Palestine Under Fire July 12-18 Report
HAVANA TIMES — Welcome to this Week in Palestine – Gaza Special Coverage, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for July 12-18, 2014.
Thus far 267 Palestinians killed, hundreds more injured as the Israeli military offensive targeting the Gaza Strip enters its 11th day. In the meantime all effectors to reach a ceasefire have not been successful.
The Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza have announced that on Friday 30 people were killed and dozens injured after Israeli stepped up its offensive on costal enclave which started last tuned. Up until the time of this report that death toll have reached 267 civilians and more than 1750 others injured.
On Thursday night Israeli tanks invaded areas close to the borders of the southern Gaza Strip. Moreover Israeli war planes bombarded residents’ homes, hospitals and schools. On Thursday attacks left five children killed.
On Wednesday an Israeli naval ship fired multiple artillery shells at children on a beach in Gaza City killing four children from Bakir family between the ages of 9 and 11. The attack happened near the beach hotel were forging journalists are staying. For more insight on the situation joining me from Gaza IMEMC’s reporter Rami Al Meghari.
In the West Bank this week, Israeli troops continued its daily invasions and kidnappings. On Friday troops used tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to attack anti wall and settlements protests organized in West Bank communities.
Clashes between local youth and Israeli troops were reported all week in the districts of Ramallah, central West Bank, Bethlehem and Hebron, in southern West Bank. Youth protests the Israeli ongoing attacks on Gaza.
Moreover Dozens of Israeli military vehicles invaded, on Wednesday at dawn, several Palestinian communities in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, and kidnapped eleven Palestinians, including one legislator. On Tuesday at dawn, Israeli troops invaded, the city of Bethlehem, and kidnapped one legislator, and three other civilians.
On Friday, anti-wall and settlements protests organized in West Bank villages were meet by the Israeli army tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets.
In central West Bank, protests were organized in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin, and Al Nabi Saleh. In addition to a protest was organized in the village of Al Ma’ssara in southern West Bank. Palestinian medical sources reported that dozens of civilians were injured due to tear gas inhalation.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine – Gaza Special Coverage . This was the Weekly report for July 12th, to the 18th 2014 from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website atwww.imemc.org. This week’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi, and Ghassan Bannoura.
On Sunday, Egyptian officials sharply criticized Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal, stating that “while the Hamas leadership lives in luxury hotels, it is abandoning the innocent Palestinian people, who are being killed in their dozens.”
One of the most prominent voices in this protest is Egyptian journalist Ahmad Musa. On one of his recent programs for the “Sda al-Balad” channel , Musa presented images of Mashal working out in Qatar, and reminded the Hamas leader that, “The jihad is in Gaza.”
He then posed a challenge to the Hamas political wing: “If you’re a man and a hero, tomorrow get on the first plane and enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing. Your followers in Gaza will greet you and get you into hiding with Ismail Haniyeh.”
The article states, “Thus far 267 Palestinians killed, hundreds more injured as the Israeli military offensive targeting the Gaza Strip enters its 11th day. …Up until the time of this report that death toll have reached 267 civilians”
Are we supposed to believe that all 267 Palestinians killed were “civilians”? Not one of them was a fighter from Hamas or Islamic Jihad? Curiously missing from the report is any mention of the more than 1700 rockets which the Palestinians terrorist groups have launched at Israel. The Israeli operation against Gaza is in response to these rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. A Hamas spokesman claimed on TV that these rockets are designed to kill Jews and won’t harm Arabs. Let’s hope so, as over 100 of these Hamas rockets have fallen inside Gaza.
Israel claims the Palestinians they have detained were “arrested” not “kidnapped”. There is more than a semantic difference.
This video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7wiu6V-J98 ) shows UN marked ambulances being used to transport uninjured armed Hamas fighters about Gaza. That’s a war crime, in case you care to notice.