‘Leave us alone’
A senior Israeli official says Israel’s response to rockets fired by Hamas should have been more intense in order to get the job done before complaints mounted from the international community. Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel tells Army Radio:
It was obvious that international pressure would mount eventually. We should have acted faster, harder and with more determination. The rocket threat needs to be tackled. The tunnel threat is being addressed, but it is not enough.
On Obama’s calls for an immediate ceasefire:
Obama is stopping Israel just when we have Hamas against the wall […] Leave us alone, go focus on Syria.
Pew: 40% blame Hamas, 19% Israel
A Pew Research poll indicates that 40% of Americans say Hamas is responsible for the 2014 Gaza conflict and 19% blame Israel. The survey conducted from July 24-27 shows that 60% of Republicans say Hamas is most responsible for the current violence, while 29% of Democrats agree that Hamas is responsible, while 28% don’t know who is to blame and 14% blame both sides.
[…] the partisan gap in Mideast sympathies is as wide as it has been at any point since the late 1970s
It shows that 46% of Republicans say Israel’s response has been appropriate while 19% say Israel has not gone far enough and 16% think it has been excessive. For Democrats, 35% say Israel has gone too far, 31% say they have responded appropriately and 9% say the country hasn’t done enough.
Rockets found in third UN school
Rockets are found in a school operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the central Gaza strip, the third such cache discovered in a UNRWA school since the start of Operation Protective Edge. UNRWA employs over 30,000 as the UN’s biggest agency.
Missile strike
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Two-thirds of Gaza is without electricity after a missile strike hits the fuel depot of the city’s only power plant. The depot was hit during the heaviest bombardment in the last three weeks. According to a spokesman for Gaza’s electricity distribution company, the power plant was hit by shells fired from an Israeli tank, a claim which could not be verified.
100 ‘hate crimes’ in UK
Police and community groups in the UK record around 100 hate crimes over the course of a month, including bomb threats, vandalized synagogues, racist banners and assaults. The Community Security Trust charity:
This is well over double what we would normally expect to see and most of the incidents are linked to what’s going on in Israel and Gaza
A CST spokesman says the 50% increase in discriminatory attacks is the sharpest since Israel’s previous Gaza conflict in 2009.
‘When genocide is permissible’ apology
The Times of Israel and 5 Towns Jewish Times remove a blog post by Yochanan Gordon, sales manager at 5TJT and the son of the news site’s founder, titled ‘When Genocide Is Permissible.’ He apologizes:
I never intended to call to harm any people although my words may have conveyed that message. With that said I pray and hope for a quick peaceful end to the hostilities and that all people learn to coexist with each other in creating a better world for us all.
Cached excerpt:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly stated at the outset of this incursion that his objective is to restore a sustainable quiet for the citizens of Israel. We have already established that it is the responsibility of every government to ensure the safety and security of its people. If political leaders and military experts determine that the only way to achieve its goal of sustaining quiet is through genocide is it then permissible to achieve those responsible goals?
Baby born after mother dies
A baby is born by emergency caesarian after her mother dies in the central Gaza strip. 23-year-old Shayma al-Sheikh Qanan is taken to Deir al-Balah hospital in Khan Younis. Dr. Fadi al-Kharti:
Her body was brought in after an Israeli shelling at 3am on Friday. We tried to revive her but she had died on the way. Then we noticed movement in her stomach, and estimated she was about 36 weeks pregnant
43-year-old Mirfat Qanan:
God has protected this child for me. My daughter Shayma is dead, but I now have a new daughter. She’ll call me ‘mummy’ just like her mother did.
Kills over 30 ‘collaborators’
Palestinian media confirms that Hamas has killed over 30 people accused of leading Israeli troops to smuggling tunnels and providing intelligence on Hamas infrastructure. The group apparently performed most of the summary executions during a humanitarian ceasefire 10 days before the executions are reported, and claims that the bodies are victims of the Israel Defense Forces operation in the northern neighborhood of Shejaiya. Evidence of guilt unearthed in short investigations of the suspected collaborators includes weapons, telephones and SIM cards from the Israeli cell provider Orange.
Gaza hospital hit
Israel accuses Hamas of hitting Al-Shifa Hospital and a refugee camp, killing seven children. An Israeli army spokesman says:
This incident was carried out by Gaza terrorists whose rockets fell short and hit the Shifa Hospital and the Beach (Shati) camp.
1,062 Palestinian deaths by Eid
The number of Palestinians killed in the 2014 Gaza conflict rises to 1,062 by Eid al-Fitr with the deaths of 13 people including a senior Islamic Jihad militant during a humanitarian ceasefire ahead of the three-day Muslim holiday. Three Palestinians die of previous wounds while 10 are killed in Israeli air and artillery attacks as the temporary truce breaks down, according to a health official, who adds that 6,037 Gazans have been wounded while 1,960 Gaza apartment blocks have been destroyed and 2,600 more partly destroyed.
Cease-fire extension rejected
Hamas rejects a cease-fire extension. The developments came as a tenuous cease-fire both parties agreed to earlier appeared to be shattered, with at least eight militant rockets again hurtling toward Israel as diplomats pushed for a longer truce in a conflict that has killed more than 1,000 people—mostly civilians. Hamas:
Any humanitarian cease-fire that does not include the withdrawal of the occupation soldiers from Gaza borders and allowing citizens to return to their homes and evacuate casualties is unacceptable.
12-hour ceasefire
0 CommentsIsrael and Hamas begin a 12-hour ceasefire after agreeing a temporary truce on humanitarian grounds. The ceasefire, which appears to be holding, comes after Israel suggested it is preparing to “broaden” its ground assault on Gaza after reportedly rejecting an international plan for a week-long truce.
‘No children left in Gaza’ chant
A mob is captured on video in Tel Aviv apparently mocking deaths of children in the 2014 Gaza conflict:
Tomorrow there’s no teaching in Gaza, they don’t have any children left […] Gaza is a graveyard
The video, published by Israeli journalist Haim Har-Zahav, also takes aim at two Palestinian members of Israel’s Knesset, Ahmed Tibi and Haneen Zoabi.
Rockets fired during extended ceasefire
Israel’s security cabinet votes to extend a humanitarian ceasefire until 1700 Eastern Standard Time. Statement from an official:
At the request of the United Nations, the cabinet has approved a humanitarian hiatus until tomorrow (Sunday) at 24:00. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will act against any breach of the ceasefire
Gazan rescue workers recover 147 bodies from rubble, but Hamas resumes rocket fire before the end of an initial extension of the ceasefire period. Hamas:
Any humanitarian calm that does not include the withdrawal of occupation soldiers from the Gaza Strip and enable the people to return to their houses and to evacuate the wounded is not acceptable
‘Reverse Nazi’ salutes
Demonstrators in in Paris protesting the 2014 Gaza conflict display the quenelle, a reversed Nazi salute. Several thousand gather at the Place de la République despite a state ban on such protests. A chant by the crowd:
Israel is an assassin, Holland is an accomplice […] we are all Palestinians
Rosh Hashanah ‘tunnel attack’ plan
The Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper reports that Hamas had planned to send at least 200 fighters through each of dozens of tunnels into Israel for a major attack to coincide with Sept. 24 Rosh Hashanah Jewish new year celebrations. Unnamed security officials say the plan was to kill and kidnap as many Israelis as possible and bring the abductees back into Gaza via the tunnel network.
Gaza conflict from space
Gerst photographs the Gaza conflict during an International Space Station flyby on the 57th day of his European Space Agency mission.
From the International Space Station we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over Gaza and Israel
My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel pic.twitter.com/jNGWxHilSy
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) July 23, 2014
Two killed in West Bank protest
Two people are killed and at least 90 injured as a protest involving an estimated 10,000 people breaks out in violent clashes with soldiers and border police at a checkpoint in Qalandiya, between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Israeli forces go to heightened alert and mobilize different units in and around Jerusalem to ‘deal with disturbances.’ Army spokeswoman:
There are thousands of rioters there. They are rolling burning tyres and throwing Molotov cocktails and fireworks at soldiers and border police.
‘Preparing next stages’
0 CommentsGolani Brigade troops on the Gaza border are preparing for their next mission as the Israel Defense Forces reaches the end of its actions to locate and destroy cross-border tunnels. The mission may be carried out inside the Gaza Strip. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon:
We are preparing the next stages of the fighting after dealing with the tunnels and you need to be ready for any mission. You need to be ready for more important steps in Gaza and the units that are now on standby need to prepare to go in.
UN: Possible ‘war crimes’
0 CommentsHigh Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay appears to tell an emergency session of the United Nations Human Rights Council that both sides in the 2014 Gaza conflict may be committing war crimes. On Israeli attacks that have resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths:
There seems to be a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes
On rocket attacks by armed groups such as the Qassam Brigades and Islamic Jihad:
Once again, the principles of distinction and precaution are clearly not being observed during such indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups
We remind all parties that indiscriminate & disproportionate attack agst centres of pop. amount to war crimes – UN #OPT expert
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) July 23, 2014