Gaza update - 07/22/2014

Airlines suspend Israel flights

Radio NZ,

23 July, 2014

Major US airlines and a number of their European counterparts have suspended flights to Israel over safety concerns after a rocket landed less than 2km from Ben Gurion Airport.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered three US carriers that fly to Israel - Delta, United and US Airways - to halt flights for 24 hours.

Europe's aviation regulator is also urging airlines not to fly to Tel Aviv.

Lufthansa, KLM, and Air France had cancelled flights to the city even before the regulator's warning.

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny over flights near conflict zones.

Israel's Transportation Ministry asked the airlines to reverse their decision, saying the airport was "safe for landings and departures".

"Ben Gurion Airport is safe and completely guarded and there is no reason whatsoever that American companies would stop their flights and hand terror a prize," it said in a statement

Israeli Attacks on Gaza 

Continue: 630 Palestinians, 

31 Israelis Dead

Israel Shells Greek Orthodox Church Full of Refugees

http://news.antiwar.com/2014/07/22/israeli-attacks-on-gaza-continue-630-palestinians-29-israelis-dead/

Israeli forces continue to pound the Gaza Strip today and the death toll continues to rise precipitously, with at least 630 Palestinians now confirmed killed, overwhelmingly civilians.

Israel had two more soldiers slain as well, bringing the Israeli toll to 31 people dead, 29 of whom were military personnel. Another Israeli soldier was reported missing, fueling speculation about claims of Hamas capturing one.

The UN Security Council iscontinuing to push for a ceasefire, though there is no indication that any new progress has been made on that front, while Israeli officials continue to talk up further escalation.

Palestinian civilians continue to try to flee around the strip finding some safe place to hide, though there don’t appear to be any. One Greek Orthodox church agreed to shelter some 1,000 civilians, but was already in the cross-hairs of Israeli shelling. Others have sought refuge at UN schools, hospitals or other sites known by Israel to be totally civilian in nature, though this does not seem to make them significantly less likely to come under attack.

"A Place of Indescribable 

Loss": As Ceasefire Talks 

Begin, Israel Bombs 

Hospital, Mosques and 

Homes

The Israeli assault on Gaza has entered its third week as the Palestinian death toll has topped 600, mostly civilians. More than 100 of the dead are children. More than 3,700 Palestinians have been injured. Israel says it has lost 27 soldiers since the ground invasion began. Earlier today, Israel confirmed the remains of one of its soldiers presumed to have been killed in Gaza had still not been found or identified. This comes two days after Hamas said it had captured the soldier. So far today, Israel has struck more than 70 sites inside Gaza, including five mosques and a football stadium. On Monday, at least 103 Palestinians died, including 11 when Israel bombed a residential tower block in Gaza City. Five children died in that attack. In the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, five people died and 70 were wounded when Israel shelled the al-Aqsa Hospital. It became the third medical facility to be struck by Israel in the past two weeks. The injured included about 30 medics. We are joined from Gaza City by Democracy Now! correspondent and independent journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous. "Gaza is a place of indescribable loss, and a place where family sizes continue to be shrunk by falling bombs," he says.

Kouddous is reporting live from the Associated Press studio, which shares a floor with the Al Jazeera studio in Gaza City. He says that Israel fired shots into the windows of Al Jazeera’s office earlier this morning. He reports that both news agencies evacuated staff from the building. AP has since confirmed that Israel does not plan to target their office; however, Al Jazeera has not been able to confirm the same, and its staff are waiting downstairs at the bottom of the building. As of now, AP staff are back at work in the office on a voluntary basis. 

"This is another instance of targeting the media," Kouddous says.

Journalist attacked by ‘angry Israeli’ during live report on Gaza

RT 
22 July, 2014

A BBC Arabic correspondent was attacked on air in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, just outside Gaza, while reporting on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The journalist, Feras Khatib, was wearing a PRESS vest during the live report in the Arabic language when a man, apparently an Israeli, approached and violently shoved him sideways, as seen on the video posted on YouTube.

The attacker was quickly pulled away from camera view by another member of the BBC team, while Khatib continued his reporting.

The incident took place in Ashkelon, just north of Gaza, according to a BBC Arabic spokesman. The attacker reportedly left right after the incident.

Khatib "was manhandled by an angry Israeli...Feras was unharmed and will continue reporting as normal,” the channel said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's office in Gaza was fired at on Tuesday. The network blames Israel for the attack. "Two very precise shots were fired straight into our building," Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said. "We are high up in the building so we had a very strong vantage point over the area. But we have evacuated."

Read More: Heartrending Gaza: Reporter breaks into tears live on air

Tuesday saw the Gaza conflict move into its third week. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the number of Palestinians killed has risen to 633 – the vast majority of whom are civilians.

Overall, five mosques, a sports stadium, and the home of a deceased Hamas military chief were hit on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 29 Israelis have been killed – two of them civilians. Two soldiers were also killed on Tuesday, according to Tel Aviv. This death toll is the highest number of Israeli military deaths since the 2006 Lebanon war.