Palestinian Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniya (on the right) and Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil hold the body of a Palestinian baby boy who was killed in an Israeli air strike on November 16, 2012 during a visit to the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City (AFP Photo / Manmud Hams)
The Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, first set off when the Israeli air force decisively broke a tacit cease-fire and assassinated the leader of Hamas’ military wing, continues into its third day. A rocket hit the West Bank settlement of Gush Etzion earlier today; no casualties were reported as a result of the hit.
An Israeli air strike killed “Hamas Central Command chief Ahmad Abu Jalal,” the Times of Israel confirms.
The latest death toll, according to Ma’an News, is up to 28 Palestinians. Reports put out by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) document that at least ten of those deaths were of civilians. “The civilian victims include 6 children and a woman. Additionally, 257 Palestinians, including 253 civilians, have been wounded – this number includes 62 children and 42 women,” according to the PCHR. That number is likely to rise as human rights workers collect more evidence on the ground.
The Israeli death toll from rocket fire remains at 3, though more Israelis were wounded over night. A second rocket reportedly was fired near Tel Aviv. “The IDF stated that no rocket impact was located in Tel Aviv, but local residents reported hearing an explosion following the siren. No injuries or damage were reported,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
The Egyptian prime minister visited Gaza earlier today. He went to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and said: “This tragedy cannot pass in silence and the world should take responsibility in stopping this aggression…Egypt will spare no effort … to stop the aggression and to achieve a truce.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged that Israel would cease firing from the sky while Egypt’s prime minister visited Gaza. But CBS reports that “Israel said its air force bombed the house of a Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip after militants fired more than a dozen rockets toward southern Israel, trampling hopes for a three hour ceasefire during a brief visit by Egypt’s premier to the tiny stretch of land.”
All of this is occurring ”as troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers massed near the Palestinian territory, signaling a ground invasion might be growing near,” according to the Associated Press. There are reports from Israeli television Channel 2 that 75,000 Israeli reservists are being drafted. For comparison, just over 9,200 were drafted before Operation Cast Lead in December 2008, and 60,000 were drafted for the Lebanon war in 2006. YNet is reporting the Israeli Home Front Command is telling authorities in south and central Israel to prepare for 7 weeks of fighting.
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a non-binding resolution expressing support for Israel’s “inherent right to act in self-defense.” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that “the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in a statement praised ‘the leadership of Senators Gillibrand and Kirk, and the extraordinary show of support by the Senate for Israel’s struggle against terrorist attacks on its citizens.'”
Mondoweiss has been closely following the escalation in the Gaza Strip. See these links for more of our coverage:
- No safe haven: Civilians under attack in the Gaza Strip
- Hundreds of New Yorkers come out to denounce Israeli aggression on Gaza
- What comes after Cast Lead is worse
- Israel supporters (and IDF officials) proudly display their bigotry on Twitter
- Netanyahu’s political pandering leads to more Palestinian bloodshed
- Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld: ‘If they dare to strike Tel Aviv… we’ll wipe the whole place out’
- Video: Palestinian women occupy Israeli military base in West Bank to protest Gaza attack
- A speechless girl in Gaza
- Palestinian UN envoy: Attack was ‘deliberately timed to torpedo the UN vote’
- Exile and the Prophetic: The Jewish community’s entire life is bound up with war
- BDS Movement: Stop a new Israeli massacre in Gaza — boycott Israel now!
- ‘Washington Post’ prints false narrative of how Gaza escalation started
- ‘New York Times’ covers up a key Netanyahu motive for the vicious Gaza attack
- Israeli watching bombing of Gaza from southern Israel: ‘Arabs are less than dogs, kill them all’
- Israel rejects truce and escalates fighting in Gaza with assassination of Hamas leader; 10 killed, 90 wounded in Israeli attacks
- Timeline of Israeli escalation in Gaza and Israel’s history of breaking ceasefires
- Israeli elections . . and death in Gaza
- Almost Dead: An eyewitness report from Gaza
- Nous accusons: Mainstream media fails to report context and severity of Israeli atrocities against Gaza
- On the West Bank, the mood is resigned, edgy
- JVP: It is unseemly for Operation ‘Pillar of Defense’ to invoke biblical passage from Exodus when Israel is dominant military power in the region
- Gaza Under Attack: International eyewitnesses call for action
- Worldwide protests against Israeli aggression in Gaza
‘Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged that Israel would cease firing from the sky while Egypt’s prime minister visited Gaza.’
Sorry, but Israel don’t really have a great track record of late on ceasefires.
Ask Ahmed Jabari about that one Bibi……….
As the massacre of Gaza continues, the York University Graduate Students Association has just approved a divestment resolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nFVR8_V9bQ
Can someone post further news on this?
This its typical of Israeli media being used as a government mouthpiece.
Disinformation is the name of the game.
See the nauseating use of a child’s dead body as a prop. How disgusting.
As Israel assaults Gaza, BBC reporting assaults the truth
Amena Saleem The Electronic Intifada London 16 November 2012
In 2006, an independent panel of senior public figures published a report assessing the impartiality of the BBC’s coverage of the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The panel, chaired by Sir Quentin Thomas, a senior figure in the British Home Office, found “identifiable shortcomings, particularly in respect of gaps in coverage, analysis, context and perspective and in the consistent maintenance of the BBC’s own editorial standards.”
The Thomas Report, as it became known, was quickly shoved under the carpet by the BBC, even though it had originally been commissioned by the corporation’s own governors, and business continued as usual (“Report of the Independent Panel for the BBC Governors on Impartiality of BBC Coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” April 2006, available on the Internet Archive).
In the last few days, the shortcomings highlighted in the report have never seemed so glaring.
con’t at link http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-assaults-gaza-bbc-reporting-assaults-truth/11894