Tag Archive for Operation Protective Edge

| January 27, 2015
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With little of $5.4 billion pledged to rebuild Gaza, UN agency unable to repair damage

UNRWA has provided more than $77 million to repair homes or find temporary alternatives, but now due to a lack of funds the agency “has been forced to suspend its CASH assistance program”.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

The main UN aid agency in the Gaza Strip said on Tuesday a lack of international funding had forced it to suspend payments to tens of thousands of Palestinians for repairs to homes damaged in last summer’s war.

Palestinians place sandbags as they try to prevent rain water from flooding their house following heavy rain in Gaza City November 27. – Photo: REUTERS

“People are literally sleeping amongst the rubble, children have died of hypothermia,” Robert Turner, Gaza director of operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said in a statement. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| January 2, 2015
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Israel security firm releases 50 killed terrorists’ names previously ‘concealed by Hamas’

 

 

Security assessment highlights how keeping names unpublished makes number of killed ‘civilians’ higher, as Hamas employs a “deliberate policy of concealment to serve diplomatic campaign against Israel.”

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

 

An Israeli defense analysis center released on Thursday the names of 50 Gazan terrorists killed in combat with Israel this summer, whose names have been concealed by Hamas from Palestinian casualty lists.

Hamas

Hamas, trying to fulfill its credo to destroy Israel.

The Tel Aviv-based Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center said all of the combatant casualties were members of Hamas’s military wing, the Izzadin Al-Kassam Brigades.

“The names did not show up in other casualty lists publicized by organizations affiliated with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority,” said the Center, which is a part of the Israeli Intelligence and Heritage Commemoration Center, founded by leading members of the Israeli intelligence community. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| December 5, 2014
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Red Cross Official: World applies double standard with Israel

 

ICRC official says Israel & Hamas are both guilty of legal violations in Gaza, but the world only focuses on Israel.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB

 

The head of the International Red Cross in Israel and the Palestinian areas said Tuesday that the world was holding Israel to a double standard when it came to war crimes allegations.

Top ICRC legal official

Top ICRC legal official Jacques De Maio at the Institute for National Security Studies, December 2. – Photo: YONAH JEREMY BOB

Jacques De Maio was one of a number of non-Israeli officials speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies conference on the law of armed conflict in urban areas. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| December 4, 2014
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Removal of 140,000 tons of rubble in Gaza City neighborhood begins

Sweden steps up to pay for the 1st project to clear away wreckage from the summer’s ‘Operation Protective Edge’.

By The Associated Press

 

The first large-scale project to remove tons of rubble in the Gaza Strip left over from this summer’s fighting between the Islamic militant group Hamas and Israel began on Wednesday, a significant step forward in rebuilding the war-torn area.

Rubble of destroyed buildings from the 50-day conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Rubble of destroyed buildings from the 50-day conflict between Hamas and Israel, Shijaiyah neighborhood, Gaza Strip, Oct. 12 ,2014. – Photo: AFP

The project is taking place in Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood, an area that was devastated during the fighting. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| November 21, 2014
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Israel reconsiders: Jerusalem to cooperate with probe on attacks to/from UN facilities

 

Jerusalem believes the UN investigative committee to be professional & it’s promise to look at the context that led up Israel’s response on Gaza, as well as what transpired at UN facilities.

In signal that Jerusalem is not opposed to cooperating with international investigative bodies it believes are professional and impartial, Jerusalem agreed on Thursday to cooperate with a UN probe investigating both attacks on UNRWA facilities during this summer’s military operation in Gaza and Hamas’ use of those facilities to store weapons.

UNRWA school damaged by fighting in Gaza. - Photo: REUTERS

UNRWA school damaged by fighting in Gaza. – Photo: REUTERS

The decision to cooperate with the “board of inquiry” established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands in stark contrast to Jerusalem’s decision not to cooperate with a UN Human Rights Council investigative committee set up to investigate what the Palestinians allege were Israeli war crimes during Operation Protective Edge. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| November 17, 2014
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Unable to Enter Gaza, UN Gaza Investigative Committee Hears Testimonies in Jordan

Jerusalem has forbidden entry into Gaza and the West Bank by the UN team which is seeking possible war-crime charges against Israel during the last Gaza war.

 

The United Nations committee investigating possible war crimes by Israel during last summer’s Gaza war has spent the past week in Jordan, listening to the testimonies of victims’ families and civil society organizations, Ma’an Palestinian news agency reported on Sunday.

Rubble of destroyed buildings from the 50-day conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Rubble of destroyed buildings from the 50-day conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Shejaiya, Gaza Strip, October 12 ,2014. – Photo: AFP

The committee, which was appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, has been denied entry to the West Bank and Gaza by Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
| November 7, 2014
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Pentagon Sent Team to Israel to Learn From IDF How to Avoid Civilian Casualties

 

U.S. General Dempsey says Pentagon sent a team to Israel to learn from the IDF how to limit civilian casualties. “Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage & civilian casualties,” said Dempsey.

By Reuters

 

 

REUTERS – The highest-ranking U.S. military officer said on Thursday that Israel went to “extraordinary lengths” to limit civilian casualties in the recent war in Gaza and that the Pentagon had sent a team to see what lessons could be learned from the operation.

Palestinian women look at the shattered remains of a building complex in Beit Hanun, Gaza Strip.

Palestinian women look at the shattered remains of a building complex in Beit Hanun, Gaza Strip on Aug.

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Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| November 5, 2014
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Amnesty International Strikes Hard at Israel, Neglects Condemning Hamas in Report

 

 

Israeli embassy in London said “the report does not mention the word terror in relation to Hamas or other armed Palestinian groups, nor mention tunnels built by Hamas to infiltrate Israel and perpetrate terror attacks…ignores documented war crimes perpetrated by Hamas…Instead, Amnesty serves as a propaganda tool for Hamas and other terror groups.”

By i24news

 

 

Amnesty International issued a harsh report Wednesday accusing Israel of committing war crimes in its 50-day summer war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian child sits above the ruins of his home, summer 2014 – Photo Courtesy Amnesty International

The report, titled “Families under the Rubble: Israeli attacks on inhabited homes,” accuses the Israeli military of “callous indifference” to civilians in its airstrikes on the enclave, that killed entire families. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| November 3, 2014
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Hamas criticizes UN’s reconstruction mechanism for Gaza

Hamas spokesman condescends United Nations procedures as ‘unacceptable and inefficient.’

 

Hamas says it opposes a UN reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip following the 50-day war against Israel this summer.

A Palestinian boy looks out of his damaged house after a ceasefire was declared, in the east of Khan

A Palestinian boy looks out of his damaged house after a ceasefire was declared, in the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 27, 2014. – Photo: Reuters

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on Sunday called the UN mechanism “unacceptable, inefficient.”

The UN announced the plan in September, creating a system to bring in badly needed reconstruction materials while sidelining Hamas.

Despite its unhappiness with the system, Abu Zuhri gave no indication that Hamas will disrupt the shipments.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| October 28, 2014
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Southern Israel communities get boost after Jewish Agency raised $13.3M

Funds will provide support to victims of rocket attacks, low-interest loans for businesses that were hurt by war, rent subsidies for students and to refurbish shelters & security rooms.

 

The Jewish Agency has raised 50 million shekels ($13.3 million) from donors to rebuild southern Israel areas that were damaged by the country’s conflict with Hamas and enable the communities there to attract more residents.

Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky

Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky – Photo: Moti Milrod

The Jewish Agency “built southern Israel, helping the early pioneers establish these towns and communities in the country’s early years,” the agency’s chairman of the executive, Natan Sharansky, said in a statement.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| October 22, 2014
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UN chief promises investigation into rockets found at UN schools during Gaza operation

 

Secretary General Ban, at debriefing of the UN Security Council, “The scale of the destruction in Gaza has left deep questions about proportionality & the need for accountability.”

By MAYA SHWAYDER

 

NEW YORK — Fresh off a Monday meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon debriefed the UN Security Council on Tuesday morning on his recent trip to Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian territories, and said that he would push forward on an investigation into the destruction and damaging of UN-owned buildings, including incidents when Hamas weapons were found in UN schools.

Ban Ki-moon

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon .

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| October 21, 2014
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IDF Reveals Hamas Planned a Terror-Tunnel Massacre for Jewish New Year

IDF spokesperson reveals planned Hamas attack, originally timed for Rosh Hashana, would have involved an invasion force of 200 heavily-armed terrorists that would have been on an unprecedented scale.

By Ari Soffer

 

The IDF has confirmed rumors, circulating since last summer’s war with Gaza terrorists, that Hamas was planning a massive attack on Israeli communities by hundreds of terrorists who would infiltrate into Israel via the vast network of “terror-tunnels” dug from Gaza into Israeli territory.

In an exclusive Vanity Fair report, IDF spokesperson Lt. Colonel Peter Lerner finally revealed that in destroying the tunnel Israel may have prevented a coordinated massacre of its civilians on an unprecedented scale. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| October 20, 2014
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Hamas source tells Turkish press: Israel seized bodies of 2 Hamas fighters in Gaza war

The Palestinian sources told Turkish news agency that a subsequent Hamas investigation revealed 2 of their elite fighters fell in battle with IDF troops near Khan Younis.

By Ynet

 

Palestinian sources on Sunday told Turkish news agency Anatolia that Israel is holding the bodies of two Hamas field commanders missing since the end of the 50-day conflict in Gaza during the summer.

Hamas fighters during the Gaza conflict (Photo: Reuters)

Hamas fighters during the Gaza conflict – Photo: Reuters

According to the sources, Anatolia said, the fate of the two bodies, both belonging to members of Hamas’ military wing, was uncovered after a month-long intensive investigation.

The Palestinian sources named the Hamas men as Basel Abu al-Naja, and Ibrahim al-Amur, saying they were both members of the Hamas elite forces, the news agency said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| October 16, 2014
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UN chief ‘shocked & alarmed’ by Gaza terror tunnels – but investigates Israel not Hamas

U.N. Secretary-General visits southern Israel & Gaza Strip
• UN Chief: The build-destroy, build-destroy cycle in Gaza must be broken
• UN Chief tours Hamas’ terror tunnel near Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, calls threats posed by rockets & tunnels “not acceptable.”

By Shlomo Cesana, Gadi Golan, Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom Staff and News Agencies

 

The U.N. Human Rights Council’s investigation of Operation Protective Edge will go ahead as planned, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two met in Jerusalem earlier this week. Israel tried to convince Ban that an internal Israeli probe of the recent Gaza operation would be sufficient, but Ban made clear he would await the results of the U.N.
Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| October 3, 2014
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British Medical Journal’s editor “deeply, deeply regrets” publishing open letter on Gaza

The editor of the British medical journal Lancet, Dr. Richard Horton, made an apologetic statement Thursday at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa reassuring Israeli doctors that he will publish a retraction.

By

 

The editor of the British medical journal The Lancet, which ran an open letter accusing Israel of a “massacre” in Gaza, said on a visit to Israel that he will publish a retraction.

The Lancet

The Lancet, a venerable medical journal. – Photo: Screenshot

Dr. Richard Horton made a statement Thursday during Grand Rounds at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, which he also visited earlier in the week.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
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