Gaza blitz continues as Israel rejects ceasefire

28Dec08

The air-strikes in Gaza continued through Saturday night and into today. The death toll is now at least 285, with more than 900 wounded. Hamas is still offering a ceasefire based on an end to the siege. Israel has rejected this in favour of the largest offensive in Gaza since 1967 and a possible ground invasion. Defense Minister Ehud Barak explained,

“There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight …  [Israel] cannot really accept [a cease-fire with Hamas] … For us to be asked to have a cease-fire with Hamas is like asking you to have a cease-fire with Al-Qaida … It’s something we cannot really accept.”

Today’s strikes targeted, among other things, Ismail Haniyeh’s home (he was out), a police station, a mosque and the headquarters of Hamas’s television network. One eyewitness reports,

“Gaza had never seen anything like the numbers of dead bodies lying on its streets. Hospital morgues were already full. The dead were piled on top of each other outside”.

Another:

“This is a black day in Gaza’s history. Never, ever have we had airstrikes of this intensity and not since 1967 have we had this number of victims …

We went to the balcony to look; we saw women running in the street, heard screams everywhere, we saw people carrying parts of human beings. It went on and on.

The attack happened as schools were changing shifts, so children were arriving and leaving. My children were evacuated from their school and they’re OK, although one of their classmates was hurt.

They saw the blood and screams of other children, so they have had a very difficult time which they won’t forget.”

The UN Security Council has called for a ceasefire but has failed to condemn the Israeli assault, following Israel, the US,  Britain and the liberal press in blaming Palestinians for their own destruction.

Update: The death toll has now risen to at least 298, with around 1,000 people wounded. The Islamic Univeristy in Gaza has been bombed, along with a TV station, a mosque, a prison, a fuel tanker and other civilian targets. Israeli troops and tanks are massing on the border in preparation for a ground invasion, while Israeli jets have set off sonic booms over Lebanon.

The Red Cross has warned that  Gaza’s hospitals are “overwhelmed and unable to cope with the scale and type of injuries that keep coming in”.

One eyewitness reports:

“Gaza City was a ghost town of funeral tents and nervous bread queues yesterday as shocked residents ventured out of their homes under Israel’s massive firestorm only to carry out the bare necessities of life: buying food and burying their dead.

Hospital officials said that the death toll had risen to almost 300, with more than 1,000 injured. With 150 patients in critical condition and the city’s hospitals already on the verge of collapse even before the Israeli blitz, doctors expected the numbers of dead to swell even further.

“There is no way we can handle such a catastrophe. People are dying for want of basic amenities,” Hassan Abu Tawila, of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, said. “A normal country would have difficulty coping with such a catastrophe. Imagine the situation for a place that has been under Israeli siege for 18 months already…

Even war-hardened Gazans had seen nothing like it as vast fireballs and columns of smoke enveloped their teeming cities. But it was only the beginning of Operation Cast Lead.”


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6 Responses to “Gaza blitz continues as Israel rejects ceasefire”  

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  1. 1 JamieSW on December 28, 2008 said:

    That Independent editorial linked to above is truly disgusting. Not only does it blame Hamas rejectionism for the violence and defend Israel’s “disporportionate” use of force (“[n]o state can be expected to tolerate rockets being launched at its civilians”), but it also comes out squarely in favour of the illegal siege of Gaza:

    “But there are always grounds for hope. Before yesterday’s attacks, there were some signs that disillusion with Hamas was setting in among the people of Gaza. Partly because of the continuing Israeli blockade, Hamas has failed to deliver higher living standards. Some Gazans even complain that life was better under the Israeli occupation.

    Equally, most of the Arab world has lost patience with Hamas – most importantly the Egyptian government, which helped broker the recent ceasefire.

    If Israel draws back now, it is possible that such erosion of Hamas support could continue. If there is a pragmatic wing of Hamas, it may be possible to strengthen it. A policy of restraint sounds like a politician’s platitude, but in this case it is the wisest course of action.”

  2. 2 JamieSW on December 28, 2008 said:

    The Observer also blames Hamas, and states:

    “There is no simple account of events leading up to the current confrontation that does justice to the amassed sense of grievance on both sides. But two specific events have played a decisive role: the decision earlier this month by Hamas to end a six-month ceasefire and elections in Israel due in February.”

    The fact that it was Israel that ended the truce and the fact that Hamas repeatedly offered a new ceasefire so long as the illegal siege was lifted is not mentioned.

  3. 3 JamieSW on December 28, 2008 said:

    The Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed more than 270 people over the weekend,
    the bloodiest attack since 1967. Ehud Barak, Israeli Defence Minister, has
    threatened further attacks on Gaza, one of the most impoverished places on
    earth.

    Below is a notice of a protest tomorrow (Monday) from the Palestine Solidarity
    Campaign. Please circulate this notice as widely as possible. If you are not
    in London, please consider local actions.

    Gaza massacre – Emergency Protest

    Monday 29 December 4.00pm – 6.00pm

    Opposite Israeli Embassy – Kensington High Street

    Nearest tube: High Street Kensington

    Please monitor news channels and call BBC and ITV every day to ask for accurate
    figures of numbers killed and injured. We will not accept Israeli
    spokespersons – we want Palestinian commentators.

    Betty Hunter
    General Secretary
    Palestine Solidarity Campaign
    http://www.palestinecampaign.org

  4. 4 Kashmiri Nomad on December 29, 2008 said:

    I came across your weblog after clicking a link on the Arab writers group syndicate.

    I write a weekly “accelerated links” post for my weblog from next Sunday I shall be including a post from your blog.

  5. 5 JamieSW on December 29, 2008 said:

    ok, cheers.

  6. 6 JamieSW on December 29, 2008 said:

    Here’s what Barak had to say earlier this year:

    ‘Israel’s defence minster has acknowledged a military invasion of Gaza would not stop cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

    But Ehud Barak said a seven-week-old truce mediated by Egypt had halted the barrages for the first time in years…

    He said that such circumstances would strengthen Palestinians’ support in Gaza for Hamas rather the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party.’


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