Israel strikes Hard at Hamas In Gaza- Dec/ 27/ 2008

[Bruce Monkhouse]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/12/27/7860421-cp.html

120 dead in Israeli strike on Gaza

By Ibrahim Barzak
   
GAZA CITY - Israeli aircraft attacked Hamas security compounds across Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 120 people and causing widespread panic and confusion, according to Hamas and Israeli officials.
In one of the compounds, the bodies of more than a dozen uniformed security officers were seen lying on the ground. One officer who survived raised his index finger in a show of Muslim faith and defiance.

Gaza health official Moawiya Hassanain said 120 people were killed in the strikes. Among the dead was Gaza police Chief Maj.-Gen. Tawfiq Jaber, witnesses said.
The Israeli military confirmed it attacked Hamas security compounds with air strikes and residents reported hearing two waves of explosions. In the first wave, there were at least 15 blasts, they said.

Civilians rushed to the targeted areas, trying to move the wounded in their cars to hospitals.
There was no sign of an accompanying Israeli ground offensive. In recent days, Israel has warned it would strike back hard for renewed rocket attacks on Israeli border towns from inside Gaza.

In the West Bank, moderate Hamas rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement he "condemns this aggression" and called for restraint, said an aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
Many of the Hamas security compounds are in residential areas and the air strikes took place as children were leaving school. Plumes of black smoke rose over Gaza City, sirens wailed through the streets and women frantically looked for their children.
Israel has targeted Gaza in the past, but the number of simultaneous attacks was unprecedented.

One man sat in the middle of a Gaza City street close to a security compound alternately slapping his face and covering his head with dust from the bombed-out building.
"My son is gone, my son is gone," said Sadi Masri, 57.
The shopkeeper said he sent his son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the air strikes began and now could not find him. "May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn."

 

[Yrys]

BBC News :

Massive Israeli air raids on Gaza,  with short video
Israeli F-16 bombers have pounded key targets across the Gaza Strip,
killing at least 195 people, medics say.

Eyewitness: Chaos in Gaza
The BBC's Rushdi Aboualouf in the Gaza Strip described the chaos as Israeli
warplanes fired missiles at Hamas targets, killing at least 155 Palestinians.

In pictures: Gaza attack aftermath

 

[Yrys]

CNN :

At least 170 killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israeli airstrikes pounded targets in Gaza on Saturday,
killing at least 170 people, Palestinian medical sources said. An Israeli army
spokeswoman said her country is ready to continue the attacks "as long as it takes."


Times :

The Gaza Air Strikes: Why Israel Attacked

Israel's strike on Gaza had been expected for days, but it was still a surprise
when it finally came. Taking advantage of good weather, which is forecast
to last at least three days, Israeli planes bombed some 40 Palestinian police
stations, posts and other targets early Saturday morning, killing more than
150 people including a number of senior Hamas military leaders.

 

[GAP]

It should come as no surprise to Hamas........you shoot at me, I shoot back....this is the shooting back.....

 

[Magic]

This is a classic example of Hamas digging their own graves and complaining about it. They often make the first strike on Israeli soil multiple times, only to be firmly warned to end their assault or face military reprisal.

In this case, the store owner's son death is unfortunate but his own people are to blame. 

 

[Kilo_302]

While these attacks may have been justified, the scores of innocent dead is troubling.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

While these attacks may have been justified, the scores of innocent dead is troubling.

Always is but there is a way for Hamas to stop that.....

 

[Yrys]

While these attacks may have been justified, the scores of innocent dead is troubling.

In a French article, they say :

Corps gisants et parents horrifiés à l'hôpital de Gaza après les raids

La plupart des victimes portent la tenue des services de sécurité du
mouvement islamiste Hamas qui contrôle Gaza et dont les QG ont été
visés par les frappes israéliennes.

Which mean something like :

Most of the victims wear the dress of the security services of the Islamist
movement Hamas which controls Gaza and of which HQ were aimed by
the Israeli strikings.


Not everybody would qualify Hamas personel as innocent, since they are
vue by most as terrossist organisation ...

 

[1feral1]

Hamas was warned about the ongoing rocket attacks into Israel.

Israel has simply reacted, and rightfully so.

Again the hornet's nest has been disturbed.

OWDU

 

[Yrys]

Egypt says Israel-Gaza truce unlikely with escalation, Copyright 2008 Reuters

CAIRO - By Alaa Shahine

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit urged Israel and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers
to hold their fire to enable Cairo to try to broker a new truce between them.

But Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, on a visit to Cairo for talks on the escalating violence
with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said Hamas must pay for rocket attacks against the
Jewish state."Egypt will not stop efforts (to broker a truce) as long as the parties want this,
but I cannot imagine that we can convince the two sides to go back to the calm as long as
there is this escalation," Aboul Gheit told reporters at a news conference with Livni.

"What we are asking them both is to restrain themselves, and then we see how to come back
to that period of quiet," he added.

Prospects of restoring the Egyptian-brokered truce dimmed this week after Israeli soldiers
killed three Hamas gunmen they said were trying to plant explosives along the Gaza-Israeli
border. Militants responded with rocket fire at southern Israel.

Livni, leader of Israel's ruling Kadima party who hopes to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
after the next elections, described the latest escalation as "unbearable." "Hamas needs to
understand that our aspiration to live in peace does not mean that Israel will take this kind
of situation any longer. Enough is enough," Livni told reporters in Cairo.

In Jerusalem, Olmert urged Gaza's Palestinians to reject the Hamas government and
threatened a harsher reply to rocket fire. "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to
strike Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad," Olmert said in an interview with Al Arabiya television,
according to his office.

Under the six-month ceasefire that ended in violence last week, Hamas agreed to halt
rocket fire in return for Israel easing a blockade that was tightened after the Islamist
group seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Livni said on Wednesday that Israel will "change the reality" of the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Hamas have both signaled interest in extending the truce. Emad Gad, an Egyptian
political analyst, said the violence was nothing more than "mutual finger biting" to agree better
terms for the truce. "Hamas wants the siege on Gaza to be lifted and the border crossings
opened. This was not achieved last time," he said. "Israel probably wants the terms to remain
unchanged."

Gad said Israel was likely to launch some air strikes and minor raids into Gaza but did not see
a full-scale invasion.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame over the ceasefire's collapse in early November. Hamas
said Israel had failed to ease its blockade of the Gaza Strip by allowing in more food and
medical supplies to alleviate severe shortages.
Copyright 2008 Reuters

 

[Yrys]

U.S. urges Hamas to stop rocketing Israel, AP
'These people are nothing but thugs,' NSC spokesman says

CRAWFORD, Texas - The United States on Saturday blamed the militant group Hamas
for breaking a cease-fire and attacking Israel, which retaliated with strikes of its own
during what became the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.

The White House called for the cease-fire to be restored, yet there were few indications
that the violence, which has left more than 200 people dead and nearly another 400
wounded, was waning. Israeli officials said the operation in Gaza would widen if necessary.

It was "completely unacceptable" for Hamas, which controls Gaza, to launch attacks on
Israel after a truce lasting several months, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the
National Security Council. "These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend
its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people," Johndroe
said in Texas as President George W. Bush spent the holidays at his ranch here. "They need
to stop. We have said in the past that they have a choice to make. You can't have one foot
in politics and one foot in terror."

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned that the operation in Gaza will widen as
necessary. Asked if the United States would back a continuation of the retaliatory strikes,
Johndroe said: "The U.S. doesn't want to see any more violence. I think what we've got
to see is Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel. That's what precipitated this."

A call from Saudi king

At the Bush ranch, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kept the president abreast of
the situation. The president took a call from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who wanted
to discuss the violence that began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and
Hamas expired.

"We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold
Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza,"
Rice said in a statement. "The cease-fire should be restored immediately. The United
States calls on all concerned to protect innocent lives and to address the urgent
humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza."

The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have fired some 300 rockets and mortars
at Israeli targets over the past week. In recent days, Israeli leaders threatened to
launch a major offensive. Israeli warplanes launched counterattacks on dozens of
security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in waves of airstrikes. Most of
those killed were security men, but an unknown number of civilians were also among
the dead.

Hamas said all of its security installations were hit, threatened to resume suicide attacks,
and sent at least 70 rockets and mortar shells crashing into Israeli border communities,
according to the Israeli military. One Israeli was killed and at least six people were hurt.


Humanitarian needs

With so many wounded, the Palestinian death toll was likely to rise. The strikes caused
widespread panic and confusion in Gaza. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely
populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets
frantically looking for their children.

Johndroe said the U.S. was concerned that humanitarian needs were being met in Gaza.
He urged Israel to avoid striking civilians, but he refrained from commenting specifically
on positions that had been hit on the ground. "I know they are targeting security and
Hamas headquarters facilities," Johndroe said. "We urge them (the Israelis) to avoid
civilian casualties."

"The message from the United States is that Hamas is a terrorist organization that is
firing rockets into Israel and they fired them onto their own people as well," Johndroe
said, noting reports he had seen about the death of two Palestinian girls. "Hamas has
done nothing for the people of Gaza."

The offensive has sparked angry protests throughout the Arab world. British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, the Vatican, the U.N. secretary-general and special Mideast
envoy Tony Blair called for an immediate restoration of calm. The Arab League
scheduled an emergency meeting for Sunday to discuss the situation.

 

[Yrys]

Israel set for prolonged Gaza op

Israel says it will widen its attacks on Hamas if necessary to stop
the Palestinian militant group firing rockets from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli F-16 bombers hit targets across the Gaza Strip on Saturday,
killing at least 225 people, local medics say. "If what we're doing
in the air will not suffice we'll continue on the ground," Israeli
Defence Minister Ehud Barak told BBC News.

Israel's air raids were the heaviest on the Gaza Strip for decades.
Most of those killed were policemen in the Hamas militant movement,
which controls Gaza, but women and children also died, Gaza officials
said. About 700 others were wounded, as missiles struck security
compounds and militant bases, the officials added.

Israel said it was responding to an escalation in rocket attacks from
Gaza and would bomb "as long as necessary". Air raids have continued
into the night, while Israeli tanks are deployed just outside Gaza.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said the operation "may take some time" - but
he pledged to avoid a humanitarian crisis. "It's not going to last a few days,''
he said in a televised statement, flanked by Defence Minister Barak and
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Staff at the main hospital in Gaza said operating rooms were overflowing,
it was running out of medicine, and there was not enough surgeons to cope.

'Time for fighting'

The raids came days after a truce with Hamas expired.

Mr Barak said "there is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now
the time has come to fight". He told the BBC it was "not realistic" to call
off the operation at this stage.The exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal,
called for a new intifada, or uprising, against Israel, in response to the attacks.

The movement's Gaza leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said there would be no white flags
and no surrender. "Palestine has never witnessed an uglier massacre," he said.

Israel hit targets across Gaza, striking in the territory's main population centres,
including Gaza City in the north and the southern towns of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Mr Olmert said "we tried to avoid, and I think quite successfully, to hit any
uninvolved people - we attacked only targets that are part of the Hamas
organisations".

Hamas said all of its security compounds in Gaza were destroyed by the air strikes,
which Israel said hit some 40 targets. Hamas vowed to carry out revenge attacks
on Israel and fired Qassam rockets into Israeli territory as an immediate reply.

One Israeli was killed by a rocket strike on the town of Netivot, 20 kilometres
(12 miles) east of Gaza, doctors said.

Ceasefire urged

The air strikes come amid rumours that an Israeli ground operation is imminent.
Israeli television said on Saturday evening that Israeli troops were massing on
the Gaza border "in preparation for a supplementary ground offensive". The
report has not been confirmed by independent sources.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Hamas of having triggered
the new bout of violence. "The United States is deeply concerned about the
escalating violence in Gaza," she said in a statement. "We strongly condemn
the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible
for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there. The ceasefire must
be restored immediately and fully respected."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also urged an immediate halt to the violence,
condemning what he called Israel's "excessive use of force leading to the killing
and injuring of civilians" and "the ongoing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants".

Calls for a ceasefire also came from Middle East envoy Tony Blair and the French
EU presidency.

Hamas bases destroyed

Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets against Israeli towns from inside the
Gaza Strip; large numbers of rocket and mortar shells have been fired at Israel
in recent days.The BBC's Katya Adler in Jerusalem says the timing of Israel's
operation is significant, as Israeli politicians are keen to score points ahead
of a general election in February.

A Hamas police spokesman, Islam Shahwan, said one of the Israeli raids targeted
a police compound in Gaza City where a graduation ceremony for new personnel
was taking place. At least a dozen bodies of men in black uniforms were
photographed at the Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City. Most of the dead
and injured were said to be in Gaza City. The head of Gaza's police forces,
Tawfik Jaber, was among those killed.

Mr Olmert appealed to Palestinians in Gaza, saying "You - the citizens of Gaza -
are not our enemies. Hamas, Jihad and the other terrorist organisations are your
enemies, as they are our enemies. "They have brought disaster on you and they
try to bring disaster to the people of Israel. And it is our common goal to make
every possible effort to stop them."

It is the worst attack in Gaza since 1967 in terms of the number of Palestinian
casualties, a senior analyst told the BBC in Jerusalem. Although a six-month
truce between Hamas and Israel was agreed earlier this year, it was regularly
under strain and was allowed to lapse when it expired this month.

Mosques issued urgent appeals for people to donate blood on Saturday and
Hamas sources told the BBC's Rushdi Abou Alouf in Gaza that hospitals were
soon full.

In the West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas - whose
Fatah faction was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007 - condemned the
attacks and called for restraint.

Egypt opened its border crossing to the Gaza Strip at Rafah to absorb and
treat some of those injured in the south of the territory.

Palestinians staged demonstrations in the West Bank cities of Ramallah
and Hebron, and there were some scuffles with Israeli troops there.

Hamas blamed Israel for the end of the ceasefire, saying it had not
respected its terms, including the lifting of the blockade under which
little more than humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza.

Israel said it initially began easing the blockade, but this was halted
when Hamas failed to fulfil what Israel says were agreed conditions,
including ending all rocket fire and halting weapons smuggling.

 

[Yrys]

Reaction in quotes: Gaza bombing, BBC News

The world has been reacting to the massive Israeli bombardment of Hamas
targets in the Gaza Strip, which is said by Palestinian sources to have claimed
some 200 lives.


SPOKESMAN FOR BAN KI-MOON, UN SECRETARY GENERAL

"The secretary general is deeply alarmed by today's heavy violence and bloodshed
in Gaza, and the continuation of violence in southern Israel.

"[He] appeals for an immediate halt to all violence [and reiterates] previous calls
for humanitarian supplies to be allowed into Gaza to aid the distressed civilian
population."


GORDON JOHNDROE, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN

"Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop.
Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of
the Palestinian people.

"The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas
in Gaza."


SPOKESMAN FOR JAVIER SOLANA, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF

"We are very concerned at the events in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire
and urge everybody to exert maximum restraint."


BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE STATEMENT

"The only way to achieve lasting peace in Gaza is through peaceful means. Whilst
we understand the Israeli government's obligation to protect its population we urge
maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties.

"We also call on militants in the Gaza Strip to immediately cease all rocket attacks
on Israel."


RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

"Moscow considers it necessary to stop large-scale military action against Gaza,
which has already led to major casualties and suffering among the civilian
Palestinian population.

"At the same time, we call on the Hamas leadership to stop shelling Israeli territory."


AMR MOUSSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL

"We are facing a continuing spectacle which has been carefully planned. So we have
to expect that there will be many casualties. We face a major humanitarian catastrophe."


SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

"Syria is following with great anxiety the barbaric Israeli aggression against the Palestinian
people in Gaza... a horrific crime and terrorist act.

"Syria calls on the Arab nation and the international community to use all possible
means to put pressure on Israel to immediately stop the aggression, allow the wounded
to enter hospital and open all crossing points [to Gaza].

"Syria as president of the Arab League calls on Arab leaders to hold an emergency
summit to assess the dangerous situation in Gaza."


HASAN QASHQAVI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN

"Iran strongly condemns the Zionist regime's wide-ranging attacks against the civilians
in Gaza.

"The raids against innocent people are unforgiveable and unacceptable."


REV FEDERICO LOMBARDI, VATICAN SPOKESMAN

"Hamas is a prisoner to a logic of hate, Israel to a logic of faith in force as the best
response to hate.

"One must continue to search for a different way out, even if that may seem impossible."

 

[Yrys]

Israel's mixed motives for strikes

Gazans say Saturday's air strikes by Israel are the worst in living memory.
Israeli fighter jets fired at Gaza from morning to evening, spreading fear
and chaos throughout the strip.

The target of the strikes was Hamas infrastructure - security compounds,
government buildings and police stations. Most of the dead were policemen,
including the Hamas chief of police, but Gaza is one of the most overcrowded
territories in the world.

Wherever Hamas operates, civilians live and work close by. The dead in Gaza
include women and children. Medical sources suggested up to a third of the
casualties could be civilian.

There were scenes of desperation in Gaza's hospitals. As the mortuaries filled
up, bodies piled up in corridors and outside on the street. Doctors warned that
the seriously injured risked death too. They said they simply did not have enough
operating tables.

Frightening prospect

On Saturday evening, when Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed Gazans
directly in a speech, telling them that Israel did not want them to suffer, that Hamas,
not ordinary Gazans, were Israel's enemy, his words were met with bitter scepticism.

Israel says it has been forced to act to stop the constant rocket and mortar shell from
Gaza, aimed at Israeli towns just over the border.

Palestinians describe Israel's actions as disproportionate. One Israeli civilian was killed
by rocket fire on Saturday while medical sources in Gaza say they expect the death toll
there to reach 250.

Israel argues that, while most Gaza rockets are not deadly, they are designed to be.

The quarter of a million Israelis who live close to the Gaza border say they live in fear,
never far from a bomb shelter. Many are delighted their government is finally taking
concerted action but they are scared, too, of Hamas reprisals.

Hamas's military wing has vowed to open the gates of hell. The movement's exiled
political leader, Khaled Meshaal, has called for a third and violent Palestinian uprising.

Election looms

So why is Israel acting now and with such force?

Does it really believe it can stop the rocket fire from Gaza when previous Israeli
governments have tried and failed, using every military means?

Israel's prime minister says that is his objective: to protect Israeli citizens living
close to the Gaza border. To achieve this, his defence minister, Ehud Barak, said
Israel would continue, widen and intensify its Gaza operation.

But Israel's politicians are pursuing a parallel campaign, too - an electoral one.
Israel holds parliamentary elections in just over a month's time.

The Israeli public has a generally low opinion about how their government has
handled what they call "Hamastan" - Hamas-controlled Gaza. Until it started talking
tough, the hawkish opposition leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, was leading in the polls.
Now the gap has narrowed.

Undoubtedly, Israel's military has also been keen to destroy Hamas's weapons and
the rocket launchers in Gaza. There has been talk of a possible wide-scale, military
invasion by Israel since Hamas took internal control of Gaza 18 months ago.

It is not clear that is where Israel is now heading.

There is little appetite in Israel's political circles for its soldiers to come home in
body bags but military sources have suggested Israel may return to launching
repeated, limited incursions in Gaza.

"We don't want Hamas to have a moment's peace," said one source.

Obama factor

It is also possible that Israel has decided to act against Hamas now, during the last days
of a friendly Bush administration in the United States. The United States is arguably the
only outside power Israel deeply cares about. President-elect Barack Obama is seen
in Israel as being more sympathetic to the Palestinians.

Later on Saturday, there were vows of more violence from Israel and Hamas.

Yet, up until a week ago, there was a shaky truce in place between the two sides. It
is possible that, as quickly as this situation has flared up, it could settle again, if the
key players believe it to be in their interests.

For now, though, the streets on both sides of the Gaza border remain eerily quiet,
with Israelis and Gazans there at home with their families, fearful of what tomorrow
might bring.

 

[tomahawk6]

Target info:

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I suspect a lot of intel was leaked by Fatah members to the IDF as to what Hamas had and where. Expect Hamas to arrest and execute Fatah members in revenge.

 

[Yrys]

Target info

Well, as the info on the pic post by tomahawk6 says that they were in the buildings of the
Palestinian Authority, isn't that more or less public ?

 

[Kilo_302]

The dead in Gaza
include women and children. Medical sources suggested up to a third of the
casualties could be civilian.

These attacks are becoming harder to justify. While Israel may have gained at best a short respite from rocket attacks, it has killed perhaps nearly a hundred civilians. I bet I can tell you which families will be supplying the replacements for the Hamas dead.  Israel has every right to defend itself, but air strikes like this only serve to rally support for its enemies. Surely, we (fighting the "war on terror") all must realize this reality by now.

 

[Kat Stevens]

My thinking is that the easiest way to reduce innocent civilian deaths in Gaza is to stop causing innocent deaths in Israel with rocket attacks.  Don't throw the first punch, the fight doesn't happen.

 

[Nauticus]

My thinking is that the easiest way to reduce innocent civilian deaths in Gaza is to stop causing innocent deaths in Israel with rocket attacks.  Don't throw the first punch, the fight doesn't happen.

I have to agree, but I also stress that there is no excuse for civilian casualties. Of course they will always happen, but one must always try to avoid civilian casualties.

The problem with this Israel/Hamas scenario is that, despite whose fault it is, it has become one giant poo-sling contest. Hamas attacks Israel, but the Israeli government is accused of discriminating against Palestinians. I haven't been there, so I cannot truthfully comment on the realities of this.

Despite who started what, there should be a response by the international community not only to these indiscriminate airstrikes, but also to Hamas' rocket attacks on civilians. The longer this keeps going, the worse a situation this will become.