A Palestinian medical official says an Israeli gunboat off the shores of Gaza City has opened fire on Gaza, wounding at least five people.
Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said Thursday that a shell fired by the gunboat hit a house in a beachside refugee camp. He said the wounded were passersby in the street, AP reported.
Gunboats off Gaza have been firing for several days despite a cease-fire, which ended a three-week Israeli offensive, being in place.
The humanitarian situation in the besieged strip has not changed as the Gaza blockade continues.
Israeli military operations have exacerbated the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza by destroying civilian infrastructures during the invasion. Gazans are facing harsh conditions without food, water, fuel and electricity.
The hospitals and other medical facilities suffer from severe shortages of medical supplies and electricity. The crossings into the Gaza Strip still remain closed and the humanitarian aid permitted to enter the besieged strip is below the survival levels.
Nearly 5,000 houses were destroyed and hundreds of people have become homeless in the coastal sliver, which has been under an 18-month Israeli blockade.
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Showing posts with label ceasefire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ceasefire. Show all posts
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Gaza: Palestinians Devastated by War's Toll
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Douglas Hamilton - GAZA - More Israeli forces left the Gaza Strip on Monday after a 22-day assault on Hamas militants, and both sides kept a ceasefire, allowing dazed Palestinians to survey the destruction and mourn their dead.
In Jabalya refugee camp, the scene of heavy fighting, not a house was unscathed. Huge piles of uncollected garbage rotted on street corners. Children scavenged for empty plastic bottles.
Israel withdrew its forces from built-up parts of coastal Gaza, Israel Radio said. Political sources said Israel would complete its troop pullout by Tuesday, before Barack Obama is sworn in as U.S. president.
Israel was seen by some as interested in having its troops back home by the time Obama takes office to avoid any friction with its closest ally's new leader.
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Gaza devastated after onslaught
(01:55) Report
Jan 18 - Gaza residents survey the devastation after Israel declares a unilateral ceasefire
Hundreds of Palestinians remained homeless after Israel levelled homes as they fought Hamas by air, ground and sea.
Bodies were pulled from collapsed buildings as more victims of the final hours of fighting before a unilateral Israeli ceasefire was called were taken to hospital.
Penny Tweedie reports.
In Jabalya refugee camp, the scene of heavy fighting, not a house was unscathed. Huge piles of uncollected garbage rotted on street corners. Children scavenged for empty plastic bottles.
Israel withdrew its forces from built-up parts of coastal Gaza, Israel Radio said. Political sources said Israel would complete its troop pullout by Tuesday, before Barack Obama is sworn in as U.S. president.
Israel was seen by some as interested in having its troops back home by the time Obama takes office to avoid any friction with its closest ally's new leader.
read more digg story
Gaza devastated after onslaught
(01:55) Report
Jan 18 - Gaza residents survey the devastation after Israel declares a unilateral ceasefire
Hundreds of Palestinians remained homeless after Israel levelled homes as they fought Hamas by air, ground and sea.
Bodies were pulled from collapsed buildings as more victims of the final hours of fighting before a unilateral Israeli ceasefire was called were taken to hospital.
Penny Tweedie reports.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A rainbow over the northern Gaza Strip…
(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Israeli troops invade Gaza - Yahoo! News Photos
Technorati Tags: Gaza,Gaza Strip,Palestine,Middle east news,Israel,ceasefire,peace,rainbow,photography
Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on a Gaza Village
White flags ignored and houses bulldozed with families inside, claim residents
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- The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009
- Article history
Israel stands accused of perpetrating a series of war crimes during a sustained 12-hour assault on a village in southern Gaza last week in which 14 people died.
In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:
• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;
• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;
• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;
• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.
If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.
The denunciations over what happened in Khuza'a follow repeated claims of possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human rights organisations.
The Israeli army announced yesterday that it was investigating "at the highest level" five other attacks against civilians in Gaza, involving two UN facilities and a hospital. It added that in all cases initial investigations suggested soldiers were responding to fire. "These claims of war crimes are not supported by the slightest piece of evidence," said Yigal Palmor, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman.
Concern over what occurred in the village of Khuza'a in the early hours of Tuesday was first raised by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. Although an Israeli military spokesman said he had "no information that this alleged incident took place", witness statements collected by the Observer are consistent and match testimony gathered by B'Tselem.
There is also strong visible evidence that Khuza'a came under a sustained attack from tanks and bulldozers that smashed some buildings to pieces.
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Dozens of bodies found in Gaza rubble as truce punctured
"This morning they again proved that the ceasefire is fragile and it has to be reassessed on a minute by minute basis," he said. "We hope that the fire ends. If it continues, the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) will respond."
By Adel Zaanoun
18 Jan 2009 10:14 PM
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By Adel Zaanoun
18 Jan 2009 10:14 PM
GAZA CITY, Jan 18 AFP - Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters exchanged their first shots on Sunday in Gaza, where dozens of bodies were pulled from the rubble after Israel ended a deadly war on Hamas.
As Israeli air strikes and militant rocket fire punctured the tenuous truce in the territory, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned the unilateral ceasefire Israel had begun hours earlier was fragile and was being constantly reassessed.
"The government's decision allows Israel to respond and renew the fire if our enemy in the Gaza Strip continues its strikes," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
"This morning they again proved that the ceasefire is fragile and it has to be reassessed on a minute by minute basis," he said. "We hope that the fire ends. If it continues, the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) will respond."
Palestinian medics took advantage of the halt in Israel's deadliest offensive on Gaza to rush to areas which had been inaccessible due to furious fighting.
At least 95 bodies, including those of several children, were pulled from the rubble, mostly in the northern towns of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, they said.
In south Gaza, a 20-year-old man became the first Palestinian killed since the truce went into effect when Israeli troops shot him in the chest while he travelled in a vehicle near the southern town of Khan Yunis, medics said.
The incidents come amid a major diplomatic push by Egypt to turn Israel's unilateral ceasefire into a lasting truce, with President Hosni Mubarak hosting leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain and Turkey.
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Saturday, January 17, 2009
Israel Declares Unilateral Gaza Cease-Fire
JERUSALEM – Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire in its 22-day offensive that turned Gaza neighborhoods into battlegrounds and dealt a stinging blow to the Islamic militants of Hamas, but the government said its troops will stay in the Palestinian territory for now.
Shortly before top leaders voted for the cease-fire at an emergency security meeting, Hamas threatened to keep fighting until Israeli troops leave Gaza."Our goals as they were set at the beginning of the operation were fully realized, and even more than that," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after the 12-member Security Cabinet voted to halt the assault.
"Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions," Olmert said. "If the fire stops entirely, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us. If not, the IDF will continue to act to defend our residents.
"More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began on Dec. 27, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. At least 13 Israelis have also died.
The offensive will stop at 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EST), Olmert said.
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Shortly before top leaders voted for the cease-fire at an emergency security meeting, Hamas threatened to keep fighting until Israeli troops leave Gaza."Our goals as they were set at the beginning of the operation were fully realized, and even more than that," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after the 12-member Security Cabinet voted to halt the assault.
"Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions," Olmert said. "If the fire stops entirely, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us. If not, the IDF will continue to act to defend our residents.
"More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began on Dec. 27, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. At least 13 Israelis have also died.
The offensive will stop at 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EST), Olmert said.
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Israel Criticized for New Deaths as Cease-Fire Looms in Gaza
By STEVEN ERLANGER - JERUSALEM — Israeli tank fire killed two young brothers sheltering at a United Nations school in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Saturday, Palestinian and United Nations officials said, even as Israel prepared to declare a unilateral cease-fire in Gaza.
The deaths brought a new round of sharp condemnation for Israel from the United Nations, including aid officials who raised questions about whether the attack, and others like it, should be investigated as war crimes. The Israeli Army said that it was investigating the reports at the highest level but that initial inquiries indicated that troops were returning fire from near or within the school.
The military said that it struck hundreds of targets overnight, including rocket-launching sites, about 70 smuggling tunnels, and weapons caches, and that its troops tightened the encirclement of Gaza City.
Hamas officials outside Gaza vowed to fight on, regardless of any Israeli cease-fire declaration. The group’s representatives were scheduled to meet Egyptian officials in Cairo who are trying to pull together a lasting truce in this three-week-old war, in which more than 1,200 Palestinians, and 13 Israelis, have died.
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The deaths brought a new round of sharp condemnation for Israel from the United Nations, including aid officials who raised questions about whether the attack, and others like it, should be investigated as war crimes. The Israeli Army said that it was investigating the reports at the highest level but that initial inquiries indicated that troops were returning fire from near or within the school.
The military said that it struck hundreds of targets overnight, including rocket-launching sites, about 70 smuggling tunnels, and weapons caches, and that its troops tightened the encirclement of Gaza City.
Hamas officials outside Gaza vowed to fight on, regardless of any Israeli cease-fire declaration. The group’s representatives were scheduled to meet Egyptian officials in Cairo who are trying to pull together a lasting truce in this three-week-old war, in which more than 1,200 Palestinians, and 13 Israelis, have died.
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Friday, January 16, 2009
Gaza Ceasefire? Israel May Halt Gaza War.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli leaders were preparing to order a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, possibly as early as Saturday evening, political sources said. They may declare a halt to the three-week-old offensive without concluding...
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as the story continues you discover the reason for the ceasefire;
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as the story continues you discover the reason for the ceasefire;
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was due to convene his security cabinet on Saturday night to decide on a ceasefire.
Word could come less than 72 hours before the inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president. Some say Israel wants to avoid casting a cloud over a historic moment for its main ally.
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