MSM coverage
Thousands
flee Gaza homes after Israeli warning of large-scale bombing
Israel
to hit Beit Lahia area, home to at least 100,000 people, targeting
what it says are rocket-launching sites
13
July, 2014
Thousands
of Gazans fled their homes in two northern areas of the coastal strip
on Sunday after Israel warned that it would "strike with might"
against what it says are rocket-launching sites.
The
exodus from Beit Lahia and Attatra came after Israel dropped leaflets
and sent text messages warning civilians to evacuate northern Gaza by
midday on Sunday in advance of a large-scale bombing campaign. The
area is home to at least 100,000 people.
A
senior Israeli military officer, in a telephone briefing with foreign
reporters, said Israel would strike the Beit Lahzia area from the
late evening on Sunday. "The enemy has built rocket
infrastructure in between the houses [in Beit Lahia]," the
officer said. "He wants to trap me into an attack and into
hurting civilians."
The
leaflet warned: "Those who fail to comply with the instructions
will endanger their lives and the lives of their families. Beware."
As
the ultimatum drew near, large numbers raced by in pickup trucks or
on donkey carts, waving white flags, with many heading to UN-run
schools that were taking in refugees. "They are sending warning
messages," said one resident, Mohammad Abu Halemah. "Once
we received the message, we felt scared to stay in our homes. We want
to leave."
Outside
one UN school, there were rows of horses tied up by families anxious
to protect their animals.
During
a visit to Beit Lahia after the deadline had expired, the Guardian
saw that most residents, had opted to stay in their homes. Some shops
were open and hospitals called for volunteers from medical schools to
help treat an expected influx of casualties.
The
warning was issued hours after Israeli naval commandos launched an
early morning raid on a beach in the Sudaniya neighbourhood in the
north of Gaza City, targeting another rocket-launching site. On
Saturday the coastal enclave suffered the bloodiest day of the
six-day Israeli assault, with 54 Palestinians reported killed.
There
has been speculation that Israel may launch a ground offensive into
Gaza, a move likely to sharply increase the number of civilian
casualties. So far 166 people have been killed, including 30
children, according to Gaza's health ministry. There have been
several Israeli injuries but no fatalities.
Israel
Gaza raid
In
the worst single incident of the conflict so far, at least 17 people
were killed and 45 injured when two large Israeli bombs hit a house
in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City where the city's chief of
police, Tayseer al-Batsh, was sheltering. Five other people were
missing, presumed dead.
Most
of the injured were returning home from a mosque when they were
caught by shrapnel from the blast.
Israel
has been massing tanks and soldiers at Gaza's borders, which some
fear could signal a wider ground offensive that would cause heavy
casualties. "We don't know when the operation will end,"
the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told a cabinet
meeting on Sunday. "It might take a long time."
The
beach raid by several dozen commandos at 2am on Sunday was the first
time Israeli forces have set foot on the ground in Gaza since the
beginning of the current campaign. Four commandos were reportedly
lightly injured after apparently being spotted approaching and being
engaged by waiting Palestinian fighters.
Saad
al-Dawla, the night watchman of the al-Mathaf hotel, said he was
sleeping when the commandos came to the beach. "I was sleeping
in the lobby with a friend. At the beginning we heard shooting from
the Palestinian side. I got up and looked out the window and saw that
there were people shooting from the water. Almost immediately an
[Israeli] helicopter came and started shooting at the water as well,"
he said. "Later I heard shelling from the sea and the sounded of
a warship's siren. The whole thing last about two hours."
Asked
whether Hamas or other groups had watchers near the beach, Dawla said
he did not know. Ladders at a mosque overlooking the beachfront and
leading to its tower strongly suggested that a sentry had been posted
there.
Another
local resident, who would only give his nickname, Abu Adam, said he
was woken by the sound of fighting coming from the beach. "I was
lying on the floor with my children. We could hear the sounds of
shelling and gunfire and see the windows lit up by the explosions and
the flares," he said.
Earlier
in the evening two bombs demolished a house belonging to Majid Batsh,
a cousin of the Hamas chief of police Tayseer. All that remained of
the substantial building on Sunday morning were a few concrete stumps
of the pillars that had supported it. A girl aged three was among
those killed in the bombing.
'They
were my cousins," said Mohammad al-Batsh 20, a civil engineering
student. "I was coming home from mosque when I heard a huge
explosion. At first I didn't know where the sound was coming from.
The air was full of dust and smoke. It felt like an earthquake.
"When
I got here, I saw destruction everywhere. The bodies were so badly
burned I could not recognise anyone. Thirteen of the dead came from
my cousin Majid's family. He was just a driver. There are five still
missing including a pregnant woman."
On
Sunday, Palestinians with foreign passports began leaving Gaza
through the Erez border crossing. Israel, which is cooperating in the
evacuation, says 800 Palestinians living in Gaza have passports from
countries including the UK, US and Australia.
Ahmed
Mohana, a US citizen, said he had mixed feelings about leaving
friends and family behind in the Gaza Strip. "It is very hard,
it is very tough," he said. "We are leaving our family, our
relatives and brothers and sisters in this horrible situation we have
to do what we have to do."
Israel
has launched more than 1,300 air strikes since the offensive began,
the military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said.
Palestinian militants have launched more than 800 rockets at Israel,
including 130 in the last 24 hours, the Israeli military.
Israel
has said it is acting in self-defence against rockets that have
disrupted life across much of the country. It also accuses Hamas of
using Gaza's civilians as human shields.
Critics
say Israel's heavy bombardment of one of the most densely populated
territories in the world is the main factor putting civilians at
risk.
Israel-Gaza conflict: Israeli ‘knock on roof’ missile warning technique revealed in remarkable video
A
video has emerged showing the extraordinary “knock on the roof”
technique used by the Israeli military to warn Palestinian civilians
of an impending missile strike.
13
July, 2014
The
footage was uploaded to YouTube yesterday by the Gaza-based Watania
news agency, and shows from extremely close quarters a small missile
striking the roof of a house across the street.
According
to the caption, around 15 minutes later – though most of this time
has been edited out of the final clip itself – two fully-armed
missiles from an F16 jet strike one after the other, blasting the
front of the house away and sending a cloud of debris and rubble into
the air.
When
the dust settles, the full extent of the damage is slowly revealed,
with only the exposed back half of the home still standing.
The
initial projectile is part of a controversial warning system used by
the Israeli military to make people evacuate structures it has
identified as having possible links to Hamas militants.
Meanwhile,
as the death toll creeps ever higher and hundreds of Palestinians
flee Gaza, Israel’s Prime Minister has said that its mission to
take down Hamas “might take a long time”.
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting today: "We
don't know when the operation will end."
The
so-called “knock on the roof” technique has been condemned by
Amnesty International’s Philip Luther, who said: “There is no way
that firing a missile at a civilian home can constitute an effective
‘warning’. Amnesty International has documented cases of
civilians killed or injured by such missiles in previous Israeli
military operations on the Gaza Strip.”
The
Watania agency reported that the home in this case belonged to Samir
Nofal, who was able to get out in time along with his family and
neighbours.
But
others have not been so lucky. According to a Buzzfeed report from
last week, the destruction of a home which saw eight members of the
same family killed in a single strike was also preceded by a “knock
on the roof” warning and a phone-call from the Israeli Defence
Forces (IDF).
The
military said that the incident had been a “tragic mistake”,
because while locals said they saw some family members leaving the
home, others appeared to head to the roof to act as “human shields”
In
the past, video footage has shown Israeli drone operators diverting
missiles when it is realised there are still people on the roof of a
target.
A
senior Air Force officer told Haaretz, “There was nothing to be
done, the munition was in the air and could not be diverted…
Although you see [the family members] running back into the house,
there was no way to divert the missile.”
The
attack saw six children killed, alongside the Hamas commander Odeh
Kaware. Israeli officials described it as a “legitimate target”
in the wake of the barrage of rockets fired on Israel from Gaza in
recent days and weeks.
Please read http://booksonblog35.blogspot.com/ and then explain to me why Israel is doing to the Palestinians what was done to us (and gays, people of color, gypsies, special needs) during World War ll.
ReplyDeleteAll I can think of, except for geopolitics, is the action of someone who was abused in childhood - they often end up abusing others. So it is with the Isaelis. Otherwise we have to look at the nature of Zionism.
ReplyDelete