Relatives of Matar Abu Al-Atta, killed the day before by an Israeli military attack, mourn during his funeral in the al-Shoja’iya neighborhood east of Gaza City , November 11, 2012.
(Photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Funerals in Gaza as Israel announces it may be escalating this madness. As per usual mainstream narrative Israel acts ‘in response’, but who started this latest round of violence and when?
This summary from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights gives details on all that have been killed so far, and clarifies that this recent round of violence began when 13-year-old Ahmed Younis Khader Abu Daqqa was killed on Thursday:
Over the past 72 hours, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their aerial and ground attacks against the Gaza Strip. Five Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, have been killed, and 52 others, including 6 women and 12 children, have been wounded. Four of these deaths and 38 of the injuries resulted from an Israeli attack on a football playground in al-Shoja’iya neighborhood east of Gaza City. Additionally, 2 members of the Palestinian resistance were killed, and some civilian facilities were destroyed or damaged.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 15:30 on Saturday, 10 November 2012, Israeli military vehicles stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired an artillery shell at a number of Palestinian children who were playing football at al-Mentar Hill east of al-Shoja’iya neighborhood, which is east of Gaza City and nearly 1,500 meters away from the border. As a result, 2 children were instantly killed:
1- Mohammed Ussama Hassan Harara (16); and
2- Ahmed Mustafa Khaled Harara (17).
Following this attack, a number of Palestinian civilians, who were in the consolation house of the Harara family, rushed to the area, where the IOF immediately fired another 3 shells. As a result, 2 Palestinian civilians were instantly killed:
1- Ahmed Kamel Al- Dirdissawi (18); and
2- Matar ‘Emad ‘Abdul Rahman Abu al-‘Ata (19).
Additionally, 38 civilians, including 8 children, were wounded; the wounding of 10 of these civilians was described by medical crews as being serious.
Earlier, on Thursday evening, 08 November 2012, the IOF killed a Palestinian child during an incursion in the ‘Abassan village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 16:30 on Thursday, as a result of the indiscriminate shooting by IOF military vehicles that had moved into the ‘Abassan village, 13-year-old Ahmed Younis Khader Abu Daqqa was seriously wounded by a bullet to the abdomen. At the time he was shot, Ahmed had been playing football with his friends in front of his family’s house, located nearly 1,200 meters away from the area where the IOF were present. He was evacuated to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Yunis, but he was pronounced dead 15 minutes later.
Ma’an News reported on Abu Daqqa’s death on November 8th:
Hamid Younis Abu Daqqa died after Israeli forces targeted houses and farms east of Khan Younis, according to Ashraf al-Qidra, a medical spokesman in Gaza.
Medics said the boy was hit by machine gun fire, either from Israeli helicopters or tanks that took part in the incident.
Israeli military vehicles briefly penetrated the southern Gaza Strip earlier Thursday morning, leading to clashes with Palestinian militants.
The Popular Resistance Committees said its gunmen had confronted an Israeli force of four tanks and a bulldozer involved in a short-range incursion beyond Israel’s border fence with the Gaza Strip.
“Terrorists opened fire at IDF (Israeli army) soldiers while they were performing routine activity adjacent to the security fence,” an Israeli military spokeswoman said in Jerusalem. She said reports of Palestinians injuries were being checked.
Routine activity with tanks and bulldozers inside of Gaza? Just because Israel calls it ‘routine’ doesn’t justify they initiated this madness. Why did Israel invade Gaza at dawn on Thursday with eight tanks and four bulldozers?
The Palestine News Network (PNN) reported that eight Israeli tanks and four armored military bulldozers invaded, on Thursday at dawn, Abasan town, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and fired smoke bombs and rounds of live ammunition.
Abu Daqqa’s funeral was Friday the ninth:
Funeral of Hamid Younis Abu Daqqa, shot the day before by the Israeli army with a machine gun from an helicopter, in ‘Abassan al Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, gaza Strip, November 9, 2012. (Photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
And now there are reports that Israel may escalate as Hamas joins Gaza clashes with a possible ground invasion into Gaza. We will continue to update the story as more information becomes available.
Why does this happen after an election? Just like with Cast Lead.
for anna paq’s photos of the funerals today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/8175501304/in/photostream/
The look on the elderly woman to the left is soul-shattering.
This stuff makes my blood boil. And it answers the inane question of ‘Why do they hate us?’
Rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists are raining down on Israel’s civilian population, over 100 rockets in the last day alone. Adam and Annie apparently don’t think this worth condemning, or even mentioning.
This is what I witnessed today in Beer Sheva:
Today at around 2 PM, in the middle of a class I was teaching, the sirens sounded. We made sure all the kids got into the shelter, trying to project calm, telling them not to run, not to shout, no panic. Pretty soon there was a fairly loud boom – it was reported later that Iron Dome had succesfully intercepted the rocket aimed at the city. After around 10 minutes it was assumed to be safe to leave the shelter. There was no point in going back to class: we just did our best to make sure all the kids got home safely. And for myself : to check up on my family, especially my daughter who works in Sderot. We are all ok, getting ready for another tense night.
see here:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-mediating-israel-hamas-truce-as-more-than-100-rockets-hit-south-1.476815
The political strategy of the Israeli government depends on a stream of Palestinian terror attacks that they can use to maintain the required level of fear and hysteria among Jews, drown out media coverage of any other aspect of the situation, and prevent Obama from exerting any pressure on Israel in his second term. I view these atrocities as deliberate provocations and expect them to continue until they achieve their purpose. After that they will still continue as “retaliation.”
Any governments sympathetic to the Palestinians might press Israel to clarify whether they now classify playing football as a hostile activity (a form of military training, perhaps), under what conditions they might be prepared to allow Palestinian kids to play football, and what their attitude is toward volleyball, basketball, dominoes, marbles and other dangerous pastimes.