Israeli Air Force Carries Out Seven Airstrikes Against Gaza

Source : http://www.qassam.ps/news-7726-Israeli_Air_Force_Carries_Out_Seven_Airstrikes_Against_Gaza.html

Israeli war jets carried out seven air strikes targeting different areas in the northern and the southern parts of the Gaza Strip.Local sources in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, have reported that the army fired missiles targeting two chicken farms that belong to the Esleih family in the Al-Manara neighborhood in Khan Younis. The chicken farms were completely destroyed, and around 4000 chicks and some sheep were killed. No human casualties have been reported. The Israeli Air Force also fired a missile into an area, nearly 250 meters from the border fence, east of Khan Younis. The attacked area is where three members of the Al-Qassam Brigades martyred and four Israeli soldiers were injured, during a recent Israeli invasion into the area. Another Air Strike targeted a vacant chicken farm in the Az-Zanna area, in Bani Soheila, east of Khan Younis; damage was reported but no injuries. Furthermore, at least one missile was fired into a training center used by Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, north of Beit Lahia in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Israel Agrees To More Egyptian Troops In Sinai

Source : International Middle East Media Center

Israeli daily, Yedioth Aharonoth have reported Tuesday [July 2 2013] that, despite the current massive protests in Egypt, and what it described as “chaos”, security coordination between the Israeli army and the Egyptian army is ongoing, and that Tel Aviv approved an Egyptian request for more Egyptian troops in Sinai.

Egyptian Protests - Arabs48

Israel Army said that the Egyptian operations against armed groups in Sinai are carried out in direct coordination with Tel Aviv, and added that the Israeli political leadership approved the Egyptian request due to what was described as “security threats to both Cairo and Tel Aviv”.

Yedioth Aharonoth said tha more Egyptian soldiers will be deployed along the border with Gaza, to prevent arms smuggling.

The Associated Press have reported that Egypt deployed dozens of armored vehicles in Sinai and border areas, and added that the operations carried out by the Egyptian army target what was described as “terrorist Islamists operating in the triangular border area (Egypt, Israel and the Gaza Strip).”

It also said that these operations are carried out in direct cooperation between senior Israeli and Egyptian military leaders.

Report: “1790 Palestinians Kidnapped, 16 Killed, In First Half of 2013”

Source : International Middle East Media Center

The Ahrar Center for Detainees Studies and Human Rights have reported that Israeli soldiers kidnapped 1790 Palestinians in the first six months of this year, including 300 who were kidnapped in June, and added that 16 Palestinians have also been shot and killed by Israeli military fire in six months.

The Ahrar Center said that dozens of women, children, elderly, legislators, intellectuals and journalists were among the kidnapped.

The center added that the arrests took place in every part of the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, in addition to 25 arrests in the Gaza Strip, including fishermen and five arrests on border terminals.

Most of the arrests have been carried out in the Hebron district, in the southern part of the West Bank. The second highest number of arrests was carried out in Jerusalem, followed by Nablus.

Ahrar said that February witnessed the largest number of arrests as the soldiers kidnapped 382 Palestinians, while 350 have been kidnapped in January, 300 in June, 263 in May, 259 in April and 236 in March.

The center further reported that the army also kidnapped 7 Palestinian legislators identified as Ahmad Attoun, Hatem Qfeisha, Abdul-Jabbar Foqaha, Imad Nofal, Basem Za’areer, Mahmoud Ramahi, and Mohammad Jamal An-Natsha.

Furthermore, Ahrar said that the army also kidnapped 33 women, including wives and relatives of political prisoners held by Israel, and that 17 of the kidnapped women are still imprisoned by Israel.

The Ahrar Center also said that 14 Palestinians, including 10 from the West Bank, and four from the Gaza Strip, have been shot and killed by the Israeli army since the beginning of this year, in addition to two Palestinian political prisoners who died in Israeli prisons.

Detainee Arafat Jaradat, 33, from Hebron, died of extreme torture by Israeli interrogators, and detainee Maisara Abu Hamdiyya, 64, died of an advanced stage of cancer resulting from the lack of medical treatment in Israeli prisons.

Four more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military fire in the Gaza Strip.

Head of the Ahrar Center, Fuad Al-khoffash, stated that the center documented daily Israeli military invasions; daily arrests and assaults, and demanded the International Community to act against the ongoing and escalating Israeli violations

Zionist Air Force Attacks Gaza Strip

Source : http://www.almanar.com.lb

The Zionist air force attacked the Gaza Strip overnight Sunday, following rocket fire from the Palestinian territory into the southern occupied territories.

"In response to the numerous rockets launched at Israel in the past several the hours, IAF aircraft targeted terrorist infrastructure including two weapon storage facilities in the central Gaza Strip and a rocket launch site in the southern Gaza Strip. IAF pilots reported accurate strikes on the targets," the Zionist army claimed in a statement.

Palestinian witnesses said the air raids hit uninhabited areas and caused no injuries.

Late Sunday, two Palestinian rockets “landed in southern Israel, without causing any damage or injury,” according to Israeli military sources. Two other rockets were intercepted by the "Iron Dome" system.

The Zionist army blamed Hamas rulers of Gaza for the rocket attacks, although no group claimed responsibility.

Israel plans to wage another war on Gaza

Source : islamicinvitationturkey.com

The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine has said the Israeli regime was planning to wage another war on the besieged Gaza Strip, Press TV reports.

The group’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, has been holding military exercises in order to prepare its members for a possible Israeli aggression, the movement also said.

“The Zionist enemy is getting ready for a major military operation on Gaza. We expect an escalation in the coming days but we are not sitting idle. Our military wing has been training for another war and it will not be a cakewalk for Zionists when they come to confront our fighters,” said Khader Habib, a senior Islamic Jihad official.

The Israeli regime launched an eight-day war on Gaza last November, killing 177 Palestinians, including women and children.

Israel launched another war on the coastal enclave in December 2008-January 2009. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the 22-day Israeli onslaught and thousands more injured.

Mustafa Sarsour, a college student, told Press TV he was sure Israel would wage another war on Gaza within days or weeks.

“Almost everyone you talk to in Gaza will tell you that they are worried about another war especially with continued Israeli threats,” he said.

Analysts say the Tel Aviv regime has been issuing threats as a tactic to stop Palestinians from resisting Israel’s aggression.

Hani al-Basous, a political analyst, said the Israeli forces might target leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in its new aggression as well as Palestinian infrastructure.

“This is part of Israelis psychological war … on people and military in the Gaza Strip and to threat the people to get them under pressure all the time,” he added

Israel strikes civilian locations in Gaza Strip

Source : Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades

Al Qassam website - Israeli warplanes bombed in the early hours of Sunday night, 28- 04-2013, Khan Younis and Rafah cities in the southern Gaza Strip without reported injuries or damage.

According to our correspondent in Rafah, the Israeli warplanes "F-16" bombed an empty land belongs to Palestinian civilians near the city of media between Rafah and Khan Younis.

Warplanes also bombed an empty land belongs to Palestinian civilians near resistance training site, northwest of Rafah.

There was no information on casualties or damages.

The correspondent pointed out that the raids came after a sudden hovering of military aircraft "F16".

The Israeli occupation announced the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing under security pretexts.

The Israeli shelling is the first of its kind sincea the recent Israeli war on Gaza civilians and the Declaration of the ceasefire agreement between the resistance and the occupation in November last year.

In addition to Israeli attack on Gaza civilians today, Israel violated the ceasefire agreement several times, the violations were: reduction of fishing zone to three nautical miles, targeting fishermen and farmers near the border and closing Gaza crossings repeatdly.

Official: Israel fires at fishing boats off Gaza coast

Source : Maan News Agency

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli gunboats on Thursday opened fire toward Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the Gaza Strip, a local official said.

Israeli forces opened fire at the boats off north-west Gaza as the fishermen as approached the three-mile limit Israel imposes along the coastline, said Mahfouth Kabariti, head of a federation for fishermen and water sports.

No injuries were reported, Kabariti told Ma'an.

Israel's army announced in February that the fishing zone for Palestinians in Gaza would be reduced from six to three miles following a rocket attack.

The zone had been extended to six miles as part of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended an eight-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in November.

Palestinian hunger striker arrives in Gaza for temporary exile

Source : Xinhua

GAZA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian prisoner arrived in the Gaza Strip Sunday for his temporary exile, ending his 260 days of hunger strike in protest of his detention.

The prisoner, Ayman Sharawneh, agreed to suspend his fasting upon a deal with Israel, in which he accepted to spend 10 years away from his West Bank home, a Palestinian official from the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs said.

Dozens of Palestinians welcomed Sharawneh when he entered from Erez crossing point between Gaza and Israel, before he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Earlier, Ziad Abu Ein, deputy minister of prisoners' affairs, said Sharawneh's decision to accept "expulsion" was personal, adding that he took it after his health deteriorated seriously.

Abu Ein stressed that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)' s official stance is against expulsion "because it's a dangerous unprecedented tactic that harms the right of prisoners."

Last week, the PNA said it refused an Israeli offer to deport four hunger- striking prisoners.

Sharawneh, a resident of Hebron city in southern the West Bank, was rearrested three months after he was released in a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Islamic Hamas movement in 2011.

Palestinian children rally, calling on Obama to lift Gaza blockade

Source : Xinhua

GAZA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Palestinian children demonstrated in the Gaza Strip Saturday, calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to lift Israel's blockade on the coastal enclave.

The demonstration was held in the southern city of Rafah on the 10th anniversary of the death of U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in 2003.

The children rose Palestinian flags and posters of Corrie, with banners reading "The Palestinian people love peace," "We ask Obama to lift the siege" and "the United States should stop its support to Israel."

Obama will visit Israel and the West Bank next week, and will try to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks which came to a halt over a dispute on Jewish settlement activities in 2010.

In 2005, Israel withdrew its forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip. A year later, Islamic Hamas movement, which does not recognize Israel, won parliamentary elections and kidnapped an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid, after which Israel imposed economic restrictions on Gaza.

A year later, Hamas took over Gaza by force and then Israel tightened the sanctions into a near-total blocnce 2010, Israel has started gradual relaxation of the closure on Gaza.

Palestine’s Al-Aqsa Brigades Fire Rocket on Occupied Territories

Source : Islamic Invitation Turkey

A  rocket fired from the Gaza strip landed early Tuesday near Ashkelon in the south of the Palestinian occupied territories, as al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah Movement, claimed responsibility for the rocket launch.

“The rocket fell early in the morning near Ashkelon and did some damage to a road, without hurting anyone,” an Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

In a statement, al-Aqsa Brigades, Groups of Martyr Luai Kane’, claimed responsibility on Tuesday for firing a Grad rocket on Ashkelon city. The statement said that the rocket was “in response for assassinating the prisoner Arafat Jradat” who was martyred on Sunday after being tortured in an Israeli prison.

“The Freedom won’t be achieved but through sacrifice… We have to resist our enemy in all available means,” al-Aqsa Martyrs added in the statement.

Jradat martyrdom sparked protests across Palestine, with thousands of Palestinians thronged the West Bank village of Sair on Monday for the funeral of Jaradat, a 30- year-old father of two and member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Both the Palestinians and the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, have called for an independent inquiry into Jradat death.

Tuesday’s rocket fire was the first such event since the end of an Israeli offensive against Gaza late November. The two sides finally agreed a truce on November 21 following the eight-day Israeli attack which cost the lives of dozens of Palestinian civilians. 177 Palestinians were martyred and six Zionist were killed, according to figures issued by the two side

Hamas says not to accept any deal banning arms smuggling

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

GAZA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip cannot accept any agreement that bans arms smuggling to the coastal enclave, a Hamas official said Wednesday.

"Preventing people under occupation from getting the mechanism of fighting the occupier is meaningless," said Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas official.

His remarks came after Israeli media reported a possible agreement between Israel and Hamas to lift the blockade on Gaza in exchange for a Hamas commitment to stop arms smuggling. The reports said that Egypt was mediating between the two sides to achieve the deal which would complement an earlier agreement that ended days of cross-border clashes between Hamas and Israel in last November.

On Tuesday, Israeli army radio reported that the aim of the agreement was to prevent any new round of fighting between Hamas and Israel in the future.

Hamas routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and ousted his Fatah party in street fighting in 2007. Since then, Israel imposed a tight closure on Gaza, but started a gradual easing of the siege since 2010.

The latest Israeli facilities were announced Tuesday, involving an increase in fuel and cooking gas supplies to Gaza.

Al-Bardaweel stressed that Egypt talked separately to his movement and Israel, denying the reports that Hamas, which does not recognize Israel, was holding indirect negotiations with the Jewish state.

Hamas confirms indirect, Egyptian-sponsored talks with Israel over Gaza

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

GAZA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hamas, Egypt and Israel held indirect discussions to further implement the November ceasefire that ended clashes between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, a Hamas official said Saturday.

The talks involve taking more steps by Israel to ease its blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and stop attacking Palestinians in areas Israel has recently given to the Palestinians -- the extra 3 nautical miles for fishermen and what had been a buffer zone along Gaza's northern and eastern borders with Israel, according to Khalil al-Hayya, a senior official of the Islamic movement.

Al-Hayya told reporters that Hamas envoys do not meet the Israelis, but Egypt communicates between the two sides.

Hamas envoys have recently met Egyptian officials and urged them to assess Israel's conduct in Gaza, al-Hayya said, noting that Israel "violates" the ceasefire by targeting fishermen and farmers and not completely lifting restrictions on the transport of goods through the Israeli-controlled commercial crossings.

In November, more than 160 Palestinians and three Israelis were killed in a cross-border fight between Hamas and Israel. Israel later arrested dozens of fishermen and shot dozens of Palestinians who approached its borders.

Al-Hayya said his movement can respond "fiercely" to the Israeli violations, but prefers to giving time for the Egyptian mediatory efforts.

Meanwhile, al-Hayya said the Palestinian reconciliation cannot happen without an end to what he called crackdown against Hamas supporters in the West Bank.

He said Khaled Mashaal, chief of Hamas politburo, briefed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah party, last week about the arrests against Hamas members in the West Bank.

The reconciliation aims at restoring political unity to the Palestinian territories, which were split when Hamas routed pro- Abbas forces and ousted his Fatah movement from Gaza in 2007. Fatah still holds sway in the West Bank.

2 injured by Israeli fire in north Gaza

Source : Maan News Agency

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Two young Palestinian men were injured by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said.

A 20-year-old man was hit in the chest by gunfire east of Beit Hanoun, and is a moderate to serious condition, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Another man, aged 22, was shot in the hand in the same incident and has moderate injuries, al-Qidra said. The pair are being treated in Beit Hanoun hospital.

An Israeli army spokesman said several Palestinians approached the border fence and tried to damage the barrier. He said one person was wounded by soldiers attempts to distance the group.

Earlier Thursday, Israeli military vehicles crossed into northern Gaza near Beit Lahiya to level lands, witnesses told Ma'an.

Israeli forces opened fire in the direction of Palestinian farmers, to force them leave their lands during the operation, they said.

Israel had barred Palestinians from coming within hundreds of meters of the Gaza border area, but in a ceasefire deal last November agreed to ease curbs on Gaza.

Gaza ministry denies Egypt closed tunnels

Source : Maan News Agency

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Gaza's Ministry of Interior on Tuesday denied reports that Egypt had closed several smuggling tunnels a day earlier, a spokesman said.

Islam Shahwan said in a statement that a network of tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border are operating as normal, with the Interior Ministry briefly closing tunnels last week due to adverse weather conditions.

Egyptian security officials said Monday that they had arrested 10 suspected smugglers in Rafah and shut two tunnels used to smuggle goods to the Gaza Strip.

Last November, Egyptian security services said they were planning a "extraordinary" crackdown on smuggling tunnels under the Gaza border.

An official said that the campaign to end smuggling was part of a truc agreement brokered by Cairo to end cross-border violence, which bega when Israel assassinated Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari.

Egyptian forces close 2 Gaza tunnels, arrest 10

Source :   Maan News Agency

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egypt's military closed two smuggling tunnels leading to Gaza on Monday, security officials said.

Egyptian soldiers arrested 10 suspected smugglers in Rafah and shut two tunnels used to smuggle goods to the Gaza Strip, Egyptian officials told Ma'an.

Families of the arrested smugglers staged a small demonstration against the arrests.

The tunnel network developed as a vital source of goods under Israel's blockade of the coastal strip and Egyptia restrictions on the official Rafah crossing point.

Work conditions in the network of underground tunnels are notorious dangerous, with rights groups saying that at least 230 people have bee killed in tunnel collapses.

Egypt resumes Qatar fuel shipments to Gaza

Source : Maan News Agency

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities have resumed shipping Qatari fuel into the Gaza Strip via an Israeli- controlled crossing after unrest blocked the delivery route for over two months, a Palestinian official said Monday.

Amr Hadhoud, the Palestinian representative at the Al-Auja crossing, said all obstacles to the shipments have been overcome.

Violent clashes between Sinai armed groups and Egyptian forces in November led to a suspension in deliveries.

Hadhoud said that ten trucks carrying 450,000 liters of diesel arrived at al-Auja crossing on Sunday. Four trucks then crossed into the Gaza Strip, Sunday, and the other six are scheduled to cross Monday.

The Qatari fuel is part of 27 million liters donated by the Gulf state to ease Gaza's energy crisis. It was delivered to Egypt and is being transferred to Gaza with Israeli cooperation through the Sinai border region.

Palestinian officials said 10 million liters have already arrived in Gaza

Abbas appoints Fatah leadership in Gaza

Source : Maan News Agency

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday appointed the new leadership of the Fatah committee in the Gaza Strip, its new chairman told Ma'an.

Ahmad Nasar, appointed head of the committee, said that the newly formed group will work to improve Fatah's organizational structure and increase its membership in Gaza.

Faisal Abu Shahla, Muhammad al-Nahal, and Ibrahim Abu al-Naja, and Sameh Nasser, all members of Fatah's revolutionary council, will be part of the committee, Nasar said.

Fatah officials say it is not logistically possible to hold elections for the leadership in Gaza.

The last chairman, Yazid al-Huweihi, resigned last June because he objected to a propose reshuffle of the committee leaders, which saw a number of new faces brought in to the body.

Fatah then postponed the reshuffle.

Fatah held its first major political event in the Gaza Strip on Friday, after Hamas was als permitted to hold West Bank rallies for its anniversary in December.

The parties split Palestine into separate West Bank and Gaza governments in 2007, amid violen infighting