GAZA: Fresh Israeli strike on Gaza City as Palestinians mourn dead from U.N. school attack

Record ID: 340357

  • Title: GAZA: Fresh Israeli strike on Gaza City as Palestinians mourn dead from U.N. school attack
  • Date: 7th January 2009
  • Summary: PALESTINIAN BOY WATCHING THE BREAD
  • Embargoed: 22nd January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA7EMAW8XL6HW3W71MD3FOGWYBA
  • Story Text: Two Palestinians were killed Wednesday morning (January 7), during an Israeli strike on the Zeitoun neighbourhood east of the city of Gaza, medical workers said.
    It was unclear whether those killed were civilians or militants.
    It was the latest attack during the Israeli military's "Operation Cast Lead," which entered its 12th day on Wednesday.
    Over 600 Palestinians and ten Israelis have been killed in the conflict.
    Palestinians in Gaza reported severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine throughout the coastal enclave, which is home to 1.5 million people.
    An Israeli army source said Israel planned to halt military operations from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (1100 GMT to 1400 GMT) every day, starting on Wednesday, near the city of Gaza to allow aid to flow through a "humanitarian corridor" it is setting up.
    Palestinian officials in the Gaza Strip said Israel informed them of the move to allow shops to open and for funerals to take place. Aid agencies have complained of a mounting crisis for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled territory.
    At a bakery in Gaza city, residents queued up before dawn for an opportunity to buy bread.

    "The situation is not good. All the Arab countries turned against us. We have only God on our side. We have to line up for bread from four o'clock in the morning," one man said.
    In the town of Jabalya, Palestinian residents took stock of damage at a United Nations school where, according to medics, 42 Palestinians were killed Tuesday (January 6), prompting Arab and widespread international anger.
    Israel on Tuesday Israel acknowledged hitting the school where hundreds of people were taking refuge.
    Israel accused Hamas of using civilians as "human shields" and said troops had been returning mortar fire from the school.
    Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that runs the institution in Jabalya refugee camp, said: "We're
    9 percent sure, after an initial investigation, that there were no militants at the school."
    Terrified residents spoke about Tuesday's attack.

    "We were hit by rockets and my house was destroyed and was turned to rubble. I have no place to go," said Jamila al-Gharableh as she held her child in the school yard.
    The Israeli army said it shelled the school after soldiers were targeted by militants based at the site.
    On the diplomatic front, Israel and Hamas studied a proposal Wednesday by Egypt for a ceasefire that won immediate backing from the United States and Europe.
    However, Israeli officials also said ministers would discuss a major escalation of their offensive that would push troops deep inside Gaza's cities and refugee camps in their bid to end rocket salvoes into Israel by Islamist armed groups.
    A Palestinian official said Hamas leaders, who want an end to Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave, had been briefed in Egypt on the proposals by President Hosni Mubarak and were debating them internally.
    Israel wants any end to the hostilities to satisfy their demand that Hamas will no longer be able to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under the southern border with Egypt.
    Hamas, which has rebuffed Western demands to recognise Israel, end violence and accept existing interim peace deals, has demanded a lifting of the blockade of Gaza in any truce. It seized the territory in 2007, 18 months after it won a parliamentary election.
    END
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