Gaza; latest developments

I'll believe it when and if I see it.

Morsi: Israel and Hamas “could soon” agree a truce

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said at a news conference, Saturday, with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan there were indications a ceasefire could soon be reached in Gaza, but there were still “no guarantees.”

RT,

18 November, 2012

Erdogan is in Cairo for 4-way talks as regional parties desperately try and push Hamas and Israel towards a truce and avert an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu told foreign leaders Saturday that he would agree to a ceasefire if Hamas agrees to stop rocket fire from Gaza.

Also present at the talks were Quatari Emir Haid Bin Khalifa al-Thari and several Palestinian leaders.

A senior advisor to Palestinian authority president Mahmoud Abbas praised the Egyptian efforts to broker peace while deploring the Israeli actions.

“President Abbas has consistently offered negotiations for a two state solution, but Israel has shown no interest in these negotiations. So this is the result. And the Palestinian people pay the price.” The advisor told Al-Monitor, a website specializing in Middle East coverage.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil El Araby said after the talks,"We need to start taking effective steps to push influential countries to take the issue back to the UN Security Council."

As operation Pillar of Defense enters its fifth day, over 800 targets have been hit by Israel in Gaza, while Hamas has launched some 750 rockets into Israel.

Israel’s Iron Dome Ballistic missile defense battery has hit 8 out of 10 incoming Palestinian rockets, many of which are crude homemade devices.

45 Palestinians have been killed, including militants, civilians and children, 3 Israeli civilians have been killed.

Sources from inside Israel have been sending mixed messages over the prospects of a ground offensive on Gaza.

“A ground operation is a possibility. It’s an option which we must take in order to restore quiet and calm to the region. Until Hamas realize that we are here to stay and they cannot keep firing rockets at us and at our civilians on a day to day basis we will have to act in order to restore that deterrence,” Josh Hartman, Israeli Defense Chief spokesman told RT.

As operation Pillar of Defense enters its fifth day, over 800 targets have been hit by Israel in Gaza, while Hamas has launched some 750 rockets into Israel.

Israel’s Iron Dome Ballistic missile defense battery has hit 8 out of 10 incoming Palestinian rockets, many of which are crude homemade devices.

45 Palestinians have been killed, including militants, civilians and children, 3 Israeli civilians have been killed.

Sources from inside Israel have been sending mixed messages over the prospects of a ground offensive on Gaza.

“A ground operation is a possibility. It’s an option which we must take in order to restore quiet and calm to the region. Until Hamas realize that we are here to stay and they cannot keep firing rockets at us and at our civilians on a day to day basis we will have to act in order to restore that deterrence,” Josh Hartman, Israeli Defense Chief spokesman told RT.

Josh Hartman, Spokesman for the Israeli Defense Chief, speaking to RT earlier:

While Eli Yishhai, Israeli’s Interior Minister was blunter about the operation in Gaza, “The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle-Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for 40 years,” He told Haaretz, an Israeli daily newspaper.

But Yossi Melman, an Israeli security correspondent struck a more cautious note.He told Al Monitor that Israel’s mobilization of reserves was mainly for psychological purposes to increase pressure on Hamas and that Israel was reluctant to move in with ground troops.

However, he also stated that if the Cairo talks came to nothing and there was no ceasefire, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) would conduct a ground attack, which would result in fatalities for the Israeli military and far more Palestinian deaths. This, Melman argued, may result in Israeli public opinion turning against the government and force regional players Egypt and Jordan to take a more severe line with Israel.

Meanwhile, Hamas also has doubts as to the feasibility of a ceasefire. Senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Maan Palestinian news agency that he does not expect a ceasefire soon. "There are many calls for a truce but it will not be soon," he said.

Hamas is an offshoot of Egyptian President Mahammed Morsi's the Muslim Brotherhood. Quietly, though, non-Muslim members of Morsi's government are said to be pushing Hamas to end its rocket campaign, it was reported by AP.

-->

Iron Dome battery in Tel Aviv intercepts rocket hours after deployment

A fifth, updated Iron Dome anti-missile battery has been deployed in the Tel Aviv area in anticipation of more rocket attacks from Gaza. The Israeli military says the system intercepted an incoming projectile just hours after being installed.

RT,

18 November, 2012

The system, which boasts more advanced radar and interception systems than the other four batteries, was rolled out in Israel's commercial capital two months early in response to the escalating violence caused by Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense.A snaking plume of smoke trailed the interceptor before it burst in a flash of light over the city on Saturday afternoon.

People who had scrambled for cover along Tel Aviv's seaside boardwalk amidst the wail of air raid sirens erupted in applause in response to the mid-air detonation of the incoming missile. A second missile launched at the city was not intercepted, although no damage or injures were reported.

It was the third straight day Hamas' military wing in Gaza had launched rockets at Tel Aviv. On Thursday a rocket hit the city for the first time since the Gulf War.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) says the Iron Dome system has intercepted nearly 250 rockets –"90 percent of their targets in the sky" – since the assassination of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari on Wednesday.

An Israeli Iron Dome defence missile system (bottom), designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, is deployed in Gush Dan, the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, on November 17, 2012 (AFP Photo / Roni Schutzer)

Upwards of 60 rockets were fired towards Israel on Saturday after an Israeli bomb decimated the office building of disputed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Israel for its part battered the Gaza Strip with over 200 airstrikes Saturday, targeting a police compound, 120 rocket launchers and the extensive network of tunnels used to circumvent the Israeli blockade of the territory.  Approximately 830 targets have been struck in densely populated Gaza since the current operation commenced.

The intensified Israel air campaign comes one day after the Israeli parliament authorized the mobilization of 75,000 reservists in anticipation of a potential ground invasion of Gaza. The number of troops called up far exceeds the numbers deployed during the 2008 Gaza War.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, told Channel 10 that toppling Hamas was not a strategic goal for the ongoing Operation, the Jerusalem Post reports.

"We are definitely considering a ground operation, but toppling Hamas, I think that's something that the next government will have to decide", he said. 

At least 40 Palestinians have been killed over the last four days, including seven children. Three Israeli civilians have also died in the violence.

Israeli children look at the Israeli military's Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, deployed in Gush Dan, the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, on November 17, 2012 (AFP Photo / Roni Schutzer)