Three Killed in Third Day of Gaza-Israel Violence
- Posted on March 11, 2012 at 9:22pm by
Erica Ritz
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(AP) — Cross-border fighting between Gaza and Israel, touched off by Israel’s killing of a top militant leader, showed no signs of letting up on its fourth day.
Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets at Israeli towns, hitting an empty school Sunday, and Israeli airstrikes killed three Gazans, including a boy and a farm guard.
Egypt tried to mediate but failed to end the worst violence in more than a year that has killed 18 Gazans, all but two of them militants, and disrupted the lives of some 1 million Israelis living in Gaza rocket range.
Even so, Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers seemed eager to avoid a full-scale conflict. A three-week war in three years ago left both sides badly bruised, Israel in the diplomatic arena and Hamas on the battlefield.
In the current round, Hamas has pointedly kept its large rocket arsenal and thousands of fighters out of the confrontation, even though it has not tried to stop two smaller Gaza groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, from launching rockets and mortars.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak acknowledged that Hamas did not take part in the rocket salvos. Up to now Israel has blamed Hamas for all violence from Gaza because it rules the territory.
Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, said Sunday that “we are not interested in escalation in and of itself.”
On a visit to southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged the airstrikes would continue as long as necessary. “We have a clear policy: we will hit anyone who plans to harm us, who prepares to harm us and who harms us,” he said in a meeting with local leaders.
Israel said it launched Friday’s initial airstrike, which killed PRC leader Zuhair al-Qaissi in a car in downtown Gaza, to stop a plan by his splinter group to infiltrate into Israel through Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula. Israel says the PRC was behind an attack on the border in August, killing eight Israelis.
Palestinians across the political spectrum accused Israel of deliberately escalating tensions. The groups involved in firing rockets dismissed truce offers presented by Egypt.
“We will not give calm for free, and the blood of our leaders and martyrs will not be spilled in vain,” said a PRC spokesman who uses the nom de guerre Abu Mujahed.
Egypt was trying to broker a truce but insisted Israel stop its airstrikes first, said Yasser Othman, Egypt’s envoy to the Palestinian Authority. Representatives of militant groups were in Cairo for talks.
A top Islamic Jihad leader, Ziad Nakhala, denied reports that his group had agreed to stop firing rockets. Rocket fire toward Israel continued for a fourth day early Monday, keeping schools closed in the southern part of the country for the second day in a row.
In fresh Israeli airstrikes, a group of rocket launchers were targeted in the northern Gaza Strip.
Another strike in Gaza City wounded some two dozen people, including several children, health officials said.
In the past, similar flare-ups have died out by themselves or with informal cease-fires negotiated by third parties, but there is always a danger of sudden escalation if an attack by either side causes multiple casualties.
An uneasy informal truce has held on the Gaza-Israel border since the Gaza war that started at the end of 2008, though smaller Gaza groups fire rockets and mortars from time to time with Hamas looking the other way.
Hamas itself has largely observed the truce, in part because it has made safeguarding its five-year-old rule in Gaza a priority and does not want to provoke harsh Israeli retaliation.
Trying to claim a middle ground, Hamas leaders issued fiery statements Sunday in support of those firing rockets, but Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh also noted that “the brothers in Egypt are working around the clock to stop the (Israeli) aggression.”
The U.S. and the U.N. called on both sides to show restraint.
Israeli airstrikes Sunday killed a 12-year-old boy, a 60-year-old farm guard and a militant, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmia. The boy was hit while walking with a friend to school in the northern town of Jebaliya and the guard died in Gaza City while walking with his dog, who was also killed, he said. The militant was killed at a rocket launching site, he said.
Hundreds of mourners attended funerals in two Gaza towns Sunday. Women wailed and men chanted slogans demanding revenge for the deaths, as militants fired guns into the air. The boy’s body was draped in the black flag of the Islamic Jihad militant group.
On Sunday, Palestinians fired more than 30 rockets at southern Israel. One struck the courtyard of an empty school in Beersheba, police said. Sunday is a school day in Israel, but schools in rocket range were closed to try to prevent casualties.
Three Israelis have been hurt by rocket fire since Friday, two of them seriously, the Defense Ministry said.
Israel claimed success in the first major battlefield test of its of its Iron Dome anti-missile system, which intercepted 30 of more than 120 rockets fired from Gaza since Friday, Barak told Israel’s weekly Cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office. He said anti-rocket batteries were deployed near three southern cities close to Gaza.
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majasdad
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 8:29pmDoesn’t anyone on this thread have the balls to express some sort concern/sadness at the loss of young innocent lives???
Anyone? Hello?
It’s shocking how you religious conservative zealots out there in Blaze territory constantly harp on about the evils of abortion, while nonchalantly shrugging your shoulders at children dying at the hands of the Israelis. God damn it that’s so hypocritical and disgustingly cynical.
Report Post »menticide
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:08pmAs a father who loves his child more than anything else on this earth, it pains me beyond belief to see how too many Palestinians use their children as weapons, brain washed martyrs, and props for political gain. It’s quite disturbing, inhuman, and disgusting. Perhaps one day these terrorist types will love their children more than they love death, or perhaps one day they will love their children more than they hate Jews…
Report Post »Magyar
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 3:42pmThe only way this will be solved is for Israel to take out as many Islamic terrorists as possible when the time comes. And according to my Israeli contact, this WILL happen. Israel will NEVER be occupied by ANYONE— Israel will not exisit before any other flag flies over Tel Aviv!
Report Post »lynnissmart
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 9:49amOk – so rockets are shot at Israel…..and they strike back…good for them….the purposely put children on the front line, so that they are killed and then they draw sympathy from the world that the Israelies killed childen…..God, please help Israel get rid of these monsters….thank you!
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 10:09amNo, you missed the beginning of the play. Israel bombed Gaza in the opening act. Now you know the real story… and not the fiction that you have presented.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 11:55amBut of course no reason to think the people in Gaza would see Israel as an aggressor.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 11:57am@lynnissmart Feel good about your narrow view of the world. This is not about which country or people you like or don’t like. Every country does not have to mirror our culture, practice our religion or agree with us.
Report Post »Boycott the Media Let the People Decide
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:14am“Israel said it launched Friday’s initial airstrike, which killed PRC leader Zuhair al-Qaissi in a car in downtown Gaza, to stop a plan by his splinter group to infiltrate into Israel through Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula”
Seems like a logical reason to send missles over and kill people….maybe we should start doing this on the Mexico border send missles over into Mexico and kill the people that we believe might “infiltrate” our border…..oh wait we have that silly thing called the Constitution we have to live by, No wonder why the world is against Israel launching offensive aggression like this!
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 9:44amIsrael and America are the two most belligerent nations on the planet. Listen, there are some calling for a bombing of Syria. It never ends. It is the Wolfowitz (ethnic Jew) doctrine of perpetual war. It is the strategy defined for Israel, by American Jews making U.S. policy, back in 1996. Read it yourself and see our recent past and near future. It is called, “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.”
http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm
They are betraying America and our future.
Report Post »Trance
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 11:00amYou don‘t think the United States would protect it’s citizens by force? It’s one of the primary purposes of our government. There is no way our government would allow Mexicans to fire missles into the US without trying to stop it.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:56am.
Report Post »It’s looking more and more like the only Good Muslim is a Dead One. Unless your comparing them to Democrats………..
adeleeeee
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 3:05amNuke them! Period.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 4:26amYou don’t really want to nuke an enemy in your country when you are the size of the State of New Jersey.They just need a few well placed cluster bombs.
Report Post »USAF2003
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:37amYea I wish Isreal would just whipe them out.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 10:01amWhen their King comes they will USAF. It won’t be long now.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 2:37amZephaniah 2:4,5 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
Report Post »5. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
cuinsong
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 1:40amThis kind of tit for tat can’t go on much longer. sooner or later Israel will have to stop them permanently. They can’t keep letting them lob rockets at schools without doing something about it. The people that keep saying we need to talk to them and work out a peace deal are living on another planet. These people do not want a peace deal they want Israel and its people exterminated! The only way their can be peace is for one or the other to win the struggle. Its good verses evil and neither can live together. So pick your side and do what you can for your cause. I choose to use music as my offence in the struggle of good & evil. This is a song for the Palestinians called “What For” http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_11826046
Report Post »Netsurfer2
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 1:29amInteresting, those peace loving neighbors are at it again! Another good reason why we should be drilling our own oil and not using any of their resources!
Report Post »DEFCON4
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 1:03amJacques.Daspy watch air strike video on Arutz Sheva 7 pro reaction to a never ending problem
Report Post »aChameleon
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:25am“We have a clear policy: we will hit anyone who plans to harm us, who prepares to harm us and who harms us” ::Winking at Iran:: Iran=Hamas
Report Post »DEFCON4
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:32amand they are the bad guys
Report Post »qzz
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:58pmIf Israel paid $25,000 per palestinian to move elsewhere, they would relocate the whole population without violence and it wo0uld cost less than our current defense budget
Report Post »menticide
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 4:40amThere’s one problem with that idea, where would the Palestinians relocate to? None of the neighboring Arab countries want them within their borders, it works to their propaganda advantage to keep the Palestinians where they are, and maintaining the seemingly victim image that the mainstream media have been complacent in helping them to perfect…
Report Post »menticide
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 5:43amI have no problem admitting when I make a mistake, so, with that in mind, I intended to type the word complicit, not complacent. But, oddly enough, in very different ways either word would work. So, my apologies, and I’ll proudly admit my mistake…
Report Post »majasdad
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 8:12pmWhat makes you think they’d accept? One would think, on the other hand, that the prospect of peace would be enough for Israelis to stop the settlements and do some moving of their own, but all they do is ramp up the war rhetoric and kill innocent Palestinians.
Report Post »menticide
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 4:50am@ majasdad
Why should the Israelis stop settling in areas that were agreed upon by both them and the Palestinians? Because Obama has a problem with the settlements? In all honesty, no one was seriously complaining about the settlements in question until Obama decided to condemn them, thus empowering the Palestinians to begin complaining again, making threats, and attacking their neighbors. Where would you like the Israelis to move to? The gas chambers? The ovens? Pardon my accusations, but I usually find that individuals who make statements like the one that you made here tend to mean just that…
Report Post »momrules
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:42pmThe Muslims fire 100 rockets into Israel. Israel defends herself. Muslims demand revenge for deaths caused by the Israeli’s defending themselves. See the pattern?
Report Post »I don’t think the Muslims understand yet. Israel will DEFEND themselves against anyone who threatens them.
God bless Benjamin Netanyahu and God bless Israel.
oldguy49
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:57pmif any country on our border fired missles into our country they would be a wasteland……at least before obama appoligized to them
Report Post »justangry
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:01amThe article said the rockets started in retaliation for Israel taking out a “militant leader”. Sure is a complicated mess over there. All I know for certain is both sides think the other started it a very long time ago. I don’t condone launching inacurate rockets into civilian areas for sure.
Report Post »DEFCON4
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:28amGOD Bless mom rules for more Israeli News check out Arutz Sheva 7 print out caricatures
Report Post »momrules
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:41amJustangry……..Zuheir al-Qaisi, PRC secretary, was killed Friday by Israeli airsrike. He was in the final stages of planning a large scale terror attack on Israel. He was reported to be one of the prisoners exchanged for Gilad Shalit though Hamas denies this.. The IDF stated the attack was to stop a major attack against Israeli targets.
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 1:02amI stand with Israel… Do what you have to to protect your people! God Bless Israel!!
Report Post »justangry
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 1:07am@Momrules, Yup, there’s definitely some bad blood between these groups, and firing rockets at Israeli schools isn’t going to help. I don‘t know what they’re trying to prove by doing that. The only thing I can think of is to try to get Israel to react harshly in an attempt to gain support of the UN, and it appears the Israelis aren’t falling for it. Sure wish it would stop though.
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:39pmAll those rockets and bombs and all Israel can manage is three Gazans? A 12 year old Palestinian Girl can do better!
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:42amRead the third paragraph, or at least read it again. 18 Gazans killed, all but two were militants.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:38pmYou know that the Muslims have a Holy War agenda to End Israel & the Jews… so, why this meakness, now? Something is very, very, Wrong!
Report Post »texanpatriot
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:08amAgree. Israel struck the first blow with predictable results — even though they got to take our the dirt bag who burned with hate for them. Now the terrorists are reacting.
It seems to have ended the conversation on when/if they will strike Iran. Well, I think they will and this gives them great cover to continue to prepare and maybe even take that shot at a nuclear Iran. May God grant them accuracy…
Report Post »jacques.daspy
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 12:48amWas the Israeli strike on the militant (musta ben bad militant) on the occasion of his third strike, was that sorta like three strikes and you’re out? Doesn’t every body know the rule?
Report Post »godhatesacoward
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:38pmBibi, lets get the show on the road! Now or never!
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:35pmWhat are Gaza residents called anyway? Gazooks, Gazians, Gazites.
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:40pmPalistinians?
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 2:59amThey should go back to Syria…They will die there by the hand of their own kind.Israel belongs to the seed of Abraham..As for the Damascus, the Capital city of Syria,… “Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Israel will remain forever!
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