Gaza rocket strikes kill 230, injure 400
12:15 AEST Sun Dec 28 2008

More than two hundred people have been killed after Israel hit Hamas targets in Gaza with rockets.

Israeli warplanes blasted Gaza targets including a mosque and a TV station on Sunday, after a day of airstrikes that killed more than 230 Palestinians.

At least 230 Palestinians, most of them militants, died and more than 400 were wounded on Saturday, one of the bloodiest days in decades of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. One Israeli was also killed and six Israelis were wounded.

The unprecedented assault sparked protests and condemnations throughout the Arab world, and many of Israel's Western allies urged restraint, though the US blamed Hamas for the fighting.

But there was no end in sight. Israel obliquely threatened to go after Hamas' leaders, and militants kept pelting Israel with rockets.

Hundreds of Israeli infantry and armoured corps troops headed for the Gaza border in preparation for a possible ground invasion, military officials said.

In the first attack early on Sunday, Palestinians said Israeli aircraft bombed a mosque near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, destroying it.

Two bodies were retrieved from the rubble. The blast, just after midnight, blew out windows at the hospital, hospital officials said. The military said the mosque was "a base for terrorist activities".

Another target early on Sunday was the Al Aqsa TV station used by Hamas. Its studio building was destroyed, but the station remained on the air with a mobile unit. Palestinians counted about 20 airstrikes in the first hours of Sunday.

In a televised statement on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the goal was "to bring about a fundamental improvement in the security situation of the residents of the southern part of the country." He added, "It could take some time."

The Israeli airstrikes caused widespread panic and confusion, and black plumes of smoke billowed above the territory, ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas for the past 18 months. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as students were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children. At least 15 civilians were killed, officials said.

"My son is gone, my son is gone," wailed Said Masri, a 57-year-old shopkeeper, as he sat in the middle of a Gaza City street, slapping his face and covering his head with dust from a bombed-out security compound nearby.

He said he had sent his nine-year-old son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the airstrikes began and could not find him. "May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn," Masri moaned.

Militants often operate against Israel from civilian areas, and that has led to steep civilian casualties in the past when Israel has retaliated.

Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language voice mails on their mobile phones from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons.

The offensive began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have fired some 300 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets over the past week, and 10 times that number over the past year.

In Gaza City's main security compound, bodies of more than a dozen uniformed Hamas police lay on the ground. Civilians rushed wounded people in cars and vans to hospitals because there weren't enough ambulances to transport all the dead and wounded.

"There are heads without bodies .... There's blood in the corridors. People are weeping, women are crying, doctors are shouting, " said nurse Ahmed Abdel Salaam from Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main treatment centre.

Military officials said aircraft released more than 100 tonnes of bombs in the first nine hours of fighting, focusing initially on militant training camps, rocket-manufacturing facilities and weapons warehouses that had been identified in advance.

A second wave was directed at squads who fired about 80 rockets and mortars at Israeli border communities.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas' political leaders could soon be targeted. "Hamas is a terrorist organisation and nobody is immune," she declared.

The campaign was launched six weeks before national elections. Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak hope to succeed Olmert as prime minister, and the outgoing government has faced pressure to take tough action.

Gaza's political leaders, who have been targeted in the past, went into hiding earlier this week. In a speech broadcast on local Gaza television, Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, declared his movement would not be cowed.

"We are stronger, and more determined, and have more will, and we will hold onto our rights even more than before," Haniyeh said. It was not clear where he spoke.

In Damascus, Syria, Hamas' top leader, Khaled Mashaal, called on Palestinians to rekindle their fight against Israel. "This is the time for a third uprising," he said.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005 after crushing the second Palestinian uprising, but it has maintained control over the territory's border crossings.

Despite the overwhelming show of force, it was not clear the offensive would halt the rocket fire. Past operations have never achieved that goal.

The lone fatality in Israel was in the town of Ne

This is interesting.

Iran has an aid ship on the way to Palestine sent just before the attack, Russia has announced it will aid Palestine just before the attack also.

Now Israel attacks Palestine.

Looks like they are trying to get retaliation from the Arabs, to justify waging war in the Middle East.

Then you have the USA using their proxies in Pakistan/AQ to attack India, troops in Iraq and other such lovely things.

Someone is trying to start a Jihad, and this time it might not be the Muslims starting it. Of course the media will make it look like they are.

Ever hear about the lax security around Russian nuclear sites, and how some have gone missing? Funny if some were already in Palestinian hands, thanks to Russian mafia or something, and a suitcase bomb is about to be detonated in Tel Aviv.

That would learn them.

However, you can never justify nuclear war.

I reckon the USA and Israel need to pull their heads in and stop trying to start global war.

Oh, and in regards to the rockets sent at Israel....

When Mossad stops their bullshit cloak and dagger stuff, maybe Israel will become less of a target.

Quote:


So what? Good riddance.

Israel has shown remarkable restraint in the face of almost daily rocket attacks. The town of Sderot is hit all the time.

I can tell you, if my suburb was being hit with rockets, and the government was not doing anything, I'd be seriously considering launching my own retaliatory strike. Hamas keeps taunting Israel until it attacks, and then shows dead people on the news and expects sympathy. If you dont want Israel to attack you, stop firing rockets at them.

northy wrote on Dec 28^th, 2008 at 11:39pm:


Hi Northy.

Many Australians, myself included, do not wish to see any particular cultural/religious group exert massive influence on this country and change the place to suit themselves at the expense of the majorty.

Are you one of those Aussies?

Now, apply that line of emotion to the middle east and Israel.

It would be damn near impossible for Palestinian special forces to infiltrate Israel and conduct clandestine raids.

How much stuff would the Israelis do that doesn't make the paper?

All is not as it seems.

easel wrote on Dec 29^th, 2008 at 12:33am:


Easel, What relevance is this?

In any instance, remember approx 20% of the Israeli population are not Jews and some of those non Jews would almost certainly aid clandestine raids by those wishing to cause mayhem.
It has happened in the past and will most likely happen again but, to call insurgents/suicide bombers "special forces" is a stretch.

How much "stuff" doesn't make the paper!
I can assure you militaries and intelligence organisations the world over do not make a habit of detailing their operations to the public unless it is in the interest of the said operations.
That includes Australia BTW.

All is not what it seems!

Profound, but what and how do you know?  

Northy

So I come out of my office today, and whaddya know, a great many Religion of Peace participants marching outside the US Consulate, saying 'USA YOU WILL PAY! DOWN DOWN USA! ISRAEL YOU WILL PAY!' waving these Religion of Peace flags:



Quote:


There were also a bunch of clueless left wing dingbats - who were marching with them. Lots of hot hippy chicks wearing too cool for school terrorist fashion chic Keffiyehs. Lord have mercy. It was a tragic scene.  March in all probably only had 300-400 or so people.  It was also being heavily surveiled.

Now what flag is this religion of peace person waving? Could it possibly be the flag of Hizbollah! Maybe - the crowd was apparently shouting, 'labbaik ya nasrallah' at the time. Nasrallah is the leader of Hizbollah. Means roughly, We are ready to help you or obey Nasrallah, or Here we come to aid you Nasrallah, sort of - not easy to directly translate.

Here is the link to the video I took, sorry about the quality. I was taken by surprise, so only had my mobile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfS1OrRI0Is

Note the Hamas flag at about 22 seconds in, centre shot.