f***@apw.sor
2009-01-09 14:42:36 UTC
Israel, Hamas defy UN call for cease-fire
By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers Matti
Friedman And Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press Writers
JERUSALEM Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and
Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on two cities as both sides
defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.
One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another
unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in
northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant,
Hamas officials said. Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets
before dawn, and there were constant explosions after first light.
By midday, 19 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to
more than 760 and in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza
health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians.
Thirteen Israelis have also been killed.
A U.N. Security Council resolution approved Thursday night called
urgently for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire,
leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The U.S.,
Israel's closest ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security
Council, abstained.
While the call is tantamount to a demand on the parties, Israel's
troops won't be required to pull out of Gaza until there is a durable
cease-fire. The resolution calls on U.N. member states to intensify
efforts to provide guarantees in Gaza to sustain a lasting truce,
including prevention of illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition.
In Israel's first official response to the resolution, Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert's office said the Hamas rockets fired at Israel Friday
"only prove that the U.N.'s decision is not practical and will not be
kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations."
A Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group "is not interested"
in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did
not meet its minimum demands.
Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of
rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.
Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas has kept up rocket attacks on
southern Israel. The rockets fired Friday hit in and around two of the
largest southern cities, Beersheba and Ashkelon. Cities within rocket
range of Gaza have largely been paralyzed since the fighting began.
The Security Council action came hours after a U.N. agency suspended
food deliveries to Gaza, and the Red Cross accused Israel of blocking
medical assistance after forces fired on aid workers. It also followed
concerns of a wider conflict after militants in Lebanon fired rockets
into northern Israel early Thursday, though the border has been quiet
since.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the
resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian
mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a
cease-fire.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite
channel that the group "is not interested in it because it does not
meet the demands of the movement."
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the
interests of the Palestinian people.
"This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over," he told the
Al-Jazeera satellite television network. "We call on the Palestinian
fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge
the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."
Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to
rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month
cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to
have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the
medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside
Israel.
Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the
full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to
agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold
on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007.
With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by
militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from
inside populated neighborhoods.
The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza
increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance,
and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall
victim to the fighting.
One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to
die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr.
Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian
doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her
2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City,
he said.
Details are emerging of other incidents in which civilians were
killed. A U.N. agency said Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian
civilians to a house in Gaza City on Jan. 4, then shelled the building
24 hours later, killing 30 people.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report
was based on eyewitness testimony. It added details to an incident
previously reported by The Associated Press and an Israeli human
rights group.
The U.N. agency said 110 people were in the house. The 30 people
reported killed is a far higher figure than in other accounts.
The Israeli military had no comment on the report Friday.
The West Bank saw its biggest protests so far Friday, as thousands
took to the streets following prayers to express their anger at the
Israeli offensive.
************
*The repugnant party in the US made a big deal out of Saddam Hussein
ignoring the UN. So...where are they now? There's only so many
democrats and just so many stinkfingers on a repug.
By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers Matti
Friedman And Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press Writers
JERUSALEM Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and
Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on two cities as both sides
defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.
One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another
unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in
northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant,
Hamas officials said. Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets
before dawn, and there were constant explosions after first light.
By midday, 19 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to
more than 760 and in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza
health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians.
Thirteen Israelis have also been killed.
A U.N. Security Council resolution approved Thursday night called
urgently for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire,
leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The U.S.,
Israel's closest ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security
Council, abstained.
While the call is tantamount to a demand on the parties, Israel's
troops won't be required to pull out of Gaza until there is a durable
cease-fire. The resolution calls on U.N. member states to intensify
efforts to provide guarantees in Gaza to sustain a lasting truce,
including prevention of illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition.
In Israel's first official response to the resolution, Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert's office said the Hamas rockets fired at Israel Friday
"only prove that the U.N.'s decision is not practical and will not be
kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations."
A Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group "is not interested"
in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did
not meet its minimum demands.
Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of
rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.
Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas has kept up rocket attacks on
southern Israel. The rockets fired Friday hit in and around two of the
largest southern cities, Beersheba and Ashkelon. Cities within rocket
range of Gaza have largely been paralyzed since the fighting began.
The Security Council action came hours after a U.N. agency suspended
food deliveries to Gaza, and the Red Cross accused Israel of blocking
medical assistance after forces fired on aid workers. It also followed
concerns of a wider conflict after militants in Lebanon fired rockets
into northern Israel early Thursday, though the border has been quiet
since.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the
resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian
mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a
cease-fire.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite
channel that the group "is not interested in it because it does not
meet the demands of the movement."
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the
interests of the Palestinian people.
"This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over," he told the
Al-Jazeera satellite television network. "We call on the Palestinian
fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge
the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."
Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to
rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month
cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to
have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the
medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside
Israel.
Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the
full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to
agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold
on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007.
With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by
militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from
inside populated neighborhoods.
The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza
increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance,
and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall
victim to the fighting.
One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to
die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr.
Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian
doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her
2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City,
he said.
Details are emerging of other incidents in which civilians were
killed. A U.N. agency said Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian
civilians to a house in Gaza City on Jan. 4, then shelled the building
24 hours later, killing 30 people.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report
was based on eyewitness testimony. It added details to an incident
previously reported by The Associated Press and an Israeli human
rights group.
The U.N. agency said 110 people were in the house. The 30 people
reported killed is a far higher figure than in other accounts.
The Israeli military had no comment on the report Friday.
The West Bank saw its biggest protests so far Friday, as thousands
took to the streets following prayers to express their anger at the
Israeli offensive.
************
*The repugnant party in the US made a big deal out of Saddam Hussein
ignoring the UN. So...where are they now? There's only so many
democrats and just so many stinkfingers on a repug.