NOVEMBER 2007

As Israel Escalates Military Attacks in Gaza, Washington Gives Green Light for a Large-Scale Attack on the Strip

  The US administration has given the “green light” for an extensive Israeli military operation in Gaza, according to an article quoting diplomatic sources in the Lebanese newspaper, Al Akhbar, Saturday.   The sources added: “Washington’s approval undermines the negotiations for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement ahead of the Annapolis peace conference.”    The approval also begs the question, what value lies in Condoleeza Rice’s many stop-overs in Israel and the West Bank now?   According to Al Akhbar, diplomatic sources cited Israel as having relayed intelligence reports to Washington explaining the pressing need for an extensive incursion, in response to the “escalation in the activity of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.”   To the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians of the Gaza Strip, this outspoken support for a massive Israeli assault on Gaza is an appalling contradiction to the US administration’s calls for peace.  The belief amongst the long-besieged population is that a major attack on Gaza means more bloody massacres and increased starvation among Palestinians, at a time when all borders are long-closed and the entire Strip is already suffering from near-daily Israeli military incursions, leaving dead and severely injured on an almost daily basis.  

Israel Using Internationally Banned Weapons on Civilians   In southern Gaza’s Khan Younies, civilians’ bodies lie torn apart and scattered: fragments of flesh, arms, fingers, and even heads are strewn all over the ground as well as under the rubble of the just-bombed police station.  This grotesque scene is not a new one for the people of Gaza, whose battering goes unnoticed in the press, smothered, ironically, by talk of Israel’s security and overtures for peace with the upcoming US summit.    Israeli warplanes fired two rockets at a Khan Younies police station, killing 4 policemen from the force of Gaza’s dismissed Hamas government.  Israeli military sources commented on the crime: “the air strike, relatively rare recently, is an indication that Israel will not continue to exhibit restraint towards the firing of mortars at Israeli population centers.”  Human rights groups in Gaza have documented the killing 15 Palestinians in the Strip in this week alone –results of the restraint Israel has exhibited? –from Israeli aerial and land bombardments which have targeted civilian areas.   “We were inside our house and then suddenly we heard an explosion.  My children were terrified; it felt as if the bomb hit our house, but we realized it struck the police station nearby our house,” recalled Said Abu Abed a 32 year old father of three.   Israeli-fired rockets hit the entrance of the police station, in New Abasan to the east of Khan Younies.  The 4 policemen on guard duty in the outside gate were killed immediately, their bodies shredded to unrecognizable fragments, making identification difficult for medical workers.  They were later identified as aged 21, 22, 23, and 25.

In an interview in Gaza, Khaled Radi, the spokesman of Ministry of Health, confirmed that the Israeli helicopters are targeting civilians using internationally prohibited weapons.  “Israel used nail rockets, which made deep wounds, tore apart and burned the bodies of the four policemen yesterday.”   “That Israel uses such prohibited weapons and targets civilian police is an indication Israel doesn’t want stability in the region, as the job of those policemen is to keep law and order in Gaza,” added the spokesman.   Countless such Israeli attacks continue to ravage Gaza, while at the same time Palestinian factions continue launching homemade rockets and mortars towards southern Israel.   “Enough is enough.  Israel has crossed all lines by attacking our houses and killing our sons,” said 42 year old mother, Umm Helmi, from Khan Younies, traumatized by the Israeli rockets.  “Israel terrifies our children and is starving us to death,” she added.   Earlier on Tuesday an Israeli rocket hit a house in the northern Gaza, injuring at least two children.  The Israeli Army however, claims that the rocket misfired, hitting the house.  

Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli Army invaded Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip close to the border with Egypt.  Eyewitnesses report that a curfew has been imposed, meaning people cannot leave their houses at all, for food, medicine, work…   “We are trapped inside our house, and still the Israeli soldiers are going from house to house, attacking and arresting people in our neighborhood,” said a Rafah citizen over the phone, remaining anonymous out of fear for his security.   Border Closures and Power Cuts   Israel controls all Gazan border crossings, of which the two main commercial crossings, Karni and Rafah, have both been closed since June, and the remaining crossings fully-closed since September.  These closures have made prices for basic necessities, including food, skyrocket, and have additionally denied passage to at least 100,000 Palestinians since June alone.   

This week, Israel began to further strangle Gazans, reducing the amount of fuel pumped to Gaza.  Israel’s plan to additionally reduce power supplies has been put on hold by Attorney-General, Menachem Mazuz, who at the same time gave full support to other sanctions imposed on Gaza, according to the IRIN, the UN news agency.   “Israel is not punishing Hamas, they are punishing us, the people who are living in Gaza.  This is insane,” said Palestinian teacher, Adli Mahmoud, from Gaza, commenting on shortages of electricity in Gaza Strip after the Israeli-imposed sanctions.  According to B’Tselem, Gaza was able to generate half of its electricity needs until its main power plant was bombed by Israel in June, 2006, one of many actions to destroy the infrastructure and render Gazans dependent on outside aid and resources.  Now, the UN’s OCHA reports that Israel provides over 60% of Gaza’s electricity.      

United Nations and European Union delegates have urged Israel not to impose “collective punishment,” illegal under international law, on Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.

  Further Carnage in Gaza:   Israeli airstrikes killed four Palestinians in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, and militants fired rockets towards Israel.  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the killings and accused Israel of endangering talks at a time when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was pressing diplomacy in Jerusalem ahead of the upcoming international peace meeting.   Three of the dead were factory workers, torn apart when an Israeli tank shell exploded near the area where they changed clothes for their factory job.  The dead were named as Zaher Al Huar, 40, his son Yussef, 18, and Mohammed Abu Habib, 22.   Another Israeli air strike killed Bassem Khadur, 25, from the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, while one other Palestinian was critically injured.   Early Saturday morning, another Palestinian police officer, Mohammad Siyam, 22, was killed and three others injured in the latest Israeli airstrike, which targeted a civilian car in Morag, near Rafah.    Also near Rafah, Israeli naval vessels fired on Palestinian fishing boats off Rafah’s shore, on Monday morning, seizing four Palestinian fishermen   The litany of Israeli air strikes and resulting Gazan civilian deaths, the land incursions with shelling from tanks, the destruction of agricultural land, the deaths at closed borders, all go on and on, from long before most likely until long after the November peace conference.

October 30

Breaking news: 11 pm - Israeli F16s hit police station building in Khan Younies, leaving at least 4 police members killed and others injured. The dead have not yet been identified but only fragments and piece of human bodies are scattered all over the area and under the rubble of the building. The Israeli F16s are still hovering here.

Earlier in the day:



Civilians of the Gaza Strip, a zone of land solely highlighted in the media for the takeover of Hamas and past fighting attributed to factional rivalries, are dying, abruptly ignored by the world’s media.  The attention they are still receiving comes in the form of ongoing bombing, shelling, and the constant hovering of Israeli warplanes.  Israeli tanks and bulldozers have invaded the southern, northern, and eastern parts of the Gaza Strip, including Shejaia camp, where many people have been killed and injured by the IOF.  Bulldozers have razed vital agricultural land.   Two Palestinian children, aged 2 and 13, and a young woman were killed Saturday in an explosion damaging two houses in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younies.  A Ministry of Interior spokesman cited the source of the attack as an Israeli missile which targeted one of the Khan Younies houses on Saturday morning.



Six other Palestinians, including two children aged 3 and 4, were injured in the blast that partly destroyed one home and damaged several neighboring houses in Al Qarara area east of Khan Younies.  Numerous others were transferred to hospital, suffering from shock.   Nasser Hospital reported the deceased victims as 2 year old infant Bara Tayssir Al Sumairi, her 13 year old brother Najah Al Sumairi, and 20 year old Samah Nawaf abu Thabit.   This comes after a week of Israeli attacks, leaving another 6 Palestinians dead in IOF incursions Wednesday and Thursday. 

This comes after a week of Israeli attacks, leaving another 6 Palestinians dead in IOF incursions Wednesday and Thursday.    In addition to the many Palestinians killed in the past few days, and the numerous injured, the Gaza Strip is still under siege, with severe shortages in electricity, water, and basic needs from the market.   Even things as simple as a bottle of milk, cola, or any soft drink are no longer available in the local markets in Gaza.  Things are getting harder under these grim circumstances, borders closed and ill people deprived of the right to medicine and medical treatment.  Israel is not allowing sick people in critical need of medical treatments, many who have cancer and heart conditions, as was the case with an elderly man who died Tuesday due to Israeli belligerence at the Gaza-Israel Erez border crossing.  The 77 year old man had secured permission for transfer to an Israeli hospital for treatment but was twice turned back at the border.  He succumbed to a heart attack, dying at the border.



Medicine, Electricity and Bread:   Senior Palestinian officials appealed for international intervention Sunday after Israel approved a plan to disrupt power supplies to the Gaza Strip in response to continuing lunching of home made rocket attacks.   The Israeli plan, authorized Thursday night by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, is expected to be implemented immediately after the next rocket attack occurs. It seems that the plan started, as electricity has been cut off repeatedly in northern Gaza.  Indeed, the Israeli energy company, Dor Alon, confirmed receiving orders to begin to cut off fuel from the Israeli Defense Ministry.   Israel provides Gaza Strip with two thirds of Gaza’s electricity, for which the Palestinian Authority must pay.  The remaining third, derived from electricity generators, became scarce in the past few months, with Israel’s closing of the Nahl Ozz crossing, a transit point for liquids and gas.   The United Nations and other international bodies joined Palestinians in denouncing the new measures as collective punishment of the residents of an enclave closed off by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Even before the latest crackdown, Gaza's residents have endured restrictions of travel and shortages of food and supplies imposed by the Israel, backed by Western nations after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip.   “There is no milk in the shop, no medicine in the hospital, and bread is getting more expensive,” said 43 year old Abu Adli.  He was complaining to his neighbour, Fuad, who replied: “Yes, Israel wants to make life impossible for us, and they don’t ever open the borders for us to go and find some other solution.  The aim is to kill us inside our borders, to starve us to death,” he said.   “The world is silent and is thus supporting Israel’s decision to make us starve,” commented Wael.  The 40 year old man sat in the dark on a street in one of Rafah’s camps.  

The electricity is cut off, leaving it a black night where all you can hear are Israeli warplanes hovering over your head, and all you can wonder is, as usual, when will this strangulation of Gaza’s human beings be enough?  When will our suffering be too great for the world?  How many will have died before this time finally arrives?   As I’m writing this news update, 4 Palestinians were killed, and other twenty were injured in Rafah and Biet Lahya attacks. Two are Hamas members, and one who is 17 years old boy and was killed while on his way to school in the north of Gaza Strip.  

Mahmoud Abu Taha,youth, died after waiting 8 hours at Erez crossing, trying to cross to an Israeli hospital for medical treatment for colon cancer. Israel has denied his entry since October 18. His father was has been also arrested in the same day he tried to cross to Israeli hospital.

Internal fighting - The Clans, Fatah and others

At least six Palestinians have been killed and 25 others were wounded in Gaza after Hamas-controlled Palestinian police clashed with the Fatah-loyal Hillis family, one of the larger clans faithful to the Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

  Mohammed Al Susei, 13 years old, and Mohammed Hillis, an armed member of the clan, were killed during the fighting in Gaza City. The father of the boy was also among the casualties.   Hamas officials said the fighting began when members of the Hillis family fired at a vehicle carrying Hamas’ Palestinian policemen.    

Palestinian security forces had demanded the clan surrender members who were involved in clashes on Wednesday in which at least three Palestinians were killed.   Mediators from other Palestinian factions said they had brokered a ceasefire agreement, but areas of the eastern part of Gaza City remained closed off.   Police, Al Qassam Brigades members, and Hillis clan members, patrolled Gaza’s streets carrying guns and closing off the main streets in the eastern part of Gaza.   Gaza’s police forces, formerly known as the Executive Forces, but now officially known as the Palestinian Police, are managed by the Ministry of Interior.  

Ihab Al Ghouseen, spokesman for the Ministry, stated:  “Since last night the members of the Hillis family have shown they have no intention of implementing our agreement and have erected sand blockades, laid mines, and taken up arms.”   Yet, by Sunday the Ministry announced a ceasefire with Hillis family members. in Rafah, where a 50 years old Palestinian mother was killed and more than 17 have been wounded during clashes between Palestinian police , Hamas members and Islamic Jihad members. Heavy clashes are still going on all-over Rafah during all night.(October 22nd.)