News

Israel ignores UN Security Council resolution

Haider Rizvi 10 January 2009


UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - International aid organizations, including the United Nations humanitarian agency in Palestine, are calling for the immediate implementation of the Security Council resolution passed late Thursday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. “The Council must ensure that the words in the resolution must quickly translate into meaningful change,” said Nicole Widdersheim of Oxfam International. 

Nowhere to hide from the bombing

Laila El-Haddad Durham, United States 9 January 2009


“You don’t know anymore; you don’t know who is alive, you feel you are in a trap, you don’t know who is a target,” said my friend and neighbor in Gaza City, journalist Taghreed El-Khodary. The fear resonated in her voice while she was on the phone to Al-Jazeera. Taghreed lives on a street near my parents. “Where to? Where can I go seek refuge to?” she continued. 

Criticism of Israel's war crimes mounts

Jonathan Cook 9 January 2009


Criticism by international watchdog groups over the increasing death toll in Gaza mounted this week as the first legal actions inside Israel were launched accusing the army of intentionally harming the enclave’s civilian population. The petitions — over attacks on medical personnel and the shelling of United Nations schools in Gaza — follow statements by senior Israeli commanders that they have been using heavy firepower to protect soldiers during their advance on built-up areas. 

Threat of epidemics in Gaza

9 January 2009


RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IRIN) - The total halt to vaccinations in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began on 27 December could result in epidemics, a risk increased by Gaza’s high population density and dire living conditions, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on 8 January. Some 1.5 million Palestinians live in the 365-square kilometer coastal Strip. 

Tens of thousands flee Rafah

9 January 2009


TEL AVIV (IRIN) - Independent confirmation of the situation in Gaza, particularly in Rafah on the border with Egypt, is difficult as Israel’s ban on journalists entering the Strip remains in place. Telephone lines are overloaded and affected by power cuts. Rafah residents told IRIN by phone that tens of thousands had fled heavy Israeli bombardments, with some seeking refuge at United Nations institutions or at homes of friends and relatives in areas further from the border but still in the south. 

Egypt closes Gaza border to aid

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 9 January 2009


CAIRO (IPS) - Egyptian authorities have almost fully sealed the border with Gaza, preventing delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid. “The government has expressly forbidden the entry of aid convoys laden with food into the Gaza Strip,” Emmad al-Din Moustafa, member of the Popular Committee for Aiding Gaza told IPS. “The continued border closure — like the Israeli assault itself — constitutes a crime against humanity.” 

US weaponry facilitates killings in Gaza

Thalif Deen 9 January 2009


UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The devastating Israeli firepower, unleashed largely on Palestinian civilians in Gaza during two weeks of military siege, is the product of advanced US military technology. The US weapons systems used by the Israelis — including F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles and a wide array of munitions — have been provided by Washington mostly as outright military grants. 

Too much to mourn in Gaza

Eva Bartlett Gaza Strip 8 January 2009


After finishing a shift with the Palestine Red Crescent Society yesterday morning, we went to the United Nations-administered al-Fakhoura school in Jabaliya, which was bombed by Israeli forces, killing at least 40 displaced people who were taking shelter there. When we arrived, prayers were happening in the street in front of the school. 

Claiming impartiality, Europe leans towards Israel

David Cronin 8 January 2009


BRUSSELS (IPS) - In carefully crafted official statements, diplomats have portrayed the European Union as something of an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet even though almost all of the people killed over the past fortnight have been Palestinians, some top-ranking leaders in the 27-country bloc have tacitly offered their support for Israel’s bombing and invasion of Gaza. 

Dr. Ehab isn't there anymore

Rami Almeghari Gaza Strip 8 January 2009


Dr. Ehab Jasir al-Shaer, a physician specializing in dermatology, a graduate of a university in Ukraine, has not been at his clinic since 27 December 2008. On that day, Ehab, his brother Raja, Ehab’s uncle Yasir and Ehab’s cousins Haitham and Tamer, all went to the Rafah governorate local administration building in Rafah City in the south of the Gaza Strip where they live. Rami Almeghari reports from the besieged Gaza Strip.