LEBANOE/ISRAEL: Lebanese army says it's deactivated rockets ready to launch into Israel, Israeli family tells of hardship during conflict.

Record ID: 396546

  • Title: LEBANOE/ISRAEL: Lebanese army says it's deactivated rockets ready to launch into Israel, Israeli family tells of hardship during conflict.
  • Date: 15th January 2009
  • Summary: ASHKELON, ISRAEL (JANUARY 14, 2009) (REUTERS) ISRAELI MILITARY SPOKESPERSONS HOLDING NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS AT CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI AIR FORCE BRIGADIER RELIK SHFIR SAYING: "We are doing whatever we can to reduce collateral damage, not because it's tactically right, not because it looks good on TV, but because targeting innocent people goes against
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACA06339L9W2M8LOB0Q2FN9XQM
  • Story Text: Lebanese army says it has deactivated more rockets, ready to be launched into Israel, after an earlier rocket attack. Israeli military officials say the army refrains from targeting civilians. A family living in a rocket hit Israeli town with a son in reserve duty, tell of their hardship.
    The Lebanese army and members of the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, deactivated on Wednesday (January 14) three rockets rigged to launch an hour after they had been found, the army said.
    The commander of a U.N. peacekeeping force urged Lebanon and Israel to exercise restraint after at least three rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon earlier in the day.
    The Lebanese government condemned the attack, the second launched from Lebanon against Israel since it began its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Dec.
    Israel responded with two barrages of artillery fire. There were no reports of damage or injury caused by the Israeli shells, Bouziane said.
    Israeli military officials held a news conference in southern Israel on Wednesday and spoke about civilian casualties in the Israeli assault in Gaza.

    "We are doing whatever we can to reduce collateral damage, not because it's tactically right, not because it looks good on TV, but because targeting innocent people goes against our culture. So that type of philosophy in command goes from the top down to the last pilot who eventually pushes the trigger button," said Air Force Brigadier Relik Shafir from the rocket-hit town of Ashkelon.
    The officials screened an aerial video, shot from a warplane cockpit, which they said showed how Israeli pilots divert strikes to uninhabited areas to avoid harming civilians.

    "We think that any civilian that is being targeted is.. We hold the Hamas accountable for his being targeted," said Israeli army spokesperson Major Avital Leibovitch - without elaborating on what she meant by 'civilians being targeted'.
    The Palestinian death toll in Israel's Gaza offensive topped 1,000 on Wednesday, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said, while Egyptian mediators pressed both sides for a ceasefire to stop nearly three weeks of bloodshed.
    The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human rights said more than 670 civilians were among the dead. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have been killed since Israel launched its campaign.
    In Cairo, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renewed his call for "an immediate and durable ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas, which on Wednesday fired more rockets into southern Israeli cities, causing no casualties.
    An Israeli official who asked not to be identified said Egypt, trying to broker a ceasefire, was pushing for a deal by the weekend.
    With Israeli troops edging closer to the heart of the city of Gaza, international organisations have expressed growing concern about the plight of children trapped there.
    As the Israeli offensive in Gaza entered it's 19th day, a family living in a rocket hit Israeli town with a son in reserve duty, told Reuters Television of the anxieties they are facing.

    "Yesterday he (son) left for Gaza and that has changed everything.
    I am totally not concentrated, I am trying to phone him all day. He is not available, I reach his answering machine and until this very moment he has not answered my calls. So I am a little bit nervous," said Yaffa Buganim, whose youngest son Shemi Buganim was amongst more than 10,000 reserve soldiers recruited by the Israeli army.
    Yaffa and Momi Buganim fear their 23-year-old son was involved in the Gaza fighting.

    "Is there a mother who is not worried? There is no such thing," Yaffa told the reporter.
    The couple have lived in Sdeort for decades -- a border Israeli town that has suffered constant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. Momi supports the Israeli assault in Gaza and thinks it would bring about calm in the region, while his wife Yaffa disagrees.

    "After this offensive I am certain calm would be restored,"
    said Momi and Yaffa replied; "I disagree...Maybe for one, two years or five years."
    The family recently built a bomb shelter in the house, however prior to this, when militants fired rockets at Sderot, they used to hide in the corridor.

    "Beforehand we were hiding here in the corridor, and every time there was an alert, we were hiding here in the corridor. Today, thank God, we have a bomb shelter," Momi Buganim said.
    On Monday (January 12) Israeli reserve troops have moved in to take over positions from regular soldiers, freeing them to move deeper into Gaza City, according to Israel Defence Force spokesman.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register