Sunday
Jan042009
Gaza: The Israeli Invasion (11 a.m. Israel/Gaza; 9 a.m. Britain)
Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 9:00
Latest Post: Rolling Updates on the Israeli Invasion (4 January)
As expected, the UN Security Council could not reach agreement on any action in its emergency session. The US blocked any approval of a resolution calling for an "immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and expressing concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas".
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, the only broadcast correspondent inside Gaza, reports fighting in the east of Gaza, with Israeli troops searching house-to-house. The Israeli attack occurred on three fronts, with an Israeli column moving east to west and reaching the Mediterranean to split Gaza in two. Israeli troops have reached the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun and the Jabaliya refugee camp, and eyewitness report Israeli forces on the outskirts of Gaza City.
Israeli Defense Forces say that they wounded a number of Hamas fighters and acknowledge that 30 Israeli soldiers have been hurt. Al Aqsa, Hamas' television station, has just claimed that two Israeli soldiers have been captured. Palestinian medical sources say four Gazans have been killed in the ground assault.
IDF also claims that they hit 45 Hamas targets including the Intelligence Headquarters. Five Palestinians have died in an Israeli artillery strike on a shopping area. The overall Gazan death toll is now 477.
A main water line to Gaza has just been damaged, cutting off supply to 30,000 people at the Nuseirat camp. Aid workers say hospitals in Gaza are overrun and lack medicines, equipment, and staff to cope with the casualties. Most people in northern Gaza have been without electricity for days.
As expected, the UN Security Council could not reach agreement on any action in its emergency session. The US blocked any approval of a resolution calling for an "immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and expressing concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas".
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, the only broadcast correspondent inside Gaza, reports fighting in the east of Gaza, with Israeli troops searching house-to-house. The Israeli attack occurred on three fronts, with an Israeli column moving east to west and reaching the Mediterranean to split Gaza in two. Israeli troops have reached the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun and the Jabaliya refugee camp, and eyewitness report Israeli forces on the outskirts of Gaza City.
Israeli Defense Forces say that they wounded a number of Hamas fighters and acknowledge that 30 Israeli soldiers have been hurt. Al Aqsa, Hamas' television station, has just claimed that two Israeli soldiers have been captured. Palestinian medical sources say four Gazans have been killed in the ground assault.
IDF also claims that they hit 45 Hamas targets including the Intelligence Headquarters. Five Palestinians have died in an Israeli artillery strike on a shopping area. The overall Gazan death toll is now 477.
A main water line to Gaza has just been damaged, cutting off supply to 30,000 people at the Nuseirat camp. Aid workers say hospitals in Gaza are overrun and lack medicines, equipment, and staff to cope with the casualties. Most people in northern Gaza have been without electricity for days.