Scores dead in Israeli raid on Gaza

[mojo247]

At least 155 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli aerial bombardment on Hamas security installations.

Israel launched air attacks across the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, threatening that further operations would be carried out later in the day.

Witnesses reported heavy damage as at least 30 missiles were fired on the targets.

Emergency services said that at least 200 people were also wounded.

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, condemned the attack and demanded an immediate cessation.

Hours after the Israeli assault, Gaza fighters fired home-made rockets into southern Israel, heeding calls by Hamas and other affiliated Palestinian groups to avenge the attacks, unprecedented in their scale.

One Israeli was killed in the rocket fire, medics said.

Islam Shahwan, a Hamas police spokesman, said a police graduation ceremony in Gaza City was struck by Israel. Among those killed was Tawfiq Jabber, the Gaza chief of police.

The Hamas-run interior ministry said all security compounds in the Strip had been destroyed.

Gaza is densely populated. Its 1.5 million residents area already experiencing shortages in medicine, power and basic supplies due to 18 months of an Israeli blockade.

'War crimes'

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah, condemned the "aggression" in Gaza.

Mousa Abu Morzouz, the deputy leader of Hamas, told Al Jazeera: "Until now the aggression didn't stop ... they are targeting all the police headquarters and offices.

"We will defend our people, we will retaliate against this aggression ... our military will retaliate."

Morzouz called on the world's most powerful nations to condemn the attacks: "Nobody in this world can accept what happened and the Israeli aggression ... [we expect] the international community to stand against this and say that it is not acceptable."

Mustafa Barghouthi, the former Palestinian information minister, said: "This is not an attack on the Hamas. It is an attack on the whole population and the free will of the people of Gaza."

He accused Israel of committing "war crimes" and demanded that Abbas and his government stop all relations with Israel.

'Only just beginning'

The Israel army released a statement saying "terrorist installations" were hit and that all Israeli pilots returned unharmed.


Palestinian officials called on the international community to condemn the raids [AFP]
The operation against the Hamas is "only just beginning," Avi Benayahu, an Israeli military spokesman said.

The air raids follow the decision by the Israeli security cabinet to increase reprisals for cross-border rocket attacks against Israel, and the breakdown of a six-month-old Israel-Hamas truce earlier this month.

The ceasefire expired on December 19, with Hamas arguing that Israel had violated the truce by preventing vital food and medical supplies into the Strip.

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said: "A series of explosions were heard over Gaza City.

"From where we are, there are at least seven different clouds of smoke from the strikes. We are seeing some casualties being evacuated in cars."

Egypt has opened the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip to receive injured people, Egyptian officials said. Ambulances have been sent to the crossing and two Egyptian hospitals emptied to take in the wounded.

Weakened security services

Mohyeldin said that Hamas, which rule the Gaza Strip, was being held responsible by Israel for any attacks from the territory into Israel, even if they are undertaken by other Palestinian factions.

However, officials of the deposed government in Gaza which maintains law and order, while being Hamas member in the main, are separate from the group's military wing and other factions responsible for attacks into Israel.

"There is within Gaza a functioning ministry of interior that has security services, traffic control, emergency medical services," Mohyeldin reported.

"Those workers are seen as employees of the government in Gaza. So now that many of these installations have been targeted, it will have an immediate impact in terms of the law and order structure here in Gaza."

Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said that Israel's decision to strike at this moment was down to Hamas withdrawing from the ceasefire and the intensified rocket fire coming from the Gaza Strip in recent days.

"In one day [in the past week] we saw 80 rockets ... which is a huge upsurge," she said.

Hamas won control of the Palestinian Legislative Council in elections in January 2005. The international community refused to accept a Hamas-led government, demanding that the faction recognise Israel and renounce violence. Economic sanctions by the EU and US followed.

Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after bloody street battles against its rival, the Fatah movement.

 

[countryboy]

animals . sheer bloody animals . all backed by the usa . how many times are this lot going to get away with this before the world steps in and says enough .

 

[mojo247]

animals . sheer bloody animals . all backed by the usa . how many times are this lot going to get away with this before the world steps in and says enough .

with the neo-cons, zionist running the backroom in the white house i cant see it happening for a long long while...

no wonder theres terrorism around the world.

 

[nara]

animals . sheer bloody animals . all backed by the usa . how many times are this lot going to get away with this before the world steps in and says enough .

Unless Obama is willing to stand up to the pro-Zionist lobby it's just going to carry on. :grayno:

 

[Bronto]

Looks like it's a retaliation attack for the Hamas Terrorist missile attacks on Israel

........................................................................................

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni rebuffed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's appeal for Israel to show restraint in the face of Hamas rocket attacks when the two met in Cairo on Thursday.

The meeting came a day after Gaza-based Hamas terrorists fired some 80 missiles and mortar shells at communities in southern Israel, causing widespread damage and panic. At least half-a-dozen more rockets were fired on Thursday morning.

"Enough is enough," Livni told reporters following her meeting with Mubarak. "We must react to people who fire on us, that is how all other countries would act, and that is what we will do."

Livni said that Israel's relationship with Egypt is important, and that it takes serious the appeals of its neighbor, but that Jerusalem must place greater importance on "the security of the children who yesterday were hiding in bomb shelters instead of lighting candles for Hanukkah."

Israeli media reported that the army had shifted into high gear preparing for aerial and possibly ground operations against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. The first phase of the proposed retaliatory action would include heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas institutions and bases.

But while the order to prepare to attack was given, the order to execute those plans is still being withheld by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, reported Israel National News.

Barak was once again harshly criticized on Wednesday evening over his failure to immediately strike back at the terrorists with overwhelming force.

Hamas leaders in turn taunted Israel, saying they knew the Jewish state would not or could not respond to its provocations, and that if it did, the terrorists would "open the gates of hell."



Hamas rockets hurt more Palestinians than Israelis

Despite firing nearly 100 rockets at southern Israel over the past 72 hours, Gaza-based Palestinian terrorists have miraculously failed to seriously harm any Israelis.

The terrorists have, however, wounded at least six Palestinian Arabs, including four children, with rockets that landed short of their targets in southern Israel and instead hit Gaza villages.

At least three of the injured children were said to be in serious condition, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).

In a statement released on Thursday, the PCHR urged Palestinian terror groups to move far away from civilian populations when launching their weapons at Israelis.

Palestinian terror groups regularly use their own civilian population as a shield against Israeli reprisals.


Source

 

[chronoman]

Whats the Israeli's supposed to do ,turn the other cheek on an attack on there state?
If the uk suddenly started attacked by missiles randomly hitting suburbs what would you want doing ?
the difference with the West and Israel is Israel dont fook about or worry about political correctness.

 

[countryboy]

Whats the Israeli's supposed to do ,turn the other cheek on an attack on there state?
If the uk suddenly started attacked by missiles randomly hitting suburbs what would you want doing ?
the difference with the West and Israel is Israel dont fook about or worry about political correctness.

no the difference is they are american funding for this . . do you honestly believe that the Israeli's are innocent in this . they are mass murders . hitler would be proud of them they have made the biggest concentration camp the world has ever known

 

[mojo247]

why do the palestinians react the way they do by launching attacks on israel?

the palestinians are entrapped and opressed in there own land and also their land is being stolen day-in-day-out plus they have been forced out of there homes so israel can build new settlements.
plus food and medicine is restricted by the blockades etc.
people are dying from hunger and disease.

if they had free movement and trade then i dont see palestinians attacking israel. now people may say that terrorism would increase if the border was open to all sorts.
that is true to a certain extent.

but if you were trapped in your own home you would do everything in your power to get out.

 

[v14]

no the difference is they are american funding for this . . do you honestly believe that the Israeli's are innocent in this . they are mass murders . hitler would be proud of them they have made the biggest concentration camp the world has ever known

just out of interest did you feel the same when America were funding the Irish Republicans?

 

[countryboy]

just out of interest did you feel the same when America were funding the Irish Republicans?

the american goverment did funding the republican movement , the american people did . see the difference . . plus the republican movement was a just cause . though lets not go down this road m8 . enough people banned eh ;-)

 

[rajaster]

I think its disgraceful how they always say "oh but they hit is with a missile".. flipping what they supposed to do when they are imprisoned in their own homes and if they leave some settlers decide to take it.. they treated like dogs and can't even retaliate as if they not even human.. human nature to retaliate.. and when they retaliate with what means they have what happens.. hundereds are cowerdly killed by air with the weapons of the terrorist israel/america and meanwhile what can the world do.. naff all as everytime they try the americans and the british veto the vote.

treat a people humanly instead of bullying them and befriend them, deal with their problems socially/economically and am sure you wont see terrorism like today.

 

[karym6]

Hey, dont blame the UK for all of this. The behaviour of the Israeli government is disgusting at the best of times, but we were one of the few countries trying to prevent this all from happening when the whole country was called Palestine.

 

[countryboy]

Hey, dont blame the UK for all of this. The behaviour of the Israeli government is disgusting at the best of times, but we were one of the few countries trying to prevent this all from happening when the whole country was called Palestine.

eh no Britain set up the state of Israel backed by the united nations where they divided Palestine in the first place taking the land from the palestinian people . so tell me who are the terrorist . the people fighting for the land that was taken from them or the people that stolen it and use force to keep them down .

 

[karym6]

eh no Britain set up the state of Israel backed by the united nations where they divided Palestine in the first place taking the land from the palestinian people . so tell me who are the terrorist . the people fighting for the land that was taken from them or the people that stolen it and use force to keep them down .

No, we had the Mandate of Palestine put forward, this would have meant that everyone would have been equal (and the country larger) should all sides have agreed to it. This is almost 100 years old now I think.

It was the UN that partitioned the country as far as I recall.

 

[jaffa]

the american goverment did funding the republican movement , the american people did . see the difference . . plus the republican movement was a just cause . though lets not go down this road m8 . enough people banned eh ;-)

I almost took the bait with your comment about a just cause but it just isnt worth wasting my time over.

I really dont care if they blow each other to bits, but it is not one sided by no means, almost 1000 motars and almost 1000 qassam rockets have been fired into Israel this year alone.

 

[countryboy]

No, we had the Mandate of Palestine put forward, this would have meant that everyone would have been equal (and the country larger) should all sides have agreed to it. This is almost 100 years old now I think.

It was the UN that partitioned the country as far as I recall.

no it wasnt the americans and brittish didnt want a massive influx or jews to both countries after the war so the set up the actual state of israel . the mordern one as we know it what your talking about is the brittish mandate which it completely different thing .

 

[karym6]

no it wasnt the americans and brittish didnt want a massive influx or jews to both countries after the war so the set up the actual state of israel . the mordern one as we know it what your talking about is the brittish mandate which it completely different thing .

Have a read of this: British Mandate of Palestine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it explains it nicely and will stop any confusion that either of us may be having on this topic.

 

[countryboy]

Have a read of this: British Mandate of Palestine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it explains it nicely and will stop any confusion that either of us may be having on this topic.

ive read it and read alot about it our friend sieb was the Palestine ambassador for ireland . we had many a night talking about this .

 

[countryboy]

the american goverment did funding the republican movement , the american people did . see the difference . . plus the republican movement was a just cause . though lets not go down this road m8 . enough people banned eh ;-)

i need to clear this up cause i might have worded it wrong . i should have made it clear it was the civil rights and the political arm of the movement i was talking about . i in no way condone killings . i was talking more about the right to vote the right to social housing . .

 

[emarald]

ive read it and read alot about it our friend sieb was the Palestine ambassador for ireland . we had many a night talking about this .

So your biased, it was an attack on the fooking Hamas Terrorist end of.
As for a state or country ever being called Palestine , think again there never has been.