Reporter: rockets fired from Al Shifa hospital
Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat reports rockets fired from ‘right in the back of the parking lot’ of Al-Shifa hospital around 2 a.m. local time. Unnamed correspondent:
Really, it happened right in the area, the sound of it was really loud […] It’s true that rockets are launched here from the Gazan side into Israel
Strikes launched ahead of ceasefire
Hamas reports that the Israel Air Force has struck along the Philadelphi corridor on the territory’s border with Egypt minutes after the 72-hour ceasefire begins, while the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts six incoming rockets aimed at Ashdod, and another three explode outside the town. The truce holds despite the exchanges of fire.
‘Child sacrifice’ ad campaign
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of the This World: The Values Network promotes an essay by Wiesel accusing Hamas of using children as human shields and comparing this to the Jewish myth of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac:
[…] we have produced this advertising campaign with Elie Wiesel, to stop the terrorist cowards of Hamas from hiding behind innocent children and pregnant women
The campaign includes full-page ads in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald and use of social media.
Powerful ad produced by Rabbi Shmuley's org, This World: The Values Network, featuring Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel. pic.twitter.com/TYp26m0uXt
— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) July 31, 2014
Nine killed in West Bank
As many as nine people are reported killed in the West Bank in two days following the breakdown of the 72-hour ceasefire agreement. The Israel Defense Forces resorts to firing live rounds during rioting in Tulkarem city, the villages of Saffa, Beit Fajar and Beit Umar and the Arroub refugee camp while witnesses say a person in a car, believed to be a settler, shoots dead 18-year-old Khaled Azmi Odeh and wounds three others near Nablus. An IDF spokeswoman comments on Tulkarem:
1,200 rioters [throwing] rocks and Molotov cocktails at troops and at an industrial center in the vicinity, endangering workers and passers-by […] The forces used riot dispersal means and once these means were exhausted, they fired at the main instigators
Passes $225 million Iron Dome bill
The U.S. Congress passes a $225 million funding bill for Iron Dome ahead of the five-week summer break for lawmakers. The House of Representatives 395-8 vote in favor follows unanimous Senate approval and the bill now goes to President Barack Obama, who requested the money and is expected to sign it into law. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on the Senate floor:
We will stand with you on the battlefield; we will stand with you in the court of public opinion, and we’re going to push back against the United Nations.
‘Never second guess me’
Netanhayu gives an imperative to the Obama administration over the phone with U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro:
Not to ever second guess me again
He says that he warned the U.S. ahead of time not to trust Hamas to stick to ceasefire conditions, after a three-day truce agreement breaks down within two hours as Hamas militants are said to abduct an Israel Defense Forces soldier on a tunnel operation and the IDF responds with tank shells.
Israeli soldier captured
23-year-old Hadar Goldin is dragged into a tunnel by a Palestinian militant group. The capture happens two hours after a three-day ceasefire begins. Two Israeli soldiers die while searching for the missing soldier. Netanyahu’s office says:
Once again, Hamas and the terror organisations in Gaza have blatantly broken the ceasefire to which they committed, this time before the American Secretary of State and the UN Secretary General
1,459 Palestinian, 64 Israeli deaths
Officials say that at least 1,459 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave ahead of a 72-hour ceasefire agreed to by both sides, and nearly 7,000 wounded, while 61 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting and more than 400 wounded, and three civilians in Israel have been killed by Palestinian rockets.
Kerry: ‘Lull of opportunity’
Kerry urges both sides to use the unexpected three-day truce to secure a more durable agreement:
It is a lull of opportunity, a moment for the different factions to be able to come together with the state of Israel in an effort to try to address ways to find a sustainable ceasefire and then obviously, over a longer period of time, address the underlying issues
Ceasefire a time to try and figure out road ahead; it’s not a solution, it’s the opportunity to find durable solution. #Gaza
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) August 1, 2014
Three-day ceasefire
A 72-hour ceasefire takes effect at 8 a.m. in Israel, midnight Eastern Standard Time. The truce, announced unexpectedly overnight by Kerry during his visit to India and also by Ban Ki-Moon in New York, appears to be holding with fishing boats venturing offshore from Gaza beaches, while Israeli forces on the ground remain in place. The three-day timeframe is considered to be long enough to negotiate on key issues while allowing Israeli forces to complete their mission of destroying smuggling tunnels. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will head to Cairo for talks during the ceasefire. Statement by Kerry and Ban:
We urge all parties to act with restraint until this humanitarian ceasefire begins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the ceasefire
Some fishing boats & kids swimming on #Gaza beach as 72 hours ceasefire went into effect. pic.twitter.com/5mR395VfVN
— Hazem Balousha (@iHaZeMi) August 1, 2014
1,374 Palestinian, 59 Israeli deaths
The Palestinian death toll reaches 1,374 on day 24 of the 2014 Gaza conflict as at least 10 people are killed in Israeli strikes and three more die of existing injuries, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra says. Fifty-six Israeli soldiers have died in fighting and rocket fire has killed two Israeli civilians and a Thai migrant worker inside Israel.
86,000 reservists
An Israel Defense Forces official says the military has called up an additional 16,000 reservists on day 24 of Operation Protective Edge, in order ‘to give the army the time needed to complete the mission.’ This brings the total number called up during the campaign to 86,000.
We’ll decide today where to place them and in which commands
‘Two hours of electricity’
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says Gaza residents are receiving extremely limited supplies of electricity after Israeli shells are said to knock out the territory’s only power plant. UNOCHA:
Gaza city is receiving electricity for about two hours a day, while localities in the Middle Area have no supply at all […] According to the Palestinian Energy Authority, repairs could take months to complete, exacerbating the Gazan electricity crisis. This will affect private households, companies, and public services provision, including water, sanitation and health facilities. Hospitals will depend more heavily on their own diesel-powered generators, which are not adequate to power services for extended periods. Previously, hospital generators have burned out with extensive use, and power fluctuations damage finely calibrated medical equipment
Calls for immediate ceasefire
Abbott calls on both sides to cease hostilities:
It should be a ceasefire immediately by both sides. That’s what there should be, because plainly, too many people are dying. It’s just wrong what’s happening, so there should be a ceasefire
Canberra’s support for Israel isn’t unconditional
[…] they’re capable of making mistakes just like everyone else is, but no one intends, or should intend, any attack which results in the death of innocent people
that’s got to go hand-in-hand with the recognition of Israel’s right to exist behind secure borders. The problem in the Middle East is that in the end so many people are not prepared to accept Israel’s right to exist.
Rouhani: ‘Zionist tumor’
0 0 reuben reuben2014-08-01 12:56:092014-08-01 13:04:09Rouhani: ‘Zionist tumor’Access to U.S. arsenal
The Pentagon confirms that Israel has been allowed to draw tank shells and illumination rounds from a cache of U.S. arms and equipment stored on Israeli soil. Known as the War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel program or WRSA-1, the billion-dollar reserve was established as part of expanded mutual cooperation during the 1980s and can be accessed with U.S. approval, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service the last time Israel was allowed to tap the stockpile was during the 2006 Lebanon war against Hezbollah.
Paris riot police deploy
Hundreds of riot police deploy near the Israeli embassy as several thousand demonstrators turn out in Paris for France’s first pro-Israel rally of the 2014 Gaza conflict. Among signs carried by protestors:
Gaza hostage of Hamas
The protest comes amid reports that France may ban the Jewish Defence League, or LDJ, blamed for provoking violence at pro-Palestinian rallies.
Only 3-4% Israelis say excessive firepower used
A survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University on three separate occasions between 14 and 23 July shows that only 3-4% agreed with a statement that the Israel Defence Forces have used excessive firepower in the conflict.
The majority of Israeli Jewish public see an existential threat in the rockets and tunnels. There is no pressure on people – this is authentic support. People think this is a just war.
Video shows ‘weapons, tunnel’ in mosque
The IDF releases a video it says shows militarization of a mosque:
While operating in Gaza against Hamas, IDF soldiers found a mosque that contained many weapons. Furthermore, two tunnel openings were found in the bottom floor, which was also the prayer area
UN school strike kills 19
Gaza officials say that at least 19 Palestinians die and 90 are wounded as a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is struck by Israeli shells. The Israel Defense Forces says regarding its ongoing investigation:
Hamas militants fired mortar shells from the vicinity of the school, and [Israeli] soldiers responded by firing towards the origins of the fire
A Palestinian child, wounded in an Israeli strike on a UN school in Beit Lahia, Gaza, lies in Kamal Edwan hospital pic.twitter.com/1tLo549jZb
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 30, 2014