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JPost Middle East- Analysis: Why has the West Bank been quiet? January 6, 2009
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- Rice: U.S. backs Egypt proposal for Gaza cease-fire January 7, 2009U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday Washington backed a proposal by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. ...
- ANALYSIS / Israel must double, triple, quadruple its medical aid to Gaza January 7, 2009A few days ago, Physicians for Human Rights began soliciting $700,000 in donations for hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli humanitarian organization also provided a detailed list of the medical equipment Gaza lacks, including portable monitors, respirators, ultrasound and X-ray machines, wheelchairs, needles, dressings, catheters, oxygen, medical gases, endo-tracheal tubes, screws and plates for shattered limbs, and surgical gloves. According to PHR, Gaza also has a severe shortage of intensive-care beds, which cost about $50,000 apiece. Moreover, many Palestinian ambulances are out of commission. ...
- As truce efforts grow, Israel mulls expanding Gaza ground op January 7, 2009Israel's political leadership will meet in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning to discuss expanding the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip at a time when most of the aims of the operation have been met. ...
- Venezuelan President Chavez: Gaza operation is a Palestinian 'holocaust' January 7, 2009Venezuela expelled the ambassador to Israel on Tuesday in protest over the offensive in Gaza only hours after leftist President Hugo Chavez called the attacks a Palestinian "holocaust." ...
- Israel to establish 'humanitarian corridor' for Gaza Strip January 7, 2009Israel will set up a "humanitarian corridor" to counter a crisis caused by its offensive in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office ...
- Rice: U.S. backs Egypt proposal for Gaza cease-fire January 7, 2009
Qassam, mortar barrage hits south
At least 14 rockets, eight mortar shells fired from Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning; no injuries reported, kibbutz house and building in military base sustain damage. One of rockets lands near factory in Ashkelon. Rocket fire follows killing of three Palestinian terrorists by IDF on Tuesday
Shmulik Hadad
| Latest Update: | 12.24.08, 08:32 / Israel News |
“Rain” of rockets, mortars in south: Palestinians fired 14 rockets and eight mortar shells from the northern Gaza Strip towards the western Negev on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. One of the rockets landed near a factory in Ashkelon’s industrial zone.
Two rockets hit Ashkelon in the last barrage, at around 8:25 am. Four rockets landed west of the city of Netivot. Four Qassams were fired at around 7:30 am. Two of the rockets landed in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council limits, one landed in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council and one on Palestinian territory.
There were no reports of injuries in all incidents, but the Israel Defense Forces reported that a house in a kibbutz belonging to the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council sustained damage from a rocket fired overnight. A mortar shell hit the roof of a building in a military base.
The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, claimed responsibility for Wednesday morning’s rocket fire.
On Tuesday afternoon, an IDF patrol killed three terrorists who were seen approaching the security fence on the border with Gaza, adjacent to the Israeli community of Netiv Ha’asara, located just north of the Hamas-controlled enclave. No injuries were reported among the troops.
The terrorists were trying to plant an explosive device along the fence when an IDF outpost identified them and dispatched soldiers from the Paratrooper Brigade’s 101st Batallion to the scene.
The force crossed into Gaza and made its way toward the terrorists. An exchange of fire ensued, during which the terrorists succeeded in detonating a bomb near the soldiers and throwing a grenade in their direction.
Six Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The sixth rocket landed near an educational institution in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no injuries.
Meanwhile, the efforts to reach understandings on renewing the half-year truce between Israel and Hamas continue. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Tuesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and the two discussed the Egyptian efforts to resume the lull.
“We won’t agree to an Israeli invasion in Gaza or even an aerial attack,” Abbas said at the end of the meeting.
One of Hamas’ leaders, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, saidTuesday that his organization was willing to renew the truce in Gaza if Israel adheres to the terms that have been agreed upon last June.
Speaking with Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram, al-Zahar said that the movement would reassess the situation in Gaza once the 24 hours during which Hamas vowed to halt rocket fire come to an end.
Abbas: We won’t agree to Israeli invasion of Gaza
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets with Egyptian counterpart to discuss renewing truce between Hamas, Israel. We won’t agree to Israeli invasion of Strip,’ he adds
Roee Nahmias and AP
| Published: | 12.23.08, 16:51 / Israel News |
“We won’t agree to an Israeli invasion in Gaza or even an aerial attack,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday during a joint press conference in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The Palestinian president said Egypt will push for a new truce between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Strip, and referred to the rocket fire on the Jewish state as “foolish”.
The six-month-old truce, mediated by Mubarak, expired last Friday.
Abbas and Mubarak in Cairo (Photo: Reuters)
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is scheduled to come to CairoThursday for talks with Mubarak about a new truce. Abbas also said he and Mubarak agreed that reconciliation talks between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah party should go forward.
Talks brokered by Egypt and slated to take place last November fell apart when Hamas pulled out at the last minute over a dispute with Fatah over releasing Hamas prisoners.
On Monday Mubarak invited Livni to Cairo in the hopes of preventing the further deterioration of the Gaza standoff.
Livni is expected to present Jerusalem’s current stance, which holds that enough is enough – and that Israel is duty-bound to protect its citizens from the incessant rocket and mortar fire from Gaza.
“We will not allow the prolonged existence of a Hamastan state in Gaza,” Livni said during a Kadima security convention in preperation for her visit to Egypt. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahar saidTuesday that his organization was willing to renew the truce in Gaza if Israel adheres to the terms that have been agreed upon last June. Speaking with Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram, al-Zahar said that the movement would reassess the situation in Gaza once the 24 hours during which Hamas vowed to halt rocket fire come to an end.
According to the Hamas leader, if the situation appears to be going in a positive direction, the group would consider maintaining the lull.
Hamas signals thaw; Israel sets up Gaza offensive
israel-boy-tank
JERUSALEM (AP) — Gaza’s ruling Hamas on Monday ordered militants to hold their fire for 24 hours and said a truce with Israel could be restored, but as rockets continued to fall, Israel signaled it was preparing for a possible offensive.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 TV, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar indicated that Hamas is interested in renewing the truce with Israel.
“The price is the lives of the Palestinian people,” he said, demanding regular food and electricity supplies from Israel along with stopping Israeli military actions in the West Bank as well as Gaza.
Israel did not agree to halt operations in the West Bank under the truce, which expired Friday, and Israeli officials refused to comment on the interview.
Hamas said militants were told Monday to halt rocket fire for 24 hours to see if Israel would allow vital supplies to be shipped into Gaza.
Smaller factions that also attack Israel, including the Islamic Jihad, said they received no such order, and another Hamas official Ayman Taha, threatened a renewal of suicide bombings in Israel.
The Israeli military said three rockets were fired by nightfall, far fewer than in previous days, but military spokesman Maj. Peter Lerner said the cargo crossings remained sealed on Monday. Israel routinely seals its border with Gaza in response to rocket fire.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who brokered the initial truce, invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to Cairo on Thursday to discuss a new deal, Livni’s office said.
Officials in her office said Livni was prepared to listen, but she would also complain about the hundreds of rockets and mortars that have been fired at Israel over the past month. The renewed attacks have stepped up pressure on the government to respond with force.
Israeli officials said the government has dispatched diplomats to win international sympathy for the plight of Israelis within range of militant fire — a reflection of the fact that most world attention has been focused on hardships in Gaza.
Since Hamas overran Gaza last year, Israel has severely limited shipments through its crossings with Gaza, and shortages are widespread. Israel accuses Hamas of manipulating supplies for propaganda purposes.
“People abroad perhaps do not understand the real distress of Israelis in the south who live with the rocket threat,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. “Then you wake up in the morning with an Israeli response, and you don’t understand where it came from.”
The new diplomatic offensive sent an indirect message to Hamas that Israel is ready to act. Still, analysts believe both sides want to renew the truce, which held for five months before unraveling in November and ending formally on Friday.
Past incursions have not stopped the rocket fire, and an Israeli operation into Gaza’s dense urban landscape would likely mean heavy casualties on both sides.
“There is real concern in the military and the defense ministry about the price, and they are trying everything not to go into Gaza,” said Reuven Pedatzur, a military analyst at Tel Aviv University.
But if a rockets kills a large number of Israelis, he said, “they won’t have a choice.”
Another factor influencing Israeli decision-making is a general election, set for Feb. 10. Barak and Livni are battling for the same centrist voters, and a failure to act might play into the hand of their main opponent, Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, who favors stern and swift action in Gaza.
Late Monday in southern Gaza, a Hamas militant was killed and three others wounded when a shell they were carrying exploded accidentally, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, a Palestinian Health Ministry official.
While battling Hamas, Israel has been negotiating peace with Hamas’ rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules from the West Bank. Abbas was in Moscow on Monday to discuss the peace efforts with Russian leaders.
“We hope we will continue to cooperate productively, especially as the number of problems we are facing haven’t become smaller,” said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia is a member of the “Quartet” of international Mideast mediators. Unlike its Quartet partners, it has maintained ties with Hamas, potentially giving it influence as a mediator.
Hamas declares day-long Gaza truce as mortar shell hits Negev
By Barak Ravid,
Haaretz Staff and News Agencies
Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip are observing a 24-hour halt to rocket fire against Israel at the request of Egyptian mediators, a senior official of the ruling Islamist Hamas group said on Monday.
The announcement was released just as a mortar shell exploded in the Eshkol region of the western Negev. There were no reports of injuries.
The Hamas spokesman, Ayman Taha, said the brief cease-fire went into effect on Sunday evening. He said Hamas might consider a longer truce if Israel were to reciprocate by ceasing all military attacks in Gaza and lifting an embargo on the impoverished territory.
A six-month Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday with exchanges of fire across the border, raising fears of a wider conflict.
“Hamas and other factions agreed in order to give a chance to the Egyptian mediation and to show that the problem was always on the Israeli side,” Taha told Reuters.
“If a new [truce] offer were made, which met our demands, then we would be willing to study it.”
The surge of Palestinian rocket fire and Israel Air Force strikes over the weekend prompted calls in Israel to launch a wider offensive in Gaza.
Taha said any such escalation would be met by Palestinian retaliation including suicide bombings inside Israel.
Asked about Taha’s statements, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said they were “not true at all.” Israeli government officials were not immediately available to respond to Taha’s statements.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said that, as of Sunday evening, Palestinians in Gaza had fired at least one rocket and four mortar bombs across the border.
‘Hamas hasn’t signaled desire to renew truce efforts’
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority sources told Haaretz earlier Monday that Hamas has not given Egypt any signals that it is interested in renewing a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
The sources, who recently held talks with officials in Cairo, said Hamas has apparently not asked Egypt to renew its mediation efforts on the truce, which began in June and collapsed last Friday following numerous breaches.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to visit Egypt on Tuesday for a series of meetings with senior officials, on issues including the cease-fire agreement and internal Palestinian dialogue.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks Monday morning with her Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Abu Gheit, during which she emphasized that Israel would not tolerate the continued firing of Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Livni also said reiterated Israel’s stance that Hamas was responsible for the collapse of the six-month truce and for the ongoing rocket fire. She added that Israel would do everything necessary to protect its citizens in the south.
Barak: Israel won’t accept continued rocket fire
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has drawn criticism for his perceived reluctance to launch a massive military operation into Gaza, also said earlier Monday that Israel would not accept the continuation of rocket fire on its southern communities from Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.
The six-month truce between Israel and Gaza rulers Hamas ended late last week, when Hamas announced it would not be renewing the cease-fire.
“We have no intention of accepting the situation as it is developing in Gaza and we have no intention of accepting a continuation of fire on the Gaza envelope communities,” Barak told a meeting of the Labor Party’s Knesset faction.
The defense minister also called for an end to the speculative “chatter” about any Israeli military action in Gaza, which he said was interfering with IDF planning and the army’s capabilities and effectiveness, which in turn would extract a higher price.
Meanwhile, one of Barak’s Labor Party colleagues said Monday that Israel might be ready to consider a new truce with Hamas, in an apparent change of tone since the cease-fire ended.
Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog, a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s security cabinet, questioned the long-term efficacy of any major military sweep of the crowded and impoverished coastal strip, and said renewing the truce, originally brokered by Egypt, could be an option.
“The calm is, of course, one alternative, and it is an alternative that can be seriously examined,” Herzog told Israel Radio. “I, like many of my colleagues, am ready to consider continuing the calm, on terms that are comfortable for Israel.”
Asked whether this might be broached with Hamas, Herzog said: “No, I don’t think we can open negotiations. Right now we are dealing with an enemy who is not looking for negotiations.”
Israeli officials are split on a response to the rockets which have pounded areas of the south over the past week. Both Barak and Olmert continued to urge restraint on Sunday, but Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who replaced Olmert as Kadima’s head, and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads Likud, argued that Israel must get rid of the Hamas-run government. Israelis in the Qassam-hit communities have accused politicians of acting with an eye on the upcoming general elections.
While it seems that Israel’s government has still not decided on a course of action regarding Gaza, it has nonetheless kicked off a public relations campaign with the intention of widening a basis for international support of a military offensive.
No Gaza orders yet
Meanwhile, senior IDF officers told Haaretz on Sunday that the army has not been ordered to make any preparations for a major operation in the Gaza Strip, but did not rule out the possibility of a future offensive.
Th Gaza Division has received no orders for any ground operations, said the officials, despite Barak’s announcement Sunday that he has instructed the defense establishment to prepare for an offensive on Gaza in light of the escalating rocket fire from the coastal territory.
The officials said that as of now, offensive efforts would be waged mainly from the air. However, they added, a ground operation could be launched in the future if Hamas escalates from relatively small-scale attacks on border regions to large-scale rocket attacks deeper inside Israel.
The IDF is, nonetheless, increasing its level of readiness. In particular, the Home Front Command has worked hard over the past two weeks to improve rocket alert systems in communities located 30 to 40 kilometers from the Strip. It has systematically examined the warning systems in those communities and installed sirens in locations that lacked them, including educational institutions.
It also sent explanatory letters to residents and distributed 12,000 beepers to notify people of “Color Red” alerts whenever a Qassam is fired.
Nineteen rockets struck the western Negev on Sunday, following a barrage of 13 rockets and 20 rounds of mortar shells on Saturday alone.
Hamas Machine-Gun Fire at Air Force Helicopters
(IsraelNN.com) Hamas terrorists aimed machine guns at IAF helicopters Sunday night during three counterterrorist strikes on terrorists. No one was injured, and none of the pilots reported damage from the fire.
The terrorist organization warned that it is training its growing army to prepare for “Zionist war forces.” Hamas’s official website uses the term “Zionist” in order to avoid using the term “Israel.”
“The Zionist forces announced that the Zionist Air Force is ready to execute number of war attacks at the Palestinians over [Gaza] in the next two days,” Hamas stated. “Hamas representatives are not ruling out a renewal of all resistance means as a response to the Zionist aggression…. Rocket fire is in the hands of the military wing. It will decide how to react.”
Terrorists fired 20 Kassam rockets and several mortar shells on Sunday, but no attacks were reported as of 9 a.m. Monday. Egypt has urged Hamas to stop the attacks, and Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Prof. Gabriela Shalev filed a complaint with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the escalation in Gaza terrorist violence.
Sunday’s attacks reached as far north as Ashkelon; one foreign worker was wounded while working in a Moshav greenhouse and one house in Sderot sustained a direct hit, sending one person into shock.
Olmert and Barak: We Must Act With Responsibility
The people of Israel in every place and house are calling for the government to protect the nation’s citizens
In response to calls by cabinet members to silence the escalating terrorist violence emanating from Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the government to “act with responsibility” at the Sunday morning Cabinet meeting.
“A responsible government does not happily go to battle, though we will not hide from the option,” Olmert said, adding that plans of action are in place, but offering no specifics.
Ten Kassam rockets and three mortar shells were fired from Gaza Sunday morning, and one rocket scored a direct hit on an Israeli home.
“There are clear scenarios and clear plans. The government will take appropriate action and will take responsibility for the situation,” Olmert added.
Barak echoed the prime minister’s words. “I have ordered the army and the security establishment to prepare for what can be done. We want any operation undertaken to have a successful conclusion,” he said.
Both Olmert and Barak also spoke out against those who have called on the government to respond to Hamas terrorism. “I know we are in a sensitive time,” Olmert said referring to the upcoming elections. “I will not compete with those who are making impassioned statements.”
Barak added, “Some of these calls [on the government to act] are extraneous and hurt our ability to do what is necessary. I call on the prime minister to calm down some of these politicians.”
Numerous ministers have called on the government to act since the “ceasefire” with Gaza ended on Friday. Both before and since the end of the cease fire, dozens of Kassam rockets have landed on the communities surrounding Gaza, causing widespread damage and injuries.
Shas Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Eli Yishai responded harshly to Olmert and Barak’s calls for restraint. “Let Barak transfer his office to Sderot,” he said. “If these attacks were happening in the center of the country the government would respond immediately.”
Earlier in the morning Transportation and Road Safety Minister Shaul Mofaz called for government action in an interview with IDF Army Radio. “The people of Israel in every place and house are calling for the government to protect the nation’s citizens,” he declared, adding, “He [Defense Minister Barak] must wake up and realize that the ceasefire was not good for Israel. He must do something, there is no other choice.”
Defense officials: IDF to operate in Gaza soon
Security establishment says Palestinian groups in Gaza have left Israel no choice but to launch broad military operation in Strip to quell incessant rocket fire. ‘We will definitely pay a price, but we cannot allow the current situation to continue,’ one of them says
Ron Ben-Yishai
| Published: | 12.21.08, 00:33 / Israel News |
The security establishment estimates that Israel will soon have to launch an extensive military operation in Gaza in an effort to quell the incessant rocket and mortar fire on the country’s southern region, Ynet has learned.
Senior defense officials said that the time for hesitation has passed, as the armed terror groups have left Israel no other choice but to act inside the Hamas-controlled enclave.
However, it is estimated that the results from such an operation will not be evident immediately and the rocket fire will continue and even increase during the first days of the operation – before it begins to subside.
Therefore, the defense officials said, the Israeli public, particularly the residents of the Negev, must be prepared both mentally and physically for the continuation of the attacks emanating from the Strip.”We will definitely pay a price, but we cannot allow the current situation to continue,” one official said Saturday night. “We would like to see the ceasefire resume, but Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees are leaving us no other choice because they are carrying on with the rocket fire. This is why we are on a collision course with them, even if we have to act in the midst of the election campaign here in Israel and before US President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration.”
Similar situation during Ariel Sharon’s term
The security establishment is well-aware that the Israeli public is in favor of a harsh Israeli response and that, for the most part, the rocket attacks are condemned by the international community.
In addition, the security establishment fears that a lengthy operation with heavy casualties for both sides may sway public opinion in Israel and within the international community.
International and domestic pressure may cause the government to cut the military operation short before Hamas and its affiliated groups stop the attacks on Israel’s south.
“Hamas understands that it would be able to claim victory in such a case,” an Israeli official said, “they can read us like an open book, and this is why they keep taunting us – even though they do not want us to launch an operation in Gaza.”
The security establishment is therefore trying to create a situation in which it is clear to Israeli public and the international community that the government has acted with the maximum restraint to prevent a further escalation of violence.
If and when the confrontation does erupt, Israel will make an effort to prevent any escalation on its other fronts. The government will also look to shorten the fighting in Gaza and perhaps call for the renewal of the ceasefire if Hamas accepts its terms.
Israel faced a similar situation under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who ordered the launching of operation Defensive Shield in the West after Israel had suffered hundreds of fatalities from terror attacks carried out during the first year-and-a-half of the second intifada in 2000.
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