News for Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Israeli baby wounded as Hamas widens missile range

 

A 3-month-old baby girl was wounded by shrapnel on Tuesday morning (6th) when a Hamas missile slammed into her house in the central Israeli town of Gedera.  Gedera lies some 25 miles from Gaza, and marks a slight widening of the terrorist missile range.  Several large Tel Aviv suburbs lie just a few miles north of Gedera.

 

At least 20 more Palestinian missiles hit cities and towns across southern Israel on Tuesday morning (6th), causing widespread damage.  More than 40 rockets were fired at Israel on Monday (5th) injuring two Israelis in the southern town of Sha’ar Hanegev.  Another missile scored a direct hit on a kindergarten in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.  The building was empty, as Israel’s Home Front Command had ordered all schools within 25 miles of Gaza to remain closed for the time being.

 

(Israel Today, 1/6)

 

 

Fifth Israeli soldier killed in Gaza fighting

 

An officer with Israel’s Paratroopers Brigades became the fifth Israeli soldier killed while fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza Monday night (5th).  Three more soldiers were killed earlier Monday (5th) when an Israeli tank mistakenly opened fire on a large group of Israeli infantrymen.  About two dozen were wounded.  One other Israeli soldier was killed on Sunday (4th).

 

Israeli forces continue to encircle Gaza City, possibly setting up a major showdown with Hamas forces in the back alleys of the overcrowded city.  The army estimates that some 150 Palestinian terrorists have been killed since ground forces were sent into Gaza late Saturday night (3rd).  Another 80 or more have been captured and held for interrogation.

 

(Israel Today, 1/6)

 

 

Hamas officials hiding in Gaza hospital maternity ward – Avi Issacharoff

 

Palestinian sources said senior Hamas officials have been spotted more than once wandering around the maternity ward of Gaza City’s Shifra Hospital and even using the hospital to hold press conferences, on the theory that it offers a safe haven from Israeli fire.

 

Fore the same reason, Hamas forces have taken refuge near buildings that serve as headquarters for various international organizations such as the Red Cross and the UN.

 

(Ha’Aretz, 1/6)

 

 

Hamas steals ‘aid supplies’ for its own hospital for gunmen

 

Hamas has set up an independent hospital in Gaza to treat its wounded and is pilfering a significant portion of the medicine allowed into the Gaza Strip, senior Israeli defense officials said Monday (5th).  Nevertheless the Defense Ministry said it would continue facilitating the transfer of food and medical supplies into Gaza since the humanitarian convoys play a key role in garnering international legitimacy for the IDF’s operations.

 

(JP, 1/6)

 

 

Netanyahu to Sarkozy: “If we stop, rockets will hit Tel Aviv”

 

Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu told French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday morning (6th) that an effective way is needed to prevent weapons from entering Hamas-controlled Gaza from Egypt.  Responding to Sarkozy’s comments that he will press the Cairo government to stop the smuggling of weapons from Sinai, Netanyahu said, “Egypt is not using military force to seal a 7-mile strip of border.  It’s clear that if there’s a let-up in the current situation, rockets will reach Tel Aviv.”

 

(Arutz-7, 1/6)

 

 

Egypt’s Mubarak to EU: Hamas must not be allowed to win in Gaza

 

Hamas must not be allowed to win its conflict with the IDF, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, on Monday, (5th) told a delegation of European foreign ministers in a closed conversation.  The comment occurred even as Hamas, for the first time since the fighting began, sent representatives to Cairo to discuss a cease-fire.  

 

(Ha’Aretz, 1/6)

 

 

Peres: Europe must open its eyes – they wouldn’t tolerate Hamas rockets

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres told senior European Union politicians that their nations should support Israel in its offensive in Gaza to halt rocket attacks by Hamas militants.

 

“Europe needs to open its eyes with respect to the fighting in Gaza,” the president said.  He made the comments in a meeting with Czech Foreign Minister Karl Schwarzenberg, Sweden Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, and Benita Ferraro-Waldner, the European Union Commissioner for External Relations.

 

“None of the European countries would tolerate rocket fire on their citizens, and they must understand that Hamas is a terror organization of the worst order that uses its population of women and children as human shields,” Peres said.

 

(Ha’Aretz, 1/6)

 

 

Israeli doctors save Gaza Arab baby

 

Amid the fighting in and around Gaza, the story of Israeli doctors working to save the life of a newborn Palestinian heart patient demonstrates that Israel only wants to live at peace with its neighbors.  Just days after the Israeli assault on the Gaza Hamas infrastructure began, a Palestinian doctor in Gaza realized that a baby born at his hospital would die without immediate intervention by Israeli specialists.  Israel National News reports that by Monday evening (12/29) last week, little Jafar el-Khoudry underwent an emergency catheterization at Wolfson Medical Center in central Israel.  The child is currently recovering in the intensive care unit at the hospital.

 

The operation was made possible by the efforts of Israeli humanitarian organization Save-A-Child’s-Heart, which over the years has brought some 2,000 child heart-patients, half of them Palestinians, to Israeli doctors for life-saving treatment.

 

(Israel Today, 1/6)

 

 

British paper eulogizes slain Hamas terrorist

 

Nizar Rayyan, a prominent Hamas terror chief in the Gaza Strip, was honored with an obituary in a major London newspaper after falling victim to a pinpoint Israeli air strike last Thursday (1st).  The Guardian eulogized Rayyan as a “political leader” and a “highly regarded Islamic academic” who was viewed by average Palestinians as a hero.  The paper noted that Rayyan was seen as perhaps even more important than Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.  Of course, Rayyan was also an avowed hater of Israel who dedicated himself to the destruction of the Jewish state.  He was a staunch supporter of suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians, and even sent his own son as a suicide bomber against a Jewish community in Gaza in 2001.  The boy managed to kill two Israelis.

 

(Israel Today, 1/6)

 

 

Terror attack on bus near Dimona foiled by brave passenger

 

Monday (6th), Israeli Channel 10 reported that around 8 p.m. an Arab passenger on a bus near the desert town of Dimona, home of Israel’s “suspected” nuclear facility, attempted to commandeer the bus, grabbing the steering wheel from the driver’s control and trying to drive the vehicle off the road into the adjacent ravine below.  An alert passenger, reportedly a border policeman, overpowered the terrorist and ended the threat.

 

(Israel Insider, Channel 10 News, 1/6)

 

 

Terror in France: Flaming vehicle rammed into synagogue

 

Unidentified attackers rammed a burning car into the gates of a Toulouse synagogue while a lecture was underway inside, Monday night (5th).  A second vehicle that was used to push the flaming vehicle into the synagogue was found to contain several bombs.  The attempted bombing damaged the synagogue, but the dozen or so people inside escaped unharmed.

 

While French radio repeatedly linked the attack to the ongoing Israeli counter-terrorism operation in Gaza, security analysts from the Israel and U.S.-based Institute for Terrorism Research and Response noted that the attack occurred on the same day as the start of a Paris trial of an Al-Qaida leader accused of plotting a bombing of a Tunisian synagogue in 2002, in which 21 people were murdered.  The accused, Khaled Sheikh Muhammad, is also allegedly the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

 

(Arutz-7, 1/6)