Conflict along the Gaza Strip
Rolling coverage of events along the Gaza Strip
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War looms over Gaza as death toll rises
A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave.
On the second day of an assault Israel said might last many days and culminate in a ground attack, its warplanes bombed targets in and around Gaza city, where tall buildings trembled.
Plumes of smoke and dust furled into a sky laced with the vapor trails of outgoing rockets.
The sudden conflict, launched by Israel with the killing of Hamas's military chief, pours oil on the fire of a Middle East already ablaze with two years of revolution and an out-of-control civil war in Syria. Palestinian allies, led by Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, denounced the Israeli offensive.
After watching powerlessly from the sidelines of the Arab Spring, Israel has been thrust to the centre of a volatile new world in which Islamist Hamas believes that Mursi and his newly dominant Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt will be its protectors.
The Palestinian Islamist group claimed it had fired a one-ton, Iranian-made Fajr 5 rocket at Tel Aviv in what would be a major escalation, but there was no reported impact in the Israeli metropolis 50 km (30 miles) north of the enclave.
Read on... [Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi] -
Israeli Army Radio reported that one rocket hit Tel Aviv, Israel; however the chief military spokesman says the rocket did not strike Tel Aviv -- a security source told Reuters that the rocket landed at sea.
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Jihad al-Masharawi, an employee of BBC Arabic in Gaza, cries after his son Omar was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City November 14, 2012. Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell". [REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot ]
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Video: Israel releases video of air strike on Hamas miltiary chief (November 14, 2012) -
Video: Netanyahu says Israel will take "whatever action is necessary" (November 15, 2012) -
Rockets fired a moment ago from the beach near the Beach Hotel in #gazaby MattMcBradley via twitter 11/15/2012 5:37:42 PM -
Analysis: Gaza conflict seen evoking Arab anger, not war
Israel's assault on Gaza sends more sparks flying into a combustible Middle East, but is unlikely to ignite a wider war or destroy the Jewish state's 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.
A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday and Israeli bombs brought the Palestinian death toll to 13 in a worsening military showdown after Israel assassinated a top Hamas military commander the previous day.
Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, had become newly assertive in recent weeks, buoyed by a visit to Gaza by the emir of Qatar and by an apparent belief that Israel would not risk strong military action with Islamists ruling Egypt.
Read on... [Reporting by Alistair Lyon] -
Video: Thousands rally at funeral for senior Hamas commander (YouTube/princeofhornets) -
Smoke trails are seen as an Iron Dome intercepts a rocket which was launched from Gaza, near the southern town of Sderot November 15, 2012. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
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Video: Israel's Iron Dome intercepts rockets (YouTube/benihafakot) -
The Israeli Defence Force released three new videos on November 15, which reportedly show strikes against rocket sites in Gaza. The IDF also released this video showing how they targeted “long-range missiles held by terrorist organisations in Gaza.”
Source: YouTube/IDFspox1 -
About 300 people chanting in the anti-war protest: "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies" and "children in #Gaza and Sderot want to live"by Elizrael via twitter 11/15/2012 5:54:01 PM -
Anti-war protest in central Tel Aviv. We chant: "the people demand a cease fire". Network too weak to upload pics. About 300 people here.by Elizrael via twitter 11/15/2012 5:54:02 PM
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"They would simply like to wipe us off the face of the earth and they have no reservations about harming innocent civilians." -- Benjamin Netanyahu www.likud.org.il
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This video shows a strike against what the IDF describe as a “rockets warehouse” in Gaza
Source: YouTube/IDFspox1 -
This video purportedly shows a strike against Fajr infrastructure in Zeitoun
Source: YouTube/IDFspox1 -
Video: Coverage of conflict along the Gaza Strip (NewsBreaker) -
Gaza rocket fired at Tel Aviv stirred up some 20-year-old memories for this Israeli woman, who wrote: "Two decades ago (during the 1991 Gulf War), I had just returned to the parking lot of our apartment building with my father after swapping my gas mask, and the air raid siren went off. We ran up five flights of stairs to our 'secure room'. Tonight, my Dad picked me up at work, and just as we got to the parking lot, an air raid siren sounded and we ran to the stairwell where we met my mother, sister and our dog, Moca. We ran for the shelter." -
another huge explosion #Gazaby Amal_mj via twitter 11/15/2012 6:08:19 PM -
Reuters: Israel's Barak says rocket fire at Tel Aviv an escalation that will exact a price from Gaza militants
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Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, in recorded statement aired on television: "Palestinian people are prepared and ready to stand steadfast..."
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A Syrian man who lives in Egypt takes part in a protest against Israel's ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Arab League offices in Cairo November 15, 2012. Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi condemned Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip as unacceptable on Thursday, in his harshest public criticism of Egypt's neighbour since taking office in June. The headband reads, "There is only one God and Prophet Mohammad is his messenger , the Free Syrian Army , Victory or Martyrdom". REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in the northern Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
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Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, in recorded statement aired on television: "I commend and hail the decisions made by the Egyptian leader; however, we emphasize the Egyptian stance...be adopted to stand on the way of this belligerent aggression, belligerent campaign against our people in Gaza."
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by neilcaff via twitter 11/15/2012 6:18:19 PM -
by neilcaff via twitter 11/15/2012 6:19:09 PM -
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, via broadcast: "I express my regret to the United States' position."
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Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, via broadcast, statement directed at Israel: "Your threats cannot intimidate us. We have been praying continuously to God to reward us with martyrdom."
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by BBC News (World) via twitter 11/15/2012 6:24:00 PM -
Noah in #TelAviv says: "You could hear sirens. Everyone was a bit surprised but got to where they needed to be without panic." #WHYSby BBC_WHYS via twitter 11/15/2012 6:25:46 PM -
Reports from Gaza saying that the house of the PM, Ismail Haniyeh, was targeted from the sea by Israeli Navy - apparently he wasn't home.by Doug Pologe via twitter 11/15/2012 7:22:57 PM -
RT @avitalrachel: Tel Aviv tonight. That's all. p.twimg.com/A7w7kjdCcAEPs9A.jpg
by Doug Pologe via twitter 11/15/2012 7:26:28 PM -
by SirMador via twitter 11/15/2012 7:29:17 PM -
Phony truce may have lured Hamas man into open by Jeffrey Heller
Israel's leaders were literally looking in the opposite direction, and making sure everyone knew it, just before catching Hamas's top commander in the Gaza Strip off-guard in an air strike that killed him.
In what now appears to have been a diversionary tactic, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak paid a visit to the Syrian frontier in the north, hours before the air offensive began in the south.
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Reuters: French President Hollande has begun talks with Israel's Netanyahu to avoid escalation in Gaza - French PM
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Gaza's Haniyeh: "We survived 22 days of war in 2009 and we are prepared to hold on for more than that."by crispian balmer via twitter 11/15/2012 7:30:29 PM -
99.5% RT @PinarTremblay @DougPologe hey doug ur guess --if u must-- what is the prop of idf ground forces goin into gaza?by Doug Pologe via twitter 11/15/2012 7:34:39 PM
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Reporting from a pro-Palestine protest in London, @LiorF of Israel's @Channel2News wore a chequered scarf that almost passed for a keffiyeh.by Dan Williams via twitter 11/15/2012 7:37:19 PM -
As @JeffreyHeller notes, the Gaza op could boost @Barak_Ehud's flagging party enough to get it into the next Knesset and Netanyahu govt.by Dan Williams via twitter 11/15/2012 7:48:11 PM
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Israel's threats turn superlative: @Netanyahu says he's prepared to order "a most significant broadening of operations" in Gaza.by Dan Williams via twitter 11/15/2012 7:50:50 PM
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Israeli aircraft attacked targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Thursday night, unleashing more than 25 strikes in swift succession according to Reuters witnesses.
The aerial bombardment set off earth-shaking thuds and fireballs in the dark sky and were met with screeches of Palestinian rocket fire launched from the outskirts of Gaza City towards southern Israel. www.reuters.com -
Recently retired Likud minister Peled to Ch1TV: No one's seeking Hamas ouster or a Gaza victory, just long-term quiet for southern Israel.by Dan Williams via twitter 11/15/2012 7:55:15 PM
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Men lower the body of Aaron Smadja, one of the three Israelis killed by a rocket fired from Gaza, during his funeral at a cemetery in the southern city of Kiryat Malachi November 15, 2012. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
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Israeli soldiers take cover as an air raid siren warns of incoming rockets before the funeral of Aaron Smadja, one of the three Israelis killed by a rocket fired from Gaza, at a cemetery in the southern city of Kiryat Malachi November 15, 2012. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
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"We have to keep hitting Hamas until it says 'enough'," @Bogie_Yaalon tells @Channel2News.by Dan Williams via twitter 11/15/2012 8:04:57 PM
Saudi King Salman assails Iran in United Nations debut
NEW YORK/DUBAI Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz took aim at Iran during his debut on Wednesday at the annual United Nations meeting of world leaders, calling for a united front to contain Riyadh's rival and stop it from getting weapons of mass destruction.