Saturday
Jan102009
The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (10 January)
Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 21:25
Latest Story: The Plan to Bring Fatah into Gaza — Livni Speaks
The Final Bush Legacy: Why the US Abstained on the Gaza Resolution
Latest Story: The Plan to Bring Fatah into Gaza?
12:10 a.m. With a lull in activity, we're going for some downtime. We half-expected a major Israeli ground attack before dawn but it appears that the Israeli Cabinet may still be undecided about pushing into Gazan cities.
Meanwhile, it's safe --- and sad --- to say that all is stalled on the political front. This has settled into a frustrating circle: none of the major players wants to appear to make a concession to Hamas (since most of those players want to get rid of the organisation) and, without a concession such as the opening of border crossings, Hamas will not negotiate for a cease-fire.
11:25 p.m. Israeli military says seven soldiers "lightly wounded" on Saturday. More than 60 targets hit in airstrikes. Suicide bomber killed in northern Gaza.
Four members of same family killed by Israeli tank shell near Beit Lahiya.
10:15 p.m. Israeli bombing raids in northeastern Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli "information" services brings out their secret weapon: "internationally-renowned singer Noa", who speaks for peace to "Palestinian brothers":
Now I see the ugly head of fanaticism, I see it large and horrid, I see its black eyes and spine-chilling smile, I see blood on its hands and I know one of its many names :Hamas.
9:55 p.m. Watching Khaled Meshaal recorded statement: while he says Israel has ruined chance of peace, I think he has set down a marker: Hamas will negotiate if there is an unconditional opening of the crossings (which Israel will not accept, of course)
9:50 p.m. Khaled Mashaal, Hamas leader in Damascus, tells Al Jazeera that Israel has failed in Gaza, achieving only "a holocaust which your leaders are trying to use for the next election".
9:45 p.m. Report of 500-1000 demonstrators in front of Israeli Embassy in London. Shoes and signs being thrown, and riot police charging the crowd.
9 p.m. Four Israeli F-16 jets violate Egyptian airspace.
8:30 p.m. Human Rights Watch tells Al Jazeera that it is "convinced" Israeli military is using white phosphorous
8:15 p.m. Information or disinformation? Israel's Channel 2 claims some Hamas fighters are wearing civilian clothes and some are impersonating IDF soldiers.
7:50 p.m. "Rafah Kid" is blogging with updates and opinion from Rafah, Gaza.
7:40 p.m. BBC says up to 50,000 at London demonstration for Gaza. Participants estimate more than 100,000.
6:20 p.m. Israeli military claims that it has killed Gaza City commander of Hamas rocket launching programme.
4:25 p.m. Diplomatic battle lines drawn between Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas. Abbas in Cairo supports "international presence in the Gaza Strip", but Hamas delegation says it was not consulted.
While Abbas covered his back with the warning, "If Israel doesn't want to accept, it will take the responsibility of perpetuating a waterfall of blood," he also set up Hamas for the fall if it does not accept the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal: "If any party does not accept it, regrettably it will be the one bearing the responsibility."
4:15 p.m. Associated Press says leaflets dropped by Israel throughout Gaza announce "a new phase in the war on terror". Israeli Army calls the leaflets "a general warning".
3:45 p.m. Diplomatic negotiations going nowhere. Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the placement in Egypt of international observers for the Gaza-Egypt border, while Hamas have rejected the placement of an international force in Gaza.
3:40 p.m. From the diary of Sami Abdel Shafi, management consultant and columnist in Gaza City:
3:35 p.m. UN says three-hour respite not enough to allow resumption of aid deliveries in Gaza.
3:30 p.m. Israel dropping leaflets on Gaza City residents warning them to stay indoors as it plans to "escalate" offensive.
2:15 p.m. The interview with Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert could have a significant impact if it spreads beyond Al Jazeera, which is featuring it each hour. Gilbert is saying that the injuries he is seeing are not from "ordinary" shrapnel but from DIME (dense inert metal explosive) weapons.
Claims that the Israelis used DIME in Gaza first surfaced in 2006. The weapons have not been declared illegal, but the injuries caused show severe heat as well as percussive damage.
2 p.m. Israeli ground offensive imminent? Israeli Cabinet approves call-up of "unlimited" number of reservists
1:45 p.m. Explosions continue despite supposed three-hour "respite".
1:25 p.m. United Nations official Chris Gunness says Israeli Defense Forces have admitted responsibility for the Jabiliya school/shelter bombing:
In briefings senior officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school. The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional.
Gunness added that footage released by the IDF, trying to show Hamas fighters operated from the school in 2007, was filmed after the UN had temporarily abandoned the site.
1:10 p.m. Israeli military says three-hour "respite" began at 1 p.m. Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin reports that Israeli forces have surrounded all major population centers in Gaza City.
UN is now investigating the Zeitoun mass killing.
1 p.m. Gazan death toll now 815.
12:40 p.m. Israeli tank shell kills eight members of a family in Jabaliya camp.
12:10 p.m. In Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas calls Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal a "rescue initiative" which is "the only mechanism" to end Gaza war. Sharp-eyed readers will note that Abbas makes no reference to the UN cease-fire resolution passed just over 24 hours ago.
12:05 p.m. Latest Israeli airstrike just outside Gaza City as Ayman Moyheldin reports live on Al Jazeera.
12 noon: Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor, says 165 dead children and more than 1200 wounded children brought to al Shifa hospital to date.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin says Israelis are bringing aid into warehouse but international agencies cannot and will not distribute because of security issues and shortage of fuel. No resumption of aid shipments so far. Close combat between Israeli and Hamas forces overnight, with unknown number of Hamas fighters killed and five Israeli troops wounded.
11:10 a.m. Journalists in Gaza demonstrate after the Israeli strike on a building used by media.
11 a.m. Poll of the Day: Hamas' military branch, the Al Qassam Brigades, offers visitors to their English website the choice of "Keep Calm", "Resume Rockets", "Resume Operations". Right now, it's 40 percent each for "Keep Calm" and "Resume Operations", with 20 percent for "Resume Rockets".
Morning Update: Israeli operations continue overnight, with strikes on more than 40 targets, as talks begin in Cairo on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal.
Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "expressed disappointment that the violence is continuing on the ground in disregard". A UN official has called for a war crimes investigation of Israeli actions.
More to our follow-up on the Zeitoun mass killing: The Guardian has an article --- it appears at least 30 members of the al-Samouni clan died in the Israeli shelling of a house, and up to 30 other civilians died nearby. The dead and wounded lay unattended for up to four days.
More than 800 Gazans have been killed since the start of the conflict two weeks ago. Thirteen Israelis, of whom 10 are soldiers, have been killed --- in contrast to the claims of the Al Qassam Brigades that they killed eight Israeli troops in an ambush, claims no losses on Friday.
The Final Bush Legacy: Why the US Abstained on the Gaza Resolution
Latest Story: The Plan to Bring Fatah into Gaza?
12:10 a.m. With a lull in activity, we're going for some downtime. We half-expected a major Israeli ground attack before dawn but it appears that the Israeli Cabinet may still be undecided about pushing into Gazan cities.
Meanwhile, it's safe --- and sad --- to say that all is stalled on the political front. This has settled into a frustrating circle: none of the major players wants to appear to make a concession to Hamas (since most of those players want to get rid of the organisation) and, without a concession such as the opening of border crossings, Hamas will not negotiate for a cease-fire.
11:25 p.m. Israeli military says seven soldiers "lightly wounded" on Saturday. More than 60 targets hit in airstrikes. Suicide bomber killed in northern Gaza.
Four members of same family killed by Israeli tank shell near Beit Lahiya.
10:15 p.m. Israeli bombing raids in northeastern Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli "information" services brings out their secret weapon: "internationally-renowned singer Noa", who speaks for peace to "Palestinian brothers":
Now I see the ugly head of fanaticism, I see it large and horrid, I see its black eyes and spine-chilling smile, I see blood on its hands and I know one of its many names :Hamas.
9:55 p.m. Watching Khaled Meshaal recorded statement: while he says Israel has ruined chance of peace, I think he has set down a marker: Hamas will negotiate if there is an unconditional opening of the crossings (which Israel will not accept, of course)
9:50 p.m. Khaled Mashaal, Hamas leader in Damascus, tells Al Jazeera that Israel has failed in Gaza, achieving only "a holocaust which your leaders are trying to use for the next election".
9:45 p.m. Report of 500-1000 demonstrators in front of Israeli Embassy in London. Shoes and signs being thrown, and riot police charging the crowd.
9 p.m. Four Israeli F-16 jets violate Egyptian airspace.
8:30 p.m. Human Rights Watch tells Al Jazeera that it is "convinced" Israeli military is using white phosphorous
8:15 p.m. Information or disinformation? Israel's Channel 2 claims some Hamas fighters are wearing civilian clothes and some are impersonating IDF soldiers.
7:50 p.m. "Rafah Kid" is blogging with updates and opinion from Rafah, Gaza.
7:40 p.m. BBC says up to 50,000 at London demonstration for Gaza. Participants estimate more than 100,000.
6:20 p.m. Israeli military claims that it has killed Gaza City commander of Hamas rocket launching programme.
4:25 p.m. Diplomatic battle lines drawn between Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas. Abbas in Cairo supports "international presence in the Gaza Strip", but Hamas delegation says it was not consulted.
While Abbas covered his back with the warning, "If Israel doesn't want to accept, it will take the responsibility of perpetuating a waterfall of blood," he also set up Hamas for the fall if it does not accept the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal: "If any party does not accept it, regrettably it will be the one bearing the responsibility."
4:15 p.m. Associated Press says leaflets dropped by Israel throughout Gaza announce "a new phase in the war on terror". Israeli Army calls the leaflets "a general warning".
3:45 p.m. Diplomatic negotiations going nowhere. Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the placement in Egypt of international observers for the Gaza-Egypt border, while Hamas have rejected the placement of an international force in Gaza.
3:40 p.m. From the diary of Sami Abdel Shafi, management consultant and columnist in Gaza City:
Whatever capacity we did have to run our own affairs is now no longer there, and it will make it extraordinarily difficult for the Gaza Strip to go forward whenever the war does end.
Only then will people discover the real cost of this war, when we have to look around and ask just how we begin a rebuilding effort on such a massive scale.
3:35 p.m. UN says three-hour respite not enough to allow resumption of aid deliveries in Gaza.
3:30 p.m. Israel dropping leaflets on Gaza City residents warning them to stay indoors as it plans to "escalate" offensive.
2:15 p.m. The interview with Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert could have a significant impact if it spreads beyond Al Jazeera, which is featuring it each hour. Gilbert is saying that the injuries he is seeing are not from "ordinary" shrapnel but from DIME (dense inert metal explosive) weapons.
Claims that the Israelis used DIME in Gaza first surfaced in 2006. The weapons have not been declared illegal, but the injuries caused show severe heat as well as percussive damage.
2 p.m. Israeli ground offensive imminent? Israeli Cabinet approves call-up of "unlimited" number of reservists
1:45 p.m. Explosions continue despite supposed three-hour "respite".
1:25 p.m. United Nations official Chris Gunness says Israeli Defense Forces have admitted responsibility for the Jabiliya school/shelter bombing:
In briefings senior officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school. The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional.
Gunness added that footage released by the IDF, trying to show Hamas fighters operated from the school in 2007, was filmed after the UN had temporarily abandoned the site.
1:10 p.m. Israeli military says three-hour "respite" began at 1 p.m. Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin reports that Israeli forces have surrounded all major population centers in Gaza City.
UN is now investigating the Zeitoun mass killing.
1 p.m. Gazan death toll now 815.
12:40 p.m. Israeli tank shell kills eight members of a family in Jabaliya camp.
12:10 p.m. In Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas calls Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal a "rescue initiative" which is "the only mechanism" to end Gaza war. Sharp-eyed readers will note that Abbas makes no reference to the UN cease-fire resolution passed just over 24 hours ago.
12:05 p.m. Latest Israeli airstrike just outside Gaza City as Ayman Moyheldin reports live on Al Jazeera.
12 noon: Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor, says 165 dead children and more than 1200 wounded children brought to al Shifa hospital to date.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin says Israelis are bringing aid into warehouse but international agencies cannot and will not distribute because of security issues and shortage of fuel. No resumption of aid shipments so far. Close combat between Israeli and Hamas forces overnight, with unknown number of Hamas fighters killed and five Israeli troops wounded.
11:10 a.m. Journalists in Gaza demonstrate after the Israeli strike on a building used by media.
11 a.m. Poll of the Day: Hamas' military branch, the Al Qassam Brigades, offers visitors to their English website the choice of "Keep Calm", "Resume Rockets", "Resume Operations". Right now, it's 40 percent each for "Keep Calm" and "Resume Operations", with 20 percent for "Resume Rockets".
Morning Update: Israeli operations continue overnight, with strikes on more than 40 targets, as talks begin in Cairo on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal.
Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "expressed disappointment that the violence is continuing on the ground in disregard". A UN official has called for a war crimes investigation of Israeli actions.
More to our follow-up on the Zeitoun mass killing: The Guardian has an article --- it appears at least 30 members of the al-Samouni clan died in the Israeli shelling of a house, and up to 30 other civilians died nearby. The dead and wounded lay unattended for up to four days.
More than 800 Gazans have been killed since the start of the conflict two weeks ago. Thirteen Israelis, of whom 10 are soldiers, have been killed --- in contrast to the claims of the Al Qassam Brigades that they killed eight Israeli troops in an ambush, claims no losses on Friday.
tagged Add new tag, Al Jazeera, Al Qassam Brigades, Associated Press, Ayman Moyheldin, Ban Ki-Moon, Beit Lahiya, Chris Gunness, DIME weapons, Egypt, Ehud Olmert, Gaza, Hamas, Hosni Mubarak, Israel, Israeli Defense Forces, Israeli Defense Ministry, Jabaliya, Jabalya, Jabilya, Khaled Mashaal, Khaled Meshaal, Mads Gilbert, Mahmoud Abbas, Nicolas Sarkozy, Noa, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Sami Abdel-Shafi, The Guardian, United Nations, Zaytun, Zeitoun, al Shifa Hospital in Middle East & Iran, News & Announcements
Add new tag, Al Jazeera, Al Qassam Brigades, Associated Press, Ayman Moyheldin, Ban Ki-Moon, Beit Lahiya, Chris Gunness, DIME weapons, Egypt, Ehud Olmert, Gaza, Hamas, Hosni Mubarak, Israel, Israeli Defense Forces, Israeli Defense Ministry, Jabaliya, Jabalya, Jabilya, Khaled Mashaal, Khaled Meshaal, Mads Gilbert, Mahmoud Abbas, Nicolas Sarkozy, Noa, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Sami Abdel-Shafi, The Guardian, United Nations, Zaytun, Zeitoun, al Shifa Hospital in Middle East & Iran, News & Announcements
Reader Comments (6)
Do you realize that these detainees were Hamas militants right? I'm sure that you forgot to mention this. Btw, how's Gilad Shalit? Israel hadn't heard about him for almost 3 years... no Red Cross visits, no pictures, nothing, why won't you mention that? at least Israel let these people go. Mr Scott Lucas, maybe you can provide us some more details about Gilad Shalit? Since you seem to know so much about what's going on in Gaza...
3:45 p.m. Diplomatic negotiations going nowhere. Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the placement in Egypt of international observers for the Gaza-Egypt border, while Hamas have rejected the placement of an international force in Gaza.
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What was Israel's position?
Israel rejected the idea of observers in Egypt; no word on their position re observers in Gaza.
These pictures show a Palestinian mother dying in her child's arms.
http://www.fardanews.com/fa/pages/?cid=71670
Israeli “information” services brings out their secret weapon: “internationally-renowned singer Noa”, who speaks for peace to “Palestinian brothers”:
Now I see the ugly head of fanaticism, I see it large and horrid, I see its black eyes and spine-chilling smile, I see blood on its hands and I know one of its many names :Hamas.
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I'm am not sure if I am wrong by drawing this parallel, but I have been comparing the Palestinians with the experiences of the Meshket Turks. Like the Palestinians, the Meshket are a displaced people. Stalin took their land away from them. Actually I should say that Stalin took them away from their land! They were never able to return. I see differences in their temperaments. The Meshket Turks are a peace-loving people. This group doesn't send their people on suicide bombing missions. And they have had a rougher time in the post-Soviet years now that the Russian has literally disowned them. They're not white enough or Russian enough, I guess. Like the Palestinians, they too are a displaced people. But they don't wish any harm on Russians or anyone else. Again, they are peace-loving people. They didn't do anything wrong, and yet there are no fanatical elements in that ethnic group. They are much smaller in number (about 60,000), but they are a REAL ethnic group, unlike the Palestinians and they too want to return to their homes. They are not militant. They don't commit acts of terror on Russian cities.
The Bush administration made a bold move by taking these people in on emergency humanitarian grounds. Nobody ever acknowledges that, of course.
View from 5:00. Listen to what this young girl has to say - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uTJQ_H0xcpA
It's only about 3 minutes. Again, from 5:00.
And it's the Georgians that have placed absurd demands on them for their return.