BREAKING: Ukrainians break ceasefire

As of now (early morning in Russia) there has been no reporting of this from either RT or by western media. It has, however appeared in Russian-language media as well as in Sputnik News.

No doubt, when the news does break on MSM, it will be further evidence of a "Russian invasion" (if all else fail, blame Putin)

AT 2 AM Ukrainian troop opened mortar and artillery fire on the positions of the LPR and DPR - Ministry of Defence

В два ночи ВСУ открыли минометный и артогонь по позициям ЛНР и ДНР — Минобороны

Russkaya Vesna,

15 February, 2015, 18.30 ET

At two in the morning (time Donetsk) APU opened mortar and artogon the positions of the LC and the DNR. This was announced today at a briefing in the night DAN deputy corps commander Defense Ministry DNR Edward Basurin.

"At two o'clock in the morning surrounded by the remains of categories Ukrainian security forces in Debaltseve opened artillery and mortar fire on positions DNR and LC on uninhabited settlements and civilians," - he said.

"There are new victims. DNR units, in order to avoid civilian casualties are spot fire on fire weapons, "- said the representative of the Ministry of Defense.

MORE TO FOLLOW

В два ночи (время Донецкое) ВСУ открыли минометный и артогонь по позициям ЛНР и ДНР. Об этом сегодня на ночном брифинге в ДАН заявил заместитель командующего корпусом Минобороны ДНР Эдуард Басурин.

«В два часа ночи остатки группировки окруженных украинских силовиков в Дебальцево, открыли артиллерийский и минометный огонь по позициям ДНР и ЛНР по незаселенным пунктам и мирным жителям», — отметил он.

«Есть новые жертвы. Подразделения ДНР, в целях недопущения гибели мирного населения ведут точечный огонь по огневым средствам противника», — добавил представитель Минобороны.


As of now, 8 am Moscow time (12 am ET) there has been nothing of this from western media, nor from RT

Ceasefire in Ukraine Broken: Sides Accuse Each Other of New Attacks

A few hours after the Ukrainian conflicting sides ordered to cease hostilities on the front line of contact, a shaky and long-awaited ceasefire had been violated by both parties.

Sputnik News,

15 February, 2015, 18.35 ET

DONETSK (Sputnik) — Hours after the beginning of the ceasefire between the Kiev forces and the independence supporters of Donbas, conflicting parties accuse each other of violating the true.

"As of 02:30 [00:30 GMT] the shelling of the ATO [the Kiev-led anti-terrorist operation] forces continues. As of now, our positions have been shelled 9 times," the ATO spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said Sunday on Facebook, adding that the positions of Kiev forces are being shelled near the villages Zolotoye, Popasnaya and Toshkovka in Luhansk region and Chernukhino and Sanzharovka in Donetsk region.

According to Seleznyov, Ukrainian troops adhere strictly to the ceasefire regime.

The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko has called an emergency meeting Sunday regarding the violation of silence regime in Donbas by Kiev forces, the deputy head of DPR militia said.

"The head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko has called an emergency meeting at which the current situation is being discussed," Eduard Basurin said.

Despite the official beginning of a ceasefire in Donbas, Kiev forces started firing mortars and shelling the positions of the independence supporters of the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR).

Eduard Basurin said that at 02:00 (February 14, 23:00 GMT) armed groups of Kiev militants in the town of Debaltseve have opened fire targeting the positions of LPR and DPR.

“In order to avoid civilian casualties, the units of DPR are targeting enemy’s weaponry,” Basurin said.

The independence supporters of Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic are being forced to open fire in return to continuing shelling by Kiev forces he dded.

“The units of the DPR armed forces are forced to open selective fire to suppress hostilities by Kiev nationalists and saboteurs,” deputy head of the DPR militia Eduard Basurin said, adding that Kiev troops continue violating ceasefire in east Ukraine’s Debaltseve area.

According to the DPR militia press service, Kiev forces are currently also shelling the areas around the towns of Yenakiyevo and Horlivka in the Donetsk region and the areas around the Donetsk airport.

In accordance with the new Minsk agreements, the ceasefire between Kiev forces and independence supporters of Donbas came in force at midnight, local time on February 15 (February 14, 10:00 p.m. GMT).

Minutes before midnight, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered Kiev forces to cease fire in Ukraine's southeast.

Earlier on Sunday, Eduard Basurin announced that at midnight all the units of the DPR militia have ceased hostilities along the contact line in Donbas.

Ceasefire  is proclaimed ….

And broken 2 hours alter.

Silence in Donetsk, Ukrainian army firing on Gorlovka, Yenakiyevo and Donetsk airport - Ministry of Defense DNR

Russkaya Vesna,

15 February, 2015

The Kiev occupiers, despite the onset of action of "silent mode", are currently engaged in shelling Yenakiyevo, Gorlovka and Donetsk airport. This was stated in the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the DNR.

"Artillery fire the Ukrainian army is in the vicinity of settlements Yenakiyevo, Gorlovka and region of Donetsk airport. At this point in the city of Donetsk there is no shelling of peaceful quarters , as required from 0:00 on February 15, "- noted DAN.

......

Киевские оккупанты, несмотря на начало действия «режима тишины», в настоящее время ведут артобстрел Енакиево, Горловки и Донецкого аэропорта. Об этом заявили в пресс-службе Минобороны ДНР.

«Артиллерийский огонь ВСУ ведет в районе населенных пунктов Енакиево, Горловка, а также районе Донецкого аэропорта. На данный момент в самом городе Донецке обстрелы мирных кварталов не зафиксированы с 0:00 15 февраля», — отметил собеседник ДАН.

The likeligood of a ceasefire holding

Comments on ceasefire – Vladimir Suchan

Speaking of the ceasefire in Donbass, which, I suspect, will most likely be only partial, the question is whether the Kiev junta traded sparing lives of its troops in several cauldrons for 1) ceding territory to Novorossiya or/and 2) ceasing to shell the cities of Donbass. The other two immediate questions of great importance is the question of the Donetsk airport (with numerous foreign special forces soldiers fighting for the junta) and the question of Mariupol. A very telling and significant is the fact that none of the sides has a desire to publish the text of the ceasefire agreement.

In his press conference with the Kyrgyz Foreign Minister, Lavrov correctly identified the US and the Kiev junta as "the party of war." In the current temporary situation, the US, Kiev, and NATO are, however, facing the consequence of the recent crushing military defeats in Donbass and the deepening economic and political crisis in the former Ukraine. In this situation, the dilemma of the war party is whether to try to crush Novorossiya, as they have been trying to so far, or whether to freeze the conflict and consolidate the power of the Nazi junta over the rest of Ukraine, while also consolidating the US and NATO's hold over this vast "bridgehead" into Russia. So far, on the part of the US and NATO, the war party was driving the policy. The Right Sector or other Nazi battalions are also for firm.

In this regard, it is already obvious that these Nazi battalions under Avakov are trained much like ISIS or al Nusra in Syria and Iraq--as special forces elevated and expanded into brigades and armies. As such, they were/are to be no match for "opposing peasants."

All in all, it is, however, evident that the ceasefire is most advantageous to the Kiev junta and the war party. It allows them to save themselves from a looming decisive defeat. The ceasefire can allow them to reset the war.

If one is to take Lavrov's statements literally, then Lavrov's and Russia's position is that stopping or freezing violence is the most important thing irrespective of the political or other security considerations, which, if one is to be guided only or mainly by what Lavrov said, then then political cause of Donbass is merely a question of knowing what taxes the people of Donbass are to be paying and the question of the Russian language.

---Vladimir Suchan

Here is Ukraine Today, which seems to specialise in 1 minute propaganda segments, rather than news announcing the ceasefire

Ukraine Ceasefire Agreed: Ukrainian officials sign deal with Russia and Kremlin-backed insurgents

I'm not sure if Yats, PM of the Junta is one with Poroshenko. Here are his Facebook comments

There is no discussion and no doubts that Ukraine needs peace. This peace has to be restored. But it's important to know, what is the price for the peace. We have paid too much in this war that Russia had started. It is impossible to estimate the value for the loss of human life. The life of people who fought and are fighting for our independence, our country, has no price.That's why we need peace, but not on the basis of the Russian plan - we need it on the basis of the Ukrainian plan, which has to be backed by the USA and the EU as our real allies.

First of all, this plan has to include three basic points. The first one is the ceasefire. The second one is to withdraw the Russian army, Russian criminals and terrorists. And the third one is to restore control over the border. The border between Ukraine and Russia has to have a proper infrastructure. And that's why the Government developed the project called "The Wall". It is the question not only of Ukraine's security. It is the question of Europe's security. Therefore, it means to build infrastructure at the eastern border of Europe.


He also posted his plans for a wall on the border with Russia

Do you think the nazi Right Sector is going to honour a truce?!
Here is report from the Novorussia militias

05.09.14. Message from bloggers.

"Right-wing gangs are not going to obey the order Poroshenko armistice. This was stated by the journalist specified wing Elena Belozerskaya, arguing this position failure Poroshenko to consider them legitimate military formation. Political scientist Vladimir Kornilov, quoting a Nazi in the social network, warns where to look for a rifle that will shoot first. "A truce, you say? And Donetsk shamelessly continue to shoot. In particular, prowazeki proudly announced that operate directly under Donetsk. And when the speaker of "the Right sector" Has Bilozerska asked about the truce, here is what she said in her blog: "He (Poroshenko) we are not legalized until now... If you want we carried out their orders, let us first legalised. And there's no official status, we de jure illegal armed groups (illegal military formation), the usual gang, and you can do whatever you want."

Speaking of the ceasefire in Donbass, which, I suspect, will most likely be only partial, the question is whether the Kiev junta traded sparing lives of its troops in several cauldrons for 1) ceding territory to Novorossiya or/and 2) ceasing to shell the cities of Donbass. The other two immediate questions of great importance is the question of the Donetsk airport (with numerous foreign special forces soldiers fighting for the junta) and the question of Mariupol. A very telling and significant is the fact that none of the sides has a desire to publish the text of the ceasefire agreement.

In his press conference with the Kyrgyz Foreign Minister, Lavrov correctly identified the US and the Kiev junta as "the party of war." In the current temporary situation, the US, Kiev, and NATO are, however, facing the consequence of the recent crushing military defeats in Donbass and the deepening economic and political crisis in the former Ukraine. In this situation, the dilemma of the war party is whether to try to crush Novorossiya, as they have been trying to so far, or whether to freeze the conflict and consolidate the power of the Nazi junta over the rest of Ukraine, while also consolidating the US and NATO's hold over this vast "bridgehead" into Russia. So far, on the part of the US and NATO, the war party was driving the policy. The Right Sector or other Nazi battalions are also for firm.

In this regard, it is already obvious that these Nazi battalions under Avakov are trained much like ISIS or al Nusra in Syria and Iraq--as special forces elevated and expanded into brigades and armies. As such, they were/are to be no match for "opposing peasants."

All in all, it is, however, evident that the ceasefire is most advantageous to the Kiev junta and the war party. It allows them to save themselves from a looming decisive defeat. The ceasefire can allow them to reset the war.

If one is to take Lavrov's statements literally, then Lavrov's and Russia's position is that stopping or freezing violence is the most important thing irrespective of the political or other security considerations, which, if one is to be guided only or mainly by what Lavrov said, then then political cause of Donbass is merely a question of knowing what taxes the people of Donbass are to be paying and the question of the Russian language

Сводки от ополчения Новороссии

05.09.14. Сообщение от блогеров.

"Праворадикальные банды не намерены подчиняться приказу Порошенко о перемирии. Об этом заявила журналистка указанного толка Елена Белозерская, аргументируя такую позицию отказом Порошенко считать их законным военным формированием. Политолог Владимир Корнилов, цитируя нацистку в соцсети, предупреждает, где искать ружьё, которое выстрелит первым. "Перемирие, говорите? А по Донецку продолжают безбожно палить. В частности, правосеки гордо сообщили, что оперируют непосредственно под Донецком. А когда глашатая "Правого сектора" Олену Билозерську спросили о перемирии, вот что она ответила в своем блоге: "Он же (Порошенко) нас не легализовал до сих пор... Если хотят, чтобы мы выполняли их приказы, пусть сперва нас легализуют. А пока нет официального статуса - мы де-юре НВФ (незаконное военное формирование), обычная банда, и можем делать, что захотим".

BREAKING NEWS: Gaza ceasefire ends

As of approx 04 hrs GMT the ceasefire in Gaza is officially over

 Retweeted by Robin Westenra

Harry Fear @harryfear · 21m

#Gaza ceasefire is now officially over. #Israel said it would agree to an extension. No official word on #Hamas' position or that of #PIJ.

• Replied to 0 times

 Retweeted by Robin Westenra

RT @RT_com · 16m

URGENT: Reports of rocket attacks on south #Israel from #Gaza as ceasefire over - via @harryfear http://on.rt.com/13u57f 

View summary

• Replied to 0 times

 Retweeted by Robin Westenra

Harry Fear @harryfear · 11m

'Several rockets' fired from #Gaza toward south #Israel since the top of the hour, report Palestinian sources.

• Replied to 0 times

Hamas rejects Gaza ceasefire extension

The Palestinian militant organisation Hamas has rejected any extension of the three-day ceasefire in Gaza, which expired on Friday morning.

BBC,

8 August, 2014

It said that Israel had failed to meet its demands. Key among these is the re-opening of Gaza Harbour to shipping.

Two rockets fired from Gaza hit southern Israel three hours before the three-day ceasefire was due to expire, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The IDF accused "terrorists" of violating the ceasefire.

The rockets fell on open ground and caused no casualties, the Israeli army said early on Friday.

Hamas has denied firing them.

A Hamas military wing spokesman earlier called on Palestinian negotiators holding indirect talks with Israeli neogtiators in Cairo to refuse any ceasefire extension unless its long-term demands were met.

The spokesman said his organisation was ready for "a long war".

"Many here expect the talks to end and fighting to resume", as Orla Guerin reports from Gaza

Israeli officials said earlier that they were willing to extend the ceasefire before it expired at 05:00 GMT on Friday.

But Hamas, which controls Gaza, says there was a big gap between the sides' positions.

Four weeks of fierce fighting between Israeli forces and militants in Gaza claimed more than 1,900 lives.

'Stabilise'

Egyptian officials, who brokered the 72-hour ceasefire that began on Tuesday, were working against the clock on Thursday to persuade both sides to agree a long-term deal.

Israeli troops have taken up "defensive positions" outside the Gaza Strip

"Egypt's aims are to stabilise and extend the truce with the agreement of both sides and to begin negotiations towards a permanent agreement to cease fire and ease border restrictions," an Egyptian official told Reuters news agency.

On Wednesday, Israeli officials said they had expressed their readiness to "extend the truce under its current terms". But the deputy political leader of Hamas, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said: "There is no agreement."

Hamas had been reiterating its calls for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza, the release of prisoners and the end of the Israeli offensive.

Life almost returned to normal for some people in Gaza during the truce

The Israelis, for their part, were sticking firm to their main demand - the demilitarisation of Gaza. But the BBC's Sally Nabil in Cairo says that this was met with a big "no" from all the Palestinian factions.

Israeli Communications Minister Gilad Erdan warned that the military would resume operations if the ceasefire was disrupted.

Palestinian officials say at least 1,875 people have been killed since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July with the aim of halting rocket fire from militants in Gaza and destroying the network of tunnels it said were used by militants to launch attacks inside Israel.

The UN says 1,354 of those who died were civilians, including 415 children and 214 women.

Israel's government says 64 soldiers were killed, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai national. It also claims that about 900 Palestinian militants were killed in the fighting.

On Thursday, the human rights group Amnesty International called for an investigation into what it said was mounting evidence that Israeli forces had deliberately attacked hospitals and health professionals in Gaza. The attacks have left at least six medics dead.

The Middle East in flames

Today was a quiet day on Radio NZ – apart from a brief report on Egypt at the end of the programme we had a break from world news – and instead focused on 'the Hobbit'

Meanwhile, the Middle East is in flames: from Tunisia to Egypt (the countries of the 'Arab Spring'); to Syria and Palestine.

In Gaza, despite violations by the Israelis, the ceasefire remains in place - just as long as it suits the Israelis

'Leave, leave': Anti-Morsi protesters chant as police respond with teargas

Cairo police cracked down on the swelling masses on Tahrir Square with teargas as they protested President Morsi’s new powers. Over 200 thousand recently flooded Cairo’s center, calling for Morsi to veto decrees vastly expanding his power.




RT,
28 November, 2012



Watch the protests as they unfold on RT's live feed.

Officers fired on protesters near Omar Makram Mosque on Tahrir Square on Wednesday morning
.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators chanted “Leave, leave” and “Down with the regime,” wrote Cairo-based journalist Bel Trew on Twitter. 



Demonstrators run away from tear gas during clashes with Egyptian riot Police on Tahrir Square, on November 28, 2012 in Cairo. (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Khaled)


“A running street battle has been going on in the streets around Tahrir Square between a large group of largely young male protesters and the police,” reported RT’s Tom Barton from Cairo.

Violence continued throughout the night with protesters pelting police with their own teargas canisters, lighting fires and creating make-shift roadblocks with torn up sections of pavement, he said.

A200,000-strong rally descended upon Tahrir Square on Tuesday, demanding the country’s Islamist president recall a decree granting him new, sweeping powers. Egypt’s highest judicial body has accused Morsi of mounting an attack on it, a spokesperson has told the press.

One man was killed in the ensuing violence on Tuesday as demonstrators clashed with police. Activists say he died from over-exposure to teargas.
Elsewhere in Egypt protesters stormed President Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood party headquarters in the second-largest city, Alexandria.

President Mohamed Morsi has attempted to allay rising tensions and comparisons with authoritarian ex-President Hosni Mubarak, who was deposed nearly two years ago by mass uprisings. Morsi has assured that the powers he granted himself over the weekend are temporary are necessary in order to establish a new constitution and parliamentary elections.



A protester throws back a tear gas canister during clashes with Egyptian riot Police on Tahrir Square on November 28, 2012 in Cairo. (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Khaled)


“The presidency reiterates the temporary nature of these measures, which are not intended to concentrate power,” Morsi said in a statement.

Mohammed ElBaradei, Egypt’s opposition leader said that Morsi had become the country’s “new pharaoh” and that his new powers were a violation of democratic principles.

Morsi defended his decree, saying that he was acting fully within his rights as President when it was issued. The edict that was passed on Thursday effectively makes Morsi’s decisions immune to judicial review until a new constitution has been laid down.

Morsi has also extended the deadline for Egypt’s new constitution for another two months. The Islamist-dominated constituent assembly is drafting the document at present.

The Muslim Brotherhood and hardline Salafi parties have planned counterdemonstrations across Egypt on Saturday to show their support for Morsi.

                                          

Demonstrators run away from tear gas during clashes with Egyptian riot Police on Tahrir Square, on November 28, 2012 in Cairo. (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Khaled)

(Image from twitter user@kikhote)

200 wounded as Tunisian security forces use tear gas, shotguns against protesters

More than 200 people were wounded as clashes between Tunisian security forces and thousands of protesters in the impoverished town of Siliana raged on for the second straight day, medical sources say. One reporter was also injured by shotgun fire. 

.

A protester throws a tear gas canister back at police during clashes in Siliana November 28, 2012 (Reuters / Stringer)

RT,

28 November, 2012

A doctor at the hospital in Siliana told AFP on Wednesday the injured were being treated for different types of injury, with four of them transferred to Tunis.

FRANCE24’s Tunisia correspondent David Thomson was also injured by shotgun fire in the melee. While receiving treatment, Thomson tweeted from the hospital that many others had sustained far more serious injuries. His driver was also injured in the clashes.

State television had earlier reported that at least 80 people were injured.
Angry protesters incensed the regional governor had failed to tackle unemployment amassed in the town center, with the clashes kicking off by early afternoon.

The country’s National Guard deployed armored vehicles as protesters erected makeshift barricades in the streets.

Protesters pelted security forces with rocks, who responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

The scene closely mirrored protests which erupted in the town on Tuesday.

A protester kicks a tear gas canister back at police during clashes in Siliana November 28, 2012 (Reuters / Stringer)

Many protesters called for local officials to step down, citing chronic mismanagement of development funds in the poor farming region. Siliana, which lies 75 miles south of the capital Tunis on the edge of the Sahara desert, saw investment plummet by 44.5 percent from January to October on a year-over-year basis.

Following the 2010 uprising which saw the ouster of longtime President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, unemployment has skyrocketed in the country.

The interior ministry has not commented on the ongoing street clashes, though the prime minister’s office registered the concern with the unfolding events.

It also described as regrettable "the use of violence against the security forces, aggression at the headquarters of sovereignty, and attempts to damage public property," AFP reports.

The clashes were the most violent since Salafi Islamists fell on the US embassy in Tunis to protest the incendiary film Innocence of Muslims in September.

On Tuesday, the World Bank approved a $500 million loan to Tunisia to aid the country’s ailing economy, with a separate $700 million coming from other donors.

It is the second loan approved by the World Bank since the Arab Spring swept Ben Ali from power.

A Tunisian man reacts at a hospital in Tunis after he was injured in clashes with police in the town of Siliana, 120km southwest of Tunis, on November 28, 2012 (AFP Photo / Fethi Belaid)

A Tunisian woman reacts at the hospital of Tunis after her injured son lost his eye during clashes with police in the town of Siliana, 120km southwest of Tunis, on November 28, 2012 (AFP Photo / Fethi Belaid)

At least 34 people killed in twin blasts in Damascus

Syrian men inspect the scene of a car bomb explosion in Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus, on November 28, 2012. (AFP Photo)


RT,
28 November, 2012




Twin “terrorist” car bomb blasts have rocked the Jaramana neighborhood in the Syrian capital, killing at least 34 people. Some believe that the bombing is part of the terror tactics exercised on the civilian population by the opposition forces.


While the Syrian Interior Ministry said at least 34 people were killed in the bombing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the death toll at 54. Over 120 others were wounded.


The blasts were felt in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus.

According to Syrian TV, the blasts went off just after 6:40am. Eyewitnesses claim debris from neighboring buildings caused further damage.

The Jaramana bombing is not the first of its kind and is rooted in certain tactical and ethnic issues, Ammar Waqqaf, a member of the UK-based pro-government Syrian Social Club told RT.

“First of all, those neighborhoods and cities that are not willing to join up with the so-called revolution are being collectively punished. There’s also the issue of ethnic cleansing,” Waqqaf said. “Jaramana is the area where a lot of minority groups live and in the al-Qaeda or Salafi intellect these people should not belong in the ‘believers’ homelands’, so to speak, so they’re trying to push them to abandon those areas and go elsewhere.”

Jaramana, a prominent Christian and Druze neighborhood in South Damascus, has often been targeted in recent weeks.

Ten people were killed by a car bomb on October 29, while a mortar attack on November 27 killed six and injured 12.

A series of blasts have rocked other Damascus suburbs over the past week, killing and injuring dozens of civilians.

The terrorists are trying to exert psychological coercion on the Syrian population, Waqqaf argues, as their tactics stem from the theory that Syrian people are afraid of the government and are willing to shift sides.

“This is a civil war tactic in a sense. [Their objective is] to give the illusion, the sense or the feeling that the government is not in control in the hope that people would start losing support,” he continued.

Despite that, there are still enough people supporting the Syrian government, Waqqaf added.

Opposition fighters took over two military bases amid heavy fighting on Tuesday.
Rebels have now taken control of roughly six military bases across the country.

The Syrian army has also claimed minor victories, with an airstrike killing at least 20 people and wounding many others on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory however has stated that rebels had lost many areas in eastern Syria and near Aleppo recently.

A general view shows the scene of a car bomb explosion in Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus, on November 28, 2012. (AFP Photo)

A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on November 28, 2012, shows two injured Syrian men near the scene of a car bomb explosion in Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus. (AFP Photo)

Syrian men inspect the scene of a car bomb explosion in Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus, on November 28, 2012. (AFP Photo)

Israeli troops wound 5 Palestinians, arrest 9

Palestinian youth clash with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank near Jenin city, on November 17, 2012.

Press TV,

28 November, 2012

Israeli troops have shot and wounded five Palestinians and arrested nine others a week after the Israeli regime reached a cease-fire agreement with Palestinian resistance groups.

According to Palestinian medical sources, four people have been injured near the al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza and a fifth person was wounded in the north of the besieged enclave.

Israel has not yet confirmed any casualties but says the troops responded to attempts by Gazans to breach a fence.

Meanwhile, Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, has reported yet another Israeli violation of the cease-fire.

"In a new violation of the cease-fire, the Zionist enemy arrested nine citizens and sunk several boats in the sea off the northern Gaza Strip," Shahwan announced in a statement.

On November 14, the Israeli regime launched a deadly offensive on the blockaded Gaza Strip, which killed more than 160 Palestinians and injured some 1,200 others.

According to the Israeli military more than 1,500 targets were hit across the Palestinian territory.

In retaliation, Palestinian resistance fighters fired rockets and missiles into the Israeli cities, killing at least five Israelis.

The violence ended after the Israeli regime and the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement agreed to an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire on November 21.

The recent Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip was Tel Aviv's second deadly attack on Gaza in four years. The Israeli regime waged a 22-day war on the densely populated Palestinian enclave in 2008, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 300 children, dead.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since June 2007, which has resulted in mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price hikes.

The Israeli regime has repeatedly refused to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip.