Posts Tagged ‘Casualties
Israel´s Lies, London Review of Books special
WRITTEN BY Henry Siegman
Western governments and most of the Western media have accepted a number of Israeli claims justifying the military assault on Gaza: that Hamas consistently violated the six-month truce that Israel observed and then refused to extend it; that Israel therefore had no choice but to destroy Hamas’s capacity to launch missiles into Israeli towns; that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, part of a global jihadi network; and that Israel has acted not only in its own defence but on behalf of an international struggle by Western democracies against this network.
I am not aware of a single major American newspaper, radio station or TV channel whose coverage of the assault on Gaza questions this version of events. Criticism of Israel’s actions, if any (and there has been none from the Bush administration), has focused instead on whether the IDF’s carnage is proportional to the threat it sought to counter, and whether it is taking adequate measures to prevent civilian casualties.
Mustafa Barghouti – Palestine´s Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood
Mustafa Barghouti Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative
The Israeli campaign of ‘death from above’ began around 11 am, on Saturday morning, the 27th of December, and stretched straight through the night into this morning. The massacre continues Sunday as I write these words.
The bloodiest single day in Palestine since the War of 1967 is far from over following on Israel’s promised that this is ‘only the beginning’ of their campaign of state terror. At least 290 people have been murdered thus far, but the body count continues to rise at a dramatic pace as more mutilated bodies are pulled from the rubble, previous victims succumb to their wounds and new casualties are created by the minute.
Kawther Salam – The Bloody Saturday of Israel in Gaza
Saturday is the holy day for all Jews in world. This is a well known part of the Jewish customs. During Saturday they exchange greetings, saying “Shabbat Shalom” or “Peace Saturday”. Under the Israeli occupation in West Bank and Gaza since over 41 years, the Palestinians never lived one day of peace, even not one Saturday. The Jewish State turned their “Shabbat Shalom”, the Peace Saturday, into a BLOODY one.
Sameh Habeeb – A Bloody Day in Gaza
Gaza Strip, 27 Dec, 2008- Saturday morning started as usual but dramatically changed by 11AM. Sixty Israeli F16s bombarded around 100 police stations, civil and governmental offices across Gaza Strip. The bombardment which simultaneously took place left (at the time of writing)160 people killed and around 3 hundred wounded. A number of wounded is expected to die while many corpses still lie under the rubble of buildings.
Palestinian victims were an amalgamation of policemen and civilians who were visiting some police stations for civic affairs. Al Jawazat police station witnessed the bloodiest Israeli attack in which around 70 were killed, mostlypolicemen. The victims of police of Al Jawzat were holding a graduation ceremony for new young police groups.
A family of 9 members, 15 young children, and some women were killed but not recognized. The Ministry of Health is not able to recognize the ID’s of casualties. Tawfiq Jaber, Director of Gaza police was killed in the air raids along with Ismail El Jabari head of the security section in the police. Governor of central Gaza governorates and camps was killed as Israel hit his car.
Israeli forces attack Gaza areas, killing father of three
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their military attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian and destroying houses and other civilian premises. Meanwhile, Israel’s tight blockade of the Gaza Strip has continued, resulting in an unprecedented deterioration of the humanitarian situation due to severe shortages of food, water, fuel and medical supplies. Daily power outages, which last for long hours in Gaza, have exacerbated this crisis.
According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 4:50pm on 17 December, the IOF gunships opened heavy machine gun fire towards Qleibo area, eastern al-Sheikh Zayid town, and the Talet al-Zaitoun area in Jabaliya refugee camp. The firing lasted for more than 15 minutes spreading panic in the area. Five minutes later, IOF fired a missile at the former area; however, no injuries were reported.
America’s chickens come home to roost
Thirty-nine women and children and eight teenagers at a wedding could hardly be mistaken for militants. Yet that’s what the U.S. military said about the 47 civilians murdered in an air strike in Afghanistan (BBC 11/07/08). Do we imagine, for a minute, that anyone vaguely knowing these people would forgive their tormentors and murderers?
“America’s chickens are coming home to roost! Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred and terrorism begets terrorism.”
By Paul J. Balles
Female suicide bomber kills anti-Qaida group leader in north of Baghdad
A woman suicide bomber on Monday killed an Awakening Council group leader at the front door of his house in a town north of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
The woman wearing an explosive-belt knocked at the front door of the house of Ahmad Khamis, a leader of the local Awakening Council group in the town of Tarmiyah and blew herself up, killing him, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
At least 9 killed by suicide car bomb in Iraq
Source: ABC-Net
Nine policemen were killed and 31 wounded when a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives at their checkpoint west of Baghdad, as attacks resumed after a period of uncommon calm, a police source said.
He said most of the wounded were policemen. The attack took place in the Khan Dhari area on the western outskirts of the Iraqi capital.