Israel launches deadly Gaza attacks

[BAK]

Israel launches deadly Gaza attacks

120 or more killed after missiles hit targets linked to Hamas

Jenny Percival and agencies guardian.co.uk, Saturday 27 December 2008 10.08 GMT

Bodies of Palestinians are laid out at Shifa hospital in Gaza after Israeli missile strikes. Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters​

Dozens of Palestinians are dead and hundreds injured after the Israeli air force fired about 30 missiles on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said it had attacked "terrorist infrastructure" and pledged to continue and expand the attacks if necessary. Hamas vowed to avenge what it called "the Israeli slaughter".

A Gaza health official, Moawiya Hassanain, said at least 120 people were killed and more than 250 wounded. Television footage showed bodies scattered on a road and the dead and wounded being carried away. An officer raised his index finger in a show of Muslim faith and defiance. Civilians rushed to the targeted areas, trying to move the wounded in their cars to hospital. There was widespread damage to buildings.

"I'm afraid we have at least 40 dead," a Hamas police spokesman, Islam Shahwan, told Hamas radio soon after the attacks. He said a police compound in Gaza City had been hosting a graduation ceremony for new personnel when it was attacked. The Gaza police chief, Tawfiq Jabber, was among the dead, the radio station said.

Hamas said it would seek revenge, including launching new rocket attacks on Israel and sending suicide bombers to Israel. "Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," said a Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, speaking on a Gaza radio station.

In the West Bank, the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that he "condemns this aggression" and called for restraint.

An aide to the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, told Reuters: "The operation will be pursued and widened as required and subject to [commanders'] assessments ... We are facing a period that will not be simple or easy."

In a statement, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said the attacks were in retaliation for "the continuation of terrorist activity by the Hamas terror organisation from the Gaza Strip, and the continuation of rocket launching and targeting Israeli civilians". The strikes were based on recent intelligence and aimed at Hamas terror operations emanating from its headquarters, training camps and weapons warehouses, according to the IDF statement.

Residents reported hearing two waves of explosions, with at least 15 blasts in the first wave.

Many Hamas security compounds are in residential areas. The air strikes took place as children left school. Plumes of black smoke rose over Gaza City, sirens wailed through the streets and women frantically looked for their children.

One man sat in the middle of a street in Gaza City, close to a security compound, 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 buy cigarettes minutes before the air strikes and could not find him. "May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn," Masri said.

Today's attack represents an unprecedented number of simultaneous Israeli strikes on Gaza. At least two people were killed and 30 wounded by an attack in Khan Younis, a refugee camp in the south of Gaza. A Reuters correspondent said Gaza City port and security installations run by the Islamist Hamas group were badly damaged.

The strikes follow a decision by Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet to widen reprisals for Palestinian rocket attacks. It is believed the operation could last several days.

Israel yesterday reopened crossings into the Gaza Strip, allowing in humanitarian aid after an eight-day closure, in what was seen as a precursor to today's attacks.

Yesterday, two Palestinian sisters – aged five and 12 – were accidently killed when a mortar apparently fired by Palestinian militants at Israel hit their home in northern Gaza.

More than 50 rockets have been launched from Gaza in recent days, according to Israeli military officials, after the killing of three Hamas members by Israel.

A six-month ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas ended last week.

 

[Koba]

..amani itapatikana tuu siku Palestian na Israel wote wakiwa na nuclear bomb,Israel hatawagusa palestina maana wanajua watakuwa wiped out with the same firepower,Palestina hawatatumia maana same fate wanajua itawakuta kwa hiyo itabidi wote warudi kwenye negotiating table,ikitokea wamerushiana nuclear ndio mwisho wa mataifa hayo mawili na watakao kuja baadaye wataheshimiana na kuishi pamoja maana watajua bila amani na kuelewana destiny yao itakuwa sawa na waliopita,China,Russia,US wanaheshimiana kwa sababu ya nuclear bomb tuu na hakuna kingine

 

[Madela Wa- Madilu]

Israel tayari wana nuclear bombs siku nyingi, nadhani walipata technologia hiyo 60 au 70.

 

[Koba]

Israel tayari wana nuclear bombs siku nyingi, nadhani walipata technologia hiyo 60 au 70.

...Palestina nao wanahitaji ili kupata amani,lakini watasafishwa kabla hawajaligusa!

 

[Yona F. Maro]

Ndio lazima watete masilahi yao kwa njia yoyote

 

[Mtaalam]

tayari marekani washatoa statement zao on dis matter..kusema kweli mie hicho tu ndicho kinanitia kinyaa wajimini...who the hell r they??

kitu chochote kikitokea duniani lazma wao ndo watoe response kama vile ni kitu kimetokea in one of their states..

who the hell does the us think they r?uongozi wa dunia nzima?

 

[Madela Wa- Madilu]

Mwenye Technolojia ya juu kuliko wote ndiye mwenye ubavu wa kiuchumi na msemaji mkuu wa mambo yote duniani.
Tukipewa msaada wa vyandarua vya mbu na rais wa America tunakenua ile mbaya, lakini mengine yote yanayofuata hatuyataki.
Kama kweli tunataka kuwa na kauri na msimamo wetu wenyewe cha kwanza ni kujenga uwezo wa kiteknolojia ili kukuza uchumi katika nyanja zote.
Rais wa nchi ni lazima aweke juhudi za makusudi kusomesha vipanga wote Tanzania nje ya nchi kwa kutenga Mabilioni ya dola katika kipindi kisichopungua miaka 20. Baada ya hapo ni kujenga uwezo wa wasomi hao kuunda kampuni zao katika nyanja walizo somea na kutoa huduma ndani ya nchi.

Vinginenevyo hata mkiani, mahali panapohesabika kwamba ni nyuma kuliko sehemu zote,bado hatujafika , nina maana tuko nyuma ya mkia.

 

[BAK]

Egypt slams Israeli 'murder' in Gaza, summons ambassador
6 hours ago

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt condemned as "murder" Israel's Saturday air raids on Gaza that killed at least 205 Palestinians, opening its Rafah border crossing with the territory to allow the wounded through for treatment.

"We call for an immediate end to Israeli military operations. We cannot allow these attacks to continue. We cannot permit the murder of Palestinians," Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on state television.

Egypt, the only Arab state along with Jordan to have signed a peace deal with Israel, summoned Ambassador Shalom Cohen to demand an end to the bombardment that has also left hundreds wounded.

"We summoned the Israeli ambassador and we said we refuse this aggression and we demanded an immediate end to it," foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told AFP.

Abul Gheit telephoned his US, Russian and French counterparts -- Condoleezza Rice, Sergei Lavrov and Bernard Kouchner -- and urged them to call for an end to Israeli operations that should be "reciprocal" with Hamas, a statement said.

Earlier, President Hosni Mubarak condemned "the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip and blames Israel, as an occupying force, for the victims and the wounded."

He ordered the Rafah crossing -- the only one bypassing Israel -- to be opened so that the wounded could be treated in Egyptian hospitals.

Dozens of wounded have already passed through, with hundreds more expected, state media reported.

A security official said helicopters were being sent to Rafah to fly some of the wounded to hospitals in Cairo.

Abdel Fadil Shusha, governor of North Sinai province, which adjoins Gaza, said he has sent six ambulances to the Rafah crossing.

Amr Mussa, secretary general of the Cairo-based Arab League, called an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers "to discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."

League ambassadors will meet on Saturday, and Arab foreign ministers on Sunday, the league said.

Mussa also asked Libya, as a member of the United National Security Council, to organise an emergency meeting on the subject of the Israeli raids.

Qatar, meanwhile, called for a summit of Arab League leaders in the coming days to "discuss the Israeli aggressions and savage raids on the Gaza Strip and to adopt an Arab position" on the matter, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Egypt has reinforced security on its frontier with Gaza by deploying 500 anti-riot police, a security official told AFP.

On Friday, Egypt had already stepped up border security in case Gazans broke through the boundary fence and entered Egypt in their thousands, as happened in January when activists opened breaches with explosives.

Egypt mediated a six-months truce between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement which controls the Gaza strip.

Since the truce expired on December 19, Egypt has been trying to broker its renewal and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni visited Cairo for talks on Thursday.

While in Egypt, Livni vowed to strike back at Hamas as a sharp escalation of violence in Gaza dashed hopes of a new truce.

The spiritual guide of Egypt's Islamist opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned Saturday's raids as "a crime without comparison in history," adding that "the world looks on and does nothing."

Countering criticism that Egypt might have told Hamas Israel was not about to launch an attack, Abul Gheit said "Israel told the international community and its officials told the whole world of their intentions."

Abul Gheit accused Hamas of having aborted Egyptian efforts to avoid an Israeli attack on Gaza.

On Thursday, he had said the government was preparing to invite Hamas and its secular rival Fatah, which rules the occupied West Bank, to Cairo to resume dialogue.

Hamas boycotted reconciliation talks that were due to take place in Cairo in November, to protest the "political detentions" of some of its members in the West Bank by Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

 

[Lole Gwakisa]

Hawa jamaa amani kwao is a luxury.What beats me is both parties' failure to meet on common ground.

 

[Mbu]

...duh, hawakusubiri hata sabato iishe?...

 

[Mwanjelwa]

...duh, hawakusubiri hata sabato iishe?...

Nimeona kwenye TV ile. Ni Kichapo cha hali ya juu sana kile!. Wale jamaa kupatana ni lazima waikomeshe Iran kuwachanganya Wapalestina kwa misaada ya fedha na mingine. Vinginevyo ni sawa na pruning ya trees.

 

[BAK]

...duh, hawakusubiri hata sabato iishe?...

Hawa jamaa watampa Obama wakati mgumu sana katika kipindi chake cha Urais na akichaguliwa Netanyahu katika uchaguzi wao hapo February 2009 basi ndiyo hali itakuwa mbaya zaidi kwa Obama ambaye ameonyesha uwezekano wa kukaa meza moja na 'maadui' wao ili kutafuta muafaka.

 

[Mbu]

Nimeona kwenye TV ile. Ni Kichapo cha hali ya juu sana kile!. Wale jamaa kupatana ni lazima waikomeshe Iran kuwachanganya Wapalestina kwa misaada ya fedha na mingine. Vinginevyo ni sawa na pruning ya trees.

...tatizo ni itikadi za kidini. migogoro wa ardhi za waarabu na wayahudi unarudi nyuma karne na karne hata kabla ya kuzaliwa kristo.

...hata mu Israel akiiangamiza Iran, waarabu wengine wata side na wapalestina. Kumbuka wakati Saddam Husseyn alipokuwa anasaidia Intifada, ambao majority ni Sunni Muslims, wa-Iran walikuwa wanawasaliti wapalestina wa Al Aqsa army.

Leo hii Iran wanawasaidia Hamas kwakuwa wana mrengo kama wao i.e Shia Islammiya, na threat yao kubwa (Saadam Husseyn) ameondolewa, na kina Bashar al Assad wamewekewa kifuniko cha 'axis of evil'...

Kwa namna fulani Mmarekani naye anachezeshwa shere. Njia pekee ya kuwanyamazisha Hamas, na support ya Iran ilikuwa kumtumia Saadam, lakini ndio hivyo tena, wame bugi step, wamelikoroga. Sasa kuna kina Muqtadar al Sadr, na jeshi lake ma Mahdi wenye mrengo wa kishia sawa na Iran. Tatizo limejirudia pale pale, tena maradufu.

Mu Israel anajua anapigana vita kushoto na kulia, ...akimaliza kupigana na Sunni muslim Palestinians walio na backings za Sunni Arabs, kunaanza upande mwingine Shia Palestinians walio na backings za Shia Iranians, Lebanese etc...

 

[Mbu]

Hawa jamaa watampa Obama wakati mgumu sana katika kipindi chake cha Urais na akichaguliwa Netanyahu katika uchaguzi wao hapo February 2009 basi ndiyo hali itakuwa mbaya zaidi kwa Obama ambaye ameonyesha uwezekano wa kukaa meza moja na 'maadui' wao ili kutafuta muafaka.

...I hope, Obama kukulia kwake Indonesia kumemsaidia insight ya Islamic cultures and traditions. Bahati mbaya, Indonesians nao majority ni Sunni muslims, kwahiyo huenda Shia Muslims wakawa na wasiwasi naye kidogo...

Lakini huenda kwa kiwango fulani ataweza kutuliza mzuka wa Ahmedinajjad, tena atafanya busara akim side step, akaongee na kina Ayatollah Ali khamenei na Ayatollah Ali Sistani... hawa supreme na spiritual leaders wanasauti tosha kulaani matendo ya Hamas nk...

...Wakati huo huo, kuwataka wa Israeli mfano; wagharamie infrastructures za west bank, na makazi mengine ya wapalestina ambayo kwa makusudi wanayaharibu kwa kisingizio cha kukomesha ugaidi...

 

[WembeMkali]

Si huwa nasikia kuwa hawa wayahudi na watutsi wanayo haki ya kuuwa na kuchinja watu wengine bila ya UN au Marekani au UK kulalamika.Sasa mbona watu wanaanza kupiga makelele!!
Kama kweli tunataka mabadiliko,haki sawa na amani kwa kila mwanadamu hapa duniani basi tunatakiwa kuwahold accountable na kuwashitaki viongozi wa UN, Marekani na UK kule the hague kwa kuyasupport mauaji haya!! na siyo kukemea ya Mugabe na kukaa kimya sehemu nyingine...huo ni unafiki!!

Wembe.

 

[Zungu Pule]

..amani itapatikana tuu siku Palestian na Israel wote wakiwa na nuclear bomb,Israel hatawagusa palestina maana wanajua watakuwa wiped out with the same firepower,Palestina hawatatumia maana same fate wanajua itawakuta kwa hiyo itabidi wote warudi kwenye negotiating table,ikitokea wamerushiana nuclear ndio mwisho wa mataifa hayo mawili na watakao kuja baadaye wataheshimiana na kuishi pamoja maana watajua bila amani na kuelewana destiny yao itakuwa sawa na waliopita,China,Russia,US wanaheshimiana kwa sababu ya nuclear bomb tuu na hakuna kingine

Good thinking but....Israel (including palestine) ni nchi ndogo sana. Ni nchi ndogo kuliko Pori la Akiba la Selous (Selous Game Reserve). Na pande hizi mbili zinapakana moja kwa moja. Kutumia nuclear kumpiga kwenye huu mzozo ni sawa na kujiua mwenyewe. They are so close to each other (geographically). So, how stupid Israel or Hamas will be to consider nuclear attack on each other? (assuming both are nuclear power).

 

[Icadon]

Now, let's see if the IDF has the balls to take a step further and bomb Hamas's TV Stations.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Saturday that Israel's military operation in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip will take time and will be widened and expanded if necessary. "It won't be easy and it won't be short," Barak told reporters. "There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight."

Hamas said at least 100 members of its security forces were killed, including police chief Tawfiq Jabber and the head of Hamas's security and protection unit, along with at least 15 women and some children.

 

[Zungu Pule]

Now, let's see if the IDF has the balls to take a step further and bomb Hamas's TV Stations.

They can destroy the Hamas TV station. Given the nature of the conflict, Israel always mean what they are talking about. What we see now is Israel retaliation to Hamas rockets attacks. And before taking this step, the world leaders (Fatah/PLO and Egypt) were asked to persuade Hamas & Islamic Jihad to stop firing rockets to Israel. Tzipi Livni travelled to Cairo seeking for their help on this. Mubarak delivered the message but the attacks continued. So, it seems Israel want to accomplish something and if it involves bombing the Hamas TV, nobody can stop them from doing it. This is how they have survived all along.

 

[Icadon]

...duh, hawakusubiri hata sabato iishe?...

The wide-scale offensive on Hamas installations in the Gaza Strip was codenamed 'Operation Cast Lead,' after a Hanukkah poem by H.N. Bialik referring to a "dreidel cast from solid lead."

So tutegemee full scale Military Op kama ya Lebanon siku chache zijazo?

 

[Icadon]

Duh! Naona IDF is hitting and destroying everything...

The 230 Palestinians killed in the Israeli air raid on Gaza Saturday included three senior officers: Tawfik Jabber, the commander of Hamas' police force in Gaza; his adjutant, Ismail al-Ja'abri, commander of the defense and security directorate; and Abu-Ahmad Ashur, Hamas' Gaza central district governor.

Twelve hours after the strike was launched Saturday morning, at least 230 people had been killed and 780 wounded, bringing hospital services to the brink of collapse.

Hamas has vowed harsh retaliation.

Palestinian sources reported that IDF aircraft have struck the offices of Hamas' TV station al-Aqsa in Gaza. According to reports the building has been completely destroyed

Palestinians: IDF strikes offices of Hamas TV - Israel News, Ynetnews