In the Israeli Governments most recent act of senseless violence and cold blooded murder Palestinian leader leader Ahmed Jabari has been assassinated. The move appears timed to send a message regarding the Palestinians push for recognition by the UN and is a clear sign of a lack of resolve on Israels part to commit to the road map towards peace. Israel is also threatening to topple Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
This conduct is unacceptable and I condemn in the strongest terms this latest act of violence and urge the United Nations to likewise condemn it and call all parties to cease and desist from all violence immediately and without exception...
Israel kills Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari in Gaza strike
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had talked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express concern about "an alarming escalation of indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and the targeted killing by Israel of a Hamas military operative in Gaza.''
US President Barack Obama spoke to Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi today, seeking to de-escalate the Gaza conflict.
Obama reiterated with both leaders that Israel had the right to self-defence following a volley of rocket attacks on its soil by Gaza-based militants and also called on Netanyahu to try to avoid civilian casualties in reprisal strikes.
Today's attack came at a time when Israel seemed to be under fire from all directions. Relations have been deteriorating with Egypt's new Islamist government, Egypt's lawless Sinai desert has become a staging ground for militant attacks on Israel, and the Syrian civil war has begun to spill over Israel's northern border. This week, Israel fired back at Syria - for the first time in nearly 40 years - after stray mortar fire landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
With at least 10 Palestinians dead, including two young children, today's offensive was certain to set off a new round of heavy fighting with Gaza militants, who have built up a formidable arsenal of rockets and missiles.
It also threatened to upset Israel's relations with neighboring Egypt and shake up the campaign for Israeli elections in January. In a preliminary response, Egypt recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest.
In a nationwide address, Netanyahu said Israel could no longer stand repeated attacks on its southern towns. Days of rocket fire have heavily disrupted life for some 1 million people in the region, cancelling school and forcing residents to remain indoors.
"If there is a need, the military is prepared to expand the operation. We will continue to do everything to protect our citizens," Netanyahu declared.
The Israeli military said it was ready, if necessary, to send ground troops into Gaza. The defence officials who said a ground operation was likely in the coming days spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive military plans.
"We are at the beginning of the event, and not the end," defence Minister Ehud Barak said, in a joint appearance with the prime minister. "In the long run I believe the operation will help strengthen the power of deterrence and to return quiet to the south." In a sign that the operation was expected to broaden, the military was cleared to call up reserve units.
Residents in both Israel and Gaza braced for prolonged violence. Gazans rushed to stock up on food and fuel. After nightfall, streets were empty as the sounds of Israeli warplanes and explosions of airstrikes could be heard in the distance.
Israel declared a state of emergency in its south and canceled school across the area for the day. Calling it a "special situation," Barak sought permission to call up special reserve units for the operations. Israeli police stepped up patrols around the country, fearing that Hamas could retaliate with bombing attacks far from the reaches of Gaza.
Hamas has in the past staged dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis and while its capabilities to do so today have been curtailed by Israeli and Palestinian crackdowns, it still has a network in the West Bank.
More than 65 rockets landed in southern Israel late Wednesday. One projectile struck a shopping mall in the southern city of Beersheba, causing heavy damage but no casualties, police said.
The Israeli military said 25 rockets were intercepted by the "Iron Dome" rocket-defence system. Israeli media said the rockets had been headed toward Beersheba. Israeli aircraft continued to pound Gaza into the night with some 50 airstrikes, with no reports of casualties.
The deadly attack on Hamas mastermind Ahmed Jabari marked the resumption of Israel's policy of "targeted killings," or assassinations of senior Hamas men. Israel has refrained from such attacks, which have drawn international condemnations, since a fierce three-week offensive in Gaza that ended in January 2009.
The earlier Gaza offensive killed more than 1400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians. Israel has blamed Hamas for the heavy civilian casualties, accusing the group of using schools and residential neighborhoods as cover. Nonetheless, Israel was harshly criticized internationally for the heavy civilian death toll.
Jabari was the most senior Hamas official to be killed since that war. He had long topped Israel's most-wanted list, blamed for masterminding a string of deadly attacks that including a bold, cross-border kidnapping of an Israeli soldier in 2006. He also was believed to be a key player in Hamas' takeover of Gaza in 2007 from a rival Palestinian faction, the Western-backed Fatah movement.
"I would call him the No. 1 terrorist in the Gaza Strip, whose hands are stained with blood," said Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, Israel's chief military spokesman.
Israel and Hamas have largely observed an informal truce for the past four years.
But in recent weeks, the calm has unraveled in a bout of rocket attacks out of Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. From Israel's perspective, Hamas escalated tit-for-tat fighting in recent days with a pair of attacks: an explosion in a tunnel along the Israeli border and a missile attack on an Israeli military jeep that seriously wounded four soldiers.
Israeli defence officials warned this week that they were considering resuming the assassination policy.
Even so, the Jabari killing, carried out in broad daylight, was shocking. Hamas officials had brushed off the Israeli threats, illustrated by Jabari's decision to drive in public. Hamas leaders typically go into hiding at times of rising tensions. Over the past two days, the fighting had shown signs of petering out as Egyptian mediators tried to broker a truce.
The Israeli military released a black-and-white video of the airstrike, showing a sedan moving slowly along a road before going up in flames in an explosion so powerful that a large chunk of the vehicle flew high into the air.
Crowds of people and security personnel rushed to the scene of the strike, trying to put out the fire that had engulfed the car and left it a charred shell. Plumes of black smoke wafted into Gaza City's skies following other airstrikes. Ambulance sirens blared as people ran in panic in the streets and militants fired angrily into the air.
The Israeli military also released footage of its strikes against weapons depots and rocket-launching grounds. Barak said these airstrikes hit "terror infrastructure" and launchers used to fire Iranian-made Fajr rockets. The rockets, capable of reaching Tel Aviv, are among Hamas' most powerful weapons.
The military said it hit dozens of medium-range rocket launch sites, many of which are located in residential buildings, military officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation. The military also said the navy was striking Hamas targets located by the shore. Hamas denied that any of its weapons stores were hit.
Hamas announced a state of emergency in Gaza. It evacuated all its security buildings and deployed its troops away from their locations.
Outside the hospital where Jabari's body was taken, thousands of Gazans chanted "Retaliation!" and "We want you to hit Tel Aviv tonight!"
"I was sitting on my bed with my grandson when suddenly the wall collapsed on both of our heads," said Mahmoud Bana, a 62-year-old man who was slightly wounded along with his 11-year-old grandson. "We don't know what happened but we know it is going to be a few hard days ahead."
In a statement, Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, eulogised Jabari and vowed revenge.
"We mourn our late leader who walked the path of jihad while he knew the end, either victory or martyrdom," Haniyeh said. "There is no fear among our people and our resistance, and we will face this vicious attack."
The airstrike bore many similarities to the start of Israel's previous offensive in December 2008. That operation also began with an air raid on Hamas buildings, and also took place in between American presidential elections and Israeli parliamentary elections.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of launching Wednesday's operation to win votes in the Jan. 22 parliamentary election. But major Israeli parties, including the dovish opposition, all lined up behind Netanyahu.
Still, the region has changed greatly over the past four years. Most critically for Israel, Egypt is now governed by Hamas' ideological counterpart, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel and Egypt signed a peace accord in 1979. Relations, never warm, have deteriorated since longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising last year. The assassination threatened to further damage those fraying ties.
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Israels Most Recent Senseless Violence In Gaza (Read 11807 times)
