Death in the Middle East

Like so many people, am sickened to my stomach here. This is hate of the worst kind.

Wonderful video LL.  It is very thought provoking.  

Seeing people being oppressed, suffering like that, while others turn away and ignore everything, is shocking.  However, we see that time and again in life.  

Bless the people who get involved with such inequities and who do it because of moral fiber.  

Gideon Levy is a giant of a man.

Levy is greatly to be admired, such courage. If you bookmark the earlier link you can read Haaretz every day. LL

terrible.

Hamas threatens revenge after Gaza air raids
Leaders call Israeli attacks, in which nine were killed, a "grave escalation" and promise deaths will fuel resistance.

[video]

Senior Hamas leaders have threatened revenge against Israel after air raids in the Gaza Strip killed nine people, the single highest death toll since the 2012 cross-border war.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, on Monday accused Israel of a "grave escalation" in violence and threatened to retaliate, saying Israel would "pay the price".


Read more of our coverage on Palestine
Among the dead from overnight attacks were seven fighters from the Al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, killed in a tunnel in Rafah, in the south of Gaza.

Moshir Almasry, a Hamas politician, said that Israel had "crossed all red lines" and warned that the deaths would fuel resistance in the occupied territories.

More at:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/hamas-threatens-revenge-after-gaza-air-raids-20147794524890806.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/israel-steps-up-deadly-gaza-offensive-201478135059977350.html

Israel steps up deadly Gaza offensive
At least 14 dead and dozen others wounded in air strikes on Gaza Strip amid reports of possible ground offensive.



Israel's intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip has killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens of others, Palestinian officials have said.

Israel on Tuesday stepped up what it said might become a long-term offensive against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave after a surge in rocket attacks on Israeli towns.

The Israeli Cabinet has authorised the calling up of 40,000 army reservists ahead of a possible ground offensive. At least 1,500 soldiers have already been deployed around the parameter of Gaza.

The renewed violence came a day after nine Palestinians were killed following more than 60 Israeli airstrikes struck the Gaza strip on Monday. Pelestinian fighters launched more than 80 rockets that day.

Following the worst outbreak of violence along the Gaza frontier since an eight-day war in 2012, the Israeli military said a ground invasion was possible, though not imminent.

It urged citizens within a range of 40km of the coastal territory to stay close to bomb shelters.

"We are preparing for a battle against Hamas which will not end within a few days," Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement.

"We will not tolerate missiles being fired at Israeli towns and we are prepared to extend the operations with all means at our disposal in order to keep hitting Hamas."

Of those killed on Tuesday, seven died in an air strike in the town of Khan Yunis, south of Gaza, Al Jazeera's correspondent said. At least 25 were injured in that attack.

Palestinian medical officials said that at least four were killed in a drone strike that hit a vehicle in al-Wahda Street in the centre of Gaza.

Ealier on Tuesday, an air raid targetted site that belonging to Qassam Brigade, the military wing of Hamas movement, killing one person.

'All options on table'

Explosions echoed across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, shaking buildings and sending smoke rising from targets hit by Israeli fire.

In residential areas, the sounds of crying children could be heard as ambulance sirens wailed. Some people took to rooftops to watch for Israeli aircraft and rockets streaking toward Israel.

A source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office quoted the Israeli leader as saying: "The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) must be ready to go all the way. All options are on the table, including a ground invasion."

The Israeli military said that in the past 24 hours, more than 100 rockets had been fired at its territory. Some were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, but two people were wounded by shrapnel.

The Israel-Gaza border heated up last month after Israel's arrest of hundreds of Hamas activists in the occupied West Bank, where three Israeli young settlers went missing on June 12.

The Israeli military said that more than 200 rockets have been launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip since Israel mounted the dragnet while searching for the teens, who were found dead last week.

Israel has accused Hamas fighters of killing them. In a suspected revenge attack, a Palestinian teen was abducted in East Jerusalem on Wednesday whose charred body was found in a forest. Six Israeli suspects have been arrested in connection with the case.
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What the HELL is wrong with everyone just now?

Wish I knew, Bonny.   

This is not good. Reports are starting to come in of rocket attacks all over Israel, in areas previously out of range of Hamas weaponry in Gaza.

It's all a bit confused just now....

 

More now:

The Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa have been targeted in a series of rocket attacks from Gaza tonight, Hamas militants have said.

The wail of air raid sirens sent Israelis running for cover in Tel Aviv and there were reports of possible explosions in Jerusalem.

Television shots showed what appeared to be a mid-air interception of a rocket bound for Tel Aviv by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system.



An Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket
Air raid sirens went off in the city, which is Israel's commercial capital and about 45 miles (70km) north of the Gaza Strip.

Jerusalem is about 50 miles (80km) north of Gaza.

The apparent attacks came after Israel launched air and sea strikes on dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip.

From:


http://news.sky.com/story/1297161/rocket-attacks-on-jerusalem-and-tel-aviv

Oh no. Speechless....

Governments, warmongering generals, and the leaders of organisations that use violence should be made to fight it out amongst themselves, IMO, instead of getting civilians killed all the time.

In fact, isn't this a comparatively modern thing - deliberately targetting civilians? In more backward times, it would have been dishonorable to deliberately kill women and children.

I completely agree with you Bonny. Didn't that start with WWII?

WWI, I think - the Zeppelin raids on London and the east coast of England.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_strategic_bombing_during_World_War_I

Ah thanks, Bonny. Completely forgot about those.

I think that was the start of it? And it's been downhill all the way since then.

It sure has Bonny.   

Nothing's improved overnight.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/israeli-bombardment-gaza-escalates-20147973229699830.html

Israel kills dozens in two days of Gaza raids
Hundreds of air attacks shake Gaza, leaving 41 dead, as Palestinian fighters fire rockets into Israel.

Tel Aviv - Israeli air raids have killed at least 41 people in the Gaza Strip as its operations inside the Palestinian enclave entered its third day.

Palestinian officials on Wednesday said the Israeli attacks, which number in their hundreds, had also wounded more than 300 people.

Palestinian fighters have continued to fire mortar bombs and rockets into Israel, with some reaching Tel Aviv. No casualties have been reported.

Local media in Gaza said that one of the Israeli attacks targeted the house of a commander in the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Casualties figures are unknown.



Another blew up the house of Hafez Hamad, a leader of the military wing of Islamic Jihad. He was killed along with at least four women and children, according to neighbours and hospital officials.

An 80-year-old woman was killed in an attack on Al-Mughraqa village in southern Gaza, according to reports.

More at link.

Insults and missiles are still flying, but the Gaza rockets aren't getting through and the Israeli ones are.

It's like a rerun of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. And Gaza is a ghetto, pure and simple. All those children, the civilians, no way would I ever give Israel the time of day after this. My Jewish friends are appalled at this slaughter. LL    

To me, that's one of the worst parts of it, LL, the people in Gaza have nowhere to go. I haven't forgotten Israel attacking a convoy of aid ships when Gaza was being blockaded, like some medieval town being starved out, a few years ago.

Yes, that turned into a scandal and a half.   

And I have just seen Netanyahu screeching on TV that he is going to increase the attacks and probably send in troops, tanks, rockets etc.  Ethnic cleansing springs to mind.   LL

I've been watching it on and off on several sites of various viewpoints, LL, and it's appalling on all of them.

Does the Israeli government actually know what and who they sound like, with their assumption of guilt by association, of revenge attacks out of all proportion to the original offence, the destruction of homes?

They're acting like the bl**dy Nazis did.

I used to have respect and admiration for Israel and all it had acheived; not any more.

http://news.sky.com/story/1297664/hamas-attempts-strike-on-israeli-nuclear-site

Hamas Attempts Strike On Israeli Nuclear Site
After a day of counter-strikes between Hamas and Israeli forces, rockets are fired at the highly secure Dimona nuclear site

It just gets better and better, not. Does anyone know how long Israel can keep launching these Iron Dome interceptors?

The settlers are at the back of all the problems with the Palestinians, they steal their land, destroy their olive groves, insult them at every turn. They use every trick available to drive them out of the Occupied Lands, building their settlements on stolen land and deliberately diverting water away from the Palestinians. Any excuse is employed to drive them from their land. LL