into the most modern and democratic country in the Middle East and a dependable American ally. A strong, confident Israel is in America's interest, but so is one that can find peace with its neighbors, cooperate with the Arabs to contain common threats and, most important, reach a just and lasting solution with the Palestinians. But accomplishing all that will require Israel and its defenders to confront excruciating dilemmas: How do you make peace with those who don't seem to want it? How do you win a war when the other side believes time is on its side? And what would true security, in a hostile neighborhood populated with enemies, actually look like? As is always true in the Middle East, there are no easy answers. But it's never been more vital that Israel start looking for them.

How to Deal with Hamas
The most immediate challenge facing Israel is that posed by Hamas. Gaza's tragedy has for days been playing out on the world's TV sets. By Jan. 7, more than 700 Palestinians, many of them noncombatants, had been killed. But there's something tragic, too, in Israel's predicament: in any confrontation with its enemies, it is damned if it does and doomed if it doesn't. Across Israel's political spectrum there seems to be a consensus that Hamas' provocative rocket barrages could not go unanswered — though whether Israel's response has been proportional to the threat is, at the least, questionable.
Next

 

[Kitia]

Bolivian president Evo Morales said today his country is breaking diplomatic ties with Israel over the offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed hundreds of Palestinians.

Mr Morales, a leftist, is a close ally of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who last week expelled Israel's ambassador in protest over Gaza.

Venezuela is also a major supplier of aid to Bolivia, the poorest country in South America.

Mr Morales made the announcement in a speech before diplomats in the government palace.

Israel launched its 19-day-old campaign in Gaza on December 27th with the declared aim of halting rocket attacks by Hamas into Israel. The Palestinian death toll in the offensive rose today to 984, medical officials said. Israel says 13 Israelis have been killed.

Reuters

 

[BAK]

Israel hits UN refugee agency in Gaza

Relief and Works Agency compound and hospital on fire after artillery attacks

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, Peter Walker and agencies guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 January 2009 10.47 GMT​

The headquarters of the UN refugee agency and a hospital in Gaza were on fire today after being struck by Israeli artillery, injuring several people, a UN spokesman and witnesses said.

The compound of the UN Relief and Works Agency was hit by what appeared to be three white phosphorous shells, with three people known to have been hurt, a spokesman for the organisation, Chris Gunness, said. It was on fire, with large amounts of aid supplies, including fuel trucks, at risk, he added.

The compound has been serving as a shelter for hundreds of people fleeing the 20-day Israeli offensive. It was not clear if any people remained inside.

Another UN spokesman in Gaza told the AFP news agency that the organisation was suspending its relief operations following the attack.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, who is in Israel today on the latest leg of a peace mission, expressed his "strong protest and outrage" at the attack on the UN building and called for an investigation. Speaking in Jerusalem, Ban said he had been told by Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, that the shelling was a "grave mistake".

Separately, AFP quoted witnesses as saying that a wing of the Al-Quds hospital in south-west Gaza, where hundreds more people had taken shelter early today from advancing Israeli tanks, was on fire after being struck. It was not clear if there were any injuries.

Even as the first signs of progress towards a ceasefire emerged from Egyptian-led negotiations, Israel increased the intensity of its offensive, striking dozens of sites across Gaza overnight and today.

Reuters reported that a missile or shell had struck the Gaza tower block where the news agency and other media organisations have offices. The 13th floor of the Al-Shurouq Tower, which houses Abu Dhabi television, appeared to have been hit, injuring one of its journalists.

Israeli forces were reported to be closing in on the outskirts of Gaza City, forcing thousands more Palestinians to flee their homes. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks fired shells at at least three high-rise buildings in downtown Gaza City.

It is not clear whether this morning's offensive marks another major escalation in the conflict or a brief foray – so far Israel has avoided sending grounds troops into the heart of Gaza City.

A senior Israeli defence ministry official, Amos Gilad, was due in Cairo to assess an Egyptian proposal for an initial 10-day ceasefire. Hamas reportedly agreed in principle to a ceasefire but last night the Islamist movement submitted its own conditions.

"There is no disagreement with the Egyptian leadership. The issue is differences over how to deal with the Zionist enemy through the clauses of this initiative," said Salah al-Bardawil, a Hamas official.

With the Palestinian death toll now above 1,000, Israeli tanks again pressed deep into the Tel al-Hawa suburb in the southern area of Gaza City overnight. There was more heavy fighting to the east of the city, which is now effectively surrounded. One set of air strikes ignited a large fire in northern Gaza which burned for several hours, sending a thick cloud of acrid black smoke into the sky. An airstrike killed three people close to the apparently-empty home of the senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar.

The Israeli military said it struck 70 sites across Gaza overnight, including a mosque in the southern town of Rafah, which it said was used to store rockets. At least 11 soldiers were injured. Palestinian militants in Gaza fired at least 15 rockets into southern Israel early today, though there were no reports of injuries.

The Palestinian death toll rose to 1,028, with around 4,700 injured. On the Israeli side, 13 people have been killed, among them three civilians.

An Israeli decision on whether to accept the ceasefire or escalate the offensive will not come until Gilad has returned to Israel and briefed senior political leaders. Israel wants to ensure that Hamas halts its rocket fire and is unable to rearm itself in future.

The Egyptian proposal, which has been discussed for several days, appears to begin with a ceasefire of a week or 10 days, during which all fighting would stop but Israeli troops would remain on the ground in Gaza. Talks would then be held on the more difficult questions of stopping the smuggling of weapons to Hamas and lifting Israel's long economic blockade of the Gaza Strip.

However, it is thought Hamas's conditions for any deal would probably include an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces the moment a ceasefire begins. That may prove too much for Israel to accept. Hamas also wants an Israeli commitment to lift the blockade on crossings into Israel, and to open the Rafah crossing into Egypt, and it wants the ceasefire to be limited to six months or a year.

 

[Outlier]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, engulfing the compound and the main warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees.
The U.N. chief, in Israel for the day, demanded a "full explanation."
A senior Israeli military officer said Israeli troops shelled after coming under fire from Palestinian militants inside the compound — an account dismissed by a U.N. official there at the time as "nonsense."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a "grave mistake."
Even as a top Israeli envoy went to Egypt to discuss a cease-fire proposal, the military pushed farther into Gaza in an apparent effort to step up pressure on Hamas. Ground forces thrust deep into a crowded neighborhood for the first time, sending terrified residents fleeing for cover. Shells also struck a hospital, five high-rise apartment buildings and a building housing media outlets in Gaza City, injuring several journalists.
Bullets also entered another building housing The Associated Press offices, entering a room where two staffers were working but wounding no one. The Foreign Press Association, representing journalists covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, demanded a halt to attacks on press buildings.
The army had collected the locations of media organizations at the outset of fighting to avoid such attacks.
Israel launched its war on Dec. 27 in an effort to stop militant rocket fire from Gaza that has terrorized hundreds of thousands of Israelis. Some 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, roughly half of them civilians, according to U.N. and Palestinian medical officials. Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said at least 50 people were killed throughout Gaza on Thursday.
Thirteen Israelis also have been killed since the campaign began. Israel says it will press ahead until Hamas halts the rocket fire and stops smuggling weapons into Gaza from neighboring Egypt.
The U.N. compound struck Thursday houses the U.N. Works and Relief Agency, which distributes food aid to hundreds of thousands of destitute Gazans in the tiny seaside territory of 1.4 million people.
"I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defense minister and foreign minister and demanded a full explanation," said Ban, who arrived in Israel on Thursday morning from Egypt.
It had only that morning become a makeshift shelter for 700 Gaza City residents seeking sanctuary from relentless Israeli shelling, U.N. officials in Gaza said.
John Ging, director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, said the attack at the compound caused a "massive explosion" that wounded three people.
A senior Israeli military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an expected official announcement, said troops opened fire after militants inside the compound shot anti-tank weapons and machine guns. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal army announcement later in the day.
Ging, who was in the compound at the time, dismissed the Israeli account as "nonsense."
Israeli shells first hit the courtyard filled with refugees, then struck garages and the U.N.'s main warehouse, sending thousands of tons of food aid up in flames, Ging said. Later, fuel supplies went up in flames, sending a thick black plume of smoke into the air.
"It's a total disaster for us," Ging said, adding that the U.N. had warned the Israeli military that the compound was in peril from shelling that had begun overnight. U.N. officials say they have provided Israel with GPS coordinates of all U.N. installations in Gaza to prevent such attacks.

The refugees were moved to a school away from the immediate fighting, he said.
Separately, Israel shells landed next to a U.N. school in another Gaza City neighborhood, wounding 14 people who had sought sanctuary there, medics and firefighters said. An Israeli attack near a U.N. school in northern Gaza earlier this month killed nearly 40 people. At the time, Israel said militants had fired on army positions from the beginning.
source: Israeli forces shell UN headquarters in Gaza - Yahoo! News

 

[X-PASTER]

By RASHID KHALIDI
Published: January 7, 2009

NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

THE GAZANS
Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION
The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza’s air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

THE BLOCKADE
Israel’s blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.

The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.

THE CEASE-FIRE
Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.

WAR CRIMES
The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 900 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

This war on the people of Gaza isn’t really about rockets. Nor is it about “restoring Israel’s deterrence,” as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: “The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.”

Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming “Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East."