- Title: ISRAEL: Israelis in Tel Aviv protest against ongoing Gaza violence.
- Date: 17th November 2012
- Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (NOVEMBER 17, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELIS PROTESTING AGAINST ONGOING VIOLENCE IN GAZA POLICEMAN WIDE OF PROTEST PEOPLE CARRYING BANNERS POLICEMAN AT PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER, LEAH ROSHAD, SAYING: "I am here in order to protest the attack of Gaza that was clearly planned from months long but at the same time was timed this way in orde
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA15SZ8QIWRNUR69RXZENBD2B9J
- Story Text: Some 200 Israelis took to streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday (November 17) to protest at the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of more than 30 Palestinians and three Israeli in the past four days.
"I am here in order to protest the attack of Gaza that was clearly planned from months long but at the same time was timed this way in order to service an election spin and to distract the public discourse from issues of social justice, from issues of economy," Leah Roshad, a protester, said in reference to Israeli general election scheduled for January.
The protesters who held up anti-violence banners gathered in the centre of the coastal city only hours after the "Iron Dome" defence system shot down a Tel Aviv-bound rocket.
Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility for Saturday's rocket attack on Tel Aviv, the third against the city since Wednesday (November 14). It said it fired an Iranian-designed Fajr-5 at the coastal metropolis, some 70 km (43 miles) north of Gaza.
Israel started its massive air campaign on Wednesday with the declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching rockets that have plagued its southern communities for years.
The operation has drawn Western support for what U.S. and European leaders have called Israel's right to self-defence, along with appeals to both sides to avoid civilian casualties.
Hamas, shunned by the West over its refusal to recognise Israel, says its cross-border attacks have come in response to Israeli strikes against Palestinian fighters in Gaza.
Hamas says it is committed to continued confrontation with Israel and is eager not to seem any less resolute than smaller, more radical groups that have emerged in Gaza in recent years.
Officials in Gaza said 41 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians including eight children and a pregnant woman, had been killed since Israel began its air strikes. Three Israeli civilians were killed by a rocket on Thursday (November 15). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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