Tag Archive for Gaza

| March 11, 2014
No comments

Al Qaida-inspired jihadi movement challenging Hamas in Gaza

 

The rise of organized, heavily armed militant jihadi movements in the seaside strip poses serious threat to both Israel – and Hamas.

By

 

A leader of one of Gaza‘s secretive jihadi groups says the al-Qaida-inspired movement now has several thousand armed fighters in the seaside strip, posing a formidable threat to both Israel and the area’s Hamas rulers.

Palestinian members from Youth Salafists group chant slogans

Palestinian members from Youth Salafists group chant slogans, Gaza, August 22, 2013.- Photo: AP

In an interview with The Associated Press, Abu Bakir al-Ansari described a movement that is larger and better organized than is generally believed, with dozens of fighters now in Syria, and claimed his group killed an Italian activist three years ago.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| March 10, 2014
No comments

Hamas promises Gaza rockets will land in northern Israel

 

Before Israel televised their captured advanced rockets bound for Gaza, Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade said bloodshed will not end until ‘owners of Palestine recover their rights.’

By AFP

 

GAZA – Hamas’ armed wing threatened Monday to shoot rockets that would reach northern Israel during its next confrontation with the IDF.

M75 monument

Members of Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, stand in front of M-75 monument at the al-Jalaa square on March 10, 2014 in Gaza City. – Photo: AFP photo/Mahmud Hams

During the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, Gaza terror organizations for the first time fired rockets that reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 10, 2014
No comments

Israeli products overrun Gaza supermarkets

 

Since Gaza is a captive market as Israel controls the formal movement to & from Gaza, it goes without saying that Israeli companies control its market.

By Elior Levy

 

Cookies, coffee, soap and even hummus – these are just some of the Israeli products one can find on the grocery stores’ shelves in Gaza, written in Hebrew just like the ones in the nearby Israeli retail chains.

Products from Israel in Gaza (Photo: Gisha Organization)

Products from Israel in Gaza – Photo: Gisha Organization

Apparently, beneath the surface of the daily military tensions between Israel and the Gaza Strip, there is a meaningful economic relationship. In 2012 the value import of Israeli products to Gaza stood at NIS 1.3 billion ($375 million), including not only water, gas and electricity, but also food and cleaning products from well-known Israeli companies such as Telma, Willifood, Osem and Tnuva, which brings subtantial tax profit to Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| March 9, 2014
No comments

Hamas: Bomb-making training blows up in their face

Hamas ‘Work Accident’ during bomb-making training kills local Hamas commander and injures nine others, according to Palestinian sources.

By Ari Soffer

 

An explosion Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least one terrorist and wounded nine more, medical sources said.

“The explosion occurred during a training session in bomb-making,” said a statement from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist Hamas movement that controls Gaza.

Source have identified the dead man as Ibrahim al-Ghoul, a local Hamas commander.

The blast took place at a house in the southern town of Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

Witnesses had previously described most of the injured, including two seriously hurt, as “activists” – a term often used by Palestinian Arab sources to describe members of terrorist groups operating in the Islamist-controlled territory. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 7, 2014
No comments

Egypt Detained 100 Female European & American Activists On Way to Gaza

American & European activists who had planned to spend Int’l Women’s Day in Gaza, are being held due to the Egyptian crackdown on Hamas, for “the timing was not appropriate…”

By Ari Yashar

 

A group of 100 European and American activist women were stopped by Egypt on Thursday, as they attempted to cross Sinai to spend International Women’s Day on Saturday in Gaza.

Egyptian soldiers (Illustration) – Reuters

Egyptian authorities stopped the women at the Cairo airport. Among the group, Northern Irish Nobel Laureate and anti-Israel activist Mairead Maguire was already deported on Wednesday; the same happened to American activist Medea Benjamin on Tuesday. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 6, 2014
No comments

Gaza Based Terrorists Fire Rocket at Southern Israel

Rocket fired at Israel’s southern city of Sderot explodes in an open field, not having required Iron Dome activation.

There were no physical injuries or reported damages.

By Elad Benari

 

Gaza-based terrorists fired a rocket at the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Wednesday night.

The rocket exploded in an open field, causing no physical injuries or damages.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, Gaza terrorists fired a rocket at southern Israel, but that rocket exploded within Gaza.

On Monday, a Gaza rocket was fired into the Ashkelon coast. It, too, exploded in an open area, and no physical injuries or damages were reported. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| March 1, 2014
No comments

Palestinian official: Gaza Woman killed on border with Israel

 

Gaza sources claim Palestinian woman was killed by IDF gunfire Friday night after approaching Israel’s security fence.

IDF says it opened fire on group of Palestinians marching towards security barrier.

By The Associated Press

 

A Gaza health official said Saturday that a woman was shot and killed on the border with Israel, the morning after Israel said troops fired on Palestinians suspiciously approaching the boundary.

Explosive Devices Planted near the Gaza Security Fence

Explosive Devices Planted near the Gaza Security Fence. – Archive photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

It was not clear if the two incidents were linked. Ashraf Al Kedra said the body of a 58-year-old woman was retrieved Saturday morning. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| February 26, 2014
No comments

IDF wounded three Palestinians in clashes near the Gaza border fence

Gazans have now incited confrontations with the IDF for the 2nd time in 5 days.

By

 

 

Three Palestinians were wounded Tuesday in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip near the perimeter fence.

Israeli tank near Gaza border

An Israeli tank near the Gaza border as Palestinians approach, November 2012.- Photo: AP

Palestinians said a press photographer had a moderate gunshot wound to the leg, while two other people were suffering from tear-gas inhalation. The Israel Defense Forces said hundreds of Palestinians had gathered in the area and threw stones at soldiers. The army responded with crowd-dispersal measures and later gunfire.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| February 26, 2014
No comments

Hamas Thinks It Found Gas Field Off Gaza’s Shore

MP in Hamas gov’t claims gas was found just off Gaza’s coast, but Hamas deputy PM isn’t convinced.

By Ari Yashar

 

 

An MP in the terror organization Hamas’s Gaza government reported Tuesday that a natural gas field has potentially been found off the Gaza coast.

Salem Salama, chair of Hamas’s economic committee, said “preliminary tests carried out by experts from the Islamic University suggest that there is a natural gas field near the coast,” reports AFP.

In recent weeks the test were conducted by Hamas after fishermen reported large bubbles in the water roughly 300 meters (just under 1,000 feet) off the coast, reported Salama. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| February 22, 2014
No comments

Palestinians arrests former Hamas spokesman, confiscate property over alleged corruption


Hamas says former spokesman Ayman Taha, known in Gaza for his extravagant lifestyle, was not suspected of working with foreign powers such as Israel or Egypt.

By

 

 

Hamas, the Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, announced that Ayman Taha, a senior member of the organization and former spokesman, was arrested several days ago and interrogated by the authorities for alleged corruption charges.

Hundreds of Palestinian Hamas policemen march

Hundreds of Palestinian Hamas policemen march during their graduation ceremony at the Arafat Police Academy in Gaza City, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 – Photo: AP

A statement issued by the organization on Friday explicitly stated that Taha was not suspected of working with foreign powers such as Israel or Egypt.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| February 21, 2014
No comments

Gazans turn to bartering with lack of copper coins

 

 

Import-ban on copper leads Gazans to melt Israeli coins into electrical wiring, causing 1/2-shekel coin shortage.

By Elior Levy

 

Gazans have been running low on Israeli coin currency for a while, partly due to an Israeli-imposed ban on copper imports. The creative solution engineered by Gazans was to melt down change to create copper wire. But no one could have expected the result – half-shekel and 10 agorot coins have become a rare commodity.

Spare change - Gaza style (Photo: Khaled Ashker, Gisha)

Spare change – Gaza style – Photo: Khaled Ashker, Gisha

The coins’ absence did not impact the day-to-day life of the average Gazan, as most prices were in full shekels. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| February 18, 2014
No comments

Rambam Medical Center in Haifa Saves Lives of 2 Pregnant Women from Gaza

Israel puts politics aside and continues saving the lives of Palestinian Arabs on a daily basis.

By Tova Dvorin

 

 

Israel accepts medical patients from Gaza for treatment on a regular basis, often as many as 70 patients per day.

The twins leaving Gaza – Piotr Flitr

But even the most seasoned Israeli doctors were surprised earlier this month when two separate, rare high-risk pregnancy cases were admitted to the same hospital, just days apart.

H., 35, was the first to arrive. The Gaza native was nine months pregnant and suffering from a rare blood clotting disorder which could endanger her life if she gave birth to her twins naturally. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| February 14, 2014
One comment

Hamas rejects UN textbooks promoting human rights in Gaza schools

The Hamas gov’t believes the UN curriculum does not represent the ‘ideology & philosophy’ of the Palestinian population, reports Hamas spokesman for the Education Ministry.

By

 

Gaza‘s Hamas authorities have blocked a UN refugee agency from introducing  into local schools, saying it ignores Palestinian cultural and focuses too heavily on “peaceful” means of conflict resolution.

Students in classroom in Gaza school

Students in Gaza school.- Photo: Reuters

Motesem al-Minawi, spokesman for the Hamas-run Education Ministry, said Thursday that the government believes the curriculum does not match the “ideology and philosophy” of the local population.

He said the textbooks, used in grades 7 through 9, did not sufficiently address Palestinian suffering and did not acknowledge the right to battle Israel.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| February 12, 2014
No comments

Gaza patients denied entry into Israel over ‘State of Palestine’ letterhead

 

IDF official says Israel denied entry to 50 Palestinians because unrecognized paperwork were marked ‘State of Palestine’.

Urgent cases were allowed entry into Israel.

By Reuters

 

Israel has denied entry permits to some 50 Palestinian medical patients from the Gaza Strip because the words “State of Palestine” appears on the letterhead of their application, officials said on Wednesday.

Palestinian patient who was denied access to Israel.

Suhad al-Katib, a Palestinian woman patient who suffers cancer sits inside her house after she was not allowed to enter Israel, in Gaza City February 12, 2014.- Photo: Reuters

Israel does not recognize a Palestinian state, whose creation it says should stem from peace negotiations. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| February 12, 2014
No comments

Erdoğan says ‘No normalization with Israel until Gaza siege lifted’

 

 

Turkish PM Erdoğan cools talks of progress on normalization, saying apology and compensation for 2010 flotilla victims is not sufficient.

By i24NEWS

 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan put a damper on reports that Ankara and Jerusalem were approaching normalization of ties Tuesday, demanding a written Israeli promise that it will lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip as a condition for signing a reconciliation agreement.

Turkish PM Erdogan

Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan addresses members of the parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on January 28, 2014 – Photo: Adem Altan /AFP

Addressing reporters in Ankara alongside Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Erdoğan said that negotiations with Israel have progressed, but have not ended. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »