Gaza Under Attack | Occupied: Headlines From Palestine

July 16, 2015
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Israeli Occupation Fighter Jets Hit Target In Gaza

GAZA (Ma’an) — Israeli fighter jets attacked a target in the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning after a missile fired from the strip hit an open area near the town of Ashkelon in the western Negev, an Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an. No injuries or damages were reported in Israel and have yet to be confirmed in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli spokesperson could not give any information regarding the location of the airstrike in Gaza, only that the target was “terror infrastructure.”

On June 24 a similar exchange took place between the enclave and Israel.

The exchanges come as Israel and Hamas have allegedly been holding indirect talks for cementing a long-term truce in the Gaza Strip, Hamas sources said last month.While an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Aug. 26, ending a nearly 50-day war between the two sides, pledges to resume follow-up talks regarding longer term relations were delayed several times and never formally resumed.The conflict left over 2,200 Palestinians dead, the majority civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.It also caused heavy damage to Gaza’s infrastructure and damaged more than 160,000 homes.

July 5, 2015
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Headlines From Palestine: July 5, 2015

Hamas Reopens Gaza Offices Of Mobile Provider After Illegal Closure

The Palestinian phone company Jawwal on Sunday reopened its offices and showrooms across the Gaza Strip less than a week after they were closed by Hamas over accusations of tax dodging.

Israeli Occupation Navy Opens Fire On Gaza Fishermen

Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen in several locations off the coast of the Gaza Strip with no injuries reported, witnesses said.

Israeli Extremists Attack Palestinian Vehicles In Jerusalem, Injure Woman

A Palestinian woman was injured Saturday evening when right-wing extremists threw stones at Palestinian vehicles in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli Occupation Troops Targeted Journalists With Teargas

Israeli soldiers last Thursday targeted journalists working for Jordan’s Ro’ya TV with teargas while they were covering a peaceful Palestinian demonstration near Jaba, a village north of Jerusalem.

Israeli Occupation Committed 184 Violations Against Holy Sites In Two Months

At least 184 violations by Israeli authorities against the holy sites in East Jerusalem and Hebron were reported in the recent two months, Sunday reported Yousef Id’ies, Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs.

July 5, 2015
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Israeli Occupation Navy Opens Fire On Gaza Fishermen

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen in several locations off the coast of the Gaza Strip with no injuries reported, witnesses said. Fishermen said their fishing boats came under fire off the coast of al-Waha northwest of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. Separately, Israeli forces fired at Gaza fishermen off the coast of Sudaniyya northwest of Gaza City, as well as off the coast near Sheikh Ijlein in the central Gaza Strip.No injuries were reported.

An Israeli army spokesperson said that Israeli forces fired warning shots into the air after the boats had “deviated from the designated fishing zone,” but was unable to elaborate on how far from shore the vessels were at the time of the incident.Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on Palestinian fisherman and farmers since the ceasefire agreement signed Aug. 26, 2014 that ended a devastating 50-day Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip.In May alone, there were a total of 51 incidents of shootings, incursions into the coastal enclave, and arrests, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.This included 41 shootings, which left nine injured, including one minor.The attacks come despite Israeli promises at the end of the ceasefire to ease restrictions on Palestinian access to both the sea and the border region near the “security buffer zone.”

June 24, 2015
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Israeli Occupation Warplanes Target Farmland North of Gaza

GAZA, June 24, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli warplanes targeted a farmland in the town of Beit Hanoun to the north of the besieged Gaza Strip with at least one missile on Wednesday before dawn, reported local media sources and witnesses.

There were no reports of casualties in the aerial attack, which came only hours after Israeli media outlets said a projectile, which was fired from Gaza, landed near the seaport city of Asqalan. No injuries were reported however.

In the summer of 2014, Israel launched a relentless onslaught on Gaza, which claimed the lives of about 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and left more than 10,000 injured. Hundreds of thousands others remain displaced and live in makeshift caravans or in UNRWA-run schools.

M.N/T.R/M.H

June 22, 2015
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Headlines From Palestine: June 22, 2015

UN Report: ‘War crimes’ Likely By both Sides In 2014 War On Gaza

Both Israel and Palestinian militants may have committed war crimes during last year’s Gaza war, a widely anticipated United Nations report said Monday, decrying “unprecedented” devastation and human suffering.The Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict announced it had gathered “substantial information pointing to the possible commission of war crimes by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups.”

Powerful Article: In Israel, We Walk Amongst Killers And Torturers

The harassment of the Al-Midan Theater stems from envy of our subjects’ ability to overcome oppression, to think and create, in defiance of our image of them as inferior.

Israeli Rights Group Blasts Occupation Army For Failing To Protect Palestinians From Extremist War Crime ‘Settlers’

A recent report by the human rights organization Yesh Din claims that the Israel Defense Forces does not do enough to protect Palestinians in the West Bank. The study focused on the practice of what it terms “standing idly by,” of Israeli soldiers not moving to protect civilians from violence by Jewish settlers.

Israeli Occupation Blasts French Peace Initiative

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the French government’s initiative to promote a United Nations Security Council resolution attempting to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reported the Israeli daily Haartez.

Third Freedom Flotilla To Try Breaking Siege Sails To Gaza

Freedom Flotilla III, a third initiative organized by international pro-Palestine activists to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip for eight years, is expected to set off from Greece to the coastal enclave within hours, said Isam Yousef, coordinator of the Miles of Smiles convoys.

Israeli Extremists Spray Racist Graffiti And Attack Palestinians

Israeli extremists Sunday sprayed anti-Arab graffiti on the walls running along a street in Tabariya, while settlers residing in illegal settlements in central Hebron attacked Palestinians with rocks, according to WAFA correspondent.

Palestinians Rip Up Israeli Permits: “I do not need your permission to enter my own land”

Following the overwhelming operative in Jerusalem Sunday where a Palestinian teenager was shot after stabbing Israeli border guard, Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled permissions to enter “Israel” for the people of Si’ir village near Hebron and 500 others.

June 22, 2015
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UN Report: ‘War crimes’ Likely By both Sides In 2014 War On Gaza

GENEVA (AFP) — Both Israel and Palestinian militants may have committed war crimes during last year’s Gaza war, a widely anticipated United Nations report said Monday, decrying “unprecedented” devastation and human suffering.The Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict announced it had gathered “substantial information pointing to the possible commission of war crimes by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups.”

On Jan. 16 the ICC announced “a preliminary examination” into Israel’s actions over a period including the Gaza war in which over 2,200 Palestinians were killed, mainly civilians.On the Israeli side 73 people were killed, 67 whom were soldiers.On April 1, the PLO acceded to the ICC with the goal of trying Israeli leaders over alleged abuses in the Gaza war and alleged crimes relating to the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.But the Israeli military has expressed confidence that its own internal probes will be sufficient to head off action by the Hague-based court.

On June 11, the Israeli army said that it was dropping proceedings over a July 16 bombing of a Gaza beach where four children were killed during last summer’s war.

Cousins Ahed Atef Bakr and Zakaria Ahed Bakr, both aged 10, nine-year-old Mohamed Ramez Bakr and 11-year-old Ismail Mohamed Bakr were playing on the beach in Gaza City when they were hit in strikes witnessed by journalists staying at a beachfront hotel.

The death of the four boys was well documented and brought international outcry against policies that allegedly enabled the Israeli military to kill civilians.

June 14, 2015
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Israeli Occupation Forces Shoot, Injure Palestinian In Southern Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces deployed near the Sufa crossing in the southern Gaza Strip opened fire at and injured a Palestinian Saturday, local sources told Ma’an.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the report, telling Ma’an that a “Palestinian suspect approached the security fence” and Israeli forces opened fire at his lower extremities after firing warning shots into the air. One hit was confirmed, and Israeli forces took the man to a hospital in Israel for treatment, she added.

The spokesperson did not have confirmation if the injured man would be detained after treatment or returned to the Gaza Strip.Sufa was one of several crossings between Gaza and Israel to be sealed by Israeli authorities in 2007 and was permanently closed in 2009, however is sporadically opened for humanitarian needs, according to Israeli rights group Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.The border area where Israeli forces opened fire Saturday is part of an Israeli-enforced “buffer zone” along the Gaza-Israel border as well as on the western seaside border of the strip.The parameters of the buffer zone are regularly changed by Israeli authorities, and Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire toward Palestinian civilians inside of the buffer zone since the signing of a ceasefire agreement that ended a more than 50-day war between Israel and Hamas last summer, according to documentation by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PHCR).Despite shorter distances set by Israeli authorities, PHCR reports that attacks against Palestinians have taken place up to approximately 1.5 kilometers inside the border fence.

Constituting around 17 percent of the total territory of the Gaza Strip, the buffer zone effectively turns local farms into no-go zones.The buffer zone, which Palestinians are prohibited from entering, “is illegal under both Israeli and international law,” according to PHCR.

June 13, 2015
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Israeli Occupation Forces Open Fire At Palestinian Fishing Boats In Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, forcing fishermen to flee the area in fear for their lives, a local union said.The union also reported that Israeli forces confiscated eight fishing nets late Thursday. The report comes as several Palestinian fishermen have been detained this month, and three have been shot dead by Israeli forces since September.Risk of death or detention by Israeli forces is compounded by ongoing harassment and interference with their work from Israeli naval forces who frequently confiscate boats and fishing materials, according to documentation by the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.An Israeli army spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment on Friday’s incident.In a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas last summer, Israel agreed to expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, allowing fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles from shore and to continue to expand the area gradually, however fishermen are routinely stopped within the zone.Near-daily confrontation with Israeli naval forces come as many Gazan residents are food insecure, and over 90 percent of Palestinians working in the fishing industry live below the poverty line in Gaza, the Secretary-general of the Union of Fishermen told Ma’an.

June 10, 2015
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Headlines From Palestine: June 10, 2015

Egypt to open Rafah crossing with Gaza for 3 days starting on Saturday, Palestinian official says

Israeli Occupation Forces Murder Palestinian In Jenin Refugee Camp

Israeli forces shot dead a young Palestinian man in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank early Wednesday morning, Palestinian security sources say.

13-Year-Old Palestinian Detained By Israeli Occupation Forces In East Jerusalem

Israeli forces detained a 13-year-old Palestinian from his home in the al-Issawiya neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem overnight Tuesday, lawyer says.

Israeli Occupation Denied UN Human Rights Rapporteur Entry To Palestine

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, in a press statement Tuesday, condemned Israel decision to deny the United Nations Rapporteur on human rights, Makarim Wibisono, entry into the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT).

Israeli Occupation Tanks And Bulldozers Infiltrate Gaza And Raze Land In The South

Israeli military vehicles this morning entered into civilians’ agricultural lands in the village of al-Qurara north-east of Khan Yunis city in the south of Gaza. Sources reported shots fired.

Israeli Occupation Demolishes Tent In Hebron, Razes Palestinian Farm In Jerusalem

The Israeli authorities Wednesday demolished a Palestinian-owned residential tent near the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, and razed a farm in Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Issawiya, according to local sources.

June 10, 2015
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Israeli Occupation Tanks And Bulldozers Infiltrate Gaza And Raze Land In The South

PNN/Gaza/

Israeli military vehicles this morning entered into civilians’ agricultural lands in the village of al-Qurara north-east of Khan Yunis city in the south of Gaza. Sources reported shots fired.

According to the official agency, around 7 military vehicles, including three bulldozers and four tanks, moved into civilians’ farmlands in east al-Qurara, on the basis that the military base ‘Kesufim’ is located on those lands east of the village.

The bulldozers razed land amid heavy fire, during which military planes flew air reconassaince missions.

Sources confirmed that the occupation vehicles penetrated up to 200 meters into the citizens’ farmland, firing towards the farmers and preventing them from entering their land.

Gazan farmers have been repeatedly targeted on their lands by the Israeli occupation.