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Aggression on Gaza continues for 6th day, death toll rises

19 November 2012 17:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Conflict between Israel and Gaza militants led by Islamic Hamas movement entered its sixth day on Monday with more Israeli airstrikes on buildings and militants' properties while the casualties keep increasing, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Hamas officials said that in the early hours of Monday, Israeli war jets intensified its airstrikes on Hamas police and security constructions, houses of Hamas and other groups' militants, the soccer stadium, militants on motorbikes, Hamas TV station and computers companies.

The military wings of Islamic Hamas movement, Ezz el-Deen al- Qassam Brigades, and some smaller groups including Islamic Jihad and Saraya al-Quds claimed responsibility Monday for firing more barrages of rockets into Israel. They said that more than 60 rockets and projectiles were fired toward Israel.

Hamas ministry of health spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra told reporters that around 24 Palestinians were killed and more than 30 wounded on Monday, adding that the casualties since Wednesday have climbed to 98 dead and about 800 wounded, more than half of them are civilians.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza said in a press statement emailed to reporters that Israel "is waging a barbarian war on Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip," adding that " targeting and killing civilians and destroying their homes make us think about every possible option to defend our people."

The traffic in the streets of the Gaza Strip was very little. The people were hoping that visits of Arab diplomats and heads of political parties can defuse the tension and help reach a Hudna ( truce).

Ambulances and firefighting crews and cars are driving all around in the Gaza Strip streets and neighborhoods and once they receive a notice of an Israeli airstrike somewhere in the coastal enclave, they immediately rush to the targeted area with the sirens turned on.

Schools, universities, ministries, offices and banks remain closed on Monday. Black pillars of smokes and huge explosions are seen and heard almost every ten minutes as a result of the Israeli strikes.

The vast majority of Israeli air-to-ground missiles are targeting fields where weapons are stored and training camps of militants. The fields contain either rockets that are ready to be launched or rockets launchers buried underground as well as underground weapons caches.

Some well-informed Palestinian sources, speaking in condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Israel is ready to stop its military operations in the Gaza Strip if Palestinian militant groups would stop firing rockets to Israeli communities.

The sources said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a verbal letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas informing him of this offer and that Tony Blair, former British prime minister who represents the Quartet of Middle East mediators, delivered Netanyahu's message to Abbas.

But if Hamas refused to stop the rocket attacks, Israel would expand Operation Pillar of Defense, warned Netanyahu, said the sources, adding that Abbas told Blair that he would discuss the issue with Khaled Meshaal, the political chief of Hamas, who is currently in Egypt.

The sources also said on Monday that efforts are underway for a meeting between Abbas and Meshaal. The meeting will take place Wednesday in Cairo, added the sources, which are close to both Hamas and Abbas' Fatah.

The sources also said that Abbas and Meshaal will try to come up with a unified Palestinian position in dealing with the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

During their meeting, Abbas and Meshaal will also try to set a date for the first meeting of a temporary committee that was formed to lead Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are outside the PLO umbrella, are members of the temporary committee.

The atmosphere here is similar to the atmosphere of early 2009, when Israel waged a three-week operation on the Gaza Strip called Cast Lead, where 1,440 Palestinians killed and 5,0000 injured. The people in Gaza are very much concerned that the current operation could expand and Israel could launch a large ground operation.