Israelis gather on hillsides to watch and cheer as military drops bombs on #Gaza

People drink, snack and pose for selfies against a background of explosions as Palestinian death toll mounts in ongoing offensive

Harriet Sherwood in Sderot

theguardian.com/, 20.07.2014

Israeli man watches the bombardment as he sits on an old sofa left on a hillside in Sderot. Photograph: UPI/Landov/Barcroft Media

Israelis sit on a hill to watch air strikes on Gaza, some bring drinks and snacks as they cheer the explosions a few miles away. Photograph: UPI/Landov/Barcroft Media

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Sayed Kashua: why I have to leave #Israel

Sayed Kashua in Jerusalem. ‘I wanted to tell the Israelis a story, the Palestinian story. Surely when they read it they will understand.’ Photograph: Ziv Koren/Polaris /eyevine

Quite soon I am going away from here. In a few days we'll be leaving Jerusalem, leaving the country. Yesterday we bought little suitcases for the kids. No need to take a lot of clothes, we'll leave our winter clothes; in any event they won't be warm enough given the cold of southern Illinois, USA. We'll just need a few things until we get settled. Perhaps the kids should take some books, two or three in Arabic, and another few in Hebrew, so they don't forget the languages. But I'm already not sure what I want my kids to remember of this place, so beloved and so cursed.

The original plan was to leave in a month for a year's sabbatical. But last week I understood that I can't stay here any longer, and I asked the travel agent to get us out of here as fast as possible, "and please make them one-way tickets". In a few days we'll land in Chicago, and I don't even know where we'll be for the first month, but we'll figure it out.

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Boycott WORKS!!! - Israeli trade down 40% following military operation on Gaza

There has been a 40 per cent reduction in trade in Israeli cities since Israel began its military operation in Gaza, Israel's Channel Two said today.

Since July 7, Israel has waged raids across the Gaza Strip in a military operation it calls "Operation Protective Edge".

Channel Two reported officials at the Israeli Export Institute saying that there has been a noticeable decline in import and export operations between Israeli cities, especially in the cities of central and southern Israel, which have become an easy target for rockets by Palestinian factions in Gaza.

An Anadolu reporter described southern Israel as being famous for its agricultural land, which is irrigated, in addition to farming for livestock, some dairy plants and factories for packaging and canning crops, in order to be exported to markets in Israel, or to foreign markets.

A few days ago the news site published remarks by the Chairman of the Histadrut (General Organisation of Workers in the Land of Israel) Avi Nissenkorn in which he asked Finance Minister Yair Lapid to issue directives immediately to compensate the owners of factories and shops in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip for indirect losses caused as a result of the security situation.

Israel's current offensive has led to the death of 260 Palestinians and wounded 1,980 others, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

source: Middle east monitor

#GazaUnderAttack #Turkey #Erdogan: Israel will sink in the blood it sheds

Turkish presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Israel will "sink in the blood it is shedding in the Gaza Strip and all parts of Palestine sooner or later," Anadolu news agency reported.

Speaking after an Iftar gathering in the presence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Erdogan said that the Israeli occupation indiscriminately launches shells and rockets towards men, women, children, the elderly and young people in Gaza.

"A black stigma will be stamped on the forehead of those who remain silent over the oppression Israel is carrying out in Gaza," he added.

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#GazaUnderAttack | Worldwide Protests against Israel – In Photos

Full Album...

Hundreds of Jews in New York protest against the Zionist state of Israel.

Hundreds of Jews in New York protest against the Zionist state of Israel.

#GazaUnderAttack | #Israel completely cuts electricity to #Gaza

GAZA, (PIC)– The power distribution company in Gaza said that the Israeli occupation authority completely severed the power supplies to the Gaza Strip.

This Israeli measure raised the current power deficit in Gaza from 80 percent to 90 percent, according to an official in the electricity company.

Director of the company’s public relations Jamal Dardasawi told SAFA news agency on Friday that the Israeli side shut down all electricity supply lines to Gaza.

#GazaUnderAttack | #Egypt blocks aid convoy from entering #Gaza

Al Akhbar English Published Saturday, July 19, 2014

Egyptian soldiers in north Sinai prevented an aid convoy of activists from reaching the Rafah border crossing with the embattled Palestinian Gaza Strip on Saturday, an AFP correspondent said.

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 restive 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 counter-insurgency operation against militants in north Sinai, but has allowed entry to Palestinians wounded in the 12-day conflict between Hamas and Israel.

At least 333 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its assault.

(AFP)

#GazaUnderAttack In Pictures: Global #Gaza solidarity #protests

An ultra Orthodox Jew holds a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's air strikes on Gaza in London, July 11.

HERE IS THE FULL ALBUM

#GazaUnderAttack | #Turkey Accuses EU & #Muslim World of Hypocrisy Over 3Gaza

Saturday July 19, 2014by Chris Carlson - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

Turkish EU Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has publicly denounced Western nations and those of the Muslim world for their silence over Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip which has, so far, claimed at least 319 lives, as of the time of this report.

"We curse Israel's atrocity," Mr. Cavusoglu said, speaking on behalf of Turkey. "We are tired of your double standards, and hypocrisy," he said, referring to EU countries which he asserts are pretending to stand for democracy.

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#GazaUnderAttack #Israel to pay high price for #Gaza invasion: #Hamas

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has warned against an Israeli ground invasion in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying Israel will pay “a high price” for launching an offensive into the blockaded enclave.

"The start of the Israeli ground attack on Gaza is a dangerous step, the consequences of which have not been calculated," said Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, in a statement issued on Thursday.

"Israel will pay a high price and Hamas is ready for the confrontation," the Hamas spokesman added.

Earlier in the day, Israeli forces launched a ground offensive against the blockaded enclave after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the army to push the aggression against Gaza into a new stage.

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#GazaUnderAttack | #Hamas penetrates #Israeli settlement messaging system in the West Bank

Following the arrival of the messages, some of the settlers replied using abusive insults and contacted the settlements’ council which investigated the incident

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, yesterday penetrated the messaging system of the Benjamin settlement council near Ramallah, in central West Bank, and sent threatening message to the settlers, Israeli media revealed.One message said: “To the Israeli public: your government claimed yesterday it had stopped firing but without agreeing to our conditions. It was believed that we will hurry to ceasefire, but what happened is the opposite. We retaliated and struck everywhere from Dimona in the south until Haifa in the north while you hid in your shelters like rats. We warn your government of the consequences if it does not agree to our terms, because the whole of Israel will remain a legitimate target for our fire. The Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam.”

Following the arrival of the messages, some of the settlers replied using abusive insults and contacted the settlements’ council which investigated the incident.

According to a statement released by the council, Hamas penetrated the messaging system and therefore the council has decided to stop the service while it counters the penetration, Israel’s Channel 7 reported.

#GazaUnderAttack | Gaza carnage, new phase of Israel genocide

An Israeli tank, positioned near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, fires a 155mm projectile towards targets in the Palestinian enclave, July 17, 2014.

PressTV | Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:2PM GMT

1

Israel’s current carnage of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is a new phase in the Zionist regime’s deep-rooted genocide plan in the besieged enclave, an analyst writes for Press TV.

“Ever since the Zionists invaded Palestine, they have been the aggressors, and their aggression has been in service to genocide. It is the Palestinians who have the right to defend themselves against genocide,” Kevin Barrett wrote in an article for the Press TV website.

He said the Israeli regime’s military strikes against the Palestinians constitute no act of self-defense, adding that the Zionist regime “is committing aggression, and has been trying to eliminate Palestine and the Palestinians for more than six decades.”

Barrett also took to task US President Barack Obama for his recent remarks that Tel Aviv has “the right to defend itself.”

“By uttering that genocidal lie, Obama condemned himself as a war criminal,” he said. “Lying about the most basic fact about the occupation of Palestine – that the Zionists are the aggressors, and the Palestinians are defending themselves, their homes, their land, their children, and their honor – is a war crime.”

Since July 8, Israel has struck more than 1,800 targets across Gaza, which is home to around 1.8 million Palestinians. The strikes have so far claimed the lives of 230 people with more than 1,700 others injured.

Despite international calls for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently that the Tel Aviv regime was hitting Gaza “with growing force” and that there was no end in sight.

KA/HSN/SL

A peaceful scene from good old days - Gaza, 1890's - under Ottoman rule

#GazaUnderAttack | El-Wafa Elderly Nursing Home shelled by the Israeli military

16th July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

After a night of heavy shelling in the area, the day is dawning in Gaza. The clock ticks pass 08:00; past the evacuation time the Israeli military gave to el-Wafa hospital the previous evening.

The patients were not evacuated; there is nowhere for them to go. The entire Shajajia area where the hospital is located, with a population of around 100,000 inhabitants, has also been ordered to evacuate, as well as other areas around the Gaza Strip. For so many people to move to other areas cannot be done, and without shelter they can only rely on God and their luck.

During the night’s bombardment, when el-Wafa hospital shook several times with explosions, suspicions were raised that the hospital had been hit. In fact, the building close by, el-Wafa Elderly Nursing Home was shelled by the Israeli military.

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Al Wafa Hospital - These are some of the patients that Israel are threatening ...

Words fail me when it comes to describe how inhumane and cowardly the ‪#‎IOF‬ are, that they threaten such innocent people - currently shelling is occurring nearby as this is being typed ...

Харесвам

#GazaUnderAttack | #Israel in shock after #Hamas launches drone

Hamas Drone – Ababil A 1B
(image taken from Al-Aqsa TV)

Israel is in shock after a drone was launched by Izzaddin Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on Monday morning. The drone flew from Gaza towards Israel.Yediouth Ahronoth reported that Israeli air defences fired a patriot anti-missile rocket that brought down the drone as it flew into Ashdod airspace.

Israeli army radio warned the danger this measure taken by Hamas could pose. It noted that the movement could use these drones in the future for offensive missions raiding sensitive Zionist targets, which if hit could result in huge losses of lives and property.

The radio said that the Ashdod port is a highly sensitive area because it hosts petrochemical factories. Any attack that uses water could lead to thousands of casualties.

The radio was dismayed that the Israeli air force, which is flying intensely over Gaza, could not discover the Hamas drone and shoots it down while it was still in Gaza airspace.

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#GazaUnderAttack | Al #Qassam: we reject the “initiative” for a cease-fire (which was not offered btw!)

via Al-Qassam Website!

zzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades cleared its position about the initiative for a cease-fire between the resistance and Israel.

The Brigades said in a military statement, on Tuesday morning, that any official or unofficial side didn’t contact the resistance in this alleged initiative.

It stressed that if the initiative is true, it would be a bowing Initiative, Al-Qassam Brigades reject it.

“For us, it is not worth the ink that wrote it,” the Brigades added.

“Our battle with the enemy to be continued & we’ll be loyal to the blood of the martyrs of the Eaten Straw battle,” the statement added.

Al Qassam Brigades promised the Palestinian people that this blood and sacrifices will not be wasted by whoever was in this world.

#GazaUnderAttack | Palestinian minister: Israel has completely destroyed 560 homes so far

Middle East Monitor | July 15, 2014

Israel has destroyed 560 Palestinian homes, including this one, the home of the Al-Raziq family

via Occupied Palestine

Palestinian Minister of Public Works and Housing Mofeed Al-Hasayneh revealed that the number of Palestinian homes completely destroyed by Israeli strikes since the start of the current assault is 560.Speaking to Anadolu news agency, Al-Hasayneh added that the number of residential houses that were partially destroyed during the last seven days of the war is 12,800.

Since the beginning of Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, which it calls “Operation Protective Edge”, Israel has killed more than 170 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,200. Most of the Palestinian casualties are civilians, with large numbers of children and women.

On the other side, there have been no reported Israeli deaths caused by Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli emergency department reported that the number of Israelis wounded is 208, including 11 hit by rocket shrapnel, 36 injured as they were rushing to shelters, six suffering in car accidents blamed on rocket alarms and 151 suffering from panic.

After a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet on Sunday night, Israeli leaders decided to continue and intensify their assault on the Gaza Strip, ignoring a UN Security Council statement on Saturday unanimously calling for both sides to agree to a ceasefire.

#GazaUnderAttack | #Haneyya: Palestinian resistance is re-writing history

GAZA, (PIC)– Ismail Haneyya, deputy chairman of Hamas Political Bureau, said the Palestinian nation and resistance are today at a turning point in their fight against the Israeli occupation and have opened up new horizons before future Palestinian generations.

Haneyya declared in a speech delivered to the Palestinian people on Monday evening “Today we shall all stand up for our land, people, dignity and the future of our offspring.”

“Today the Israeli occupation and the world have seen with their own eyes how far al-Qassam Brigades can go”, he added.

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#GazaUnderAttack / International activists remain in #Gaza hospital threatened by israeli missiles

BREAKING: el-Wafa hospital in Gaza, near Gaza City, just received a call from someone claiming to be from the 'Defence department of the Israeli forces'. The caller informed the hospital to evacuate everyone by tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, then hung up.

El-Wafa hospital was struck by five Israeli missiles on 11th July - read HERE: http://palsolidarity.org/2014/07/international-activists-remain-in-gaza-hospital-threatened-by-israeli-missiles/) and both ISM and other international activists have been maintaining a constant presence ever since.