Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the campaign in Gaza will continue until Israel achieved “peace and tranquility” for residents of southern Israel.
Hamas has continued to fire rockets into southern Israel throughout the campaign, killing four Israelis. Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida urged his followers Monday to fight Israeli forces in “every street, every alley and every house.”
Mr. Sarkozy denounced Hamas’s continued rocket attacks on southern Israel as “irresponsible and unforgivable” following a meeting Monday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Witnesses say Israeli forces have moved deeper into Gaza, rolling into the southern city of Khan Younis. Sources say fighting has also intensified on the outskirts of Gaza City and around the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya.
Gaza health officials say more than 550 Palestinians have been killed and another 2,500 wounded since the start of the Israeli military operation. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is among the international leaders who have called for a cease-fire.
Israel has strictly limited media access to Gaza during the operation.
The primary reason for the chaos and the constant fighting is ISRAEL and those jews in D.C that are more loyal to Israel than to America. The whole world is witnessing (a holocaust; mass killings of children who you say “are being used as human shields!!!” how stupid and inconsiderate, when the children are being killed in their homes. Families of 8, 9 or more are being decentegraded into ashes because of the Israeli bombardment (Just like the 1000’s that were killed in Lebanon in 2006…if your empty head remembers!). As I was saying, America is the only country objecting resolutions condemning Israelis for their cruel murders, and that, my friend (enemy), what makes America is the Biggest supporter of terror in the world. The Palestinians, since the creation of this zionist country, negotiated down to more than %85 of their original land. You, Israelis, are the ones that are never happy and keep building illegal settlements and violate ALL of the UN resolutions that call for removal of those settlements that are the source of true terrorism. Israel has proven to be a BAD NEIGHBOR for the past 100 years and was the source of most of the “true holocausts” in the world. They have earned the title of “children killers,” Today, the death toll in Gaza stands at +600 1/3 of which are children under 10. How do you justfy that? Other than the Evilness and the disreguard for human lives and humanity. Yeah, we do hate Israel more than anything, and thats because we’ve been their neighbors for a very long time and we know their “truth” more than anyone else. Their truth is that to them a non-jew is not worth a dime and is called a “goim”. Do you think they care how many children they behead? their agenda is to dominate the world (by leaching on the super power, USA) and make everyone their servant. They succeeded in America and most of Europe(proof: you can doubt the existance of God but you can’t doubt the existance of the holocausts….lol), but not in our terrirories! Death to the Zionists! Fak Peace! FAk BUSH!
I would like to thank you, Jack for the comment……..please do not think that I am condoning any civilian deaths. Anyone that has read my stuff knows that when it comes to war I am against it or at least let the leaders fight it out, but leave innocent civilians out of it. Sorry but I cannot agree totally with the leaching part of your post. The whole world tries to leach off the US.
Lobotero,
I want to commend you on your thoughtful and balanced posts. I want to share a post that I’ve made on some of the other blogs – I think it will spur discussion and thought. Here it is:
“I share your pain at the loss of civilian life, and I think that Israelis share your pain as well. But I think it is important to make several points here.
Surely there is a distinction targeting terrorists with unfortunate collateral damage (Israel) and targeting civilians with the intent of killing civilians (Hamas). Believe me, if Israel wanted to commit genocide, in bombing a thousand targets in the most densely populated area on earth, they would and could have killed far more than 500 people (75% of whom, according to the UN, are armed terrorists). I think Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties and, with some unfortunate unavoidable exceptions, doing an outstanding job.
At that, surely if you have a problem with Israel firing at civilian centers, you would also condemn Hamas which is – you guessed it! – targeting civilian centers. Your silence in the face of Palestinian terrorism is telling…
Moreover, I would argue that your denial of Israel’s right to defend its civilians against lethal Hamas attacks – essentially having innocent Israelis and their children be sitting ducks for genocidal terrorists – is nothing short of genocidal itself.
The painful scenes that Palestinian children are witnessing are sad, but also important. Palestinian children are also learning an important life lesson – terrorism against innocent civilians doesn’t pay. Far from achieving independence and honor, it brings Palestinians suffering, humiliation and devastation. Instead of building rockets and training to be suicide bombers perhaps these children will do something more than their foolish parents – perhaps they’ll build themselves an economy, hospitals, and infrastructure and become something more than a hotbed for terrorism and hate.
Oh, and as for the “occupation.” Israel withdrew from Gaza two years ago. The Palestinians – in elections monitored by Jimmy Carter and the EU – elected Hamas. So what on earth is “occupation” other than yet another buzzword to excuse all Palestinian wrongs?”
Yigal thanx for the kind words…I try to give both sides to every story when I can. But as I have said in the past the Palestine/Israel situation has become an institution neither side would know how to act without it. Anyone who knows me knows that I am critical of both sides of the conflict. I am disappointed in the US for not doing more to stop the killing on both sides. Gaza could have become the Singapore of the ME. There was a great opportunity for advancement and the US crapped it away.
I read all the Anti Israeli remarks and I wonder why Hamas gets a pass on the daily killing, or the daily venom that they spew out of their mouths.
There is plenty of people talking about civilians being killed, or the school that got shot at, but what about the cowardly Hamas, or terrorist that are hiding among those civilians or hiding in that school using it as a shield, or a launching pad for their killing.
Do you think that the United States Military, or Israel would hide among it’s citizens? No they would evacuate any zone that was going to be a battle ground.
Israel is fighting an ugly enemy, with ugly tactics, so some nasty things are going to happen. If you want to kill the enemy, or flush them out you have to go where they are, if they are hiding among citizens, and they get killed because of that then it is Hamas’s fault, not Israels.
Hi Paul and thanx for the visit ….to answer one of your questions…yes innocent civilians were used as a shield in Vicksburg during the Civil War….but that was another war….I hear the argument all the time about going in and doing Hasmas in….the problem is that in some ways Israel is just making more Hamas fighters….they cannot eliminate an idea…yes they can by killing everyone, but that is not an option for them at this time. As I keep saying, I will try to be balanced in my posts…I have a problem with the deaths of any civilians for any reason on either side.
Lobotero,
By all means, be critical of both sides. Even as someone who is Pro-Israel, I would say that there are times when criticism of Israel is valid. But this is not such a case (which I think you recognize).
Could the US have done more? Yes – namely, it could have been more pragmatic and less naive. I think that post-9/11 the US has realized that what animates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is pretty much the same thing that animates its current war on terror: a pervasive and deadly strain of Islamo-facism that seeks the supremacy of Islam over western infidels. This ideology is mutually exclusive with peace and compromise and must be rooted out if peace is to have a chance.
A conflict over land is a facade. Nobody kills himself and children in restaurants for the sake of disputed territory. Besides the fact that, historically, there never was a Palestinian state whose land was ‘occupied’ by Israel. The land was previously a part of Egypt and Jordan – and the two Arab states relinquished their claims to the land after they lost it in 1967. By all means, study the history.
Yigal….I do appreciate that comments and yes I agree with you that the whole history of the area needs to be understood by people before they spout the obvious. Radical religious beliefs are definitely the biggest reason for wars; more people have been killed in the name of God than anything. And yes I do recognize the necessity to stop the daily dance of rockets, but I also think that there could have been an alternate path to take before the bombing started. Thanx for the insight.