Thursday, July 17, 2014
Twenty Rockets Found in UNRWA School
The UN agency for Palestinian Arab "refugees," the UNRWA, said Thursday it was investigating after finding 20 rockets hidden in one of its vacant schools in Gaza, AFP reports.Globe and Mail: Palestinian Rockets Launched Near UN School in Gaza
It condemned the incident as a "flagrant violation" of international law and said the rockets had been removed and the "relevant parties" informed.
"Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip," the agency said in a statement.
"UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations," it continued. "This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law." (h/t Bob Knot)
“Heading toward the exit, we were overwhelmed by the jet-like sound of two rockets being launched from somewhere near the school. Hamas, or some or militant group, clearly is hoping the Israelis won’t strike at the launchers, which are kept underground until the moment of firing, because they’re close to the school and so many refugees.Gaza Beach Shelling Eyewitnesses
As the Hamas-made missiles screamed off into the sky, leaving a white vapour trail, the kids all cheered. One older boy of maybe 12, shouted in Arabic “They’re R160s,” named for the late Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi who was assassinated by Israel in 2004. These are the big, long-range rockets usually reserved for Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or the airport in between.”
Let's review eyewitness accounts of yesterday's sheeling of the beach when four Arab youngsters were killed:Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Hamas Said No to Egypt's Sisi
The IDF seems to have targeted a specific structure, not an open area or the boys.
The area, having been attacked "at least three times" previously, would seem to indicate a terrorist target. You don't waste ordnance on children.
UPDATE of an acknowledgement from The Guardian:
"A witness who identified himself only as Abu Ahmed said the boys had been scavenging for scrap metal when the first shell hit a nearby shipping container used in the past by Hamas security forces. He said the boys fled but a second projectile "hit all of them"."
There you have it --- one, two, three.
And because of Hamas terror, four young kids lose their lives.
Hamas leaders complained this week that President Sisi did not even bother to consult with them before drafting his cease-fire proposal. "We heard about the cease-fire proposal through the media," said a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip.Hamas is playing a dangerous game with Gazan lives
The official claimed that Sisi chose to negotiate with Israel and PA President Mahmoud Abbas instead of with Hamas and the other terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is also suspicious of Sisi's true intentions. Leaders of the movement are convinced that the Egyptian president's ultimate goal is to disarm the movement and other terror groups and hand the Gaza Strip back to Abbas's PA.
Some Palestinians believe that Qatar and Turkey exerted pressure on Hamas to reject Sisi's cease-fire plan. Relations between the two countries and Egypt have deteriorated as a result of their continued support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Hamas is probably interested in a cease-fire, but not one that would bolster the standing of Sisi. This war is not only between Hamas and Israel. It is also a war also between Hamas and Sisi's Egypt.
SO FAR Hamas’s military campaign against Israel has been a dismal failure. Thanks in part to Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, some 1,200 rockets fired at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities have caused only one Israeli death and a few other casualties. Attempted commando attacks via the sea and a tunnel were stopped short, and a drone that ventured into Israel was quickly shot down. Yet Hamas on Tuesday rejected an Egyptian cease-fire proposal that was supported by Western governments and the Arab League and had been accepted by Israel.Times of Israel Live Blog: Rockets target Tel Aviv area as fighting renews after humanitarian timeout
Why would Hamas insist on continuing the fight when it is faring so poorly? The only plausible answer is stomach-turning: The Islamic movement calculates that it can win the concessions it has yet to obtain from Israel and Egypt not by striking Israel but by perpetuating the killing of its own people in Israeli counterattacks. More than 200 people, including a number of children, have already died in Gaza; Hamas probably calculates that more deaths will prompt Western governments to pressure Israel to grant Hamas’s demands. (h/t Zvi)
Israeli officials deny reports that sides have reached ceasefire deal; all clear given after security scare; IDF thwarts cross-border attack, killing Hamas gunmen as they emerge from tunnel; Israel, Palestinian teams in Cairo for negotiations
Obama: Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself
"We're going to continue to encourage diplomatic efforts to restore the ceasefire, and we support Egypt's continued efforts to bring this about," Obama told reporters in a wide-ranging foreign policy statement.
"Over the next 24 hours, we'll continue to stay in close contact with our friends and parties in the region, and we will use all of our diplomatic resources and relationships to support efforts of closing a deal on a ceasefire," he added.
Obama said the Jewish state has "a right to defend itself from rocket attacks that terrorize the Israeli people."
"There's no country on earth that can be expected to live under a daily barrage of rockets," he added, praising Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system, which has proven very effective in intercepting rockets aimed at populated areas and which received a 50 percent funding boost from the Senate on Tuesday.
MEMRI: Arab World Losing Patience With Hamas
The offensive waged by Hamas against Israel from the Gaza Strip has sparked intense criticism in the Arab media, reflecting the movement's deteriorating status in the Arab world.Israeli think tank: Hamas is committing war crimes
Alongside condemnations of the Israeli counterattack and international calls to end it, Arab media voiced sharp and extensive criticism of the Hamas leadership's handling of the crisis. Such reactions came both from Hamas' natural rivals and from its former allies in the resistance axis, from which it has been expelled – reflecting Hamas' isolation in the Arab world.
Media in Saudi Arabia and in Al-Sisi's Egypt – the countries considered to be the leaders of the Arab world's moderate axis and the main rivals of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement, to which Hamas belongs – accused Hamas of taking unreasonable and irresponsible steps, of trading in the blood of the people of Gaza, and of exposing them to inevitable attacks. The Egyptian press was particularly vociferous in its criticism of Hamas and especially of the head of its political bureau, Khaled Mash'al, who recently called on the Egyptian army to come to the Palestinians' aid. An Egyptian pro-MB journalist even wrote that the Egyptian army has local problems to deal with, more pressing than the liberation of Jerusalem.
Hamas' actions in the fighting of recent days constitute war crimes, the Israel Democracy Institute says in a position paper published Wednesday.How the International Laws of War Abet Hamas, Undercut Israel
"Rocket attacks against unprotected Israeli civilians who do not pose a concrete military threat are a clear violation of international law and impose individual criminal responsibility on the perpetrators of the launchings," the paper said.
"When Hamas fighters engage in actual combat activities (including shooting, planning, commanding, etc.), they are legitimate targets."
The document argued that it was permissible for Israel to attack civilian structures that Hamas had turned into weapons storehouses and meeting places if there was proof that they were being used for military purposes and if their destruction would give Israel a clear military advantage.
Institute President Yohanan Plesner (a former Knesset member from the Kadima party), his deputy, Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer, and attorney Eli Bahar, a former legal adviser to the Shin Bet security agency, all signed the paper.
Embracing the laws of war, the Israeli military dutifully goes far out of its way to warn of impending strikes. It drops thousands of leaflets in Arabic warning Gazans to avoid certain areas that may be targeted. It calls and texts people living in buildings where a rocket is about to hit, giving them time to evacuate. Often it fires “a knock on the roof” warning rocket, before leveling the building. It has aborted missions if civilians are spotted nearby the target.Israel’s UN Ambassador Calls for ‘Immediate’ Suspension of UNRWA Spokesman Chris Gunness
For Hamas and allied Islamists, these Israeli measures are a tactical gift. For example, during the 2008–9 Gaza war, Hamas deliberately stashed weapons and ammunition, including Grad missiles, in private homes. And it continues to do that and to situate rocket launchers in densely populated areas. Last week, in an interview on Al-Aqsa TV, a Hamas spokesman called on Palestinians to climb to their roofs to serve as human shields against Israeli bombardment (which some Palestinians eagerly do). When a rocket lands, Hamas and its allies can stand next to corpses of its accomplices, portray them as civilians, and scream about Israeli “war crimes.”
By any rational standard, the aggressor in war is culpable for the death or injury of civilians on both sides. But the laws of war effectively push the blame from Hamas to Israel.
Prosor asked for action to be taken against Chris Gunness of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, after the spokesman encouraged reporters to interview a professor with a history of supporting terror attacks against civilians.Psychological Warfare, Hamas Style
In a letter to Pierre Krähenbühl, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Prosor said, “Gunness, yet again abused his position by calling on reporters to interview Dr. Mads Gilbert, an outspoken proponent of terrorist attacks against civilians. In September 2001, Dr. Gilbert explicitly supported the ‘moral right’ of Al-Qaeda to perpetrate the 9/11 terrorist attacks against thousands of American civilians.”
In the letter, seen by The Algemeiner, Prosor included the text of a recent Twitter post from Gunness encouraging reporters to speak to Gilbert: “Great interviewee @ Shifa Hosp Gaza right now Prof Mads Gilbert +4790878740 call him 4 fatality & cas figs and atoms RT.” The message has since been deleted.
“Rather than denouncing Hamas’s targeting of innocent civilians, Mr. Gunness is shamelessly promoting an individual who shares Hamas’s morally reprehensible convictions,” Prosor said in his letter. “Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, deliberately embeds its military operations in residential areas and exploits its own civilian population as human shields. These actions constitute war crimes and should be condemned in no uncertain terms. In failing to do so, Mr. Gunness is ignoring Hamas’s abuse of the civilian population in Gaza and acting in opposition to UNRWA’s mandate.”
It is imperative to differentiate between a psychologically conducted war, in which the armed forces of a nation are used to influence the other side – take the bombing of London in WWII, for example – and psychological warfare in general, which is a non-violent campaign, using mainly public relations techniques, that goes on while a war is taking place.Mordechai Kedar: Gaza, A Tragedy of Errors
Confusing the two leads to a failure in achieving a correct understanding of the situation at hand. Hamas does not have an army in the conventional sense of the word as it is only a guerilla movement that gained control of an area and runs it. Since its resources are limited, it must rely on external aid, in this case, from Iran.
But Hamas is engaging in "Revolutionary Warfare", a form of conflict whose rules were laid down by the Communists and polished by Mao Tse Tung. They entail several basic principles: (h/t Alexi)
The Gazan tragedy is first and foremost the result of its transformation into a base for jihad against Israel, but also a result of Israeli mistakes – and those of Europe and the United States, who assumed that their goals and priorities are those of the PLO members, Hamasniks and Jihadists.Europe is Just Fine with the Killing of 626 Jews
It is crucial that the present reality serve to open everyone's eyes to the truth, that it is understood that the Middle East has its own priorities and objectives – quite unlike those of the West – and that in this part of the world the only survivors are those who cannot be defeated.
Proper government, a viable economy, health, education and welfare are far less important than the main objective – destroying Israel.
It adds up to a total number of 626 Jews killed by Hamas.Muslim double standards abound
If you consider it legitimate to continue talking and working with Hamas, on which political and moral ground can you condemn its pogroms against the Jewish people?
When three Jews were killed in Toulouse, France, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton compared them with "children who are killed in Gaza". This is the same as Hamas' genocidal ideology.
First the European Union and the United States embraced Yasser Arafat and his thugs, who killed thousands of Jews. They gave them money and weapons to commit another mini Holocaust. It is now the turn of Hamas.
Europe is not interested in the Jewish children whose throats were cut in Itamar or the ones murdered in the school in Ma'alot or in the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv. For Europe, Jewish children are just "untermenschen" as defined by the Nazis.
Here's why. It is not the race or religion of the victim that counts, but the identity of their tormentor.It's time to bust the ‘Israeli blockade led to Hamas rockets’ myth
As long as it's an Arab army annihilating fellow Arabs or a Muslim military murdering fellow Muslims, too many Muslims simply shrug away our responsibility and say, "leave it to Allah" as the Qur'an supposedly commands.
However, if the Muslim falls victim to the "kuffar" - meaning the Jew, Christian or Hindu - then many of our clerics take to the pulpit and deliver fiery, end-of-times lectures, using the tragedy as a reason to ignite hatred against the other, in most cases "The Jew".
I wonder if God has heard this mosque sermon by a prominent Pakistani cleric.
"And a time is about to come when Allah would bestow such a success on Islam that there would not be a single Jew left on the face of the earth. ... And when the last Jew will be killed from this world, then peace would be established in the world ..."
It would appear the depth of hatred many of God's "best of people" disseminate, needs his attention.
That is, if he is listening at all.
Here is the widely believed fallacy: the Israeli blockade of Gaza led to the firing of Hamas rockets from Gaza.The use of mosques in the Gaza Strip for military purposes by Hamas and other terrorist organizations: the case of the Al-Farouq Mosque
And here is the little known truth: it was the firing of Hamas rockets from Gaza that led to the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The fallacy distorts our understanding of why these escalations keep happening and what will make a durable peace possible. The fallacy frames the Israeli blockade of Gaza as motiveless and cruel at best, demonic at worst, while it presents the firing of Hamas rockets on Israeli civilians as acts of resistance. The fallacy makes us think that if only Israel "lifted the blockade" then peace would break out.
The fallacy spreads because of ignorance.
The Al-Farouq Mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp after being attacked on July 12, 2014, by the Israel Air Force. According to Israeli military sources, the mosque was used for storing rockets and weapons and as a compound for Hamas operations. The Arabic graffiti written on the wall reads “We will stand firm, Netanyahu. The Al-Farouq Mosque, July 12, 2014” (Filastin al-'Aan, July 12, 2014).Ryan Bellerose: There Is A Constant Misuse Of The Term Genocide
Attack on the Al-Farouq Mosque
1. During Israeli air strikes in Operation Protective Edge, the Al-Farouq Mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip was attacked on July 12, 2014. Israeli media, relying on military sources, reported that the mosque was used as a compound for Hamas operations and for storing rockets and weapons.
There is a constant invoking and misuse of the term “genocide.”JCPA: Iran: The Regional Power behind the Hamas War Effort
It seems everybody wants to claim their people went through a genocide as if it’s some sort of badge of honor and not a horrific event, but the constant invoking of the term for peoples who have not even remotely undergone one, devalues it and legitimizes it. It is the modern day version of “crying wolf”. In fact, by using it so constantly and for conflicts in which it has no place, it has made the word commonplace and no longer a word that denotes horrific and intentional targeted loss of life.
Now I am certain some people will be upset, nobody likes to be called out on appropriation or for exaggerating, especially not when it comes to tragedies, however when invoking a word that speaks of acts so horrific that they beggar belief, they need to understand those of us who have undergone actual genocides, are not amused to see people appropriating our tragedies or using them to exaggerate their own.
Iran is an arsonist, inflaming the conflicts in the Middle East. Since the 2012 “Pillar of Defense Operation,” Iran has heavily invested in improving the quantity and quality of the rockets in the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) arsenals. Its endgame is to preserve its influence via its proxies and to use the Palestinian organizations as Iran’s first defense line.The Double Standard of Proportionality
Iranian rockets include Grad, Fajr-3 and the longer ranged Fajr-5, M-75, and M302 rockets which have reached the Haifa region. Iran also provided Hamas with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) (Ababil) and drone technology.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force coordinates the smuggling, shipping and delivery of the weapons to Gaza, the training in Iran and in Lebanon, and the transfer of funds. (h/t Alexi)
Israel’s critics should study 20th century history, not only from the aspect of the Jews. In the Second World War, the Allies had no compunction whatsoever about punishing the Germans for the blitz of Britain and firebombed Dresden, killing approximately 25,000 people. They had no compunction about dropping two atomic bombs on Japan in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, killing about 250,000 people. In Vietnam, the Americans napalmed and otherwise killed more than an estimated one million Vietnamese. In Iran and Afghanistan, “collateral damage” included members of a wedding party and school children, all considered legitimate actions, all considered “proportional.”EU leaders on Gaza: 'Israel has right to protect itself but it must act proportionately'
The ridiculous demand for proportionality contradicts every basic principle of warfare. According to American strategist Thomas Schelling, you have to strike your enemy hard enough to make it not worthwhile for him to continue. Anyone who wants to neutralize Israel’s ability to defend itself against an enemy trying to destroy it and claims “proportionality” has as his objective the destruction of the State of Israel. In the Western world, killing someone in self-defense is considered justifiable homicide.
The EU leaders condemned the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.One Tweet From The IDF Highlights The Difference Between Israel And Hamas
Israel has a right to protect its population from these attacks, but it must act proportionately and ensure the protection of civilians, they said.
The EU "deeply deplores the loss of innocent lives and the high number of wounded civilians in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli military operations and is deeply concerned about the rapid and dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation," the statement said.
As the mainstream media continually misrepresents Hamas' war on Israel and innocent Israeli civilians, one tweet from the Israeli Defense Forces succinctly highlighted the difference between the two parties:Netanyahu to Hamas: 'We Will Fight You and Defeat You'4
"We consider every Palestinian civilian death a tragedy. Hamas considers every Israeli civilian death an accomplishment."
"Those who shoot at us are not looking for a political solution, they want the destruction and disappearance of Israel," Netanyahu stated Wednesday afternoon. "We have only one answer for them: we will fight you and defeat you."Netanyahu Condemns Arab MK's Pro-Palestinian Stunt
"Israel must take immediate action to defend itself, as any normal country would do against terrorists who commit war crimes," he added.
"They killed an Israeli citizen yesterday, but they’re targeting millions of our citizens, directly targeting them with rocket fire which is a war crime, and also using their own civilians as human shields – another war crime," he continued. We’ve been trying to find a solution to this problem."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not happy about the conduct of several Arab MKs in the Knesset on Wednesday, after a video surfaced of Balad MK Basal Ghattas holding a "moment of silence" for the "victims of Israeli aggression in Gaza."Israel’s Netanyahu to Italy FM: ‘Imagine Rome, Florence and Milan Were Rocketed Indiscriminately by a Terrorist Group Next to You’
Sources told Arutz Sheva Wednesday night that Netanyahu condemned the stunt in a series of heated comments to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud).
"Knesset members should condemn the actions of Hamas, which uses Gazans as human shields," Netanyahu said, adding that "Hamas is firing on women and children in Israel, including on Arab villages - as in the case of the Bedouin girls who were wounded."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday asked Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini in Jerusalem to stand in Israel’s shoes for a moment, to imagine what Rome’s response would be to indiscriminate rocket fire into Italian territory.Bennett: Hamas Committing 'Self-Genocide'
Netanyahu told Mogherini: “Italy has one advantage over us. It has sea from three sides. But imagine that your cities of Rome, Florence and Milan were rocketed indiscriminately by a terrorist group next to you. You wouldn’t accept it. And you’d fight back. And that’s what Israel is doing. We’re fighting back.”
In a special interview on CNN Wednesday night, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett said that incidents such as the killing of four children on a Gaza beach earlier Wednesday were entirely the fault of Hamas – and were no accident. “I think it is terrible that Hamas is butchering its own children like this,” Bennett told senior CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer. “I would never take my children and place them next to rocket missile launchers,” knowing that it was likely to be targeted by the IDF, he said.There were 30 seconds between me and death, says Ashkelon teenager
“Hamas is conducting massive self-genocide, taking women and children and placing them next to missile launchers,” said Bennett. The fact that the kids were playing on the beach is irrelevant, said Bennett, because “we find these launchers all over, at the beach, in hospitals and homes. You have the living room and the missile launching room.
“What they are deliberately doing is seeking to kill as many Palestinians as possible in order to yell to the world to ‘Help us,’ “ Bennett said. “This is cynical and this is cowardly. If you want to send terrorists to fight Israel, send terrorists, not women and children.”
Anat Suisse believes that 30 seconds were all that stood between her and death on Wednesday when a rocket fell in the backyard of her Ashkelon home. The 17-year-old brown-haired teenager was watching television in the living room of her home, just a short distance from the sea, when a warning siren wailed overhead at 2:15 p.m.IDF Blog: IDF Thwarts Hamas Infiltration and Terror Attack
She had just returned from a seminar up North and was alone in her house.
Immediately she raced into the small protected room in the basement one floor below, just off the waiting room of her mother’s medical clinic for children, which was closed that day.
“If I hadn’t done that, I do not know what would have happened, this saved my life,” she said.
Earlier Thursday morning (July 17), IDF forces thwarted an attack by Hamas terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel through a terror tunnel.Footage of Hamas Terror Attack Being Thrawted
This morning, IDF forces identified approximately 13 terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel through a terror tunnel constructed by Hamas. The tunnel led underground from the southern Gaza Strip towards the southern Israeli community of Sufa. IDF forces thwarted an impending terror attack, preventing the terrorists from attacking an Israeli kibbutz. The foiled attack could have had deadly and devastating consequences if carried out. No injuries were reported to IDF soldiers. (h/t Bob Knot)
Tunnel and Weapons Used During Hamas Infiltration into Israel
Rocket Launchers in Gaza Explode After IDF Airstrike
Life in Israel: Rockets Over Ashdod
IDF K-9 Unit Soldier Wounded in Gaza Area Terror Tunnel Blast
An IDF K-9 unit soldier sustained a minor blast injury on Thursday, when an explosion blew out of the tunnel he was about to enter, discovered earlier in the day, Israel army radio said.The Israeli Navy's 'Silent Commandos' in Gaza
It is unclear if his dog was hurt or killed in the blast, which took place within the tunnel, possibly from a booby-trap or ordinance prepared by Palestinian terrorists who emerged from the tunnel at about 04:00, in order to carry out a major attack.
A senior officer from General Staff stated Wednesday afternoon that several IDF land and naval units have also been deeply involved in the operation, helping not only in"behind-the-scenes" work like intelligence, but also to help demolish terror tunnels and attack targets by sea.The Most Intense Night Time Iron Dome Video Yet?
"From the beginning of this war and even earlier, we were prepared for the possibility of a marine invasion by members of Hamas's naval commando," the officer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Arutz Sheva.
He referred to the failed attempt by Hamas terrorists to infiltrate an Israeli kibbutz last week.
"Hamas divers swam in the [Mediterranean] sea for two kilometers," he said. "Once they made it out of the water and landed on the beach, the IDF identified them, and notified air, land, and naval forces; a short time later, they were eliminated."
Is this the most intense night time Iron Dome interception video you’ve ever seen?Play the Iron Dome Game
I’ve stood and watched at least 4 simultaneous night time launches above Tel Aviv personally. I’ve never seen quite so many in the sky at once as this.
If you’re stuck in the bomb shelter, and have nothing to do, you can pretend to help Israel shoot down rockets from Gaza with the new online Iron Dome game, which also doubles as an information source on Hamas terrorism.Iron Dome For Kids
I played. It’s fun. But ultimately, you’re going to lose.
If all you can do is shoot down their rockets, you’re obviously going to lose – that’s the message I got out of both this game, and the reality we’re facing.
The next game they make should be ‘Ground Invasion of Gaza’.
That one we can win.
And this is what my kids wanted to watch 25 times on YouTube tonight. Turn on the (mildly ropey) english subtitles if you can’t guess what he’s saying.As IDF Prepares for Prolonged Hamas Attack, Israel’s Army Ranked 11th in the World
An index created by Global Firepower was originally published in April, but has been referred to by Business Insider and Israel’s Globes business daily this week to give readers more background on the IDF’s capabilities.IDF Launches Investigation After Four Children Die in Airstrike
In terms of the global ranking, the top five armies in the world are in the U.S., Russia, China, India and the UK. The next five are France, Germany, Turkey, South Korea and Japan.
Compared to its neighbors in the Middle East, Israel, at number 11, bests Egypt, at 13, Iran at 22, Syria at 26, Algeria at 31, UAE at 42, Yemen at 45, Morocco at 65, Tunisia at 66, Jordan at 67, and Iraq at 68.
IDF Spokesman, Brigadier General Moti Almoz addressed reports of four Palestinian Arab children being killed in an IAF airstrike on Wednesday, noting that the accidental deaths were the result of Hamas using civilians as human shields.Israel’s Critics Wage War on Reality
"Hamas is hiding among civilians targets," Almoz said, on Channel 2. "Hamas continues to make cynical use of civilian casualties and we will continue to operate within a civilian environment."
The IDF is still conducting an internal investigation on the reports.
It tells you all you need to know about Hamas that its biggest victory to date against Israel–one that is no doubt being celebrated in the fortified bunkers that house its leadership–was the death of four young Palestinian boys on a Gaza City beach on Wednesday. The boys were apparently killed by an Israeli bomb or missile.Both Israel and Egypt Rejected Kerry’s Assistance in Cease-Fire Negotiations
Needless to say, the Israel Defense Forces do not deliberately target children–any more than do the armed forces of the United States or other civilized powers. That is both morally abhorrent and strategically stupid: What possible purpose can be served in killing children? But while deeply harmful and counterproductive for Israel, this inadvertent strike was a big win for Hamas. It produced the most coveted of victories in modern warfare: a front-page picture, taken by the storied New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks, of one dead boy lying on the Gaza sand and another being carried in a man’s arms.
Senior Israeli officials told Haaretz that Kerry offered to come to directly join the talks in each and every call during the attempted brokering of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas on Monday, but was “politely rejected” by all sides.Israel, Hamas deny ceasefire deal reached
Egypt wanted to prove that it could play its traditional diplomatic role with regards to Gaza without U.S. assistance. Israel thought that a visit by Kerry would make it look like the United States pressured Israel to make a deal, which would have been a public relations victory for Hamas.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official had told AFP that Israel and Hamas “have agreed upon a ceasefire that will begin at 6:00am tomorrow.”Blair: Egyptian Ceasefire Was Part of Larger Gaza Solution
But a Hamas official swiftly told the BBC, which first broke the story, that no such agreement had been made. Similarly, a different Israeli official rejected the report.
Tony Blair says Israel’s acceptance of the Egyptian proposed ceasefire in Gaza was only part of a larger plan to stop the shooting and produce a long-term solution to stabilize the Gaza Strip. Those efforts were torpedoed by the Iran-backed Hamas, which rejected the ceasefire instead of entering into negotiations replied with dozens of rockets, saying “will remain forever faithful to the blood of our martyrs.”Egyptian Offical: Hamas to Blame for Gaza Destruction
Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Arabi said Thursday that Hamas was not serious about a cease-fire – and that the terror group was deliberately trying to embarrass Egypt. Speaking in an interview in an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Arabi blamed Hamas for not only failing to come to a cease-fire, but for “shedding the blood of innocent Palestinians” by continuing to attack Israel.From a distance, Mashaal vetoes Gaza cease-fire proposal
“Hamas does not want Egypt to fulfill its obligations as a negotiator between the two sides,” Al-Arabi said. “They do this at the cost of the blood of innocent Palestinians” who are caught up in the Israeli response to the rocket attacks. During the nine days of Operation Protective Edge, the IDF has caused a massive amount of damage in Gaza, destroying buildings that were used by terrorists to fire rockets at Israel. Despite Israel's efforts to avoid civilian casualties, some 200 people have been killed in Gaza so far, more than half of them Hamas terrorists.
Mashaal, who is comfortably based in Qatar, far from the fighting, as well as two Hamas leaders in Gaza – Muhammad Deif, head of Izzadin Kassam, Hamas’s military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, who heads Hamas’s political wing – are the triangle of decision-makers who plot the organization’s next moves.Palestinian Adviser: Hamas Should Have Accepted Cease-Fire
According to assessments in Israel, Mashaal was the voice that ensured that Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israeli cities.
This despite the fact that Hamas has lost some 100 members, including senior field commanders, and that its rocket- firing capabilities have sustained a serious blow in nine days of Israel Air Force strikes, each based on quality intelligence data.
Palestinian adviser Nabil Sha’ath, a Fatah Central Committee Member, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Hamas should have accepted the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire which was accepted by Israel. “We are supporting the Egyptian initiative,” he said. “We want to get a stop to the spilling of blood and the horrible tragic war that is being waged on Gaza.”Why did Hamas reject the ceasefire? SU explains it all to you
According to Sha’ath, “The people who area making decisions for Hamas today are the military, and they do not really accept that cease-fire. They think there are other conditions that have to be met before they accept that cease-fire. But I think that we should continue to try.”
Under the headline “The proposed ceasefire offered the Palestinians of Gaza nothing,” Tony Collins at Socialist Unity tries to justify Hamas’s rejection of a ceasefire. He writes:Israel, Hamas accept temporary ceasefire
"What would this proposed ceasefire mean in practice? It would mean the existing air attacks by Israel would stop."
That’s not “nothing,” Tony.
The Israeli army announced it would halt its bombardment of Gaza between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (0700 to 1200 GMT) Thursday, following a UN request for a humanitarian truce.Humanitarian truce broken as mortars fired into Israel
Hamas later followed suit.
“The Palestinian factions agreed to accept the offer from the United Nations for a cooling-down on the ground for five hours starting from 10 in the morning,” spokesman Sami Abu Zukhri told AFP.
Three mortar shells were fired from Gaza into Israel's south on Thursday, two hours after a "humanitarian" pause went into effect, with both sides agreeing to halt fire. The rockets exploded in open areas in the Eshkol region, causing no injuries or damage.Engel: Hamas Broke Latest Cease-Fire, Only Lasted Two Hours
The truce, agreed at the behest of the United Nations and meant to allow Gazans to stock up on food and supplies, went into effect at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Around 8:45 a.m., shortly before the pause began, sirens sounded in major population centers in central Israel. One rocket reportedly hit an open area in the Hof Hasharon area. There were additional reports of Iron Dome interceptions in the Petach Tikva area.
Around 9:30 a.m., Iron Dome intercepted four rockets in the Beersheba area.
NBC’s Richard Engel, reporting from Gaza, said that only two hours after Israel and Palestine [?] agreed to a humanitarian cease-fire, Hamas fired three mortal shells into Israel.Lebanese Army Finds Launch Pad Used to Fire at Israel
“There was supposed to be this humanitarian pause in the fighting for about five hours to allow supplies to come into the city, to allow Gazans to go out, to inspect their homes, to take money from the bank.”
The Lebanese Army on Wednesday found a launch pad that was used to fire rockets at Israel, The Daily Star reports.Lebanon Files UN Complaint Against Israel
The discovery came hours after Lebanon arrested two Palestinian Arabs who were involved in the rocket attacks.
A security source told The Daily Star that security agencies are convinced the two men are connected to the launching of rockets at Israel. The source said at least one of them is close to Hamas.
Lebanon filed a complaint on Thursday against Israel at the UN Security Council, saying it had violated its sovereignty by opening fire on its territory in retaliation for rocket attacks.Globe Reporter Speculates that Hamas Leaders Hiding in Hospitals
The foreign ministry said Israel fired 102 shells at Lebanon between July 11 and 14, during the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza, describing this as "repeated and dangerous violations".
During that same period at least nine rockets were fired from south Lebanon into Israel.
Israel has responded with artillery fire.
As reported by the Globe and Mail today, Mideast Bureau Chief Patrick Martin claims that Hamas leaders like strongman Mahmoud Zahar are hiding in the undergrounds of Gaza’s hospitals:Muslim cleric in Lebanon to Netanyahu: "We will give the skulls of your midgets as gifts for our children's feet to play with"
“Dr. Zahar was not at home at the time, of course. Nor were any members of his family or staff. He’s somewhere deep underground in Gaza, possibly below a major hospital along with other Hamas leaders, safe from the bombs. His neighbours suffered only relatively minor damage to windows and doors, which were blown right out by the power of the blast.”
Throughout the current conflict with Israel, Hamas TV has been broadcasting expressions of support from around the Arab world. One such show of identification came from the Association of Muslim Scholars in Lebanon.Muslim cleric to Netanyahu: "We will give the skulls of your midgets as gifts"
In a speech, a cleric representing the organization addressed the "midget" Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, promising to give Israeli "skulls" as presents to Gaza's children for use as footballs:
Egyptian TV Host Osama Mounir to Hamas Leaders: Dream on! You Belong in a Mental Asylum
Bar Refaeli boldly quotes the wrong guy
Supermodel Bar Refaeli made a cringe-inducing error on her Twitter feed on Wednesday, falsely attributing a quote said by an Abraham Lincoln character on “Star Trek” to the former president of the United States himself.Environmentalists Slam Israel’s ‘Profligate Use Of Paper’ Warning Civilians (satire)
“There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. there is nothing good in war, except its ending -Abraham Lincoln,” Refaeli posted, with the hashtag #stopterror, alongside an Instagram photo of herself on the beach.
Representatives of several ecologically-minded organizations leveled criticism at Israel’s conduct of Operation Protective Edge today upon discovering that the IDF has been dropping thousands of leaflets to warn Gazans of impending airstrikes. They called the policy “abhorrent,” saying that such a wasteful use of paper betrays a callous, if not willful, disregard for the planet’s shrinking tree resources.Hamas Rockets Leave Leftists Buried Under Collapsed Ideology (satire)
Adam, Teva, V’din, a leading Israeli environmental advocacy group, joined with the local chapters of Greenpeace and several other NGOs in issuing a statement to denounce Israel’s methods of attempting to minimize civilian casualties in the ongoing fight with Palestinian groups launching rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities from the Gaza Strip. The ten-day-old operation has involved more than a thousand different attacks on Palestinian weapons depots, positions, rocket-launchers, launching crews, command centers, fighters, tunnels, and bunkers, all in built-up, heavily populated areas. Despite the destructive power of each attack, combined Palestinian deaths of combatants and civilians has not topped 230. To avoid such casualties, the IDF has taken to dropping leaflets warning neighborhood residents ahead of strikes, a practice to which the environmental groups object.
While Hamas rocket-launch teams in Gaza continue their so-far-unsuccessful attempt to sow widespread death and destruction among the Israeli civilian population, the Home Front Command today reported a sharp increase in referrals of leftist Israelis for treatment of psychiatric trauma.
Hospital emergency rooms that had been prepared for numerous physical injuries have instead been receiving a large number of psychiatric cases. Shock among leftists is apparently the major cause, according to ER spokespeople and patients. “This morning I was watching CNN report how innocent Palestinians, disabled women and children among them, were being killed by the Zionist air force when the sirens went off for the umpteenth time,” said a shaken Cameron Sickle, a Tel Aviv member of the Meretz party. “Before I could get to the shelter, I was out in the open and there was this big crash – I was suddenly struck by the notion that Hamas could have built a functional, possibly even thriving Gaza, but instead they are trying to kill me, and CNN and the BBC never told me that, and of course why should they and I just can’t take it and.. and…” Sickle is under sedation at Asuta Hospital.
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