News Items Today

Breaking News Gaza/Israel Conflict - Israeli Soldiers Captured - City of Gaza Surrounded - Rockets in Palestine Square - Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

Israel now has the City of Gaza surrounded and whilst the fighting continues, a barrage of rockets still continues to rain down on Israel.

150 tanks now occupy the old settlement of Netzarim and there is fighting taking place on the perimeters of the City of Gaza itself, the most densely populated City in the world. News is coming through of a shopping centre in the heart of Gaza that has just been hit.

Hamas have launched a fire rocket from Palestine Square at the heart of the City of Gaza and is effectively using the population as a human shield. An action which is definitely abusing and flouting the moral rules of war and conflict and they are now claiming to have captured two Israeli soldiers, though this is unconfirmed at this time.

After eight days of pummelling air strikes failed to halt rocket attacks on Israel, the conflict between Israel and Gaza intensifies, and is now entering its 9th day into the Israeli retaliation against Hamas rocket fire. The Israeli offensive has stepped up to phase two of the plan with the escalation of a massive ground invasion.

With the targeting and air strike of the home in the Jabaliya refugee camp on the Gaza Strip, a Senior Key Hamas military commander, Nizar Rayyan, was killed on Friday, along with, two of his wives, and other members of his family, the wrath of Hamas intensifies.

This follows a statement by Rayyan on Wednesday when he announced that Hamas would hit Israel “even deeper” than it has so far. Recently he also urged suicide attacks against Israel. Nizar Rayyan was the most senior Hamas figure to be killed since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004.

“On the Hamas-run al-Aqsa television channel, Rayyan said Hamas militants were preparing for any Israeli ground incursion, saying “we will kill the enemy and take hostages”.

Other targeted Sites linked to Hamas have also been hit, including security compounds, government buildings and the smuggling tunnels under the border to Egypt,

The decision from Israel to go in by land to the thin Gaza strip was only a matter of time if the Hamas rocket fire on Israel continued. The Israeli mission now is to seek out and eradicate all rocket launching sites and rocket making warehouses in the Gaza strip, rendering them defunct.

A call from the UN for both sides to ceasefire has been ignored and the truce violated as Hamas air strikes continue. Israel had no other option than to go in by land for a mass invasion on Gaza.

Israel is adamant that they do not want to re-claim Gaza, but they have to render useless the constant barrage of rockets which the Hamas continue to launch into Israel. The heavy Israeli tanks and infantry rolled on their way to Gaza for an impending ground offensive.

This stage of the operation will include artillery, engineering forces, and intelligence, along with the support of the Israel navy, Israel Air Force, and security agencies. Tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are ready to go in as the offensive in Gaza broadens. 10,000 Israeli soldiers were already in place along the border laying in wait for their orders.

Hamas is well prepared for Israel’s invasion. It has designed a labyrinth of tunnels, and prepared land peppered with hidden explosives which the Israel artillery has been detonating during their advance.

The previous 6 month truce has enabled Hamas to stock up with a supply of deadly long range rockets, and Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a televised speech that Gaza will “become a graveyard” for Israeli soldiers. He also said in another recording that, “Gaza will not be paved with flowers for you; it will be paved with fire and hell.”

A UN agency operating in Gaza, Unwra, warned of a crisis in the humanitarian situation in the area with emergency aid supplies trickling in at a very slow rate. The Gaza warehouses are already full with food and water. The problem is distributing it. It is too dangerous to try to get the supplies through to the waiting people.

Many Fatah leaders have been killed by Hamas, who fear they have been collaborating with the Israeli Army. Their worry is that the people of Gaza may decide that they may want the Fatahs as their leader after so much loss of civilian life has been the case during this latest conflict.

With no say when Hamas place rocket launchers in the people of Gaza’s backyards, on their roofs and even in their living rooms, many inhabitants of Gaza may now question the leadership and wisdom of Hamas ideology. It may be considered too much human sacrifice in the name of their cause.-

Trackback URI | Comments RSS