Re: Death in the Middle East

**bb1** Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:29 pm

Sadly, Israel is killing children again:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/israel-orders-army-gaza-after-rocket-fire-2014819131442120578.html

Sides trade blame over Gaza truce breakdown
Palestinian negotiator and Israeli spokesman blame each other over responsibility for Gaza ceasefire collapse.

Israel has said rocket fire from Gaza has "made continuation of talks impossible," trading blame with Palestinian negotiators over the collapse of the ceasefire.

Spokesman Mark Regev responded to Palestinian negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed's charge that Israel had thwarted the talks that broke down on Tuesday after Israel recalled its negotiators from Egypt, accusing Hamas of violating a truce.

"The Cairo process was built on a total and complete cessation of all hostilities and so when rockets were fired from Gaza, not only was it a clear violation of the ceasefire but it also destroyed the premise upon which the talks were based," Regev said, according to the Reuters news agency.

A week-long truce in Gaza collapsed with both sides blaming each other after Palestinian fighters launched rockets into Israel and Israel attacked "terror sites" inside the enclave.

Al Jazeera's Jane Ferguson said at least six children had been killed in the airstrikes since the truce disintegrated.

"There is now this fallout row, essentially over who started it," our correspondent said. "Whoever broke the truce, it seems the exchange of rocket fire into Israel and airstrikes on Gaza is unlikely to end today."

The Israeli military launched attacks on at least 10 sites in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least three people, and recalled its team working on a permanent ceasefire with Palestinians in Cairo after three rockets landed in Israel.

Further shelling on Wednesday killed another 21 Palestinians, raising the death toll in Gaza to 2,035.

Hamas, the Palestinian group that runs Gaza, said Israel had targeted Mohammed Deif, the head of its armed wing.

A series of airstrikes on the area of Deif's house resulted in the death of his wife and child.

Hamas said Deif was alive and still in command

"The occupation will pay for its crimes against Palestinian civilians and those living around the Gaza border will not return home until Mohammed Deif decides," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

An Israeli government official said: "In response to Hamas's violation of the truce, the prime minister and defence minister have ordered the IDF [Israeli army] to once more attack terror sites in the Gaza Strip."

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, said on Twitter that it had fired rockets towards Tel Aviv. No one was injured in the attack on the city, the Israeli army said.

Little progress

In Cairo, Palestinian negotiators declared the ceasefire talks over, and said they would leave Egypt on Wednesday.

"We told the Egyptians we are ready to return to the talks once they find the proper atmosphere," said Azzam al-Ahmad, the Palestinian negotiator, adding that the Palestinians had submitted a final ceasefire proposal.

"It's clear the Israelis are not interested in the ceasefire. We did not hear from them. We were willing to, but we did not hear from them," he said.

Hamas is seeking an end to a seven-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has battered Gaza's economy, while Israel wants guarantees that Hamas will disarm.

In nearly a week of indirect talks, Egypt appears to have made little headway in resolving the differences. Late on Monday, it secured a 24-hour extension to a temporary truce to allow more time for a last-ditch attempt to reach a longer-term deal.

An Egyptian compromise proposal calls for easing the blockade, but not lifting it altogether and opening the territory's air and seaports as Hamas has demanded.

While the plan does not require Hamas to give up its weapons, it would give Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were ousted by Hamas in 2007, a foothold back in Gaza running border crossings and overseeing internationally-backed reconstruction.

**Lamplighter** Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:48 pm

While the last 'truce' was in place Israel bombed the West Bank houses of suspects in killing of the three Israeli teenagers. What happened to inoccent until found guilty? And what about the families, now homeless? LL

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/18/israel-destroys-homes-of-palestinians-suspected-of-killing-israe/20948299/

**bb1** Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:57 pm

IMO, LL, Israel isn't going to be happy till it's ethnically cleansed the West Bank and Gaza of their rightful inhabitants. Don't forget, Israel has helped itself to another chunk of Gaza with its latest 'buffer zone'.

I can think of NO reason for Israel to bomb hospitals, schools, farms, animal shelters and zoos except a desire to make life intolerable for the Palestinian people.

Worth noting, however, that the much-vaunted Israeli army wasn't much good when faced with armed men and, unable to hide behind tanks, drones and fighter jets, actually had to FIGHT.

**Lamplighter** Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:12 pm

Pity the Kurdish Peshmergas are busy at present,, the Israelis would run from them! Also the army is in fact made up of conscripts - the regular army is quite small. Conscripts don't make good soldiers as all sides found out in past wars. LL

**Lamplighter** Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:15 am

Operation Protective Edge, day 46
Military says boy was killed by mortars fired shelter maintained by Hamas in Gaza; rockets injuries four in Ashdod and Be'er Sheva.
By Haaretz | Aug. 23, 2014 | 1:17 AM | 1

The scene of a Gaza rocket attack, where a 25-year-old man was seriously wounded, near Ashdod, August 22, 2014. Photo by Tomer Appelbaum

Daniel Tregerman, 4, killed by mortar shells fired at a kibbutz near the Gaza border on August 22, 2014. Photo by courtesy

Rocket fire from Gaza at southern and central Israel and Israeli air strikes on the strip continued on Friday. A 4-year-old boy was killed in the afternoon when a mortar barrage hit a car in a community near the border with Gaza.

Earlier, a rocket hit a synagogue in Ashdod, injuring three people lightly. Before that a heavy rocket and mortar barrage on southern Israel left one Israeli moderately wounded by shrapnel in Be'er Sheva. Also, a home in the southern city of Sderot suffered a direct rocket hit.

In Gaza, Hamas reportedly executed 18 Palestinians suspected of being Israeli informers on Friday, according to a Hamas official and online sources. The official said that all had been convicted in legal proceedings.

Palestinian sources reported that two people had been killed in an Israeli strike on an agricultural area in Nusseirat, in the central Gaza Strip.

The executions followed the deaths in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday of three leading Hamas military commanders. The operation was described by Israeli officials as an intelligence coup.

A 33-year-old Israeli man who was wounded by mortar shrapnel in Eshkol on Thursday was reported to be in serious but stable condition.

Germany, France and Britain have begun working on a UN Security Council resolution that would end the fighting in the Gaza Strip, a document obtained by Haaretz revealed.The U.S. has also joined the European initiative, diplomats said.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-gaza-conflict-2014

**bb1** Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:09 am

More pointless death and destruction, and another dead child. It seems endless.

Sponsored content