Tag: Gaza

Israel retaliates on Hamas targets in Zeitoun, Tel Al-Hawa

From certain parts of this crowded city, one doesn’t hear rockets like the salvo fired from the Gaza Strip in the twilight hours of Wednesday morning, nor the more than two dozen retaliatory strikes b

GAZA CITY, Gaza — From certain parts of this crowded city, one doesn’t hear rockets like the salvo fired from the Gaza Strip in the twilight hours of Wednesday morning, nor the more than two dozen retaliatory strikes by the Israeli Defense Forces shortly after.

The electricity was out in the hotel across from the sea, a regular occurrence. The street was quiet, and there was no internet service, limiting what residents here can learn of the violence raging just blocks away.

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Hamas terrorists fired a rocket towards Israel and made a direct hit on a home in the city of Beersheva, gutting the second floor. While there were no injuries, a mother and her children who had hid in their bomb shelter were treated for “shock” — an all-encompassing term for the nervous breakdown that occurs for people in this area experiencing frequent near-death experiences.

In retaliation, Israeli fighter jets targeted at least 12 Hamas military targets in the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood and Zeitoun, close to Gaza City. The targets included tunnel-digging sites and a factory used for the manufacturing of aerial weaponry, according to the office of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman.

In the south of the Strip, the IDF targeted tunnel digging sites and a maritime terror tunnel shaft in Khan Yunis, and weapon manufacturing factories in Rafah, the Gazan city on the border with Egypt.

The IDF also released video footage Wednesday showing a strike on a terrorist squad that attempted to launch rockets at an Israeli community in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, an area that borders Gaza to the north.

In the video, a man in sandals, white pants and a long sleeve shirt is seen setting up a launching pad for a rocket. Another man with blue jeans, a black shirt and a gray vest is seen loading a rocket into a launcher before the entire site explodes with the IDF attack.

“This, sadly, is the normal here in Gaza — and there’s no major impact other than it just keeps the level of anxiety and nervousness very high,” said Matthias Schamle, the director of operations for UNRWA Gaza, the troubled U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees, in an interview. As Mr. Schamle spoke in his office in Gaza City, Hamas members milled about outside.

Border closings at Erez, the main crossing point in the north, and Kerem Shalom in the south, can affect the delivery of needed materials from Israel into the Gaza Strip, he said.

“I keep saying, more broadly, that things remain tense here and that we don’t think anyone wants war — on either the Israeli or Palestinian side here — but incidents by hotheads, if I may call it this way, on either side could trigger a war,” he said.

Border closings and the threat of a war could complicate travel around the Gaza Strip, complicating efforts by a reporter to get a full picture of the conflict.

An Israeli press office in Jerusalem confirms the closure of the border but offers no information on when it would be open.

“That’s above my pay grade,” said one IDF spokesman.

Electricity was inconsistent on a three-day visit to the densely populated Palestinian enclave, a reality Gazans have become accustomed to and a challenge by shop, restaurant and cafe owners meet with their own generators.

By mid-morning after the exchange of fire, the streets of Gaza City were packed with cars and people — young men and women heading to the Islamic University of Gaza and Al-Azhar University. An email from the Israeli Government Press Office announced that the Erez crossing had re-opened, but only until 3:30 p.m.

Without electricity, no stoplights work and people tend to drive through intersections with little regard for stopping, making the drive to the crossing before it closed a hazard in itself.

At the Erez crossing, the first checkpoint on the Gaza side is controlled by Hamas.

In October 2017, a little over a year to the day, the Palestinian government in Ramallah signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas that would slowly transfer governing authority of the Gaza Strip back to the recognized PA government. The first step, in those early days, was for PA security forces to take over the Erez crossing.

But that arrangement quickly broke down, as Hamas officals — distrusting the P.A. — set up their own makeshift checkpoint, complete with desks, laptops, and photocopy machines inside two office trailers.

After a few minutes of conversation, a reporter was allowed to proceed through a gate, but still needed to take a $5 taxi ride half a mile to the Palestinian Authority checkpoint. The second check goes more quickly and border-crossers leave with no stamps in their passport.

The Israeli checkpoint was still another mile to travel. A young Palestinian with a motorcycle and a trailer gave offered a lift. At the Israeli entrance were six heavy metal sliding doors, which remained shut and monitored by a security camera

The hulking concrete of the security fence erected by Israel stretches out into the distance on either side of the crossing terminal. After a few minutes the doors creaked, slid open, and a traveler was back in Israel.

October 18, 2018
US to cut $200m aid to Gaza and West Financial Institution

Symbol copyright AFP Image caption The United States has minimize aid supposed for individuals residing in Gaza

US President Donald Trump has ordered greater than $200m (£155m) in financial support which was once to be allocated to Gaza and the West Bank be redirected elsewhere.

A State Division professional said the decision was made after a evaluation “to make sure these finances are spent according with US national pursuits”.

It has already withheld $65m from the UN relief company for the Palestinians.

Relations among the Palestinians and the united states have been tough considering the fact that Mr Trump took power.

They hit a low point after the united states recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017. As a outcome, the Palestinians said the united states was not able to proceed its mediation role within the peace process and suspended touch.

Symbol copyright Reuters Symbol caption Donald Trump’s management has already withheld hundreds of thousands in aid

On Friday, a State Department spokesman said the decision to “redirect” the finances to different “prime-precedence initiatives” was made as a results of the review, but didn’t say where the cash would now go.

Both the Palestinians and the United International Locations Relief and Works Agency warned slicing investment might make lifestyle harder for the territories’ citizens

However, the united states official stated the decision took into account “the demanding situations the global neighborhood faces in providing assistance in Gaza, where Hamas keep watch over endangers the lives of Gaza’s electorate and degrades an already dire humanitarian and economic scenario”.

August 24, 2018
Profile: Hamas Palestinian motion

Symbol copyright AFP Image caption The marvel 2006 election victory was once a turning point for the militant workforce

Hamas is the most important of a few Palestinian militant Islamist groups.

Its name is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, originating as it did in 1987 after the start of the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, towards Israel’s profession of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

It firstly had a dual purpose of carrying out an armed combat in opposition to Israel – led by means of its army wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades – and handing over social welfare programmes.

But since 2005, it has additionally engaged in the Palestinian political process, turning into the first Islamist group within the Arab international to win election in the course of the poll box (prior to reinforcing its energy in Gaza by way of ousting its Fatah rivals).

Hamas as an entire, or in a few cases its army wing, is distinctive a terrorist crew through Israel, the united states, ECU, and UNITED KINGDOM, in addition as different powers. Beneath its charter, the crowd is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Hamas arrange the Izzedine al-Qassam to pursue its political goals militarily

Israel held Hamas chargeable for all attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip, and has carried out 3 major military campaigns in Gaza – Operation Cast Lead in December 2008, Operation Pillar of Defence in November 2012, and Operation Protecting Facet in July 2014.

The offensives had been preceded by escalations in cross-border fighting, with rankings of rocket attacks from Gaza, and air moves towards it by way of Israel.

Hamas emerged from the 2008 and 2012 conflicts militarily degraded but with renewed toughen among Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank for having confronted Israel and survived.

The team however persisted to combat below the joint blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt, and became increasingly remoted after falling out with regional powers in the wake of the Arab Spring. The overthrow in July 2013 of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, a key best friend, was an extra blow.

In April 2014, Hamas agreed a reconciliation handle Fatah that resulted in the formation a countrywide solidarity government, but it has never been absolutely implemented.

Suicide bombings

Hamas came to prominence after the first intifada because the main Palestinian opponent of the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Despite a large number of Israeli operations against it and clampdowns by means of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas discovered it had an effective power of veto over the process by means of launching suicide attacks.

Image copyright AP Image caption Sheikh Ahmed Yassin used to be killed in an Israeli missile strike in March 2004

In February and March 1996, it carried out several suicide bus bombings, killing just about 60 Israelis, in retaliation for the assassination in December 1995 of Hamas bomb maker Yahya Ayyash.

The bombings have been broadly blamed for turning Israelis off the peace process and bringing Benjamin Netanyahu – a staunch opponent of the Oslo accords – to energy.

In the submit-Oslo international, such a lot in particular following the failure of us President Invoice Clinton’s Camp David summit in 2000 and the second intifada which adopted in a while thereafter, Hamas gained energy and affect as Israel clamped down at the Palestinian Authority, which it accused of sponsoring deadly assaults.

Hamas organised clinics and schools, which served Palestinians who felt allow down by the corrupt and inefficient Palestinian Authority, dominated via the Fatah faction.

Many Palestinians cheered the wave of Hamas suicide assaults in the primary years of the second one intifada.

They saw “martyrdom” operations as avenging their own losses and Israel’s settlement development in the West Bank, wanted by means of Palestinians as part of their own state.

After the demise of Fatah leader Yasser Arafat in 2004, the Palestinian Authority was taken over through Mahmoud Abbas.

He considered Hamas rocket hearth as counter-productive, inflicting rather little harm on Israel but provoking a harsh response by means of the Israeli army.

Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption Fifteen folks died on this 2001 Haifa suicide assault, certainly one of 30 claimed through Hamas that yr

When Hamas scored a landslide victory in 2006, the level used to be set for a sour power-fight with Fatah.

Hamas resisted all efforts to get it to enroll to earlier Palestinian agreements with Israel, as well as to recognize Israel’s legitimacy and to renounce violence.

Hamas’s constitution defines historical Palestine – including present-day Israel – as Islamic land and it laws out any permanent peace with the Jewish state.

The constitution also again and again makes attacks on Jews as a folks, drawing fees that the movement is anti-Semitic.

Hamas has, alternatively, offered a ten-12 months truce in return for an entire Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967: the West Financial Institution, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

It insists though that millions of Palestinian refugees stemming from the 1948 battle have to be allowed to go back to houses in what turned into Israel – a move that would threaten Israel’s very existence.

Over the years Hamas has misplaced many members in Israeli assassinations and safety sweeps:

Sheikh Yassin was killed in a missile assault in March 2004 Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi emerged as Hamas chief in Gaza earlier than he too was once assassinated in April 2004 Other distinguished Hamas officers killed through the Israelis include Qassam Brigades leader Salah Shehada in July 2002; Ismail Abu Shanab in August 2003; Said Siyam in January 2009; and Qassam Brigades commander Ahmed Jabari in November 2012

After the demise of Sheikh Yassin, Khaled Meshaal changed into the group’s political leader in exile. He used to be succeeded through Gaza-primarily based Ismail Haniya in Would Possibly 2017.

Sanctions

Hamas’s determination to stand in elections in 2006 was once a tremendous departure for the motion.

the brand new government was once subjected to tricky financial and diplomatic sanctions via Israel and its allies in the West.

Symbol copyright AFP Symbol caption Israeli offensives have reduced however not destroyed the capacity of Gaza’s militants to launch rocket attacks

After Hamas ousted Fatah from Gaza in 2007, Israel tightened its blockade at the territory, and rocket-hearth and Israeli counter-raids persisted.

In December that year, Israel launched Operation Forged Lead – a 22-day offensive aimed, Israel stated, at halting rocket assaults from Gaza. more than 1,300 Palestinians and THIRTEEN Israelis were killed.

Israel pointed out the similar reason behind Pillar of Defence in 2012- which began with an air strike that killed Ahmed Jabari, the Qassam Brigades commander. Some ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY Palestinians – mostly civilians – and six Israelis died in the 8-day war.

Palestinian assets say Hamas in large part attempted to keep up calm after the warfare ended, with the Qassam Brigades now not becoming a member of in the rocket attacks on Israel.

But Hamas additionally didn’t transfer to halt the rocket hearth altogether, apparently as it was concerned that Palestinians could see it as much less committed to preventing Israel than rival militant groups, specifically Islamic Jihad.

Rocket fireplace increased in mid-June 2014 while Israel arrested many Hamas contributors across the West Bank at the same time as in search of 3 murdered Israeli teenagers.

Then on 7 July, Hamas claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israel for the primary time considering 2012, and Hamas and Israel turned into embroiled within the so much in depth combating for months.

The preventing ended after 50 days with a ceasefire. a minimum of 2,189 Palestinians had been killed, together with more than 1,486 civilians, in step with the UN. on the Israeli facet, SIXTY SEVEN infantrymen had been killed together with the six civilians.

August 9, 2018
Israel launches Gaza strikes as soldier dies from gunshot

Image copyright AFP Image caption A fireball rises from Gaza town following an Israeli air strike on Friday

Israel has introduced a wave of attacks on military goals within the Gaza Strip, after its infantrymen came below gunfire on the border.

The Israeli army introduced that one soldier had died from his wounds, the primary within the most up-to-date clashes.

Gaza officers mentioned four Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, three of them members of militant crew Hamas.

A fourth Palestinian was shot lifeless right through protests along the border, the well being officers mentioned.

The Israeli military stated it had struck 15 Hamas army targets within the northern Gaza Strip and an additional 25 in Khan Yunis within the south, adding that the strikes had been continuing.

Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption A relative of a Palestinian killed through Israeli troops on Friday reacts at a sanatorium within the central Gaza Strip

Palestinians have now been protesting on the border for 17 weeks. Gaza health officers say more than 130 Palestinians were killed and 15,000 injured by means of Israeli forces all over that time. The demise of a soldier on Friday is the primary Israeli fatality in the exchanges.

Human rights groups have accused Israeli troops of the use of over the top power. Israel says it has only opened fire in self-defence, or on other folks looking to infiltrate its territory under the quilt of the demonstrations.

Following Friday’s clashes, the UN’s envoy for the Israel-Palestinian warfare known as on each side to “step again from the brink” of conflict.

“Everybody is familiar with that unless the placement is defused we can in no time be again to a different disagreement,” stated Nickolay Mladenov. “I be expecting all parties, each side to do their easiest at the moment. No Longer subsequent month, no longer next week, presently, to stop this escalation.”

Mr Mladenov called specifically on Hamas and Islamic Jihad – the 2 greatest militant factions in Gaza – to finish the release of rockets and prevent attempts by Palestinians to breach the border fence.

Symbol copyright EPA Symbol caption A Palestinian protester participating in violent protests at the Gaza border on Friday

Israel resumed air attacks on Gaza after final week’s projectile assaults, caution that it might take whatever motion essential to prevent incendiary kites and balloons being flown over the border.

It accuses Hamas of controlling the makeshift units, that have set fields in Israel ablaze, as well as orchestrating the protests at the border, which Israel regards as a threat to its border groups.

The prior week had seen efforts to check out to keep the situation underneath control, however Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned on Friday of a “so much harder” reaction against Hamas if continued to fireside rockets from the Gaza Strip.

“If Hamas maintains to fireside rockets then Israel will reply in a far tougher approach than they think,” Mr Lieberman mentioned in an announcement.

July 20, 2018
Explosion strikes Palestinian prime minister’s convoy in Gaza

An explosion struck the convoy of the Palestinian prime minister Tuesday as he was making a rare visit to Gaza, in what his Fatah party called an assassination attempt it blamed on Gaza militants.

JABALIYA, Gaza Strip (AP) — An explosion struck the convoy of the Palestinian prime minister Tuesday as he was making a rare visit to Gaza, in what his Fatah party called an assassination attempt it blamed on Gaza militants.

The explosion went off shortly after the convoy entered Gaza through the Erez crossing with Israel. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was unharmed and went on to inaugurate a long-awaited sewage plant project in the northern part of the strip. But Fatah quickly held Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers responsible for the “cowardly attack” on the convoy, further escalating tensions between the bitter rival factions.

Three of the vehicles in Hamdallah’s convoy were damaged, their windows blown out. One had signs of blood on the door.

Hamas confirmed an explosion struck the convoy but said no injuries were reported. It condemned the Gaza explosion, calling it a crime and an attempt to “hurt efforts to achieve unity and reconciliation.” It promised an “urgent” investigation.

While President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Hamas for the blast, his security chief Majed Farraj, who was in the convoy, said it was “too early” to say who was responsible.

Hamdallah, who is based in the West Bank, arrived in Hamas-run Gaza to inaugurate the sewage plant and said there that the attack will “not deter from seeking to end the bitter split. We will still come to Gaza.”

The rival factions have been trying to reconcile since 2007 when Hamas seized control of Gaza from Fatah forces and have suffered several setbacks in their efforts since. The takeover left the Palestinians with two rival governments, Hamas in Gaza and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority governing autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In November, Hamas handed over control of Gaza’s border crossings to the Palestinian Authority. It was the first tangible concession in years of Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks. But negotiations have bogged down since then.

Hamdallah’s visit comes amid a time of crisis in Gaza, where the economy is devastated. The White House is hosting a gathering of international representatives Tuesday to discuss economic development and the dire humanitarian situation, which White House envoy Jason Greenblatt has blamed on Hamas‘ control.

“The challenge will be determining which ideas can be realistically implemented in light of the fact that the Palestinians of Gaza continue to suffer under the authoritarian rule of Hamas,” he said in a statement.

The plant in question was envisioned in 2007 after overburdened sewage reservoirs collapsed, killing five villagers.

The World Bank, European Union and other European governments have paid nearly $75 million in funding. Hamas‘ takeover of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007 and the ensuing Israeli-Egyptian blockade, power shortages and conflicts delayed the opening of the project for four years.

Besides the old reservoirs, the plant will receive wastewater from four towns and villages. After treatment, the water will be transferred for irrigation and the remainder will be safely dumped to the sea.

March 14, 2018