Jan 03 - Israel's military offensive in Gaza ignites an interational wave of protests.
Demonstrations have been taking place in countries in the Middle East, Asia and Europe to urge an end to Israel's military strikes on Gaza that have claimed the lives of more than 400 Palestinians.
At least four Israelis have also been killed in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants which triggered the Israeli offensive.
Paul Chapman reports.
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Heavy fighting is reported in Gaza between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters after Israel launched its ground offensive on the territory. Thousands of Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip overnight with tanks and helicopters, accompanied by naval support and air strikes. While the UN secretary general called for an immediate end to the operations, the Security Council failed to agree on a resolution calling for a ceasefire after an emergency meeting. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from the Israeli side of the border said the authorities there have been extremely tight-lipped about the operation.
"All that they're willing to confirm is that the ground offensive is continuing," she said. Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza City, said that the scene in Gaza was one of "fear and terror". Palestinian medical sources say at least 464 Palestinians have died and more than 2,000 had been injured since Israel began aerial bombardment of Gaza more than a week ago. Four Israelis have also been killed by Palestinian rockets fired into southern Israel during the past week. Israel, meanwhile, extended its naval blockade of Gaza early on Sunday, from six nautical miles to 20 nautical miles, preventing humanitarian aid and protest vessels from trying to break the siege. Around 9,000 military reservists have also been called up to assist in the ground assault. Diplomatic impasse News of the ground offensive came as the Security Council was meeting on Saturday night in New York to discuss the crisis. Despite urgings from Libya, the only Arab nation currently on the council, to issue a statement expressing "serious concern" over the offensive, the meeting adjourned without reaching any agreement. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian permanent observer to the UN, condemned the result, saying that "just, as they say, Israel has the right to defend itself, we the Palestinians have the right to end occupation". "We are demanding from Israel, the occupying power and agressor, to stop this agression immediately," Mansour said. A UN spokesman said that Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, was "deeply concerned" by the latest events. Ban had spoken to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and conveyed his "extreme concern and disappointment", the UN said in a statement.
France added its voice to the discussion, condemning Israel's ground offensive on Saturday. The foreign ministry said in a statement that the "dangerous military escalation" complicated efforts to end the fighting, bring aid to civilians and reach a permanent ceasefire. The US state department said that a Gaza ceasefire should take place as soon as possible and that it had told the Israeli government that any military action should be "mindful of the potential consequences to civilians". It also condemned Hamas, saying it was holding the people of Gaza "hostage" and contributed to a "very bad daily life" for the coastal territory's residents. White House officials also said that George Bush, the US president, had been briefed on the situation in Gaza and that US officials were in contact with authorities "in the region" and in Europe. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and several Arab foreign ministers were flying to New York over the weekend to urge the Security Council to again try to adopt an Arab draft resolution that would condemn Israel and urge a halt to the Gaza offensive. Casualties The ground attacks followed a salvo of air raids in Gaza on Saturday. An Israeli strike on a northern Gaza town killed at least 11 people, including one child, when a mosque was bombed. There has been no official confirmation from either side of deaths from the ground assault so far, although Zeina Awad, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said Israeli media was reporting that several Hamas fighters had been killed at the start of the ground offensive. The Reuters news agency also quoted a senior Hamas official as saying that Palestinian fighters had killed a number of Israeli soldiers. Israel's military confirmed to Al Jazeera that at least 30 soldiers have wounded in the fight so far, two of them seriously. Hamas warnings Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, said on Saturday that the operation was aimed at forcing Hamas "to stop its hostile activities against Israel and bring about significant change".
Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, later told Al Jazeera that the "single aim" of the offensive was to halt Hamas rocket attacks into Israeli territory. "Ultimately Hamas is solely responsible for this crisis and today they are paying a price for that," he said. Hamas has vowed to defeat the Israeli army following the invasion, with Osama Hamdan, a senior official for Hamas in Beirut, Lebanon, telling Al Jazeera that "military operations will not win for the Israelis". On Friday, Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, had warned that any Israeli ground offensive would lead to a "black destiny". Reservists mobilised Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports that power lines have been cut throughout the Gaza Strip and more than 250,000 people in the northern part of the territory are without electricity. "The biggest concern is a ground invasion could result in urban warfare," he said. "Rockets are being fired from deeper and deeper within Gaza and if Israel's intention is to prevent such attacks how far into Gaza, an area densely populated with civilians, will they need to go?" Fears of a humanitarian crisis have also grown in recent days, as the strip, home to 1.5 million people, is already suffering shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies due to a two-year economic blockade imposed by Israel. The International Committee for the Red Cross said on Saturday its medical emergency team had been prevented for a second day from entering the territory. The UN has warned that there were "critical gaps" in aid reaching Gaza, despite claims from Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, that there was no crisis and that aid was getting through. At least 25 per cent of the Palestinians killed since Israel began its aerial assault nine days ago were civilians, the UN has estimated. |
| Deaths as Israel hits Gaza mosque | |||
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At least 11 Palestinians, including one child, have been killed after Israeli forces struck a mosque during prayers in the city of Beit Lahiya, north of Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip. More than 200 people were inside the the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque praying when it was struck. It is not clear yet whether the mosque was hit as part of the Israeli army's shelling, which started on Saturday afternoon. At least 50 people were wounded, Hamas and medical officials said. The Israeli military has destroyed several mosques during its week-long offensive in Gaza, saying Hamas uses the houses of worship to store weapons. |
Speculation is mounting that Israel is preparing to step up its assault on Gaza with a ground invasion, after it announced it would briefly open Erez border crossing to allow around 440 foreign residents to leave the territory. Early Friday saw continuing raids on targets in Gaza, a day after the Israeli army began clearing landmines along the border in apparent preparation for a possible ground offensive.
Tanks, armoured vehicles and troops have been massing along the border for several days.
Al Jazeera TV
There were growing fears in Israel last night that Hamas missiles could threaten its top-secret nuclear facility at Dimona.
Rocket attacks from Gaza have forced Israelis to flee in ever greater numbers and military chiefs have been shaken by the size and sophistication of the militant group’s arsenal.
In Beersheba, until a few days ago a sleepy desert town in southern Israel, there is little sign of the 186,000 inhabitants. Schools are closed and the streets of shuttered shops echo with the howl of sirens warning of incoming rockets.
Israeli planes, meanwhile, began a new stage yesterday in their offensive on Gaza, killing Nizar Rayyan, a senior Hamas official. The one-tonne bomb in Jabaliya is also understood to have killed two of his four wives and four of his twelve children. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed in the six days of Israeli attacks.
Despite a diplomatic mission by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, to Paris, the Israeli army continued to muster thousands of troops and scores of tanks along Gaza’s border for a possible ground offensive. Israel’s airstrikes are designed to blunt Hamas’s capacity to fire its new Grad missiles deep into its territory. The weapons are smuggled in through tunnels and by sea, replacing homemade Qassam rockets.
Israeli officials say that Hamas has also acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles with an even longer range. Many fear that as the group acquires ever more sophisticated weaponry it is only a matter of time before the nuclear installation at Dimona, 20 miles east of Beersheba, falls within its sights. Dimona houses Israel’s only nuclear reactor and is believed to be where nuclear warheads are stored.
Israel’s worst nightmare is that soon all its cities will be within range either of the Hezbollah Katyushas arrayed on the Lebanese border to the north or the increasingly sophisticated missiles stockpiled by Hamas to the south. Both groups have links to Israel’s archenemy Iran.
Israel has said that its aim is to smash Hamas’s rocket-firing capability but also to topple the hardline Islamist regime that seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007 after bloody street battles with its secular rivals Fatah. Until that goal is achieved, many in Beersheba are packing their bags and heading for Tel Aviv or Eilat.
“Maybe 30 or 40 per cent of people have left the city,” said Ron Shukron, 26, running one of the few grocery shops still open. As he spoke a siren echoed through the empty streets. With only 15 seconds to take cover, he stepped under a reinforced support beam in the ceiling. Seconds later came the dull thud of a rocket exploding on the edge of town.
