Jóvenes Israelíes desaparecidos desatan reacción de su gobierno: intervención en Gaza

Israel searches for 'kidnapped' students
Massive search under way for three teenagers who disappeared from Kfar Etzion, an illegal West Bank settlement.
Gregg Carlstrom Last updated: 13 Jun 2014 17:31
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Israeli soldiers scour the countryside around the city of Hebron after the youths vanished [Reuters]

The Israeli army is searching for three Jewish teenagers who disappeared while returning home from their religious school in the occupied West Bank, in what the military is calling a suspected kidnapping, officials have said.

The students, aged 16 to 19, disappeared on Thursday night around 10pm local time after leaving Kfar Etzion, an illegal settlement between Jerusalem and Hebron.

Two of them are students at a yeshiva, a Jewish seminary, in the settlement.

An army spokesman said the trio may have tried to hitchhike to their homes to Modi’in, a city in central Israel, before they disappeared.

"We are concentrating a large intelligence effort on trying to locate the missing," said Brigadier General Moti Almoz. Soldiers also found a burned-out car in the area on Friday, but it is unclear whether the two are related.

The army has set up checkpoints and deployed additional troops in the area, and there were reports of raids on Palestinian homes in villages around Hebron.

Stories embargoed

Israeli media were largely barred from covering the story until late Friday afternoon because of a military gag order.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz briefly reported a shootout near Hebron between Israeli soldiers and unknown gunmen, but removed the story later.

Palestinian media, and the Israeli channel i24, also reported an operation to free the students in which five Palestinians were killed.

The army denied those stories, and they too were eventually taken down.

"These rumors have no basis," Almoz said.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel "holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for the safety of the missing [students]."

Major General Adnan al-Damiri, the spokesman for the Palestinian security services, dismissed the statement as a "joke," saying that Israel had not asked the PA for help in the search.

"They were in an area under the occupation's control, according to the Oslo Accords, and not in areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority,” Damiri told the Quds Network, a Palestinian news website.

Almoz said on Friday night that the army was starting to coordinate with the PA security forces.
Source:
Al Jazeera

Palestinian shot dead in West Bank clash
Locals say Munir Ahmad Badareen was was shot twice by the Israeli army during clashes near Hebron.
Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 10:16
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Locals said Munir Ahmad Badareen was was shot twice during clashes near Hebron [Al Jazeera]

The Israeli army has shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, local sources said.

Witnesses told Al Jazeera that 22-year-old Munir Ahmad Badareen was hit by two shots and was left bleeding before rescuers were allowed to help him.

Palestinian medical sources also said 11 others were injured in confrontations with the Israeli army in Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah.

Badareen's funeral is due to be held on Monday.

Israeli forces have been arresting hundreds of Hamas activists in the occupied West Bank since the killing of three teenage Jewish settlers.

A Palestinian youth was abducted and killed in East Jerusalem shortly after that incident.

The killing of Badareen came after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called for "international protection for the Palestinian lands and nation."

Abbas handed UN special envoy Robert Serry a letter for the attention of the UN secretary general, during a meeting in the city of Ramallah, asking the organisation to help stop Israel's offensive in Gaza.

That offensive has killed at least 172 Palestinian civilians so far and wounded more than 1000.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Gaza attacks: Lethal warnings
International law is being abused in order to enable attacks on civilians in Gaza.
Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 09:46
Eyal Weizman

Eyal Weizman

Eyal Weizman is an architect, professor and director of the Forensic Architecture (www.forensic-architecture.org) project at the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London.
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Aerial strikes by the Israeli military have taken the lives of more than 160 Palestinians in Gaza [AFP/Getty Images]

On the night of January 9, 2009, the Salha family were sleeping, and Gaza was under attack. They were woken by a loud bang at 3am: a missile, fired at the house, entered through the roof, and landed in one of the rooms. What the family did not know was that this was a warning. From that moment of impact, they had just three minutes before the house would be destroyed.

After moments of terrified confusion they began to leave. A first group managed to escape but as the second group reached the bottom of the stairs, a bomb struck the building, killing six of them: Randa, 34; Fatma, 22; Diya, 13; Rana, 12; Baha, 7; and Rola, 1.

These are the findings of an investigation, one of several produced for a UN inquiry into drone strikes by Forensic Architecture - a project based at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. We interviewed the surviving members of the Salha family in Gaza by satellite link from Al Jazeera's London offices, and built a 3D computer model of their home with them. Our work was an attempt to reconstruct what happened between the warning shot and the lethal shot. The architectural model provided an aid for the recollection of events obscured by time and trauma. It was evidence intended to counter the Israeli Army's version of the event and the legitimacy of its "lawfare".

In fact, Israel has been using warning tactics for many years. They started as phoned-through messages, informing people that they had minutes to collect their belongings and vacate the building before it was bombed. Finding that they couldn't always get through, however, the Israeli Army began to use so called "roof knock" strikes. These involve the firing of a low- or non-explosive missile - usually from a drone - at the roof of a building that is to be destroyed. A bomb that devastates the building follows the missile a short time later.

Five years later, neither the tactics, nor the consequences have changed. Since the ongoing offensive on Gaza began, human rights groups in the strip have reported one warning shot that resulted in the death of a six-year-old child, Abdel Rahman Khattab, in Bouba, on July 10; another attack, on the home of Odeh Ahmad Mohammed Kaware, where a warning missile was followed by a bomb that killed seven people, including five children. In another incident, a warning missile injured two women and an infant in Rafah.

Having run out of distinct government buildings or pieces of military infrastructure to bomb, the majority of what Israel is now targeting in Gaza are civilian homes - and the bodies are piling up. Israeli spokespersons, anxious to present themselves as seeking to minimise civilian casualties and as acting within the bounds of international law, now repeatedly explain that the Israeli Army gives warning before it attacks civilian buildings. But it is the warnings that allow the Israeli Army to attack them at all, and the warnings that are now responsible for the mounting death rate.

Israeli military lawyers argue that if residents are warned, and do not evacuate, then they can be considered legitimate collateral damage. Under this interpretation of the law, the civilian victims become human shields. This is a gross misuse of international law. It is illegal to fire at civilians, even if the intention is to warn them. It is ridiculous to ask them to understand, in the commotion and chaos of war, that being shot at is a warning - and it is outrageous to claim that this is undertaken to save their lives.

International law should protect civilians. In Gaza, it is being abused in order to enable attacks where attacks should not be undertaken at all.

Very often both journalists and commentators - even those sympathetic to the Palestinian plight - are lost for words when asked to explain what is wrong with warnings. Would you rather, the Israeli Army insinuates, that it uses no warnings at all? How, after critiquing indiscriminate and inaccurate strikes, to protest tactics whose entire logic is to be more precise in choosing between perpetrators and bystanders?

To be asked to choose the lesser evil from a limited set of choices is a fallacy. Those posing lesser-evil dilemmas are always those in power and the problem is always concerned with the death and fate of others.
INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

At the Salha family home there was no weapon cache, no militant headquarters. The Israeli Army simply made a mistake, and later admitted as such. Yet when the few surviving members of the Salha family petitioned the Israeli court for compensation, their case was curtly dismissed. The judge explained that Israel was not liable to consequences resulting from an act of war, and ordered the Salha family to pay the court the costs incurred in bringing the case.

Today in Gaza, the combination of the technology of precision strikes with the legal tactics of warning allows the expansion of the depleted bank of targets and the proliferation of violence. From the air, Israel has started destroying - after warnings of course - not only places it claims are weapon caches but also the houses of Hamas' field command. Now the target list seems to have extended even to include attacks on hospitals. On July 11, four warning missiles were fired at the Al Wafaa hospital, close to the Israeli border.

With this combination, the Israeli Army has found a tool to enable it to strike targets it should not be striking at all - targets of little military effect, in built-up areas that house many civilians. Since it now has such a tool, the Israeli Army will go on using it until somebody forces them to stop. Confronting Israeli tactics of warning is now a matter of utmost urgency.

Eyal Weizman's work on drone strikes, Forensic Architecture, and the architecture of the Israeli occupation are featured in the documentary The Architecture of Violence, as part of the upcoming Rebel Architecture series.

Follow @RebelArchitects

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Middle East
Palestinians fear 'no place is safe' in Gaza
Locals furious over bombing of residential homes that Israel insists are military targets.
Mohammed Omer Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 08:17

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Gaza City - Khader Khader had less than one minute to evacuate his home.

At 7am on Friday, the 55-year-old was sleeping under the staircase with his five children, when he heard his neighbour scream, "Dr Khader, evacuate! They are going to bomb my house!"

At that moment, Khader's seven-year-old son, Mohammed, tucked his tiny fingers into his father’s trousers and froze, unable to move. Quickly getting everyone out of bed, the family ran out of the yellow villa - which Khader spent years saving money to build and only moved into two years ago - just as the first Israeli missile, a warning shot, screeched by.

"We ran anywhere we could, away from the house so as not to get hurt or killed," Khader recalled, his voice shaking.

They crammed into the car and reached the top of the street before the second missile, fired from an Israeli F-16, hit the neighbourhood. Khader's home was not the target, but his neighbour's house was. "My children are traumatised from the bombing - what did they do to deserve this?" Khader, a respected university professor of linguistics, said.

My children are traumatised from the bombing - what did they do to deserve this?

- Khader Khader, 55, father of five

His children, aged between seven and 16, have yet to return to see the damage. "The trauma is so immense, that they fear coming back to their home, where we escaped by a miracle," he told Al Jazeera.

RELATED: 'I never like the night'

At the same time the Khader family’s home was bombed, another house in Rafah, in southern Gaza, was hit by Israeli missiles. The Ghannam family received no warning and five people were killed in their sleep, while another 16 were injured.

At least 154 Palestinians have been killed and almost 1,000 others injured as Israel's military operation continued into a sixth day on Sunday. At least 70 Palestinian homes have been completely destroyed, according to the United Nations, while another 2,500 housing units have sustained minor damage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday: "Hamas will pay a heavy price for firing at Israel's citizens."

On Twitter, the Israeli army has defended its operation, accusing Hamas of hiding rockets and other weapons in "houses, mosques, hospitals [and] schools" and of operating "deep within residential areas". The military has argued that it has made efforts to minimise civilian casualties, but said that houses can be considered lawful military targets.

But the UN has said that even if a home is being used for military purposes, "any attack must be proportionate, offer a definite military advantage in the prevailing circumstances at the time, and precautions must be taken".

Jaber Wishah, deputy director of the Palestinian Human Rights Center (PCHR) in Gaza City, said that Israel has engaged in the "punitive destruction" of Palestinian homes in Gaza. "Those houses - even if they belong to a Hamas [member] or Islamic Jihad [member] - they should be considered civilian objects. They did not participate in the military operations," he said.

Wishah told Al Jazeera that there are three scenarios that usually occur before Israel bombs a home in Gaza. The army may carry out an air strike without any prior warning, it may fire a warning shot - known as "roof-knocking", a dud missile will land on the roof of a house to alert the inhabitants that the real missile is on its way - or it may call Palestinian families to tell them to evacuate before they bomb their homes.

"Every single home in Gaza is within the target circle," Wishah said. "No place is safe in Gaza now. Each home could be a target, either directly or indirectly affected."

RELATED: Palestinian children killed in Israel strikes

Back in Gaza City early Friday morning, Khader returned to his home to survey the damage. His neighbours were also out to examine the rubble. "It’s like after a tsunami," said a reporter on the scene.

Only the frame of the house is still standing; the family's personal possessions are destroyed, furniture is broken, shrapnel litters the floors of every room, and not a single door or window is intact. His personal collection of books, photographs, and letters is also gone.

Khader didn't manage to save anything from his home, not even identification papers. As he inspected the destruction, still in a state of shock, another Israeli air strike struck nearby. Children ran screaming from the next house, where they were collecting clothes and toys.

"Out of all this, there is nothing that I can use," Khader said, as he stumbled around his home. "The loss is too great."

Follow Mohammed Omer on Twitter. Jillian Kestler-D'Amours contributed reporting.

Israeli strikes on Gaza enter seventh day
Air raids and artillery fire continue as death toll reaches 173 and calls for a truce grow.
Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 12:49


Israel has hit the Gaza Strip with air strikes and artillery fire on the seventh day of its offensive as diplomatic efforts to halt the bloodshed intensified.

Aircraft struck three training facilities of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, around the coastal territory early on Monday, but caused no casualties, medics and eyewitnesses said.

They also hit buildings in Gaza City, Deir el-Balah in the southern part of the strip, and in the northern town of Jabaliya, injuring an unspecified number of people.

There was shelling reported in Beit Lahiya, in the far north of the strip, where Israel had earlier warned residents of an impending assault.

World powers prepared to meet over the spiralling violence as the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli air campaign hit 172 with another 1,230 people wounded, the emergency services said.

Fearing for their lives, about 17,000 people have taken shelter in installations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, the agency said in a statement.

As the death toll rose, the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said most of the victims were civilians, putting their number at more than 130, among them 35 children and 26 women.

It also said Israel had destroyed 147 homes and badly damaged hundreds of others.

Syria and Lebanon

So far, no Israelis have been killed, although Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into the country since the fighting began on July 8, an army spokeswoman told AFP late Sunday. Around 160 had been intercepted, she said.

For the first time during the Israeli operation, a rocket fired from Syria hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan heights but landed on empty ground, causing no casualties.

Israel responded with artillery fire at Syrian army positions, the Israeli military said.
INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

Four rockets fired from southern Lebanon struck northern Israel early on Monday, Lebanese security sources said.

No casualties were reported in Israel and the army responded with artillery fire.

Early on Sunday, Israeli naval commandos staged a brief ground assault in northern Gaza on a mission to destroy longer-range rockets, with the army warning residents to leave the area ahead of a major assault on the sector.

Saturday's death toll was the highest yet with 56 people killed, including 18 people who died in a single strike on a house in Gaza City, medics said.

Eight people were killed in air strikes on Sunday and another two died early Monday of injuries received in earlier raids.

Diplomatic efforts

Despite increasing calls for a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was hitting Hamas "with growing force", warning there was no end in sight.

"We do not know when this operation will end," he told ministers.

US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Netanyahu to renew a US offer to help mediate a truce and he "highlighted the US concern about escalating tensions on the ground," a senior State Department official said.

Kerry also said that he was engaged with regional leaders "to help to stop the rocket fire so calm can be restored and civilian casualties prevented".

On the Palestinian side, president Mahmoud Abbas said he would ask UN chief Ban Ki-moon to "put the State of Palestine under the UN international protection system" in order to address the violence in Gaza.

Pope Francis appealed to world leaders for both prayer and diplomacy to halt the bloodshed, while the German and Italian foreign ministers were both poised to head to the region to join truce efforts, their offices said.

With Palestinian civilians bearing the brunt of the violence, clashes erupted in central Paris as thousands of people protested against Israel and in support of Gaza.

Protesters also rallied across Asia to condemn the Israeli offensive, with 3,000 gathering in Sydney and hundreds more in Hong Kong, New Delhi and Jakarta.

Israel has warned that preparations are under way for a possible ground incursion, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman saying a decision was expected by Sunday.

But Israeli media said that a meeting of Netanyahu's security cabinet ended Sunday night without giving the order for ground operations.

Thousands of families flee north Gaza
Eighteen members of al-Batsh family were killed in Gaza strike, as more than 16,000 others seek refuge at UN schools.
Fares Akram Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 08:26
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More than 165 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's ongoing assault of the Gaza Strip [Reuters]

Gaza City - After more than 12 hours of work, the bulldozers were still clearing what was once the al-Batsh family's three-story house in eastern Gaza City, reduced to rubble after Israeli warplanes hit it with two bombs.

The air strike took place just before midnight on Saturday, the fifth day of Israel's aerial assault on Gaza. Eighteen people from the same extended family were killed, the highest death toll in a single attack so far in the offensive, which has claimed more than 165 Palestinian lives to date.

INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

The bombing in the Shaaf neighbourhood was said to be targeting the local police commander, Tayseer al-Batsh, who survived the strike with serious injuries. Shortly after the house was destroyed, Israel also struck several police and security posts in Gaza City.

"There was no reason to hit the house," said Mohammed al-Batsh, a lawyer in his 30s, as dozens of people gathered to inspect the home and examine the severe damage to nearby houses.

He added that the airstrike killed Majed al-Batsh, the police commander's cousin, and 10 members of his family - parents, children, daughters-in-laws and grandchildren. "They posed no threat to Israel. They were not firing rockets. They were civilians, children and women."

Tayseer, the police chief, was visiting his cousin Majed when the air strike occurred. The eight other victims were from surrounding houses, which had their exterior walls destroyed by the force of the blast.

The entire block sustained damage; the blast uprooted palm trees and downed electricity cables. The alley leading to the house was covered in broken glass from the windows. "Five of the dead have no bodies; they were turned into pieces that spread 150 metres away," Mohammed added.

They posed no threat to Israel. They were not firing rockets. They were civilians, children and women.

- Mohammed al-Batsh, relative

An Israeli army spokesperson told Al Jazeera on Monday morning that she was looking into the bombing, but had no concrete details.

Meanwhile, in his weekly address to the Israeli cabinet on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas for civilian casualties in Gaza. "The leadership of Hamas and the other organisations has chosen - at a time when they are using the population of Gaza as human shields - to hide under ground, to flee abroad and to deliberately put civilians in the line of fire."

RELATED: Palestinians fear 'no place is safe' in Gaza

As noon prayers approached on Sunday, a group of men sat in the shadow of a school wall. The men had prepared 18 graves in the patch of land - which belongs to the Waqf Ministry - between the school and the house. "We can't go to the cemetery because it's close to the border," said one of the men, sitting on a pile of sand. "It's dangerous, the Israelis target the gatherings," he added.

The man, also related to the al-Batsh family, said there is no safe place in Gaza, including the cemetery, on the outskirts of the city.
Many Palestinian families fled northern Gaza on carts, fearing an Israeli ground invasion and increased air strikes [Reuters]

The families were worried of an Israeli ground incursion, similar to what happened during Israel's 2008-2009 offensive.

On Sunday, Israel told residents of the north Gaza town of Beit Lahiya to leave their homes. At dawn that same day, hundreds of families in the northern Gaza Strip evacuated their houses and made their way to temporary housing shelters: schools run by the United Nations in the heart of Gaza City.

Adnan Abu Hassna, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said that the agency has turned eight of its schools into temporary shelters.

At least 16,000 Palestinians have now sought refuge in UN schools, according to UN figures.

A supervisor in one of these shelters, who didn't give Al Jazeera her name, said that about 80 families had moved into the centre. Among these families was Mohammed al-Sultan, 26, who was sharing a classroom with his wife, two daughters, and about 30 other siblings and relatives.

"We fled this morning on our donkey cart," said Mohammed, holding his 17-month-old baby, Leen. "We received the warnings on mobiles and from leaflets." He said the family had no time to bring everything they needed.

Though the Interior Ministry asked people not to respond to the Israeli evacuation calls, considering them psychological warfare, Mohammed has a different opinion.

"Nobody loves to spend the time in this shelter, it's miserable," he said, "but we are afraid for our lives, [and for] our children's lives".

Gaza's most vulnerable fear Israeli assault
Medical patients and doctors fear being targeted by Israeli air strikes, after a bomb killed four at Gaza health centre.
Khaled Alashqar Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 11:41
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Elderly Palestinians and medical patients cannot be moved from medical centres in Gaza [Reuters]

Gaza City - Ahmad Abu Qassem’s eyes were affixed to the sky, watching through the window as Israeli war planes circled overhead. "I'm afraid to sleep because I wake up terrified of [air] strikes and bomb explosions. Sometimes Israel strikes places that are very close to us," the 11-year-old told Al Jazeera.

Ahmad has chronic hypertension, for which he receives treatment at the Rantisi Specialist Pediatric hospital in Gaza City. The hospital is 10km from the family's home in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza.

Despite the dangers of travelling during Israel’s continuing bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 172 people and injured 1,000 others, Ahmad’s mother, Eman, stays by his side at the hospital. Her other children stay at home with her husband.

I try to hide my fear and act as though nothing frightening is happening. I hug my sick child who cries in fear.

- Eman Abu Qassem, Beit Hanoun

She said she tries her best to comfort her son, but often can’t hide her own fear of the nightly Israeli bombings. "I try to hide my fear and act as though nothing frightening is happening," she told Al Jazeera. "I hug my sick child who cries in fear, but when I hear news about bombing in Beit Hanoun … my concerns about my [other] children and my husband intensify."

RELATED: Gaza hospitals struggle to treat wounded

Since Israel’s military escalation in Gaza began, some patients have opted to receive medical care at home, fearing the hospitals may be bombed.

It also became too difficult for some families to reach their loved ones at the hospital. "I had to cut my son's treatment process due to the emergency situation," said Eman, explaining that Ahmad does not stay at the hospital permanently. "We take our son to the hospital in an ambulance, when he starts feeling bad."

Israel has justified its military campaign as an attempt to root out Hamas fighters in Gaza and stop rockets from being fired from the coastal enclave onto Israeli cities. The government has blamed Hamas for all civilian casualties in Gaza, and accused the group of using civilians as human shields and hiding weapons in civilian areas.

"Who hides in mosques? Hamas. Who puts arsenals under hospitals? Hamas. Who puts command centers in residences or near kindergartens? Hamas. Hamas is using the residents of Gaza as human shields and it is bringing disaster to the civilians of Gaza," Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said on Sunday.

Early Friday morning, Israel fired two warning shots at Al-Wafa geriatric hospital, east of Gaza City. Israel claims that the hospital - which provides rehabilitation treatment for accident victims and houses the elderly - is hosting a cache of weapons.

But 30 elderly Palestinians live there, according to hospital director Basman Elashi, and cannot be moved. A group of international activists is now staying at the hospital, acting as human shields to prevent a potential bombing. Elashi credited the foreigners’ presence with saving the hospital from being destroyed. The hospital can now continue "providing health services to the patients and sheltering the elderly", he told Al Jazeera.

In Al-Zahra, seven kilometres from Gaza City, the Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Centre - a branch of the main centre - is home to 40 elderly Palestinians. According to Amer Ghbayen, the administrative supervisor of the hospital, Israel's aerial bombing campaign has made providing care to the centre’s residents very difficult.

"When Israel intensifies air strikes, namely in the night time, the elderly feel fear and horror. We try to keep these old women and men away from the windows," Ghbayen told Al Jazeera. "Meanwhile, I have my wife and children at home whom I cannot stop thinking about."

RELATED: Palestinians fear 'no place is safe' in Gaza

But not every medical facility has been spared. On July 11, Israel bombed a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities in the north of Gaza, killing four people. Others were severely burned by the blast, and taken to hospital.
An Israeli air strike killed four people at a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities in Gaza [Reuters]

Dr Mona el-Farra, the health chair of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and Gaza director of the Middle East Children's Alliance, told Al Jazeera that this bombing has exacerbated an already difficult situation for medical professionals, who are working under extremely stressful conditions in Gaza.

"We are doing our duty... Our duty is to be there with people, but of course it has a great impact on [the medical staff] because they are working under pressure and a lack of supplies and medication," she said. "But this is not the first time that Israel does that. It is a routine experience."

Human Rights Watch reported that during its 2008-2009 offensive, dubbed Operation Cast Lead, Israel fired shells containing white phosphorous - an illegal substance that burns everything it comes into contact with - at a hospital. "The [Israeli army] repeatedly exploded it unlawfully over populated neighbourhoods, killing and wounding civilians and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse, and a hospital," HRW wrote.

The Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights also accused Israel of firing at ambulance teams during the 18-day operation, killing 17 emergency workers, injuring another 50, and destroying equipment. "Medical teams were targeted as they were attempting to evacuate the wounded and the sick," the group stated.

In 2012, Israel was also accused of launching a Hellfire missile at a hospital in Gaza City. There were no casualties in the bombing, but electricity and water were cut off from the facility.

"The striking of hospitals and health facilities is a clear violation of international law," Mahmoud Daher, head of the WHO in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.

He stressed that providing a safe environment to patients is crucial to enable them to receive the health services they need. "The WHO demands all parties to spare the health centres and keep them out of the conflict," he said.

Jillian Kestler-D'Amours contributed reporting.

No halt to Gaza raids despite ceasefire calls
Israel continues with its air and naval bombardments of Gaza as hospitals struggle to cope with casualties.
Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 21:21

The United Nations says 80 percent of fatalities in Gaza are civilians [Reuters]

Israel has kept up its air and naval bombardments of the Gaza Strip for a seventh day, despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire.

At least 187 people, including 31 children, have been killed as of Monday and more than 1,200 people have been wounded.

The European Union said it was in touch with "all parties in the region" to press for an immediate halt to the hostilities, a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry offered to help secure a Gaza truce.

Britain and Germany have called for a truce with William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, calling for an immediate de-escalation.

Egypt and Qatar are seen as potential mediators but peace efforts were complicated by Hamas' rejection of a mere "calm for calm" in which both sides hold their fire in favour of wider conditions including prisoner release and an end to Israel's Gaza blockade.

Israeli Radio, quoting Egypt's state-news agency, said on Monday that Kerry will arrive in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire.

The Israeli army said its aircraft and naval gunboats attacked dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip where hospitals are overwhelmed and struggling with few resources to treat the steady stream of casualties.

Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters fired more than 20 rockets into Israel on Monday, slightly wounding a boy in the town of Ashdod. Later in the day the army said that a rocket fire wounded two young girls in Beersheba.

The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki met with the Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to discuss the ongoing violence.

Monday's meeting comes a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wrote a letter to the United Nations requesting the international body to place Palestine under international protection.

In the letter, Abbas urged UN Secretary General to take all "effective measures required to establish a protection system for Palestine with the aim of ensuring the protection of the Palestinian people from the Israeli aggression, continued occupation and violation of international law, in particular its escalation and bombardments against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip".

Israel has maintained that it was targeting Hamas, who have fired more than 900 rockets into Israel since the escalation of violence began on the July 7. Most of them were intercepted by the "Iron Dome" defence missile system.

Threat of ground incursion

Israel launched "Operation Protective Edge," a military campaign on Gaza, in which more than 1,300 targets have been hit in air-strikes, including family homes and a rehabilitation centre for the disabled.

At least 1,280 people have been wounded in the offensive and more than 17,000 people are sheltering in UN compounds in the densely-populated Palestinian enclave.

A Gaza-based Palestinian human rights group, al-Mezan, said that at least 869 homes have been destroyed or damaged in Israeli bombardment.

Meanwhile, Israel's army announced that it had shot down a drone from Gaza, and that its Iron Dome intercepted one rocket over Tel Aviv.
INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from the border with Gaza in southern Israel said: "[At least] 36,000 Israeli reservists have been told to report to duty and they will be reporting to Israel-Gaza border. Nobody's telling us that there is going to be a ground offensive, but Israel's army is certainly making all the preparations for one should the order come from the army's political masters."

Meanwhile, clashes erupted in central Paris as thousands of people protested against Israel and in support of Gaza.

Protesters also rallied across Asia to condemn the Israeli offensive, with 3,000 gathering in Sydney and hundreds more in Hong Kong, New Delhi and Jakarta.

Middle East
Israel says it has downed drone from Gaza
Israeli army says it shot down drone near city of Ashdod after Hamas said it sent several drones on "special mission".
Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 11:34


Israel's military says it has downed an unmanned drone along its southern coastline, the first time it has encountered an unmanned aircraft since its offensive on Gaza began seven days ago.

Hamas, the group that runs Gaza, said its armed wing had sent several drones to carry out "special missions" deep inside Israel - a development which, if confirmed, would mark a step up in the sophistication of its arsenal.

The military said in a tweet that the drone came from Gaza and that it was shot down on Monday by a patriot missile near the southern city of Ashdod.

The force said it was trying to locate debris in the area about 25kms north of Gaza, and determine whether it had carried explosives.

Since the seven-day-old Gaza offensive began, 172 Palestinians - including 29 children and 19 women - have been killed and 1,230 wounded, according to emergency services.
INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

About 17,000 people have taken shelter in premises owned by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, the agency said in a statement.

Hamas have fired nearly 1,000 rockets at Israel, causing some injuries and damage to property, but no fatalities.

Early on Monday, aircraft struck three training facilities of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, around Gaza's coastal territory but caused no casualties, medics and eyewitnesses said.

They also hit buildings in Gaza City, Deir el-Balah in the southern part of the strip, and in the northern town of Jabaliya, injuring an unspecified number of people.

There was shelling reported in Beit Lahiya, in the far north of the strip, where Israel had earlier warned residents of an impending assault.

US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to renew a US offer to help mediate a truce. He "highlighted the US concern about escalating tensions on the ground," a senior State Department official said.

Kerry also said that he was engaged with regional leaders "to help to stop the rocket fire so calm can be restored and civilian casualties prevented".

Middle East
Israel to mull Egypt ceasefire plan for Gaza
Security cabinet to discuss Cairo initiative to end Gaza violence that has left at least 187 Palestinians dead.
Last updated: 15 Jul 2014 01:54


Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, is to convene his security cabinet to discuss an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, an Israeli official has said.

The official told the Reuters news agency that the meeting will take place later on Tuesday.

The proposed truce would start on Tuesday morning, and be followed by talks on a long-term ceasefire.

Khaled al-Batch, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad armed group, said that the group welcomed "Egypt's role and efforts to end the Israeli aggression and defend the Palestinian people" but will not accept the ceasefire without conditions.

"It is not acceptable to start observing a ceasefire for short term then negotiate the terms. We have experienced this in the past and it has failed," he said.

"What is needed now is to agree on the demands of the Palestinian people, chiefly ending the siege and opening the border corsing, then a zero hour can be agreed upon. Otherwise, history will repeat itself, period."

In a televised statement on Al-Aqsa TV, Ismail Haniyeh confirmed that Hamas had been contacted about a ceasefire, saying: "Yes there are contacts and there are countries intervening."

Haniyeh said: "Our people were avoiding the war but the Zionist enemy began it, he announced it, he prepared for it, he started to kill the women, children and families, destroy homes. Entire families were eliminated."

"Every drop of blood is dear to us. My heart and all the people are standing beside these families, but this bloodshed pushes us towards being more committed to our rights and to stopping this aggression, to end this situation in Gaza and West Bank."

Egypt's state news agency said on Monday that US Secretary of State John Kerry is to fly to Cairo to discuss the situation in Gaza.

The European Union said it was in touch with "all parties in the region" to press for an immediate halt to the hostilities.

Britain and Germany have called for a truce with William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, calling for an immediate de-escalation.

Israeli reservists report

The Israeli army said its aircraft and naval gunboats attacked dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday, where hospitals are overwhelmed and struggling with few resources to treat the steady stream of casualties.

Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters fired more than 20 rockets into Israel on Monday, slightly wounding a boy in the town of Ashdod.

Later in the day the army said that a rocket fire wounded two young girls in Beersheba.

Israel launched its military campaign against Gaza, in which more than 1,300 targets have been hit in airstrikes, including family homes and a rehabilitation centre for the disabled, on July 7.

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from the border with Gaza in southern Israel, said: "[At least] 36,000 Israeli reservists have been told to report to duty and they will be reporting to Israel-Gaza border.

"Nobody's telling us that there is going to be a ground offensive, but Israel's army is certainly making all the preparations for one should the order come from the army's political masters."
INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

At least 1,350 people have been wounded in the offensive and more than 17,000 people are sheltering in UN compounds in the densely-populated Palestinian enclave.

Al-Mezan, a Gaza-based Palestinian human rights group, said that at least 869 homes have been destroyed or damaged in Israeli bombardment.

At least 187 Palestinians have been killed - the United Nations has said that at least 80 percent of the casualties have been civilians.

At least 10 Israelis have been injured by rockets fired from Gaza. No fatalaties have been recorded.

Thousands flee Gaza as Israel raids continue
Air strikes target Palestinian territory's north following warnings as toll from six days of attacks crosses 170 mark.
Last updated: 14 Jul 2014 00:11
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The Israeli military has launched air strikes over the northern Gaza Strip after people in the town of Beit Lahiya were told to leave their homes.

Israel had dropped leaflets urging local residents to leave the area, in advance of an expected wider attack on Sunday.

The small Palestinian territory has been struck by Israeli fire power for six days now and the number of deaths keeps rising.

At least 167 people have been killed since the attacks began, Gaza's Health Ministry says. Of those, at least 29 are children below the age of 16, while 19 of the casualties have been women.

Israeli forces also shelled southern Lebanon after a cross-border rocket attack, both sides said.

A spokeswoman for Israel's army said it "immediately responded with artillery fire towards the source of the fire" from Lebanon on Monday, where security sources confirmed the Israeli shelling.
Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers clashed with Hamas fighters in the first reported ground incursion in Gaza, after a night of violence in which 18 members of the same family were killed.

The Israeli army said at least four soldiers were "lightly injured" on Sunday when they attacked a site in northern Gaza the army said was being used to launch long-range rockets.

"During the mission a gunfight broke out, started by some terrorists operating at the site, during which four Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded," the spokesman said.

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed-wing, confirmed the exchange of gunfire "between our fighters and soldiers of the Zionist navy which tried to penetrate the zone of Sudanyia" in northwest Gaza.

Hamas said its fighters had fired at the Israeli force offshore, preventing them from landing.

The early morning incursion followed the deadliest night of Israeli bombing since it launched its campaign on Tuesday.

Eighteen people, from the same extended family, were killed in the deadliest attack since the bombardment of the Palestinian territory began on Tuesday, when Israeli forces targeted the home of Tayseer al-Batsh, Gaza police chief, in the Toufah area of Gaza City.

Ashraf al-Qedra, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera that the house, located near a mosque in Toufah, was hit after Ramadan prayers.

Adnan Abu Hassna, a spokesman for the UN agency in charge of aiding Palestinian refugees, said eight schools were opened as temporary shelters, and about 4,000 people had moved in.

Foreign-passport holders leaving

On Sunday, Palestinians with foreign passports began leaving Gaza through the Erez border crossing.

Israel says 800 Palestinians living in Gaza have passports from countries including Australia, the UK and the US.

Against this backdrop, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community to protect Gaza.

"Israel went deeper in everything and its offensive on the Palestinian nation should be stopped," he said.
INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

Israel says its bombardment is to end rocket fire by Palestinian fighters into Israeli cities. The UN on Saturday said that three-quarters of those killed in Gaza were civilians.

The Israeli army said late on Saturday that rockets fired from Gaza had hit Hebron and Bethlehem.

No deaths or injuries was reported. Palestinians in the two Occupied West Bank cities protested against Israeli troops on Sunday morning.

More than 500 missiles have struck Israel during the conflict, but none have resulted in Israeli deaths.

Israel has launched more than 1,400 air strikes since the offensive began.

An Israeli air raid on Saturday hit a centre for the disabled in Gaza, killing three patients and a nurse.

The UN Security Council called for a cessation of hostilities and top diplomats from the UK, France, Germany and the US are due to meet later on Sunday to discuss the need for a ceasefire.

However, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said on Sunday the military campaign could take a long time.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Baja la intensidad del fuego cruzado
Disminuyen los bombardeos israelíes sobre Gaza y el lanzamiento de cohetes de Hamás
Juan Gómez Gaza 14 JUL 2014 - 21:50 CEST
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Mujeres palestinas ayer en el entierro de una familia fallecida en un bombardeo israelí. / Oliver Weiken (Efe)
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El séptimo día de la masiva operación bélica israelí sobre la franja palestina fue el más tranquilo en la Ciudad de Gaza. Los bombardeos del Ejército fueron menos intensos. Este lunes mataron a seis personas según las autoridades palestinas. Ya han perdido la vida 175 personas, de las cuales el 80% son civiles según OCHA, la agencia de Coordinación de Asuntos Humanitarios de la ONU. Más de 30 eran niños. Hamás también lanzó menos cohetes a Israel que otros días. Ayer sumaron una treintena.

Muchas calles del norte de Gaza, que Israel había ordenado evacuar hasta el mediodía del domingo, estaban casi vacías este lunes tras el desplazamiento de más de 17.000 palestinos hacia el centro de la Franja. Adnan Hasna, portavoz de la Agencia de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados palestinos (UNRWA), explicaba ante colegios habilitados como refugio en el centro de Gaza que el número de desplazamientos “creció durante la noche del lunes”. Aun así, en las inmediaciones del edificio de la ONU había un ambiente de casi normalidad. Mientras continuaban los bombardeos en el norte y los tanques israelíes tiraban contra posiciones próximas al aeródromo de Rafah, en el sur los palestinos de Ciudad de Gaza y sus inmediaciones ensayaban un tímido regreso a la rutina de la depauperada región, después de seis días de intensos bombardeos.

La calma tensa en la capital se rompía con esporádicos lanzamientos de cohetes contra Israel desde la ciudad y, de cuando en cuando, con breves bombardeos israelíes en las proximidades. Superado ya el número de muertes de la operación aérea israelí de 2012, la gran cuestión seguía siendo este lunes si Israel ordenará una incursión terrestre como en 2009.

Aunque un misil israelí acababa de reventar su casa, Naser Tatar se veía a media mañana mucho más despejado que los días anteriores. Explicaba el jefe del hospital Al Shifa, el mayor de la Franja, que habían bajado las emergencias por los bombardeos: menos muertes y menos heridos nuevos.
más información

Los avances de Hamás ponen al 80% de los israelíes bajo amenaza
Gaza se resigna a una larga ofensiva de Israel
La guerra se ceba con la franja de Gaza
Hamás no es un partido, es un Estado
10.000 palestinos huyen ante la amenaza de Israel

El cardiólogo sonreía al reconocer que no tiene “la menor idea” de por qué Israel había puesto su vivienda particular en el punto de mira. Ante la casa reventada, su sobrino Mohamed explicaba que un soldado israelí llamó a su móvil el domingo por la tarde, le pidió que confirmara su identidad y le ordenó que evacuaran la casa y tres edificios adyacentes en 10 minutos. Terminado el plazo, el soldado volvió a llamar para que se asegurara de que todos se habían ido: “[Tienes] 10 minutos más, por última vez”. Mohamed avisó a los vecinos. El Ejército cumplió y, después de tres cohetes de aviso, un F-16 reventó medio edificio a las ocho menos diez de la tarde.

El Ejército ha avisado con cohetes de ruido o con llamadas telefónicas a algunos de los cientos de viviendas particulares que ha bombardeado en esta semana de hostilidades. Pero los miramientos que tuvieron con su casa demuestran, según el cardiólogo de 59 años, que el ataque no tenía fines militares. Sólo la intención de arruinarle la vida a uno de los principales médicos de la franja de Gaza. Tatar niega cualquier militancia política y recuerda su juramento hipocrático: “Soy un médico que gestiona un hospital”. Debido al enorme trabajo que suponen los casi 1.300 heridos por los bombardeos israelíes, hace una semana que no duerme en casa. Su familia vive ahora “con los vecinos”.

Israel bombardeó la noche del domingo el cementerio del barrio de Askula, que muestra un gran boquete entre las lápidas y los mausoleos que siguen en pie. Bombardearon también la mezquita de El Nour, en el centro de la Franja. Grupos de niños descalzos husmeaban entre los cristales y las ruinas del edificio hueco.

Las hermanas Naila y Asmahan Altum, de 23 y 16 años, duermen desde el domingo sobre el linóleo del suelo en un aula del colegio de la ONU Beach School, donde se hacinaban este lunes más de mil desplazados del norte. Comparte 30 metros cuadrados con otros 35 familiares. Explicaba Asmahan que “el aburrimiento es lo peor” de todo. Por eso, ella pinta en la pizarra motivos que incluyen drones, misiles y bombas. En el patio se formaba una larga cola a la espera del médico de la ONU, que tardaba en llegar como los suministros de comida. Señalando un cuenco de yogur, Nadia explicaba que casi no habían comido otra cosa hasta mediodía del lunes.

Entretanto continuaban las presiones diplomáticas sobre Hamás y el Gobierno israelí para que acuerden un alto el fuego. El diario israelí Haaretz recogía ayer las observaciones de un “alto oficial” israelí sobre la “creciente disposición” de Hamás a un alto el fuego.

Occidente y países árabes presionan para forzar un alto el fuego en Gaza
Los ministros de Exteriores de Alemania e Italia inician una gira por la región mientras E UU declina adoptar un papel protagonista en la solución de la crisis
L. Abellán / Marc Bassets Bruselas / Washington 14 JUL 2014 - 22:54 CEST
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Un palestino, en el campo de refugiados de Jabaliya (Gaza). / MOHAMMED SABER (EFE)

La virulencia que está alcanzando el enfrentamiento entre israelíes y palestinos preocupa a la comunidad internacional. Tras 175 palestinos muertos y miles de desplazados en la primera semana de la Operación Margen Protector, Occidente y los países vecinos de Israel se movilizan para lograr un alto el fuego. Varios ministros europeos recorren esta semana la región en busca de una salida al conflicto. Egipto y Qatar, con gran influencia sobre los gobernantes palestinos, se han implicado en esta ofensiva diplomática, aunque el fin de las hostilidades parece lejano. El Cairo presentó este lunes una iniciativa para dar una salida al conflicto entre Israel y el movimiento palestino Hamás, que estipula el cese de las hostilidades por parte de ambos bandos a partir de este martes y reuniones en El Cairo en los próximos días, ha anunciado un comunicado del Ministerio de Exteriores egipcio. El Consejo de Seguridad del Gobierno de Israel prevé reunirse el martes por la mañana para considerar la propuesta egipcia, según el diario israelí Haaretz.

La Unión Europea mantiene conversaciones con “todos los actores implicados” para lograr un alto el fuego, asegura una portavoz del servicio diplomático comunitario, que rehúsa dar detalles de a quiénes se dirigen los responsables europeos. Los contactos incluyen, en todo caso, a representantes israelíes, palestinos y de otros países de la región, puntualiza la portavoz.

Más allá de esos esfuerzos desde Bruselas, algunos Estados miembros han tomado la iniciativa de trasladarse al terreno. Los más activos han sido el ministro alemán de Exteriores, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, y su homóloga italiana, Federica Mogherini, que pasarán buena parte de la semana en Israel, los territorios ocupados, Egipto y Jordania.

Aunque Italia insiste en que Mogherini solo acude como ministra a un viaje planificado desde hace tiempo, sus contactos en Oriente Próximo coincidirán con la reunión en la que los jefes de Estado y de Gobierno deben decidir en Bruselas el nombre del próximo alto representante para la Política Exterior de la UE. Y Mogherini tiene muchas posibilidades de ocupar ese puesto.

Tanto Steinmeier como la jefa de la diplomacia italiana se entrevistarán con el ministro israelí de Asuntos Exteriores, Avigdor Lieberman, y con el presidente palestino, Mahmud Abbas. A ambos les reclamarán un alto el fuego y una vuelta a las conversaciones de paz, objetivos que se antojan improbables.

Sin visitas a la zona, Reino Unido y Francia intentan también propiciar un alto el fuego. El jefe de la diplomacia británica se entrevistó telefónicamente el fin de semana con esos dos dirigentes, y el presidente francés, François Hollande, aseguró ayer estar explorando las vías diplomáticas para aliviar la crisis.

Los países árabes con más capacidad de influencia en los palestinos también se han involucrado, informa Reuters. Pero los esfuerzos resultan complicados porque Hamás, el grupo islamista que gobierna en Gaza —considerado terrorista por la UE y Estados Unidos—, exige más que un alto el fuego israelí para cesar las hostilidades. Sus demandas apuntan a la liberación de prisioneros palestinos y al fin del bloqueo que mantiene Israel sobre Gaza.

Estados Unidos se mantiene en un segundo plano ante la escalada bélica entre Hamás e Israel. Tras el fracaso, en abril, de la mediación en el conflicto israelo-palestino del secretario de Estado, John Kerry, la Administración de Obama se muestra poco proclive a asumir un papel preponderante en la crisis actual. La Casa Blanca no confirmó un posible viaje de Kerry a la región para mediar en el conflicto.

El presidente Barack Obama busca, con otros aliados en la región como Egipto, un acuerdo que permita regresar al pacto que en 2012 puso fin a las hostilidades entre palestinos e israelíes. No hay equidistancia en la posición de EE UU, que es aliado de Israel y considera a Hamás una organización terrorista.

Obama apoya el derecho de Israel a defenderse ante los ataques de Hamás, y apunta a la organización palestina como responsable del lanzamiento de cohetes a civiles israelíes, según reiteró ayer su portavoz, Josh Earnest.

Earnest también pidió contención a israelíes y palestinos, y desaconsejó una invasión terrestre por parte de Israel en Gaza que “podría poner a más civiles en peligro”.

Es la primera vez que la Casa Blanca, preocupada por un aumento de las muertes civiles, presiona en público al Gobierno israelí para que no invada la franja de Gaza. Pero enseguida el portavoz añadió que en última instancia la decisión corresponde al Gobierno israelí teniendo en cuenta su “derecho e incluso responsabilidad” de proteger a sus ciudadanos.

En una conversación con el primer ministro israelí, Benjamín Netanyahu, Obama ofreció mediar, aunque no está claro cómo se concretará esta mediación. Un obstáculo es que Estados Unidos no habla oficialmente con Hamás y sólo puede hacerlo a través de otros mediadores, como Egipto. El secretario Kerry ha conversado en los últimos días con sus homólogos egipcio y qatarí.

“Vamos a contactar con cualquier país en la región que pueda tener un papel para acabar con el lanzamiento de cohetes por parte de Hamás”, manifestó la semana pasada la portavoz del Departamento de Estado, Jen Psaki.

Con varias crisis entre manos, de Irán a Afganistán pasando por Irak, Kerry ha tenido poco tiempo en los últimos días para ocuparse de Israel y Palestina. Tras dar por terminadas las negociaciones de paz, el Departamento de Estado pasó página. En junio el veterano diplomático Martin Indyk dimitió como enviado especial para las negociaciones israelíes tras casi un año en el cargo.

La SRE insiste en expresar preocupación

De la Redacción

Periódico La Jornada
Martes 15 de julio de 2014, p. 18

El gobierno de México, por conducto de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE), reiteró ayer "su grave preocupación por la escalada de violencia entre Israel y Palestina, y hace un enérgico llamado para que pongan fin de inmediato a las agresiones y a todo acto de violencia".

En un comunicado, reiteró su condena por el uso de la fuerza y la operación militar en la franja de Gaza, que han causado más de 170 personas fallecidas, más de mil 200 heridas y miles de desplazados, incluyendo mujeres y niños, por lo que exigió que se respeten las disposiciones del derecho internacional humanitario, en especial las relativas a la protección de la población civil.

Hizo un llamado a las partes a abstenerse de cometer acciones hostiles que afecten a la población palestina e israelí e incrementen el conflicto en la región. Llama también a que se restituya a la brevedad el cese el fuego que fue instituido en noviembre de 2012.

"El gobierno de México reitera la necesidad de solucionar a la brevedad el problema de fondo en la zona, garantizando el derecho tanto de Israel como de Palestina a vivir en paz, con seguridad y dentro de fronteras internacionalmente reconocidas. Por ello, el gobierno de México reconoce la importancia de reanudar a la brevedad las pláticas directas entre ambas partes", anotó.

Israel and Hamas to observe brief Gaza truce
Both sides to hold a five-hour pause in fighting to allow UN humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.
Last updated: 17 Jul 2014 04:13
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Israel and Hamas are to hold a five-hour ceasefire to allow UN humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

The UN asked Israel on Wednesday for a unilateral pause, a UN official told Al Jazeera, as renewed air strikes on the enclave threatened a major humanitarian crisis.

The army said Israel has decided that "between 10am (7am GMT) and 3pm (12pm GMT) the Israeli military will cease operational activity within the Gaza Strip and hold its fire".

In a statement in response, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: "The group agrees to a ceasefire for five hours," starting from 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Thursday.

At least 226 Palestinians have been killed and 1,685 others injured in nine days of incessant bombardment by Israel on the Gaza Strip.

Hospitals in the city were running out of medical supplies and the Red Cross has warned of acute water shortages.

The renewed bombing came one day after a failed attempt at a ceasefire proposed by the Egyptian government. It asked Israel and Hamas to halt their fire on Tuesday morning and dispatch envoys to Cairo to discuss further terms.

The Israeli cabinet agreed, but Hamas, which said it was never consulted on the ceasefire, rejected it in "its current form".

The group has notified Egypt of the changes it was seeking, Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official said.

"The initiative should include clear wording on fully lifting the blockade on Gaza, including opening all the crossings and releasing the rearrested prisoners from the [Gilad] Shalit deal in the West Bank," Hamad said.

Twitter campaign

Israeli jets resumed bombing the strip on Tuesday afternoon after a six-hour lull. Fighters in Gaza launched more than 60 rockets at Israel on Wednesday.

One Israeli was killed a by a Hamas-launched rocket on Tuesday, the only Israeli fatality since the fighting erupted on July 8.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that Hamas will pay a high price for rejecting Egypt’s ceasefire plan.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu's twitter account used promoted tweets seeking to build support for the Gaza campaign.

Israel warplanes carried out dozens of air strikes on Wednesday, targeting 30 houses, including those of senior Hamas leaders Mahmoud Zahar, Jamila Shanti, Fathi Hamas and Ismail Ashkar.

The army sent automated phone calls and text messages and dropped leaflets from planes threatening of more air strikes and prompting tens of thousands of residents to flee border areas.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Gaza rocket hits Israel as humanitarian lull ends

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Israeli soldiers stand on their Merkava tank at an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, July 17. Getty Images: Jack Guez, AFP
Israeli soldiers stand on their Merkava tank at an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, July 17.
AP 2 days ago By Associated Press


JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian militants fired a rocket at Israel Thursday just as a five-hour U.N. humanitarian cease-fire expired, the Israeli military said.

Gaza residents had crowded banks, vegetable markets and shops as they took advantage of the first respite from 10 days of fierce fighting.

Related: Israelis in center adjust to life under rockets

The military says the rocket struck the city of Ashkelon at precisely 3 p.m. (1200 GMT, 8 a.m. EDT) as the pause in military activity ended.

No injuries were reported. Gaza militants also fired three mortar shells toward Israel after the truce took effect at 10 a.m. Israel has not responded yet to either incident though it vowed to strike hard if fire continued.

Gaza City, a virtual ghost town for the past 10 days, returned to apparent normalcy within minutes of the start of the truce. Streets were jammed, motorists honked horns and Hamas police directed traffic at busy intersections.

Crowds of hundreds formed outside banks, with people jostling and shouting to get to ATM machines. In an outdoor market, shoppers filled plastic bags with fruit, vegetables and freshly slaughtered chickens.

The rush to restock signaled that Gaza residents don't expect a quick end to the fighting. Egypt renewed cease-fire efforts after its initial attempt collapsed earlier in the week, but the demands of Israel and Hamas remain far apart.

"'The situation is likely to get worse because there is no clear way out of it," said Moussa Amran, 43, a money changer in central Gaza City.

Israel accepted Egypt's initial call earlier this week to halt all hostilities, but Hamas rejected the idea because it does not want to return to the situation before the outbreak of fighting. An intensified Egyptian border blockade of Gaza over the past year, combined with long-running Israeli restrictions on access, had severely weakened the Islamic militant group.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri insisted in an interview with The Associated Press that the cease-fire deal was still alive and expressed frustration that "Palestinian factions" -- a clear reference to Hamas -- had not agreed to it.


Hamas' agreement is crucial to any such truce, but its demand that the blockade be eased significantly is likely to be rejected by Israel and Egypt because it would strengthen the group's hold on Gaza, where it seized power in 2007.

Thursday's temporary truce, brokered by the United Nations, came after Israel carried out nearly 2,000 air strikes on Gaza over 10 days and Hamas fired more than 1,300 rockets into Israel, reaching the country's economic and cultural heartland. The cross-border fighting has so far killed more than 230 Palestinians and an Israeli, according to officials.

Fighting continued early Thursday in the lead-up to the cease-fire, with the military saying it foiled an attack by 13 militants who sneaked into Israel through a tunnel from Gaza. Israeli aircraft struck the fighters at the mouth of the tunnel some 250 meters (820 feet) inside Israel, near a kibbutz.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said the military believed at least one militant was killed in the strike and that the remaining fighters appeared to have returned to Gaza through the tunnel.

Footage released by the military showed a number of individuals creeping slowly toward what appeared to be a hole in the ground. A separate shot showed an explosion from an airstrike on the tunnel entrance.

Lerner said the militants were armed with "extensive weapons," including rocket-propelled grenades.

Hamas' military wing said all its fighters returned safely even though the group was targeted by Israeli warplanes.

It was the second time militants attempted to sneak into Israel in this round of fighting. Last week, four fighters were killed when they infiltrated Israel from the sea.

The military also said 15 rockets were fired at Israel Thursday morning, including toward areas in the center, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

In fighting early Thursday, Israeli aircraft struck 37 targets, including the homes of senior Hamas leaders Fathi Hamad and Khalil al-Haya, the military said.

Three people were killed by a tank shell that hit a house in the southern town of Rafah, the Hamas-run police and Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said.

The Gaza Interior Ministry had earlier said that 30 houses were struck in the Israeli raids. Four people were killed and a 75-year-old woman died of wounds suffered the day before, the ministry said.

A senior Hamas official said the group's deputy leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, met with Egyptian officials Wednesday night to present Hamas' demands, which were also delivered to Jordan and the U.N. The official said Hamas wants countries other than Egypt to be involved in forging an agreement to end the fighting, a sign of the militant group's mistrust of Cairo.

Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, has often served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. But Hamas does not trust Egypt's current rulers, who deposed a Hamas-friendly government in Cairo last year.

Egypt's new leaders have since launched a sweeping crackdown on Hamas, shutting down a network of smuggling tunnels along the border that were the Islamic militant group's key economic lifeline — and weapons supply route.

The official spoke of condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the diplomatic steps with the media.

Also Thursday, a Jerusalem court indicted a 29-year-old and two 16-year-olds in the death of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, whose charred body was found after he was reported kidnapped. According to the indictment, the suspects went out for a "man hunt" that ended when they "cruelly" killed Abu Khdeir.

The indictment said the suspects carried out the crime in revenge for the deaths of three Israeli teens last month and that they killed Abu Khdeir "solely because he was an Arab." The suspects are also accused of attempting to kidnap a seven-year-old Arab boy a day earlier.

The indictment said Abu Khdeir was strangled, beaten and burned to death while he was unconscious.

The death led to days of clashes between Palestinian protesters and police in east Jerusalem and elicited widespread international condemnation.

___

Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.

Israel troops battle Hamas, uncover Gaza tunnels
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Israeli soldiers gesture as they ride their armoured personnel carrier across from the northern Gaza Strip July 18, 2014.: Israeli soldiers gesture as they ride their armoured personnel carrier across from the northern
Associated Press 4 hr ago By IBRAHIM BARZAK and ARON HELLER of Associated Press


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops uncovered more than a dozen cross-border tunnels and battled Gaza militants on the second day of an open-ended ground operation Saturday as the Palestinian death toll climbed to 325 and diplomats scrambled to revive cease-fire efforts.

The Israeli military said it had severely diminished the arsenal of Hamas, the Islamic militant group ruling Gaza, but the militants have continued to fire rockets and on Saturday staged another unsuccessful cross-border tunnel raid.
In the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials reported intensified Israeli air strikes, shelling and numerous civilian casualties, including a mother and four children, as dozens of wounded were rushed to a local hospital in Beit Lahiya. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said the new round of airstrikes raised the death toll from the 12-day offensive to 325 Palestinians, many of them civilians and about a fifth of them children.

In Israel, a Gaza rocket killed a 30-year-old man near the southern city of Dimona and injured four others, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, marking the second Israeli civilian casualty from the latest round of fighting. An Israeli soldier was killed after the start of the ground operation, likely from friendly fire.

The Israeli military said that during its first 24 hours on the ground in Gaza troops had discovered 13 tunnels into Israel — some as deep as 30 meters (yards) — that could be used to carry out attacks. The military said it thwarted a second infiltration attempt through such a tunnel, killing one militant and forcing the others to return to Gaza.

The military also said that in 12 days of fighting it has hit 2,350 targets in Gaza, including 1,100 rocket launchers.

Militants have fired more than 1,600 rockets since the latest round of fighting began on July 8. Rocket fire continued overnight, including one that landed in a residential neighborhood in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, causing no injuries.

"We have struck hard on the two main strategic assets of Hamas: the rockets and these tunnels," said Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.

Israel says it has encountered little resistance on the ground so far, and has killed about 20 militants in sporadic gunbattles. Three soldiers were wounded in overnight fighting, one seriously, the military said.

In one case, it said troops encountered a man who appealed for medical assistance before pulling out grenades and trying to hurl them at soldiers. He was shot dead. Troops also encountered a donkey with explosives strapped to it.

Casualties could mount quickly if the military moves further into urban areas.

Some 50,000 Palestinians are already staying in United Nations shelters, according to UNRWA, the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians.

Israel launched the ground operation late Thursday after hundreds of airstrikes on the Hamas-ruled territory failed to halt unrelenting rocket fire that has increasingly targeted major Israeli cities. Al-Kidra said 75 Palestinians have been killed since the ground offensive began.

An Egyptian truce proposal was rejected by Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and has demanded the lifting of an Israeli and Egyptian blockade as part of any cease-fire agreement.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri on Saturday repeated a call for the two sides to adopt its cease-fire initiative, saying it is the only offer on the table, despite efforts from Hamas backers Turkey and Qatar to broker a deal.

"This initiative still presents the chance for the two sides to cease fire, ending the bloodshed," he said. "It meets the needs of both sides. We will continue to propose it. We hope both sides accept it."

In a fresh effort to broker a truce, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was to leave Saturday for the Middle East to help mediate the Gaza conflict. A cease-fire is "indispensable" for urgently needed humanitarian efforts to succeed, the under-secretary-general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman told an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Friday.

Israeli officials have said the offensive could last up to two weeks. The military reported making steady progress but said dozens of tunnels remain and would not give a time frame for its operation.

Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, visited troops on the Gaza border early Saturday and said "a strategic national patience is necessary" to complete the mission.

"Hamas and other terror organizations have been hit hard, painfully and extensively," he added.

But Gaza militants have remained defiant despite the heavy death toll. The Israeli military said it foiled another infiltration attempt Saturday, as militants trying to get into Israel through a tunnel opened fire on Israeli troops with machine guns and anti-tank fire. Israeli troops fired back, killing one and forcing the others to flee back to Gaza, the military said.

"The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip will not surrender to the enemy and will not raise the white flag," Ziad Nakhala, a leader in the Islamic Jihad militant group, told a Palestinian radio station. "We are open to all possibilities as long as the enemy does not respond to the demands of the resistance."

Hamas has survived Israeli offensives in the past, including a major three-week ground operation in January 2009 and another weeklong air offensive in 2012. It now controls an arsenal of thousands of rockets, including long-range projectiles, and has built a system of underground bunkers.

But Hamas is weaker than it was during the previous two offensives, with little international or even regional support from its main allies, Turkey and Qatar. Protests against the offensive took place Friday in Turkey, Jordan and the West Bank.

___

Heller reported from Tel Aviv. Yousur Alhlou in Jerusalem, Sarah El Deeb in Cairo and Lefteris Pitarakis in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip contributed to this report.http://news.msn.com/world/israel-troops-battle-hamas-uncover-gaza-tunnels

Gaza under intense fire as death toll mounts
At least 34 people killed in "relentless" shelling by tanks and artillery on second day of Israeli ground invasion.
Last updated: 19 Jul 2014 14:32


At least 34 people have been killed in Gaza after Israeli army bombardment intensifies on the second day of a ground offensive it says is aimed at destroying Hamas' cross-border tunnels.

Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza, spoke of of "relentless and constant thuds" of tank fire across the eastern border of Gaza on Saturday, "with only around 10 seconds between each".

She said the tanks were concentrated along eastern Gaza, bordering Israel, and that there were many civilian casualties in that area.

Heavy Israeli artillery attacks were reported by an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent across other areas of the enclave. Drones, jets and attack helicopters patrolled the skies.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll over 12 days now stood at 333. That figure included 77 children, 24 women and 18 senior citizens, and that more than 2,385 people have been injured.

In another development on Saturday, agencies said Egyptian soldiers in north Sinai prevented an aid convoy of activists from reaching the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.

An army officer at the Balloza checkpoint, one of many along the desert highway to Rafah, told an AFP correspondent that the security situation in the peninsula was too unstable to allow the convoy of 11 buses and 500 activists to pass.

There was a brief scuffle between some activists and soldiers but no arrests were made.

Egypt usually keeps the crossing closed, citing a counterinsurgency operation against fighters in north Sinai, but has allowed entry to Palestinians wounded in the 12-day conflict between Hamas and Israel.

The Egyptian military had earlier said it was sending 500 tonnes of food and medical aide to Gaza.

Hamas has refused to accept a ceasefire with Israel until it receives guarantees that border crossings to Gaza - all but one under Israeli control - will be opened.

Earlier in Israel, one civilian was killed and two others were injured by a rocket strike on a Bedouin community near Dimona, bringing the Israeli death toll to two civilians.

The army said that an Israeli soldier was killed in friendly fire earlier in the week.

The intense shelling came hours after the US president, Barack Obama, said the US was "deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation and the loss of more innocent life".

He said he hoped Israel would operate "in a way that minimises civilian casualties".

Success 'not guaranteed'

The ground offensive is a new phase in Israel's Operation Protective Edge operation which the military said would destroy tunnels used by Hamas.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the ground operation was necessary to deal with the tunnels, but admitted there was "no guarantee of 100 percent success".
Gaza residents testify about the effects Israel and Egypt's blockade of their land has had on their lives.

The offensive failed to prevent an incursion by a tunnel into Israel by Qassam Brigades fighter on Friday. The attack was foiled by the Israeli military, however, with one fighter killed.

On the diplomatic front, the Palestinian and Israeli UN ambassadors traded blame for the violence, with Israel's Ron Prosor insisting no other country would "tolerate ... terrorist" rocket fire at its citizens.

Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, arrived in the Middle East on Saturday to bolster truce efforts, AFP news agency reported.

Ban would help Israelis and Palestinians "in coordination with regional and international actors, end the violence and find a way forward," Jeffrey Feltman, UN under secretary-general for political affairs, told the Security Council.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Israelis in center adjust to life under rockets
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In this Sunday, July 13, 2014 photo, a TV screen shows the ongoing fighting between Israel and Gaza at a bar in downtown Tel Aviv, Israel. Israelis are struggling to decide whether to carry on with their routines or take emergency precautions.
AP 2 days ago By ARON HELLER of Associated Press


HOD HASHARON, Israel (AP) — A morning siren in this middle-class Israeli town sent some fleeing inside for shelter — but others ran outside, curious to catch a glimpse of the incoming rocket being shot down from the sky. Thanks to Israel's "Iron Dome" defense system, Israelis seem to fear less for their lives than for their lifestyles as they adjust to the anxiety of random, potentially deadly, yet generally harmless rocket attacks.

Whereas the residents in northern and southern Israel have years of experience in coping with militant rocket fire, the people in central Israel are new to the reality and still getting used to hearing sounds of explosions.

"It just doesn't make any sense that this is happening," said 18-year-old Taly Shlomo, who exited a Hod Hasharon bakery to watch the fireworks above. "It's not scary because nothing terrible has happened yet but it's something you can't get used to. It's crazy."

In Gaza, Israeli strikes have left a trail of devastation, with more than 200 people dead in just over a week of fighting — a quarter of them children, according to the United Nations. Southern Israel has experience with the dangers too, battered for years by militant fire from Gaza that has caused deaths and frequently sends residents rushing for safety. But in central Israel, residents have long cultivated a sense of distance from the region's conflicts — and their main concern now appears to be that it not be shattered.

Residents are struggling to decide whether to carry on with their routines or take emergency precautions, whether to keep up with the nonstop TV coverage of the fighting or tune out entirely for their own sanity. Parents are debating whether to rush their children to shelters at the sound of each siren or take their chances but not convey panic.

"We live in a weird and distorted reality," said Maya Elharar, a 36-year-old mother of three. "The anxiety is there all the time. It's very sad that people have to endure this."

Her husband Roni was sitting across from her, outside the restaurant they own, as his iPhone beeped from an app informing him of another nearby rocket attack warning. He said daily life hadn't been altered, just disrupted, and it was something that could not be sustained over time, particularly for children.

A striking photo of some 20 young children lying on the floor of their Hod Hasharon kindergarten during a siren with their hands covering their heads was featured prominently Wednesday in Israeli media. The images from Gaza have been far more harrowing, with funerals of children and scenes of others huddling with their families in refuges after their homes have been destroyed.

Israel suffered its first fatality of the fighting Tuesday, when a civilian delivering food to soldiers near the Gaza border was killed by shrapnel from a mortar. At his funeral Wednesday, a eulogizer prayed he would be the last victim of this offensive.

Most Israelis say they are willing to stomach the abnormal reality a while longer to avoid repeating a similar situation again, having already faced three rounds of fierce rocket fire over the past five years.

"The rockets have to stop once and for all. Either they stop it or we need to stop it for them," said Said Shabi, 64.

When asked if he feared for his life, he shook his head and pointed a finger toward the sky. But it wasn't divine protection he was referring to.

"I feel safe thanks to 'Iron Dome,'" he said.

The high-tech missile-defense system has made the 1,300 rockets fired from Gaza since July 8 more bearable for Israelis, as most of those aimed at civilian populations have been intercepted. Those that have landed have mostly produced minor damage and distant booms.

Shabi's wife, Racheli, said the economic fallout has been more painful. She shut down her flower and gift shop in recent days because clients were staying home. "No one is the mood to buy presents these days," she said.

The emotional toll was even harder to calculate.

"As a mother, I am always worried," she said. "I know the chances of being hit are so small but I still think my kids are going to need treatment someday because they are scared all the time."

Yotam Dagan, the director of community outreach at Israel's Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War, said the fear was warranted.

He said research showed that some 20 percent of those exposed to large explosions would develop some form of post-traumatic stress disorder, Israelis and Palestinians alike.

For most it would be fleeting, though, and he said Israelis have evolved since a wave of suicide bombings a decade ago.

"Our communities are much more resilient than 10 years ago. We've learned to move from normalcy to emergency in minutes," he said. "Israeli society is getting more mature but when a missile lands near you it takes something out of you."

Alroyee Ben-Tzadik, 35, said he promised his wife that he would head to shelter in case of a siren but defiantly said he would adjust easily if the attacks became commonplace.

"It doesn't bother me too much and it won't affect my life," he said. "This country is hard. Life in not simple. Those who live here know that."http://news.msn.com/in-depth/israelis-in-center-adjust-to-life-under-rockets

Hamas es capaz de producir aviones no tripulados
16 de julio del 2014

Imagen del Ababil AB1. Foto: EspecialIsrael, 16 de julio.- El brazo armado de Hams, las Brigadas Izz ad-Din al Qassam, anunciaron el pasado 14 de julio que han logrado construir un avión no tripulado llamado Ababil 1.

La organización dijo que hasta la fecha han logrado producir tres modelos: el A1A para misiones de reconocimiento, el A1B para misiones ofensivas y el A1C para ataques suicidas, en las cuales es la propia aeronave la que sirve como munición. El anuncio fue acompañado por un video en el cual aparentemente se puede ver el vuelo de un A1B, cuyo modelo puede tener un cargamento de hasta cuatro misiles.

Las Brigadas Al-Qassam aseguran que su ‘drone’ ha llevado a cabo tres misiones el pasado 14 de julio, una de ellas sobre el edificio del Ministerio de Defensa israelí en Tel Aviv, pero perdieron el contacto con las aeronaves en dos de las tres misiones.

Por su parte, las Fuerzas de Defensa israelitas anunciaron por medio de su cuenta de Twitter que se utilizaron misiles Patriot para derribar un ‘drone’ sobre la ciudad de Ashod. Sin embargo, no pudieron confirmar que fueran integrantes de Hamas los operadores de dicha aeronave.

El Ababil 1 es el primer avión no tripulado operado por un grupo militante palestino. No obstante, el gobierno de Israel ya había encontrado una amenaza similar proveniente del grupo libanés conocido como Hezbollah.

Angel Silva Juárez

@Usul16

Estado Mayor

Milicias en Gaza lanzan tres cohetes a Israel pese a la petición de la ONU de detener el fuego durante cinco horas

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - julio 17 de 2014 - 5:38
Mundo, TIEMPO REAL, Último minuto - 2 comentarios


Jerusalén, 17 jul (EFE).- Tres cohetes disparados por milicias en la Franja de Gaza cayeron hoy en territorio israelí en medio del alto el fuego “humanitario” de cinco horas de duración al que se comprometieron Israel y Hamás a solicitud de la ONU.

La aviación israelí continuó esta mañana los bombardeos sobre diferentes blancos en la Franja de Gaza, que causaron la muerte a cinco palestinos, entre los que se incluye un anciano, mientras milicianos de Hamás siguieron disparando contra Israel.

De acuerdo al portavoz del ministerio de Sanidad en Gaza, Ashraf al Qedra, los últimos cinco fallecidos perdieron la vida en bombardeos israelíes en la ciudad de Gaza, así como en el centro y sur del territorio palestino, que dejaron asimismo más de media decena de heridos.

Con las últimas víctimas mortales, el funcionario cifró en 227 el número total de palestinos muertos y 1.685 el de heridos, más de la mitad de ellos civiles, desde el pasado 8 de julio cuando Israel inició la ofensiva militar en Gaza denominada “Margen Protector”.

Los estruendos causados por sucesivas bombas disparadas por cazas y aviones no tripulados del Ejército israelí retumbaban esta mañana, al mismo tiempo que milicianos en Gaza disparaban varias salvas de cohetes contra poblaciones israelíes aledañas a la Franja y del centro del país.

El brazo armado del grupo islamista Hamás asumió el disparo de más de una decena de proyectiles a localidades del centro de Israel.

Esta mañana, Israel frustró un ataque de trece milicianos de Gaza a través de un túnel con el que se infiltraron en territorio israelí, a dos kilómetros de un kibutz, informó el Ejército de ese país.

“Cuando los milicianos salían del túnel fueron identificados y atacados desde el aire”, precisó un portavoz militar, que añadió que se trata del cuarto intento importante por parte de grupos armados de Gaza de perpetrar un ataque de estas características.

Preguntado sobre si el nuevo intento de ataque podría echar por tierra el alto el fuego “humanitario” aceptado por las dos partes en conflicto, el portavoz dijo que Israel sigue comprometido con la suspensión de las hostilidades -durante cinco horas hoy-, medida solicitada por la ONU y que también ha aceptado el movimiento islamista Hamás.

El alto el fuego se inició a las 10:00 hora local (7:00 GMT) y se prolongará durante cinco horas, al objeto de permitir la salida de los heridos más graves de Gaza y el aprovisionamiento de bienes esenciales al territorio palestino.

Sami Abu Zuhri, portavoz de Hamás en Gaza confirmó en un comunicado que “el acuerdo de cinco horas permitirá la entrada de ayuda humanitaria a la Franja”.

Tregua humanitaria

La tregua, pactada entre las 10.00 y las 15.00 horas locales (07.00-12.00 GMT), fue aceptada a última hora del miércoles por Hamás después de que el Ejército israelí hubiera anunciado que “cesará todas sus operaciones en la Franja de Gaza y no disparará”.

“Las facciones de la resistencia han acordado aceptar la oferta de la ONU de una tregua de cinco horas por razones humanitarias”, informó en un comunicado el portavoz de Hamás, Sami Abu Zukhri.

Israel advirtió, no obstante, de que “si Hamás o cualquier otra organización terrorista aprovechan esta ventana humanitaria para lanzar ataques contra civiles israelíes o blancos militares, el Ejército responderá con firmeza y de forma contundente”.

La tregua fue solicitada por el enviado especial de la ONU para Oriente Medio, Robert Serry, a raíz, según diversos medios, de la muerte el miércoles en una playa de Gaza de cuatro menores por un bombardeo de la Marina israelí.

Se trata de la primera suspensión del cese del fuego aceptada por ambas partes desde que hace 10 días se inició la ofensiva militar israelí “Margen Protector”, que hasta la fecha ha causado más de 220 palestinos muertos y un israelí, además de 1.500 heridos palestinos.

El ejército israelí inicia la ofensiva terrestre en Gaza
Jana Beris Corresponsal| El Universal
Viernes 18 de julio de 2014
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El ej�rcito israel� inicia la ofensiva terrestre en Gaza

DOLOR. Palestinos junto a los cuerpos de los niños Jihad Esam Shahebar, Fullah Tariq Shahebar y Wasim Esam Shahebar, muertos por un ataque israelí en Gaza. (Foto: HATEM MOUSSA / AP )
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Con el declarado objetivo de "destruir los túneles del terrorismo", el gobierno de Benjamin Netanyahu aprobó anoche por unanimidad el comienzo del operativo por tierra

JERUSALÉN.— Con el declarado objetivo de “destruir los túneles del terrorismo” —en referencia a los túneles subterráneos cavados por Hamas desde la Franja de Gaza hacia territorio israelí— el gobierno de Benjamin Netanyahu aprobó anoche por unanimidad el comienzo del operativo por tierra. La situación a la que parecía no se quería llegar, pero que en los últimos días se iba acercando cada vez más, es ahora un hecho.

Tropas de Infantería, Cuerpo de Ingenieros y blindados entraron a la Franja de Gaza por el norte, centro y sur, intensificando seriamente sus ataques contra blancos de Hamas. Además, el gabinete de seguridad aprobó la movilización de otros 18 mil reservistas. Días atrás se había dado la autorización para la movilización de 48 mil, de los cuales 40 mil ya están en sus puestos.

Un portavoz militar israelí dijo que no se intentaba derrocar al movimiento islámico Hamas, que gobierna Gaza. Ese objetivo implicaría un movimiento hacia la densamente poblada Gaza, donde la guerra urbana podría resultar costosa para ambos bandos.

Antes de la incursión, aviones israelíes bombardearon una casa en la ciudad de Gaza. Ashraf al Qedra, portavoz de emergencias de la Franja, dijo que tres niños de una misma familia —dos hermanos de 7 y 8 años y un primo de 10— perdieron la vida en ese ataque, al impactar un misil en el barrio de Zaitum mientras ellos jugaban.

Una cuarta niña falleció en otro ataque israelí sobre la localidad meridional de Jan Yunis, una de las más castigadas por la ofensiva. Con estas muertes, son ya 240 los palestinos fallecidos en los diez días de operación aérea israelí sobre Gaza, 49 de ellos niños y menores de edad.

Hamas prometió que Israel pagará “un precio muy alto” por la incursión terrestre. Ya antes de empezar la nueva fase en el operativo israelí “Margen Protector”, la jornada había estado plena de violencia. En Israel cayeron más de 100 misiles lanzados desde Gaza y por su parte, Israel siguió atacando en Gaza, especialmente en el norte. Fuentes palestinas dijeron que 10 personas murieron durante el día, entre ellos 7 niños. Esta mañana continuó el ataque con cohetes palestinos a territorio israelí.

Desde El Cairo, el presidente palestino Mahmud Abbas —que participa en los por ahora infructuosos esfuerzos por lograr un alto el fuego— dijo que temía que esto sucediera y que el operativo por tierra agrave la situación, por lo que llamó a detenerlo. Por su parte, el canciller de Egipto declaró que Hamas es responsable por la situación.

Ayer, la UNRWA, agencia de la ONU para los refugiados, reveló haber encontrado misiles escondidos en una de sus escuelas en Gaza, alegando que era “la primera vez que sucedía algo así”, aunque Israel dice que es una práctica común de Hamas. La ONU aclaró que “esta es una violación flagrante de la inviolabilidad de sus instalaciones bajo el derecho internacional”, agregando que el incidente “puso en peligro a civiles, incluyendo al personal, y arriesgó la misión vital de la UNRWA de asistir y proteger a los refugiados de Palestina en Gaza”.

En los últimos días, debido al fracaso de la tregua y la intensificación del disparo de los misiles hacia Israel por parte de Hamas, la sensación en Israel era que el operativo terrestre —que el gobierno de Netanyahu era muy renuente a hacer— se estaba acercando y parecía más probable.

Pero lo que parece haber decidido definitivamente al gabinete de seguridad a aprobarlo en forma unánime, fue un hecho registrado ayer de madrugada, cuando 13 hombres armados de Hamas fueron detectados por la unidad de observadoras de la frontera en la parte sur de Gaza, mientras salían de un túnel subterráneo cavado desde la franja, que se había adentrado 200 metros en territorio israelí. Todo indica, dijeron fuentes militares, que su intención era perpetrar un atentado espectacular en el aledaño kibutz Sufa, y quizás también secuestrar a civiles o soldados israelíes.

(Con información de agencias)

Elefantes de un zoológico de Israel protegen a sus crías por alerta de sirenas de ataques antiaéreos en Gaza

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - julio 13 de 2014 - 16:26
De revista, Mundo, TIEMPO REAL, Último minuto, Video - 4 comentarios


Ciudad de México, 13 de julio (SinEmbargo).–Un grupo de elefantes alojados en un zoológico ubicado en Israel reacciona ante el sonido de las alarmas antiaéreas, que anuncian la eventual caída de un misil, en la zona del conflicto con Palestina en Gaza.

En un video difundido en redes sociales, un empleado del recinto se percató de la reacción de los animales ante el sonido de alarma, quienes ante el sonar de la sirena, se agrupan.

Ante el estruendo de la alerta se puede ver como uno de los paquidermos parece llamar a los más grandes quienes acuden y rodean a los más pequeños, en un afán de resguardo a las crías.

Cuando los sonidos de los proyectiles y las sirenas dejaron de sonar, los elefantes volvieron a su rutina habitual.

El conflicto en la zona de la franja de Gaza ha aumentado de intensidad en los últimos días, los ataques israelíes han dejado al menos 45 personas muertas y 131 heridos en las últimas 24 horas.

Además, Israel lanzó un ultimátum a la población de varias localidades del norte de la zona en conflicto para que abandonen sus casas porque la zona va a ser bombardeada para atacar infraestructuras terroristas al este de Al Atara y de la calle As-Sultan, y al oeste y el norte el campo de refugiados de Yabalia.

En tanto, cerca de cuatro mil palestinos buscaron refugio hoy en instalaciones de la ONU en Gaza. Según Chris Gunnes, portavoz en la zona de la agencia de Naciones Unidas para los refugiados palestinos (UNRWA), 166 personas han perecido -entre ellas 23 niños- y más de mil 100 han resultado heridas en los seis días que dura la tercera ofensiva israelí contra Gaza desde que en 2007 el movimiento islamista Hamás asumiera su control.

“La situación en Gaza continua siendo devastadora e impredecible. Miles de aterrorizadas personas tratan de huir de los ataques y hallar refugio en instalaciones de la UNRWA. Hemos abierto ocho escuelas y solo hoy cerca de 4 mil personas han buscado refugio”, afirmó.

Gunnes volvió a instar a todas las partes implicadas a poner fin a las hostilidades, proteger a los civiles y respetar el derecho internacional.

Israel anuncia la ampliación “en forma significativa” de su ofensiva militar; mueren 20 palestinos en Gaza

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - julio 18 de 2014 - 7:51
Mundo, TIEMPO REAL, Último minuto - 2 comentarios


Jerusalén, 18 Jul (Notimex).- Israel “ampliará en forma significativa” su ofensiva terrestre contra las milicias palestinas en la Franja de Gaza, advirtió el Primer Ministro Benjamín Netanyahu.

El Primer Ministro y el Ministro de Defensa han ordenado al ejército israelí a hacer los preparativos para la ampliación de la operación terrestre, luego que el gabinete de seguridad aprobó destruir la capacidad militar de Hamás.

“He dado instrucciones de que se preparen para ampliar significativamente la operación por tierra y el Ejército está respondiendo en consecuencia”, señaló Netanyahu ante los medios en Jerusalén.

El operativo del ejército apunta a la compleja red de túneles que utilizan las milicias extremistas palestinas para el contrabando de armas y municiones, y esconder las plataformas de lanzamiento de cohetes, algo que no lo puede hacer “desde el aire”.

Miles de soldados se han trasladado a la zona norte de la frontera con Gaza en la noche del jueves, apoyado por tanques y fuego de artillería en preparación a la ofensiva a gran escala en el enclave palestino.

Por otro lado, el Ministro de Defensa israelí, Moshe Yaalon, ha comparecido también ante los medios para ratificar que la invasión terrestre de Gaza no terminará hasta que se hayan cumplido todos sus objetivos, reportó el diario Jerusalem Post.

El Movimiento de Resistencia Islámico, conocido como Hamás, que controla Gaza, ha dicho que Israel “pagará un precio muy alto” por la invasión, que en las primeras horas de iniciada se cobró la vida de 24 palestinos y un soldado hebreo.

La decisión de enviar tropas por tierra se produjo después de 10 días de intensos ataques aéreos en contra de posiciones de Hamás en la franja y el lanzamiento de centenares de cohetes a territorio judió desde Gaza.

“Mis instrucciones son … prepararse para la posibilidad de ampliar significativamente la operación terrestre, y el ejército se está preparando en consecuencia”, afirmó Netanyahu a los periodistas.

Por su parte, la oficina del portavoz de las fuerzas de defensa informó que un gran contingente de tropas terrestres han comenzado una incursión en la franja, cuyo objetivo es la destrucción de la infraestructura de los “terroristas” en Gaza.

El ejército israelí ha dado el siguiente paso dentro de la operación Margen Protector, mediante la inclusión de unidades de infantería, tanques, artillería pesada y otros comandos en la Franja de Gaza, con el apoyo de la fuerza aérea.

El gobierno hebreo justificó su operación luego que Hamás rechazó una tregua, bajo la mediación de Egipto, y “a la luz de los ataques interminables en territorio israelí”.

El objetivo es “restaurar la calma y la seguridad a los israelíes durante mucho tiempo, mientras se inutiliza significativamente la infraestructura de Hamás y otros grupos terroristas en la Franja de Gaza”.

INCURSIÓN TERRESTRE DEJA 20 MUERTOS

Al menos 20 palestinos fueron abatidos y un soldado israelí murió en las primeras horas de la operación terrestre de las fuerzas armadas en la Franja de Gaza, en las que el ejército hebreo atacó 103 posiciones de Hamás.

Los funcionarios de salud de Gaza anunciaron que 20 palestinos murieron en la primera etapa de la operación terrestre, incluyendo un niño de tres meses de edad que murió después de que un proyectil cayó en la tienda de beduinos de su familia en el sur de Gaza.

El ejército sostuvo en las primeras horas de este viernes que “neutralizó” a 14 militantes palestinos en una serie de intercambios de disparos, pero las autoridades sanitarias de Gaza reportaron al menos 20 personas muertas, reportó el diario Haaretz.

Durante las primeras horas de enfrentamientos armados, las fuerzas terrestres israelíes han atacado 103 posiciones islamistas, entre ellas una veintena de lanzaderas de cohetes y alrededor de nueve túneles, afirmó el ejército.

El despliegue lo realizaron los militares de manera meticulosa desde el norte y el este de Gaza, por los barrios de Beit Lahia y Beit Hanun y según testigos solo avanzaron unos 100 metros en territorio palestino.

El ejército comentó que 50 cohetes han sido disparados contra Israel desde el inicio de su operación terrestre en la noche del jueves, de los más de mil 500 que han sido lanzados desde que comenzaron los combates la semana pasada.

Aviones israelíes han atacado más de dos mil objetivos del Movimiento de Resistencia Islámico (Hamás) en Gaza con un saldo de más de 260 palestinos muertos, la mayoria civiles -entre ellos 49 menores de edad-, mientras que el lanzamiento de cohetes palestinos se ha saldado con un civil israelí muerto.

De acuerdo con cifras proporcionadas por el Centro Palestino para los Derechos Humanos en Gaza, más de 80 por ciento de las víctimas han sido civiles. Al menos mil 920 palestinos también han resultado heridos.

Según las autoridades castrenses, la operación Margen Protector, tiene tres etapas, la primera los ataques aéreos, aunado a la segunda, la campaña terrestre y por último, asegurar la destrucción de la capacidad militar de Hamás.

Un comunicado emitido por el portavoz de las fuerzas de defensa señaló que los soldados de infantería, blindados, de ingeniería y de cuerpo de artillería participan en la operación, con la asistencia de la fuerza aérea y la marina.

Un centenar de palestinos y 13 soldados israelíes muertos este domingo; ONU inicia sesión por crisis en Gaza

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - julio 20 de 2014 - 8:25
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Por Javier Martín y Elías L. Benarroch

Gaza/Jerusalén, 20 jul (EFE).- Cerca de un centenar de palestinos y 13 soldados israelíes murieron hoy en la jornada más sangrienta de la actual ofensiva de Israel contra Gaza, que podría convertirse en un punto de inflexión para acabar con una guerra que ya ha segado la vida de más de 430 personas, en su mayoría civiles gazatíes.

La mayor masacre hasta el momento se produjo en el barrio de Shahaiya, donde más de sesenta personas murieron en un intenso bombardeo de más de diez horas de la aviación, la Marina de guerra y la artillería y los carros de combate israelíes.

Según fuentes castrenses, las tropas fueron objeto, de madrugada, de una emboscada tendida por los milicianos islamistas en este populoso y depauperado distrito del este de Gaza, donde perdieron la vida trece soldados, entre ellos dos comandantes de unidad.

“El comandante de Golani – herido – reemplazado; el comandante de la compañía de patrulla de Golani – herido; perdón, muerto – reemplazado; su lugarteniente – muerto – reemplazado. En total 14 muertos y alrededor de 40 heridos. Hemos sacudido el polvo, seguimos combatiendo”, dice un telegráfico segmento de audio al que tuvo acceso Efe.

La grabación daba cuenta, presuntamente, de las comunicaciones por radio, la pasada madrugada, entre la fuerza militar israelí en Gaza y la sala de guerra.

La información fue anunciada y confirmada oficialmente horas después por el Ejército israelí, una vez que como exige el protocolo militar, fueran informadas las familias.

Y supone uno de los golpes más duros a las Fuerzas Armadas israelíes en Gaza, ya que un solo día han muerto el mismo número de soldados israelíes que en toda la operación “Pilar Defensivo”, en 2012.

Con ellos, asciende a 18 la cifra de uniformados israelíes que han muerto en combate durante esta tercera ofensiva contra el movimiento islamista Hamás desde que este se hiciera con el control de la franja, en junio de 2007.

Expertos militares en Israel explicaron, por su parte, que al menos una parte de los uniformados fueron víctimas de un moderno cohete antitanque disparado contra el vehículo blindado posicionado entre el barrio y la frontera.

Después de la supuesta emboscada, cazabombarderos, helicópteros artillados, tanques y buques de guerra multiplicaron el castigo sobre las míseras calles del enclave, que este domingo eran la dramática imagen de la desolación.

Ya a primera hora de la mañana, con las luces tenues del alba, los que huían salpicados de polvo, sangre y desesperación narraban entre lágrimas y gritos un infierno que en principio era difícil de creer.

Traspasado el mediodía, y aceptada por las dos partes la tregua humanitaria exigida por el Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja (CICR), el paisaje era peor que la desolación que los huidos solo podían balbucear.

Cientos de casas destruidas, ambulancias y coches reducidos a amasijos retorcidos y carbonizados, árboles tronchados y decenas de cadáveres tirados por unas calles en las que una vez transcurrió la vida y que hoy eran un mar de cascotes y muerte.

Un drama esculpido a golpe de dolor, esquirlas, pólvora y sangre en los rostros de aquellos heridos que, como un desfile de zombies, trataban de llegar a pie, o en brazos de familiares y voluntarios, a las atestadas ambulancias.

Una huida hacia ninguna parte segura en una franja con todas las puertas selladas y las escuelas albergues de la ONU abarrotadas, con 75.000 almas desplazadas, un 50% más de lo que al inicio del conflicto esperaban.

Nada más conocerse los detalles de la dramática jornada, el secretario de Estado de EEUU, John Kerry, anunció que viajará a Oriente Medio para negociar un cese de hostilidades.

Entrevistado en cinco programas dominicales de noticias, Kerry reiteró el apoyo de la Casa Blanca a Israel y dijo estar a la espera de las órdenes del presidente, Barack Obama, que “bien puede ser que me pida partir de inmediato”.

En la región ya está el secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, quien inicio en Catar una gira por Oriente Medio que también le llevará a Kuwait, Egipto, Jordania, Jerusalén y Ramala, y en la que también tratará de impulsar un alto el fuego.

Catar es, junto a Turquía, uno de los negociadores claves, tal y como anunció ayer el propio Hamás, después de que el grupo rechazara de plano la propuesta de paz presentada por Egipto a palestinos e israelíes.

En Doha, donde vive el líder político de Hamás, Jaled Meshal, ya está también el presidente de la Autoridad Nacional Palestina (ANP), Mahmud Abás, donde está previsto que se reúna con Ban Ki-Moon y el propio Meshal.

ONU CONDENA ATAQUE ISRAELÍ

El secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, condenó hoy en Doha el “terrible” ataque del Ejército israelí en el barrio gazatí de Shahaiya, en el que murieron al menos 62 palestinos y 13 soldados israelíes.

En una conferencia de prensa conjunta con el ministro de Exteriores catarí -Jaled ben Mohamed al Atiya-, Ban, de visita en Doha, pidió a las dos partes del conflicto respetar el derecho humanitario y a Israel “contenerse y proteger a los civiles en Gaza”.

Por su parte, Al Atiya también condenó el ataque sobre el suburbio gazatí, que calificó de “masacre”, y aseguró que continúan las consultas en la región para conseguir un alto el fuego entre Israel y el movimiento islamista Hamás.

Añadió que “el pueblo palestino no acepta un bloqueo por un tiempo largo” en Gaza y pidió a la comunidad internacional que asuma su responsabilidad para levantarlo, detener el ataque israelí y prestar ayuda humanitaria a la población de esta región.

Ban llegó hoy a Doha en la que es su primera parada de una gira por Oriente Medio que también le llevará a Kuwait, El Cairo, Jerusalén, Ramala y Ammán, durante la cual tratará de impulsar un cese de la violencia entre israelíes y palestinos.

Según la ONU, el objetivo de Ban es “expresar solidaridad con israelíes y palestinos y ayudarles, en coordinación con actores regionales e internacionales, a detener la violencia y encontrar una vía para avanzar”.

El presidente palestino, Mahmud Abás, llegó también hoy a Doha, donde está previsto que se reúna con el líder del movimiento islamista Hamás, Jaled Meshal, y el secretario general de la ONU, informó la agencia oficial catarí de noticias, QNA, que no ofreció detalles sobre los supuestos encuentros.

Desde que empezó la ofensiva israelí en la zona, el 8 de julio, la cifra de fallecidos supera ya los 430 del lado palestino, en su mayoría civiles, mientras que del lado israelí el número de muertos es de 18 soldados y dos civiles.

CONSEJO DE SEGURIDAD DE LA ONU INICIA SESIÓN POR CRISIS EN GAZA

El Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas (ONU) inició esta noche una reunión de urgencia sobre la crisis en Gaza, donde la ofensiva israelí dejó hoy el más alto número de víctimas en 13 días.

El Consejo de Seguridad fue convocado a petición de Jordania, uno de los 10 miembros no permanentes del organismo, de acuerdo con el embajador francés ante Naciones Unidas (ONU), Gerard Araud.

La ofensiva israelí dejó este domingo al menos un centenar de palestinos muertos, con lo que el número de fallecidos llegó a 437, y más de tres mil heridos.

El representante palestino ante la ONU, Riad Mansur, condenó las atrocidades cometidas por Israel en la Franja de Gaza, y pidió de nuevo al Consejo de Seguridad una acción inmediata para poner fin a la ofensiva israelí contra el pueblo palestino.

Mansur dijo en rueda de prensa que el Consejo de Seguridad ha fallado en anteriores ocasiones en condenar a Israel, pero que Palestina continuará tocando a su puerta y pidiendo su intervención.

Añadió que el Consejo de Seguridad aceptó reunirse la noche de este domingo a puerta cerrada y no en sesión abierta como había planteado su representación.

La reunión en Nueva York se efectúa al tiempo que el secretario general de la ONU, Ban Ki-moon, instó a Israel a “ejercer la máxima moderación” y evitar más muertes de civiles en su campaña en Gaza.

Ban condenó en particular la “acción atroz” de Israel en la comunidad de Shejaiya, en el norte de Gaza, donde la ofensiva del ejército israelí la madrugada de este domingo dejó 62 muertos e hirió a por lo menos otras 250.

Académico israelí sugiere violar a palestinas para evitar ataques
Lo único que detendría un ataque suicida es que el atacante supiera que si lo hace, sus hermanas, esposa y madre serían violadas, afirmó Mordechai Kedar
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22/07/2014 16:40 Redacción
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TEL AVIV, 22 de julio.- Un académico israelí se vio envuelto en la polémica luego de que declarara este lunes que violar a las esposas, hermanas y madres de los combatientes palestinos prevendría ataques suicidas.

Lo único que prevendría un ataque suicida es que supieran que si son atrapadas, su hermana o su madre serán violadas", dijo Mordechai Kedar durante un programa de radio, reportó la prensa israelí.

El académico de literatura árabe de la Universidad de Bar-llan, sirvió 25 años en la inteligencia militar israelí, donde se especializó en grupos islámicos.

Actualmente Kedar es investigador del Centro de Estudios Estratégicos Begin-Sadat, así como fundador y director del Monitor de Academia de Israel, un sitio que registra supuestas actividades antiisraelíes dentro del mundo académico.

Durante la entrevista en el programa radial nacional, el entrevistador Yossi Hadar responde que la propuesta de violar a mujeres evidentemente "suena mal. No podemos tomar ese tipo de medidas".

Dicha respuesta no impidió que Kedar continuara explicando que esto es parte de la “cultura… este es el Medio Oriente”, y luego agregó que no hablaba de algo que se estuviera haciendo o no. "Estoy hablando de la realidad: lo único que evitará ataques suicidas es que si él sabe que jala el gatillo, su hermana será violada".

La universidad emitió un comunicado en el que afirmó que su investigador sólo trataba de ilustrar que “no hay formas de evitar a los atacantes suicidas, y utilizando una hipérbola, habló de la violación de mujeres como ejemplo”.

La escuela afirmó que el investigador sólo describía la "cultura de la muerte" dentro de las organizaciones terroristas, "la cruda realidad en el Medio Oriente y la inhabilidad de un país moderno y que se sujeta a las leyes de luchar contra el terror de los atacantes suicidas".

La Universidad de Bar Ilan es un centro religioso situado en un suburbio de Tel Aviv. En 1995, Yigal Amir, un estudiante de ese instituto, asesinó al primer ministro Yitzhak Rabin.

rja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBakqLUBWP0&bpctr=1406170992



VIDEO: Francotirador israelí mata a joven palestino en Gaza
Salem Khalil Salem Shammaly, de 23 años, murió a manos de un francotirador mientras intentaba encontrar a sus familiares luego de intensos bombardeos israelíes
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23/07/2014 04:41 Redacción

CIUDAD DE GAZA, 23 de julio.- Un video muestra la muerte a tiros de un joven que buscaba a sus familiares luego de bombardeos en un vecindario de Gaza.

Salem Khalil Salem Shammaly, un residente de 23 años de Shajiya, fue asesinado el pasado domingo por un francotirador israelí mientras intentaba encontrar a su familia en medio de los escombros, luego de que varios edificios quedaran destruidos por bombardeos israelíes durante la noche.

En el video se observa cómo dos disparos dan en el joven cuando ya se encontraba herido. Su cuerpo no pudo ser recuperado.

En el video también se observa una ambulancia, la cual fue atacada por fuerzas israelíes, lo que dejó un paramédico muerto.

Luego de 15 días de lucha, al menos 612 palestinos y 29 israelíes han muerto.

Más aerolíneas cancelan vuelos a Israel tras recrudecimiento de violencia
La polaca LOT, las alemanas Lufthansa y Air Berlin, y las estadunidenses Delta, US Airways y United suspendieron sus trayectos hacia la zona
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22/07/2014 17:19 EFE
Más aerolíneas cancelan vuelos a Israel tras recrudecimiento de violencia
La mayoría de estas aerolíneas comunicaron que la suspensión se mantendrá, por lo menos, durante las próximas 36 horas.

BERLÍN, 22 de julio.- La compañía aérea polaca LOT canceló sus vuelos a Tel Aviv y se sumó a la decisión adoptada por varias de las principales aerolíneas europeas de suspender el trayecto al aeropuerto Ben Gurion, en cuyas inmediaciones cayó un cohete lanzado desde Gaza.

Fuentes de la compañía informaron la medida horas después de que las alemanas Lufthansa y Air Berlin, así como la española Iberia, la holandesa KLM y la francesa Air France, entre otros, decidieran no volar a Israel por las inciertas condiciones de seguridad.

La mayoría de estas aerolíneas comunicaron que la suspensión se mantendrá, por lo menos, durante las próximas 36 horas.

La Administración Federal de Aviación de Estados Unidos (FAA, en sus siglas en inglés) prohibió a las aerolíneas estadunidenses volar a o desde el aeropuerto internacional Ben Gurion en un periodo de al menos 24 horas.

Las compañías estadunidenses Delta Airlines, US Airways y United Airlines cancelaron sus vuelos a Israel después de que se registrara el impacto de un cohete en las proximidades del aeropuerto.

gak

Israel enfoca a México como 'blanco de misiles' palestinos
A modo de "campaña informativa" Israel creó mapas ilustrativos que muestran qué pasaría si la Franja de Gaza estuviese junto a otros países
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22/07/2014 18:09 Redacción / Fotos: www.idfblog.com/
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CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 22 de julio.- Como una campaña informativa, según Israel, el estado judío publicó mapas de México, Argentina, España, Costa Rica y varios países más, además de una imagen de Londres envuelto en llamas, acompañados de la pregunta “¿Te imaginas viviendo con vecinos como los nuestros?”.

El cometido de esta maniobra es “visualizar” la amenaza que representa Palestina para Israel. Inclusive, en la misma página, a través de una aplicación puedes escribir la ciudad en la que vives y Google Maps te muestra lo que podría destruir uno de los misiles lanzados desde Gaza.

Laos mapas y la aplicación para buscar ubicar tu país fueron publicadas en el blog de las Fuerzas Armadas de Israel (IDF).

Para poner la amenaza en perspectiva hemos creado una serie de mapas ilustrativos que muestran qué pasaría si la Franja de Gaza estuviese junto a otros países en distintas partes del mundo. Los mapas demuestran el alcance de los misiles M-302 en el interior de cada uno de estos países. Imagínate si los terroristas de Gaza fueran tus vecinos y pudiesen disparar estos misiles a tu casa”, asegura la página.

En la cuenta de Twitter de las IDF se mostró también una impactante imagen de Londres incendiándose con el texto “Los terroristas de Hamas sólo disparan cohetes hacia el sur y centro de Israel. ¿Qué pasaría si estuvieran atacando tu casa?”.

Hamas terrorists just fired rockets at southern and central Israel. What if they were attacking your home? pic.twitter.com/rFlDV1ZXAL

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) julio 21, 2014

Israel atacó objetivos en la Franja de Gaza el martes argumentando que no ve un pronto cese al fuego, mientras que diplomáticos de Estados Unidos y Naciones Unidas buscaban detener un enfrentamiento que ha dejado más de 600 muertos.

gak

Ataques de Israel destruyen más de 50 mezquitas en Gaza
El movimiento Hamas dijo que Israel no distingue entre militantes y civiles; ya suman más de 600 palestinos muertos
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22/07/2014 22:09 Notimex
Ataques de Israel destruyen más de 50 mezquitas en Gaza
El Movimiento de Resistencia Islámica (Hamas) denunció que al menos 50 mezquitas fueron destruidas o dañadas con severidad desde el inicio de la ofensiva israelí en la Franja de Gaza.

JERUSALÉN, 22 de julio.- El Movimiento de Resistencia Islámica (Hamas) denunció que al menos 50 mezquitas fueron destruidas o dañadas con severidad desde el inicio de la ofensiva israelí en la Franja de Gaza, que dejaron más de 600 palestinos muertos.

El subsecretario de Presupuesto en Gaza, Hassan al-Saifi, dijo que medio centenar de mezquitas fue blanco de ataques y denunció que “Israel no distingue entre militantes (contra los que van dirigidos sus ataques), civiles, hospitales, mezquitas y cementerios”.

El primer ministro israelí Benjamin Netanyahu aseguró que su país tiene el deber de “defenderse” de los ataques de Hamas

En declaraciones a la agencia palestina de noticias Ma'an, al-Saifi alertó que “las escuelas pueden ser el objetivo en los próximos días”.

El funcionario de Hamas, grupo palestino que gobierna en la Franja de Gaza, señaló que las víctimas de la ofensiva aérea y terrestre "están siendo enterradas en fosas comunes” y que “las morgues de los hospitales ya no pueden dar cabida ante el creciente número de bajas”.

Por otra parte, Ma'an informó que al menos 50 palestinos murieron sólo este martes, a causa de la ofensiva israelí, con lo que el total de decesos superó los 600 desde el pasado 8 de julio.

Horas antes, el primer ministro israelí Benjamin Netanyahu aseguró que su país tiene el deber de “defenderse” de los ataques de Hamas, por lo que continuará la ofensiva militar en la Franja de Gaza.

En una conferencia de prensa conjunta con el secretario general de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU), Ban Ki-moon, Netanyahu lamentó las víctimas civiles, pero dijo que la ofensiva continuará hasta acabar la amenaza de Hamas.

Afirmó que “Hamas es responsable (de que la ofensiva continúe) por rechazar el alto al fuego”, y acusó al movimiento islamista de cometer “crímenes de guerra”.

Nosotros no queremos que haya víctimas civiles pero Hamas sí”, subrayó Netanyahu, tras denunciar que "Hamas construye túneles terroristas en los hospitales, mezquitas y escuelas”.

gak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVWdyDhafz0

Time to go home to Palestine
A two-state solution will not stop the plight of the Palestinians; they need to go home.
Last updated: 23 Jul 2014 13:09
Adam Shapiro

Adam Shapiro
Follow @https://twitter.com/adshap

Adam Shapiro is a documentary filmmaker and Palestinian rights activist. He co-directed the six-part documentary series Chronicles of a Refugee, was a co-founder of the ISM and worked to find homes for Palestinian refugees forced to flee Iraq.
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Millions of Palestinians live have been displaced since 1948 [AFP]

The last weeks of assault on Gaza have brought many people out to the streets, onto social media and engaging in discussions, debates and arguments with friends and colleagues. Of course, in Gaza itself, there is no time for such things, as hellfire from the air and invaders on the ground force people to consider how to separate their families so not everyone dies in one missile strike.

The media continues to report on truces and ceasefires, with some reference to the actual positions and demands of the two sides (almost always without any reference to the context in which this conflagration is happening), the ongoing 60-plus year occupation of Palestine, and the dispossession of the Palestinian people.

Remembering Oslo

On the Palestinian political scene, we are seeing history repeat itself, something that should cause a great amount of worry to Palestinians around the world. The political reality is that Hamas has become the Fatah-led PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) that agreed to enter the 1991 peace process that indirectly ended up with the Oslo Accords.

During that phase, the PLO faced serious challenges following its decision to effectively side with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein following the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. At that time, the Palestinian community in Kuwait was the leading financial support of the PLO and the Palestinians in the occupied territories engaged in an intifada that was changing worldwide opinion of the Palestinian-Israel conflict.

Following the Iraqi invasion and subsequent Gulf War, the Palestinian community in Kuwait was mostly expelled and the PLO largely cut off from a significant amount of Arab financial and political support. Facing an unprecedented economic and political crisis, exacerbated by the collapse of the Soviet Union at roughly the same time, the PLO accepted the lifeline of the Madrid Peace Conference and the process that it yielded. If Oslo did not offer liberation, it did offer an institutional role and financial support for the PLO/Fatah.

Hamas, following its decision to support the Syrian uprising, which cost it support from both Syria and Iran, and the drastic changes in Egypt that have resulted in a president that has targeted both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, is also facing an unprecedented political and economic crisis. The lifeline of talks was not offered to Hamas, but one could argue that the political lifeline of armed conflict was generously given by Israel.

Though Hamas has put forward the key points of the lifting the siege of Gaza and allowing free movement of people and goods in and out of the territory as its conditions for a truce, it is the very articulation of these demands that expose its position as nouveau Fatah - and in some ways a victory for Israel.

The demands Hamas has made fit squarely within the framework of Oslo and the despised two-state solution that that agreement outlines. In fact, one could argue that the Hamas list of demands is essentially a demand for the full implementation of the Oslo Accords, and nothing more. In an interview with BBC World Service after two days of Israeli bombardment, Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan called for an end to the conflict and the creation of an independent Palestinian state - the same formulation that PLO/Fatah has accepted.

However, despite this apparent acceptance of Israel's terms of surrender to the Palestinian national movement, there is little prospect of this kind of so-called solution happening, thanks to Israeli desires to continue and expand the occupation, and because ultimately it is not a solution to anything. So what then?

Returning to Palestine

Over 80 percent of the population of Gaza are refugees. With another two million Palestinian refugees in various states of desperation in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, the crisis of 60-plus years would hardly be solved by the creation of a Palestinian Authority-type state. Not only has the more than 20 years of peace talks not benefited them at all, the situation for Palestinian refugees wherever they are in the region, has gotten progressively worse during that same period.

If life in Gaza is intolerable under the siege, life in Syria is impossible, life in Iraq is precarious at best, life in Lebanon is as if under a boot and so on. The Arab countries have proven their inhospitableness to Palestinians. If there were a people today in need of their own homeland for their continued security as a people, it is the Palestinians.
Gaza residents testify about the effects Israel and Egypt's blockade of their land has had on their lives.

And yet, they once had and could have themonce again - it is time to go home, time to return to Palestine. Not the Palestine of the occupied territories, but the Palestine of Asqelon, Asdud and Haifa. This will not be easy, and certainly not without risk of many being killed, for the Israeli military will surely be given orders to fire. Yet a population already captive, already under siege, already facing a future dystopia - namely the people of Gaza - have found themselves victims of repeated military assaults leaving thousands of dead and wounded.

The future generations of Gaza - without adequate water, sanitation and food - are traumatised to the point of requiring new studies into the effects of such unprecedented forms of collective punishment and targeting.

So what is the there to lose? There is no political party or faction on the Palestinian scene that is seeking more than a form of apartheid that the two-state "solution" offers. Military confrontations have only allowed Israel to expand its control over Palestinian territory, to displace and dispossess more Palestinians and to make life increasingly intolerable.

And while there is much to laud about alternative methods, such as unarmed resistance and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the pace of such activity in terms of yielding a meaningful change in the reality on the ground is agonisingly slow.

When armed conflict erupts or when a military assault occurs anywhere else in the world, civilians flee - including across international borders. The only place this does not happen is Gaza - not in 2008-2009, not in 2012, and not now. If in 1947-1948 the Zionist and Israeli forces could use violence and intimidation to force Palestinians to flee their homes, it is time now, in 2014, to respond to violence and brute force by returning home. As Israeli tanks and troops cross the frontier in Gaza, let the Palestinian people turn towards their destroyed villages. If Israel wants to destroy Beach camp and Bureij camp, let it. These are not homes, they are temporary shelters.

In 2011, small numbers of young men tried to cross borders from Lebanon and Syria and were shot at. This was held up both as heroic efforts to return, and evidence of what Israel would do. But that effort was highly contrived by political forces for the sake of their positions inside Syria and Lebanon, and anyway, a few dozen young men making such an effort is something the Israelis could easily deal with.

The UN estimates since the assault on Gaza, over 100,000 Palestinians have been displaced. The number of people in Gaza who feel they have no worthwhile future in Gaza is surely much higher. The thousands are already on the move, with no place safe to go. Take those thousands, combined with tens of thousands from Syria - now living in desperation in Lebanon and Egypt (or risking their lives by attempting to get to Europe by boat) - and this is hardly something the Israeli military would be ready for. And perhaps, today, more than ever, there is a grassroots movement of solidarity around the world that supports the Palestinian people in their demands for justice and liberation and who would not sit by in the face of a new massacre.

Each day, under the cover of force and violence, Israel transfers part of its population into the West Bank to create facts on the ground. Illegal under international law and revealing the true intentions of successive Israeli governments, this population of settlers has taken over land and natural resources, while Palestinian refugees - the one-time inhabitants of the land - live in squalor and only the certainty of dispossession.

It is time to bring justice in the Palestinian world. It is time to reverse this awful tide of history.

It is time to go home to Palestine.

Adam Shapiro is a documentary filmmaker and Palestinian rights activist. He co-directed the six-part documentary series Chronicles of a Refugee, was a co-founder of the ISM and worked to find homes for Palestinian refugees forced to flee Iraq.

Follow him on Twitter: @adshap

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Opinion
On stupidity and war
Israel is a fast learner, but did it learn the most valuable lesson of all?
Last updated: 23 Jul 2014 15:43
Marwan Bishara

Marwan Bishara
Follow @MarwanBishara

Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera.
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So far 29 Israeli soldiers have died in the offensive on Gaza [EPA]

The war hasn't ended and already the criticism over Israel's military adventure in Gaza is mounting as the Islamist movement, Hamas, continues to surprise the "invaders".

Leading and, presumably, respected media commentators have blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his hastiness, Israel's Security Service - the Shabak - for its ignorance and the military for its poor performance.

Israel might claim technological superiority and tactical victory, but, as one expert concluded, strategically, it's been defeated.

Needless to say, there are many ways by which one takes stock of the ongoing war. But after three military adventures in six years, Hamas remains a formidable force in Palestine. And Israel has little to show for its military prowess and technological edge aside from the terrible devastation wrought across the Gaza Strip - home to 1.8 million Palestinians living impoverished lives in the world's longest-standing refugee camp.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has boasted of Israel's moral standing and condemned Hamas for targeting civilians. But in the last few days, it's the Israeli military that has suffered hundreds of casualties, including 29 soldiers killed, thus far. While on the Palestinian side, Israel's bombings led to thousands of civilian casualties. It takes chutzpah to take pride in such a dreadful record.

At any rate, if it doesn't cool down its aggression on the population of Gaza, Israel might increasingly face another uprising in the West Bank as the Palestinians open another front against their occupiers. And if the early indicators are anything to go by, it shows signs of turning violent and bloody.

Israel, a fast learner

It's smart to learn from one's own mistakes; wise to learn from others' mistakes. What lessons has Netanyahu learnt, if any?

There is no doubt that Israel is a quick learner. It learned much from its own operational and even strategic mistakes in past wars, and no less, from the war experiences of other nations.

The last century witnessed countless wars, including civil wars, proxy wars, wars driven by nationalism, racism and greed, and two destructive world wars.

Israel has had its share of these wars - 14 in six decades - and the Middle East region that makes up some five percent of the world population, accounts for 20 percent of its conflicts; a percentage that probably skyrocketed in recent years.

Their motivations varied, but self-defence has generally been the excuse for aggression. Underlining its lack of strategic depth, Israel has long boasted of its pre-emptive doctrine to hit first when needing to defend itself.

Israel has also relied on the United States for lessons of war. And in recent times, it taught its patron a few lessons it's learned itself in Lebanon and Palestine, for fighting in Iraq - a reason why the Israelis were stunned this week to hear former Secretary of State Madeline Albright speak of Israel's "disproportionate" military response in Gaza, when she justified the US blockade on Iraq even when it led to the death of half a million children.

Israel is hardly the first to invoke self-defence to justify aggression - Lebanon being the best example - or protecting civilians to kill civilians. It has learnt the art of victimhood like no other. Its ultimate chutzpah goes along the lines of: "We won't forgive you for forcing us to kill you."

So yes, Israel has learned many lessons, and has institutionalised these lessons and is making money out of these lessons through training other nations' military and security forces. Indeed, Israel arms sales have rocketed to $7.5bn in 2012, arms that are war-tested, as Israel so frequently vaunts.

But the more important question is: Has Israel learnt the most important lesson of all about its type of colonial asymmetrical wars?

The predictable war

Unlike conventional wars, the longest and most legitimate wars of all have been the people's fight for independence from colonialism.

Israel is in the midst of such a fight against a people's struggle for freedom and independence and it makes similar, if not identical claims, to those made by other colonial powers of the past.

But not one foreign power big or small was able to win a single asymmetrical war against a people resisting colonialism throughout the entire 20th century.

This definite and paradoxical conclusion - the most instructive, and yet ignored of all lessons of war is categorical: Not one great power possessing superior firepower has won against a weaker, less organised and less professional resistance against occupation.

Not the French, not the English, not the Belgians, the Dutch, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Italians, the Soviets, the Chinese, the Afrikaners, etc. Not one! In the end, they all lose. And if they don't, then it's not the end.
INTERACTIVE: Gaza Under Attack

In each and every case, the indigenous population was designated terrorist, or fanatic, extremist, destructive, insensitive, or all of the above when they stood up to their occupier. Similar if not identical to the stuff we hear from Israelis nowadays.

Yet, despite all their military domination, political mechanisation, and superior moral pretentions, they eventually lose the battle of wills and are compelled to leave - defeated or humiliated.

While there are exceptions, such as in the case of India, the cost is generally high in death and destruction especially for those at the receiving end of aggression. But don't depend on those who can keep a record to do so for their victims.

During the Algerian war for independence that lasted a decade, almost 30,000 Frenchmen, and we are told half a million to a million Algerians, were killed - give or take a couple of hundred thousand deaths.

Like today's Israel, those colonial powers also justified their wars as last resort, and explained the high casualties as "War sucks", "We've got to do whatever we need to protect ourselves", or "The terrorists are hiding among the population", and "using them as human shields" etc.

And so the fog of war and propaganda continues to blur the lines between right and wrong, occupied from occupier, defence and aggression. But when the dust settles, Israel will find itself where it was before its latest and past adventures, but with weaker deterrence, less credibility and hardened enemies.

Yes, it could continue to justify its military adventures under the pretext of combating terrorists, destroying rocket-launchers and tunnels. But whatever its justifications, these are the by-products of its own colonialism and war.

In the final analysis, if Israel doesn't start packing and leaving the occupied territories sooner, many Israelis will start leaving it later because conditions are bound to get much worse.

Late is better than never learning the primary lesson from this conflict: It's the occupation, stupid.

Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

UN to investigate Israel's Gaza offensive
UN human rights council's vote comes hours after rights chief Pillay said Israel's actions could amount to war crimes.
Last updated: 24 Jul 2014 01:09
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The UN Human Rights Council has voted to launch an independent inquiry into Israel's offensive in Gaza, Israel continued its bombardment of the Gaza Strip in its operation against Hamas.

The vote on Wednesday in Geneva came hours after the UN rights chief, Navi Pillay, told an emergency session of the council that Israel's military actions could amount to war crimes, as it continued pounding the enclave for a 16th day.

The 47-member council adopted the investigation under a draft resolution after a request by Palestine, which has UN observer status.

29 states voted in favour of the investigation.
17 abstained, including many EU states.
1 voted against - the US.

The Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement that the decision was a "travesty", adding that Israel had "gone to unprecedented lengths to keep Palestinian civilians out of harm's way".

A total of 715 Palestinians - the vast majority of them civilians - have been killed in Israel's 16-day campaign in Gaza. In the same period, two Israeli civilians have been killed by rocket fire into Israel, and 32 Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza.

Israel focused its attacks on Wednesday on southeast of Gaza, with residents fleeing Khan Younis as the town and surrounding areas came under bombardment as Israeli troops fought Hamas gunmen.

A total of 17 people were reported killed, although the figure could rise as emergency services gain access to the area.

Wednesday also saw a flurry of diplomatic activity, with John Kerry, the US secretary of state, holding meetings with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. However, hopes of a ceasefire appeared to be in deadlock.

In his first comments since the Israeli invasion, Khalid Mesaal, the Hamas political leader, said in a news conference in Qatar that Hamas would never agree a ceasefire plan that did not offer the ending of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

The Israelis have said they will not accept a ceasefire that included an agreement on the blockade, and want a two-step solution - a ceasefire, then talks on any easing of restrictions.

Israeli violations

Hours before the UN vote, Pillay told the emergency session that there was a "strong possibility" that Israel had violated international law in Gaza, "in a manner that could amount to war crimes".

She said the killing of civilians in Gaza, especially children, raised concerns over Israel’s precautions and respect for proportionality.

Pillay also criticised rocket attacks into Israel by Hamas.

"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," she said.
Hamas leader defiant as Israeli bombardment continues

The resolution lodged with the UN rights council by Palestine condemned "the widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms".

It called on the international community to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry" to investigate "all violations of international human rights law" in the occupied territories.

The aim, it said, was to "establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the crimes perpetrated and to identify those responsible ... ensuring that those responsible are held accountable, and on ways and means to protect civilians against any further assaults".

Hamas rejects Gaza truce unless blockade ends
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal says there can be no ceasefire unless Israel ends its eight-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Last updated: 24 Jul 2014 01:14
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Hamas has rejected a ceasefire to end the 16-day offensive against Gaza unless Israel ends its blockade of the strip, its leader Khaled Meshaal has said.

"We reject today... and will reject in the future" a ceasefire before negotiations on Hamas' demands, which include lifting years of blockade against the Palestinian enclave, Meshaal told journalists in Doha, Qatar's capital.

Lifting the eight-year blockade is a main demand of Hamas, which also wants the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and Israel to free prisoners.

Meshaal's statement came as the UN Human Rights Council voted to launch an independent inquiry into Israel's offensive.

As international calls for an end to the fighting in Gaza mount, Meshaal said that Hamas "welcomes all efforts to end the aggression" and "does not object" to mediation by any party, including Egypt.

"We will not accept any initiative that does not lift the blockade on our people and that does not respect their sacrifices," he said.

Egypt, whose President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has sought to isolate Hamas in neighbouring Gaza, had tried to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas had rejected the ceasefire proposal which it said was favourable to Israel.

It argues that Egypt's proposal, which is backed by the United States, United Nations and Arab League, would allow Israel to dictate if and when to ease its blockade on Gaza.

"Let us agree on achieving our demands and we will then agree on the zero-hour for a ceasefire," Meshaal said.

'We will not bow'

Meshaal appealed to the international community and NGOs to "come to the aid of Gaza and not wait until after the war ends".

"I call today for opening border crossings to allow the entry of aid convoys" to Gaza Strip which needs "fuel, food and electricity," he said.

"We are more concerned about a humanitarian truce, like last Thursday ... for evacuating casualties and assisting the population.

"We are not closing the door to a humanitarian truce ... that would not manoeuvre around demands of the resistance," he added.
Gaza residents testify about the effects Israel and Egypt's blockade of their land has had on their lives.

Meshaal said Hamas wants the "aggression to stop tomorrow, today, or even this minute. But [Israel must] lift the blockade with guarantees and not as a promise for future negotiations."

He added "we will not shut the door in the face of any humanitarian ceasefire backed by a real aid programme".

UK charity Oxfam said Wednesday that thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes but have nowhere safe to shelter from Israeli airstrikes and warned that supplies of water and food are dangerously low.

The conflict has so far killed 715 Palestinians, 32 Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker.

"We do not want a war and we do not want it to continue, but we will not bow in front of it," said Meshaal.

México urge a Israel y Palestina a poner alto al fuego
Jorge Lomónaco, embajador permanente de México ante organismos de la ONU, hace un llamado para que se ponga fin a la violencia
COMPARTIR
23/07/2014 09:57 Notimex
Jorge Lomónaco, embajador permanente de México ante organismos de la ONU
Jorge Lomónaco, embajador permanente de México ante organismos de la ONU

GINEBRA, 23 de julio.- El gobierno de México, en el marco de la sesión especial del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de Naciones Unidas sobre el deterioro de la situación en la Franja de Gaza, llamó hoy tanto al Estado de Israel como a Palestina a poner un alto al fuego.

“México reitera su grave preocupación por la escalada de violencia entre Israel y grupos armados palestinos en la Franja de Gaza, y hace un enérgico llamado para que las partes pongan fin de inmediato a las agresiones y a todo acto de violencia”, declaró el embajador permanente de México ante organismos de la ONU, Jorge Lomónaco.

“Lamentamos constatar que, una vez más, la Franja de Gaza es el escenario de un enfrentamiento armado que ha ocasionado un importante número de víctimas inocentes, particularmente entre la población civil”, señaló este miércoles el embajador de México.

México es uno de los 47 miembros del máximo órgano de Naciones Unidas que vela por la protección de los derechos humanos.

Condenamos el lanzamiento de cohetes desde Gaza y que van dirigidos contra la población civil, así como el uso de la fuerza en la Franja de Gaza, que ha afectado principalmente a la población civil Palestina, causando más de 500 muertes, más de 3 mil heridos y miles de desplazados, incluyendo mujeres y niños”, agregó.

“Nos preocupan particularmente los informes sobre ataques en contra de hospitales y habitaciones civiles”, subrayó Lomónaco.

Sostuvo que los ataques contra la población civil son contrarios al derecho internacional humanitario, “en tanto no distinguen entre objetivos militares y los que no lo son”.

“La protección de la población civil y de los bienes necesarios para su supervivencia nunca debe subordinarse a los objetivos militares”, argumentó.

En tal virtud, “hacemos un llamado a las partes a abstenerse de realizar acciones hostiles que afecten a la población civil palestina e israelí y exigimos que respeten las disposiciones del derecho internacional y del derecho internacional humanitario”, instó.

Por otro lado, México hizo un llamado a que se atiendan los factores que han conducido a los enfrentamientos actuales, “en particular la escalada de actos de incitación al odio que han derivado en la muerte de niños y adolescentes Palestinos e israelíes”.

De igual forma urgió a que se atiendan las razones que originaron el bloqueo al que está sometida la población que habita en Gaza, “que es insostenible, inaceptable y pone en riesgo el disfrute de los derechos humanos de toda la población, en particular los derechos económicos y sociales que son esenciales para el bienestar mínimo de la población civil”.

Finalmente, explicó que México votará en favor del proyecto de resolución que condena de la manera más enérgica la violación generalizada e indiscriminada del derecho internacional humanitario en el marco de la ofensiva israelí denominada Margen Protector.

De igual forma, condena los ataques perpetrados contra civiles "dondequiera que estos ocurran", es decir tanto en la Franja de Gaza como en territorio israelí.

Finalmente, Lomónaco expresó el desacuerdo del gobierno de México con respecto a la pertinencia de crear una comisión de determinación de hechos como la que se menciona en el texto de la resolución.

Dicha comisión "como ya ha ocurrido en el pasado, difícilmente contribuirá a generar las condiciones para la pronta reanudación de negociaciones directas entre Israel y Palestina, condición indispensable para brindar paz y seguridad a la región”, argumentó.

dgp

Secretario de Estado de EU llega a Israel para buscar fin de conflicto
John Kerry negocia con el primer ministro israelí, con el presidente palestino y con el secretario general de la ONU; van más de 670 muertos y más de 3 mil heridos
COMPARTIR
23/07/2014 08:40 Agencias / Fotos: AP y Reuters

JERUSALÉN, 23 de julio.- El secretario de Estado estadunidense, John Kerry, llegó hoy a Israel para tratar de convencer al primer ministro israelí, Benjamin Netanyahu, de que ponga fin a la ofensiva de su país en Gaza.

Kerry, que también tiene previsto ir a Ramala para negociar con el presidente de la Autoridad Nacional Palestina (ANP), Mahmud Abbas, llegó a Tel Aviv procedente de El Cairo y su avión tuvo que aterrizar en un aeródromo militar después de que ayer la Autoridad Aérea estadunidense vetara los vuelos al aeropuerto internacional Ben Gurion.

Más de 670 personas han muerto en el conficto, en su mayoría civiles palestinos.

Netanyahu ya pidió el martes por teléfono a Kerry que presionara a la Agencia federal para que retira su orden, que también han recibido de sus gobiernos aerolíneas como AirFrance, la holandesa KLM, la alemana Lufthansa e incluso la aerolínea de bandera turca Turkish Airlines.

Antes, tiene previsto reunirse en Jerusalén con el secretario general de la ONU, Ban Ki-moon, quien también ha viajado a la zona para tratar de lograr una tregua humanitaria que permita negociar un alto el fuego definitivo en la guerra que libran Israel y el movimiento islamista Hamas.

Ban no fue, sin embargo, muy bienvenido en Jerusalén después de que la alta comisaria de los Derechos Humanos, Navi Pillay, afirmara hoy que existen informe serios e independientes de apuntan a que Israel ha cometido crímenes de guerra durante un conflicto que ha segado la vida de más de 670 personas, en su mayoría civiles palestinos.

Además, 29 soldados han perdido la vida en combates, mientras que un civil israelí y un beduino fallecieron tras ser alcanzado por uno de cohetes lanzados desde la Franja.
Crímenes contra la humanidad

En la misma línea, el ministro palestino de Asuntos Exteriores, Riad al Maliki, acusó hoy a Israel de cometer "crímenes contra la humanidad" e insistió en que el mundo debe reclamar responsabilidad al Gobierno que dirige Netanyahu.

El embajador de Israel ante el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, Eviatar Manor, acusó, por su parte, a este organismo de "fracasar a la hora de proteger los derechos humanos de los israelíes" y de que con sus acusaciones hacia el Estado judío "azuza la hoguera".

Manor comparó a Hamas con los grupos radicales islámicos Al Qaeda y Boko Haram, y justificó su incursión en Gaza como su derecho a la autodefensa.

Este Consejo recuperaría su autoridad moral si condenara inequívocamente a Hamás. No puede apoyar a una organización que no es diferente de Al Qaeda, del Estado Islámico de Irak y del Levante (EIIL), de Boko-Haram, de Hezbollah, y otras organizaciones radicales islámicas que niegan la propia esencia de los derechos humanos", afirmó Manor.

El embajador hizo estas declaraciones durante su discurso ante el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, que hoy celebra una sesión especial sobre la incursión israelí en Gaza.

A este respecto, el ministro israelí de Asuntos Exteriores, Avigdor Lieberman, contraatacó a Ban, hoy en Jerusalén, alegando que Israel esta inquieto por el hallazgo de un silo de cohetes en una escuela vacía de la Agencia de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados Palestinos (UNRWA), que la propia ONU revelo y condenó.

Ayer, las tropas israelíes bombardearon otra escuela, en la que se habían refugiado cerca de un millar de personas, y que afortunadamente había sido desalojada unas horas antes por la proximidad de los combates.

Lieberman también atacó la reunión del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, celebrado hoy en Ginebra, que en su opinión es "un claro ejemplo de la hipocresía mundial".
Hamas e Israel no ceden

Hamas insiste, sin embargo, en que cualquier iniciativa tiene que incluir el fin del asedio militar y el bloqueo económico al que Israel somete a la Franja desde 2007 y la apertura de la frontera con Egipto, única puerta de Gaza con el mundo.

Israel, por su parte, exige el desarme de Hamas, el fin del lanzamiento de cohetes y la destrucción de los túneles que se infiltran en territorio israelí, algo que no ha logrado conseguir por la vía militar.

En el plano bélico, los bombardeos continuaron durante toda la noche de ayer, por 16 día consecutivo, y se extendieron también durante esta mañana, especialmente en el sur de la Franja, causando la muerte a más de 30 palestinos más, en su mayoría civiles.

Asimismo, otros dos soldados israelíes perdieron la vida en diversas operaciones de combate en todo la Franja.
Piden acatar propuesta egipcia

Estados Unidos, Rusia y la Unión Europea (UE) pidieron hoy a Israel y Palestina que acepten la propuesta egipcia y pongan fin inmediatamente a las hostilidades en la región.

La Unión Europea está extremadamente preocupada por la escalada de violencia en Gaza y hace un llamamiento para el cese inmediato de las hostilidades y que se vuelva al alto el fuego de noviembre de 2012. La UE apoya los esfuerzos de Egipto", señaló el embajador italiano ante los organismos en Ginebra, Maurizio Enrico Serra.

Serra, que habló en nombre de los 28 miembros de la UE así como de una serie de países europeos que no pertenecen al bloque, hizo estas declaraciones ante el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, que hoy celebró una sesión especial para tratar la incursión israelí en Gaza.

La Unión Europea pidió que se permita el acceso humanitario a Gaza, donde más de 670 personas han muerto y más de 3 mil personas han quedado heridas.

Bruselas condenó tanto los ataques israelíes como el lanzamiento de cohetes por parte de Hamas y solicitó que todos los responsables de cualquier violación a los derechos humanos "sean llevados ante la Justicia".

El embajador de Estados Unidos, Keith Harper, se limitó a condenar los actos de Hamas y no hizo referencia a los bombardeos ni a la incursión terrestre israelí, sino que reiteró el derecho de Israel a defenderse.

Harper lamentó la pérdida de vidas civiles y solicitó a las partes que acepten la propuesta egipcia, que cuenta con el apoyo activo estadounidense, para que cesen las actividades.

Dicho esto, Harper recordó que la única vía para acabar con el conflicto actual y con otros en el futuro es encontrar una solución permanente al conflicto palestino-israelí

Al final del día, lo que tenemos que hacer es encontrar una solución pacífica al conflicto. Israel tiene el derecho a existir como un Estado judío y democrático. Al mismo tiempo, debe existir un Estado palestino soberano".

Rusia lamentó las víctimas, pidió el cese de las hostilidades, apoyó los esfuerzos egipcios y recordó que "lo que ocurre actualmente no es más que las consecuencias del status quo".

Los países árabes denunciaron la desproporción entre las víctimas palestinas y las israelíes.

Pedimos a la fuerza ocupante que ponga punto final a los castigos colectivos, y que acaben con el excesivo uso de la fuerza que viola claramente la ley humanitaria internacional", dijo el embajador egipcio, Walid M. Abdelnasser.

El representante egipcio pidió a Israel que abra las seis fronteras que comparte con Gaza, tal y como hace Egipto, para permitir la entrada de asistencia humanitaria y la salida de los heridos.

Todos los países árabes que intervinieron recordaron que la única manera de solucionar el conflicto es acabar con el bloqueo a la Franja y restablecer las negociaciones de paz en aras a lograr un genuino e independiente Estado palestino.

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UN shelter in Gaza 'struck by Israeli shells'
Gaza health ministry says bombardment killed at least 15 people and injured 150 in UN-run school in Beit Hanoun.
Last updated: 25 Jul 2014 04:42
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At least 15 people have been reported killed and 150 injured in the bombardment of a UN school in northern Gaza used to shelter civilians from fierce clashes on the streets outside.

The Gaza health ministry told the Reuters news agency that Israeli fire had killed at least 15, and injured 150, at the school in Beit Hanoun on Thursday. .

An Israeli military source however told Al Jazeera that Palestinian rocket fire had been detected in the area and that it might have fallen short and hit the shelter.

Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza, said she was unable to reach the school after the attack due to heavy Israeli shelling. No one she had spoken to in Gaza believed the deaths were caused by a Palestinian rocket.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Chris Gunness, the spokesman for UNRWA, the UN's humanitarian organisation in Gaza, said his organisation had been in contact with Israeli forces as fighting closed in on the shelter.
"We gave the Israelis the precise GPS coordinates of the Beit Hanoun shelter. We were trying to coordinate a window [for evacuation] and that was never granted," he said.

He said he could neither confirm nor deny that Hamas fighters were near the building, but said Israel and Hamas "must respect the inviolability of UN premises, and humanitarian law".

He called the attack "tragic and appalling".

Robert Turner, the director of UNRWA, told Al Jazeera there was no warning from the Israelis before the shells landed.

"This is a designated emergency shelter. The location was conveyed to the Israelis," he said. "This was an installation we were managing, that was monitored [to ensure] that our neutrality was maintained."

"We always call on all parties to ensure that civilians are not harmed."

Israel has attacked UN schools before, saying that they were being used as safe havens for the armed Palestinians.

The UN has also previously criticised the Palestinian groups for using UN schools to hide fighters and weapons.

'No fighters at school'

A witness who arrived at the Kamal Adwan hospital after the bombardment told Al Jazeera: "We were sitting in the school, because we were told it is safe.

"By God, there was not a single fighter, not a single shot was fired from the school. Why did they shoot at the school? Why? Can someone explain that to me? Why would they shell the school?"

Thursday's strike is the fourth time a UN facility has been hit in the 17 days of Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

At least 805 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,250 injured in the Israeli assault.

Two Israeli civilians have been killed by fire from Gaza since the offensive began.

The total number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the military assault stands at 32. One more soldier has been listed as missing and is believed to be dead.
Source:
Al Jazeera
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Middle East
West Bank protests over Gaza turn deadly
Israeli police kill two Palestinians during rallies in solidarity with battered Gaza Strip, where death toll topped 800.
Last updated: 25 Jul 2014 11:59
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The largest protests in years erupted in the occupied West Bank over Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli military continued to batter the besieged enclave with air strikes and the death toll topped 800.

Two protesters were killed and scores of others injured on Thursday in the clashes with the Israeli police in Ramallah city, just north of Jerusalem, according to medics.

More demonstrations have been called for by Palestinian factions on Friday, prompting the Israeli army to impose strict security measures in East Jerusalem.

Protests on Thursday were also held Nablus, Bethlehem and several Jerusalem neighbourhoods.

Doctors at Ramallah Hospital said they had received dozens of live-fire victims and appealed for blood donors.

The Israeli military confirmed troops had used "riot dispersal means" against protesters who threw stones and firebombs at them and blocked a road with burning tyres.

By overnight Friday, parts of the main road between Ramallah and Jerusalem was “carpeted with stones that mostly young Palestinians threw at Israeli forces,” Al Jazeera’s Dalia Hatuqa, reporting from Ramallah, said.

Both Palestinian activists and Israel Radio said the protest appeared to be the largest since the end of a 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising.

The rallies came as Palestinian anger at Israel mounted over the growing number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.

"In the West Bank, we need to take our resistance efforts to a higher level," Na'el Halabi, a student at Birzeit University, told Al Jazeera in Ramallah. "Gaza is not alone: we are part of the same struggle."

UN shelter hit

On Thursday alone, at least 119 people were killed in Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip. With more deaths announced by the health ministry on Friday, the total toll of Palestinians killed since July 8 reached 828.

An Israeli soldier was also killed on Friday, taking the army's losses in the operation to 33, a statement said. Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel have killed two Israeli civilians and a Thai migrant worker.

Israel maintains that its offensive is targeting Hamas fighters in Gaza and a network of underground tunnels which they say are used to attack their troops and civilians. But most of those killed in Gaza were civilians, including scores of children.

At least 16 Palestinians died after a UN facility in Gaza sheltering displaced people was hit on Thursday.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "appalled" at the incident which "underscores the imperative for the killing to stop - and to stop now".

Washington said it was "deeply saddened and concerned about the tragic incident", without explicitly blaming its ally Israel for the shelling.

Ceasefire efforts

US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Cairo for a second time in 48 hours trying to broker an end to the bloodshed.

His efforts were focused on a week-long humanitarian ceasefire, during which intensive negotiations will tackle the blockade of Gaza and other disputes.

Hamas, which has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the Israeli offensive on Gaza, earlier rejected an Egyptian proposal.

The Palestinian group said any truce must include a guaranteed end to Israel's eight-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Israel public radio reported that the country's security cabinet was expected to meet on Friday to discuss US proposals for a Gaza ceasefire given to Israel and Hamas.

"If Hamas accepts the American proposal it is not impossible that there could be an Israeli decision to accept it also," public radio quoted an unnamed senior Israeli source as saying.

Israeli paper Haaretz quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that Kerry had drafted a new ceasefire proposal and presented it to both sides.

"International efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip are approaching the critical point," the report read.

There was no official confirmation. Israel traditionally does not comment on security cabinet sessions or acknowledge that they take place.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Israel rejects US truce proposal for Gaza
Israel says it wants changes to US-initiated plan but reports say it is considering a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire.
Last updated: 25 Jul 2014 22:12
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Israel has rejected a US-initiated proposal for a full truce in the Gaza Strip, but says it is considering a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire to its campaign, which has killed hundreds of Gazans.

Israel TV reported on Friday that the country's security cabinet had rejected a US-initiated proposal in its current form, as it would end an ongoing effort to destroy Hamas tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border.

It was later reported by news agencies and Israeli media that Israel was however considering a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire on Saturday, which would end bombardment at 4am GMT on Saturday, but not operations against the tunnels.

The Reuters news agency quoted a US official as saying that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had discussed the 12-hour pause with the US secretary of state, John Kerry.

The full US proposal, which was being drawn up in Cairo, called for a week-long pause in fighting over the Muslim holiday of Eid. During that time, Hamas and Israel would begin indirect talks on easing Gaza blockade.

Hamas has previously said any truce must include a guaranteed end to Israel's eight-year siege of the enclave, while Israel has said it would reject any deal that included such a plan.

At a news conference in Egypt, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, confirmed the rejection but said diplomats were still trying to agree a deal.

"We still have terminology and context to work through, but we are confident we have a framework that will work, and we will continue to work for that ... none of us here are stopping."

Kerry met UN chief Ban Ki-moon in Cairo on Friday, and spoke by telephone to his Qatari and Turkish counterparts, who have influence with Hamas. Kerry will fly to Paris on Saturday for another conference on Gaza.

More deaths as diplomacy stutters

The Israeli offensive on Gaza has continued on Friday on its 18th day, with dozens of Palestinians reported dead.

The Israeli army said that its missing soldier, Oron Shaul, had been killed in Gaza. Hamas claimed to have taken him hostage on Sunday, and his body has not been recovered.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 848 Palestinians, and left more than 5,200 people injured.
Gaza doctors deliver baby after mother dies

Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel have killed two Israeli civilians and a Thai migrant worker. A total of 35 Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, promised to support Palestinian fighters. In a live television appearance on Friday, Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel that it was "suicide'' to continue waging war in the Gaza Strip.

"We are true partners with this resistance ... their victory is all our victory, and their defeat is all our defeat," he said.