Rolling Updates on Israeli Invasion of Gaza (5 January)

Later Updates on the Israeli Invasion of Gaza (7 January)

2:55 a.m. Downtime until the morning. Thanks for all your support and comments today.

2:30 a.m. The lull continues but, as former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman denies on Al Jazeera that a "National Information Directorate" exists (which is a bold move, given that the NID was "outed" in The Observer of London on Sunday), signs that Israel's information campaign may not be able to hold open the window for military operations very long.

CNN International is not only leading with footage of the hospitals crisis in Gaza but pointedly noted they obtained this footage despite an Israeli-imposed ban on journalists inside the territory.

Israel tried to counter this by playing up their permission for 80 truckloads of aid (just over 1/10 the pre-conflict amount) into southern Gaza on Monday. On this evidence, this won't be enough to hold back mounting criticism.

1:25 a.m. Developments on the diplomatic front: Arab Foreign Ministers have met in New York but it is already clear that a Libyan-sponsored resolution, blocked by the US last weekend, is "dead". Instead, talk is of a French-drafted resolution, which Paris is hoping will be supported by Arab representatives. United Nations sources say this will include calls for an immediate ceasefire, a "humanitarian corridor" for aid, and a "monitoring mechanism". With the manoeuvring needed for any hope of passage, the resolution will not be brought up for a vote on Tuesday.

The Gazan death toll is now at least 548. UN officials in Gaza continue to emphasise that this is "a humanitarian crisis".


11:30 p.m. A bit of a lull in developments on military and diplomatic fronts. Al Jazeera reports that the fighting around Gaza City seems for an elevated area just outside the city which provides a vantage point across northern Gaza.

9:30 p.m. Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin on the current Israeli bombardment: "Almost every building in Israel's definition is a Hamas building."



9:05 p.m. Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces trying to take strategic overlook looking down on Jabaliya refugee camp, the largest in Gaza.

8:55 p.m. Israeli bloggers claim that the English website of Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has been hacked by Israel. Both English and Arabic sites of Al Qassam are currently offline.

8:50 p.m. CNN is way behind the story. As fighting intensifies around and possibly in Gaza City, this is their website lead: "Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into southern Israel on Monday despite a 10-day Israeli military campaign that reportedly has left more than 500 Palestinians dead."

8:45 p.m. Arab foreign ministers, who have mostly sat on their hands during this crisis, finally decide they have to make some pretence at action. Palestine Authority, Libyan, Moroccan, and Jordanian ministers are en route to New York.

8:20 p.m. The explosions we noted an hour ago seem to be the "softening-up" artillery shelling for an Israeli advance on Gaza City. The armed wing of Islamic Jihad has told Al Jazeera that Israeli tanks are trying to move into the city, and Israeli sources have confirmed that a "major battle" is taking place on the northern outskirts.

7:20 p.m. Affidavit of "Maher Najjar, Deputy Director, Coastal Municipalities Water Utility" now on-line:

As of last night, there is no electricity at all in Gaza City....Two of the lines feeding electricity to Rafah, one from Israel and one from Egypt, have been damaged.... I have no additional diesel reserves, and I cannot obtain additional diesel right now. The water wells and sewage pumping stations that still have diesel will run out within a few days, others have none.

7:15 p.m. As Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin gives live report from Gaza City, massive explosion on-screen behind him. Moyheldin: "There's nowhere for the residents of that area to go....You're seeing a very modern army unleashing weapons on a defenceless population."

7:10 p.m. Most inept disinformation campaign: "Al Jazera" on Twitter --- Sample update: "The leaders of Hamas say 'we will hide as long as needed, our women and children will suffer for us'"

7:05 p.m. Al Jazeera correspondents reporting fireballs and "white explosions" in northern Gaza.

6:30 p.m. Following story in The Times of London that Israel used white phosphorous bombs to cover its ground invasion, Moussa el-Haddad, Gaza resident and father of blogger Laila el-Haddad ("Gazamom"), reports "series of bombs in a row, followed by a large white halo, white smoke; people in vicinity cannot breathe...irritation, and exposed areas [of body] become red, blistered, and itchy".

6 p.m. Hamas spokesman Moussa Abu Marzouk in Damascus to Reuters: Hamas is open to truce in Gaza but only if Israel lifts its blockade:

Any initiative not based on ending the aggression, opening the border crossings and an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has no chance of succeeding.

5:55 p.m. Al-Jazeera reports that the first week of the Gaza offensive has resulted in estimated losses of $1.5 billion.

5 p.m. The statement of Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubeida is now summarised on-line: claims of one Israeli helicopter downed, one tank and one personnel carrier destroyed, one POW taken

4:55 p.m. Al Jazeera reports Al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza hit by two artillery shells

4:35 p.m. The Guardian of London is reporting "gun battles in the streets of Gaza City for the first time this morning"  with Israeli troops going house-to-house looking for Hamas fighters

4:20 p.m. Fares Akram, the Gaza correspondent for The Independent of London, writes about his father, killed by an Israeli bomb in northern Gaza on Saturday:

My father, Akrem al-Ghoul, was no militant. Born in Gaza and educated in Egypt, he was a lawyer and a judge who worked for the Palestinian Authority. After Hamas took over, he quit and turned to agriculture....

As a grieving son, I am finding it hard to distinguish between what the Israelis call terrorists and the Israeli pilots and tank crews who are invading Gaza. What is the difference between the pilot who blew my father to pieces and the militant who fires a small rocket? I have no answers but, just as I am to become a father, I have lost my father.

4:15 p.m. Al Jazeera: 70 percent of Gazans without clean drinking water, food distribution suspended in northern Gaza

Hassan Khalaf, director of Al Shifa hospital: "What is happening is genocide."

3:55 p.m. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida says on Al Aqsa Television said on Monday that the group has "thousands" of fighters and will welcome Israel into Gaza "with fire and iron"

3:03 p.m. Al Jazeera reports eyewitness accounts of Israeli troops demolishing some houses and taking up positions on rooftops of others.

2:42 p.m. Now Livni sets out the rest of her strategy, pointing to restoration of Fatah/Palestinian Authority in Gaza --- Agreement on border crossings (and thus passage of aid) was in 2005 with EU and "legitimate" Palestinian Authority --- Hamas is "illegitimate"

Head of EU delegation: EU "insists on cease-fire at earliest possible moment", not after Israeli military operations --- We have difference in view from Israel on this: "This has to be clearly set."

2:34 p.m. If Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni sets out same line in private that she has just set out in public, there is no hope of any Israeli movement toward cease-fire --- Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin: "Everybody here knows that European Union is peripheral....Israel is satellite of United States"

Livni lays out the political strategy of "moderates" with Israel against "extremists": "Everybody in this region needs to choose where he belongs" --- Hamas is connected with Iran, Damascus, and Hezbollah

2:25 p.m. Press conference of EU delegation and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has just started --- Livni: "Situation is that we face terror....Now we need to against terror, against Hamas."

2:22 p.m. Intriguing diplomatic manoeuvre: Speaker of Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani travelling to Damascus to meet Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.

2:20 p.m. YNet News reports 24 rockets fired at southern Israel with several people lightly wounded.

2:15 p.m. Al Jazeera is focusing on humanitarian crisis and now the increasing number of child fatalities:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_gEBO-6VRjs[/youtube]



12:35 p.m United Nations Relief and Works Agency representative tells CNN that 250,000 Gazans have no access to clean water. It is a "rapidly deteriorating situation".

Fuel terminal is due to reopen today. Israel says it is sending in 80 trucks today (compared to 750/day during the truce period).

12:30 p.m. Oxfam tell BBC that they cannot bring food into Gaza because of the security risk.

11:40 a.m. In case you missed it, this report from Israel's Ha'aretz:

The ground invasion was preceded by large-scale artillery shelling from around 4 P.M....Hundreds of shells were fired, including cluster bombs aimed at open areas.

11:05 a.m. The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator has issued an updated report, through 5 p.m yesterday, on the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza:

It is essential that patients and ambulances are able to reach hospitals, that agencies are able to access warehouses in order to conduct distributions. Currently movement within the Strip is severely challenged.

10:50 a.m. Yesterday we noted one of few examples of "Palestinian viewpoint" on CNN, the interview with Gazan resident Moussa el-Haddad and his daughter Laila in North Carolina. Interview has just been repeated on CNN International.

Laila el-Haddad is posting on events in Gaza via Twitter.

10:40 a.m. Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz calls for move from military operations to diplomacy:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Jerusalem today provides Israel with an exit ramp from the fighting against Hamas in Gaza. Sarkozy proposes declaring a lull in combat, which would test whether Hamas would agree to halt firing rockets. Israel would do well to respond affirmatively to the proposal, which protects its right to respond with force in the event the Palestinians continue firing from the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal puts out Israeli public-relations line:

In the clearest break from a strategy it used to pursue Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in 2006, Israeli leaders have set out clearly defined -- and relatively modest -- expectations for the current Gaza offensive.

10:20 a.m. A day of activity on the diplomatic front, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and a Hamas delegation in Cairo and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in New York. A European Union delegation is arriving in Egypt before continuing to Israel and possibly Palestinian territories.

On Sunday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, and Russian envoy Alexander Saltonov met Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Neither discussion produced any breakthroughs --- Livni pointedly rejected Saltanov's offer of communication with Hamas via Russia:

We are serious in our intention to harm Hamas and we have no intention to give them legitimize them and pass messages on to them. We have nothing to discuss with Hamas.

10:15 a.m. Israel/Palestine time: Israel has continued its aerial and artillery bombardment in support of its ground offensive, hitting 30 Hamas targets as well as a mosque which the Israeli Defense Forces claimed was storing weapons.

The Gazan death toll is now 521. At least 12 more civilians, including seven members of a family, have been killed in strikes on refugee camps and homes.

The IDF says 30 rockets were fired into southern Israel on Sunday. The number, while less than the number launched at the start of the 10-day conflict, is an increase from the the 20 fired on Saturday.

Most Gazans are confined to homes without electricity and with shortages of food and water.

One Clue to Why Gazan Civilians Are Dying: What is a "Hamas Stronghold"?

The Daily Telegraph headlines its summary of the Gaza conflict, "Israeli Troops Close in on Hamas Stronghold".

And what is this stronghold? Is it a specific military position? Rocket launching site? Barracks or training camp?

No, it's much bigger, as the lead paragraph makes clear: "Israeli forces closed in on Gaza City today...".

That's right, all of Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold. Perhaps The Daily Telegraph may want to consider the implications of that assertion, as well as its next phrase: Israeli forces "with raids on densely populated Palestinian settlements".

William Kristol on Why Gazans Must Die....So We Can Defeat Iran

William Kristol argued yesterday in the New York Times that, "the conventional wisdom will be proved wrong. Israel could well succeed in Gaza":

For one thing, southern Lebanon is a substantial and hilly area, bordered by northern Lebanon and Syria, through which Hezbollah could be re-supplied, both by Syria itself and by Iran. Gaza is a flat, narrow strip, bordered by Israel, as well as by the sea and by Egypt, no friend to Hamas. By cutting off the northern part of Gaza from the southern, Israel has basically surrounded northern Gaza, creating a military situation very different from that in Lebanon in 2006.

And:

In addition, in Lebanon, Israel proclaimed war goals that it couldn’t achieve — such as retrieving its two kidnapped soldiers and disarming Hezbollah. Now the Israeli government says that it seeks to weaken Hamas, lessen its ability to fire rockets from Gaza and secure new arrangements along the Egyptian-Gaza border to prevent Hamas from re-arming. These may well be achievable goals.

Fair enough. But Kristol then attempts to portray the Israeli move into Gaza as the latest salvo in the 'war on terror':

An Israeli success in Gaza would be a victory in the war on terror — and in the broader struggle for the future of the Middle East. Hamas is only one manifestation of the rise, over the past few decades, of a terror-friendly and almost death-cult-like form of Islamic extremism. The combination of such terror movements with a terror-sponsoring and nuclear-weapons-seeking Iranian state (aided by its sidekick Syria) has produced a new kind of threat to Israel.

But not just to Israel. To everyone in the Middle East — very much including Muslims — who aren’t interested in living under the sway of extremist regimes. And to any nation, like the United States, that is a target of Islamic terror.

And then there's this:

But a defeat of Hamas in Gaza — following on the heels of our success in Iraq — would be a real setback for Iran. It would make it easier to assemble regional and international coalitions to pressure Iran. It might positively affect the Iranian elections in June. It might make the Iranian regime more amenable to dealing. [Emphasis added]

That's right. A 'success' in Gaza- like the 'success' in Iraq- "might" make the Iranian government easier for the US to deal with. Might. Might not.

Firedoglake, meanwhile, reacts to Kristol's piece thusly:

Once again the calculus is this:

-- Random indiscriminate car bomb or ill-aimed mortar -- the most awful tragedy ever (from Gaza, rocket attacks killed 15 people over 8 years).

-- Carpet bombing killing hundreds -- AWESOME!

There's never a question of proportionality as long as a Muslim is on the receiving end of Bill Kristol's notion of justice.

Gaza: Rolling Updates on the Israeli Invasion (4 January)

Later Updates on the Israeli Invasion of Gaza (7 January)
Later Story: "Escape from Hamas", Become a Christian
Later Story: US State Department Twitter-Diplomacy in Action
Later Story: Was the Israeli Attack Planned in June?


3:02 a.m. OK, that's it for awhile. Thanks to all for supporting the blog and sending in items. Back in the morning.

3 a.m. Reuters reports Hamas to send delegation to Egypt on Monday at invitation of Egyptians. This will coincide with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Cairo.

2:15 a.m. All those associated with the Israeli information campaign take note:

While CNN television is generally helping Israel hold its publicity line as it moves further into Gaza, CNN's website is confronting it. It is now leading with the story, based on the interview almost 12 hours ago with Norwegian doctor Erik Fosse, of patients "lying everywhere" in an Al-Shifa hospital lacking medicine and equipment. The website is also highlighting Fosse's remark that "about 30 percent of the casualties at Shifa Hospital on Sunday were children, both among the dead and the wounded". (The Palestinian death toll of 507 is now the #2 story on the website.)



So the comments of one brave, overworked doctor re-work, at least a bit, the "information war". Intriguing to see if this cyber-development, reinforced by the details coming in via Twitter, poses political problems for Israel tomorrow.

1:30 a.m. The general media line is "Israel forces push deeper into Gaza" but, without correspondents in Gaza (except for Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin), they can offer nothing further. So instead CNN features the blathering expert "retired General David Grange" to explain, for example, "that Israel is cognizant of avoiding civilian casulaties" and to dismiss the notion of proportional response: "Operations will continue until the threat is removed. Regretably, civilians will get hurt in that operation."

12:45 a.m. After serving as a channel for Israel, CNN finally shifts because of a human interest story, connecting a Gaza resident (Moussa el-Haddad) with his daughter Laila, a blogger in North Carolina. The father gives a first-hand account of the Israeli attacks and psychological warfare and the daughter stresses getting "the message out" about the destruction.

Jim Clancy makes sure that Moussa el-Haddad is an OK guy, asking, "Do you support a political faction? Do you support Hamas?" He does not, which means he can proceed with his description of the Israeli assault.

12:10 a.m. Al Jazeera says six paramedics and a doctor killed by Israeli artillery shells

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking with Lebanese newspapers, condemns Israeli offensive but also "the heavy responsibility" of Hamas

11:45 p.m. Text message from Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert working at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital:

Thanks for your support.. They bombed the central vegetable market in Gaza city two hours ago. 80 injured, 20 killed, it all came here to Shifa. Hades! We wade in death. Blood and amputees. Many children. Pregnant woman. I have never experienced anything so terrible. Now we hear tanks. Tell it, pass it on, shout it. Anything. DO SOMETHING! DO MORE! We're living in the history books now, all of us! Mads G, 3.1.09 13:50, Gaza, Palestine.

11:35 p.m. Reports that UN officials saying 13,000 Gazans displaced by attacks. At least 20 percent of 507 Gazan deaths are women and children.

10:20 p.m. Israeli Air Force is using new bunker-busting bombs provided by US. According to The Jerusalem Post:

The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes.

Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas infrastructure on Saturday. It was also used in Sunday's bombing of tunnels in Rafah.

(hat tip to Canuckistan)

9:40 p.m. Come back and CNN is still serving as mouthpiece for the Israeli military/political propaganda line. When I left, Michael Oren --- who is now 53 years old --- admitted he had been re-enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces "to speak to the Western media". Now the pulpit has been taken by Adam Harmon, a US citizen who has fought in the IDF.

Here's the second-phrase propaganda strategy to accompany the second-phase ground operations:

1. Israel does not intend to re-occupy Gaza; it is just dealing with the Hamas threat.
2. Israel has learned its lessons from the Lebanon debacle in 2006, where it fought a battle without a clear strategic vision and co-ordination (and Hamas, unless Hezbollah, is cut off from the rest of the world).
3. Israel is concerned about the humanitarian situation of the Gazan population.

Yep, you got that last one right --- having produced a situation where Gazans are dying, wounded, starving, in the dark, suffering from cold, hiding in houses which may or may not be attacked --- Israel is "concerned" about them.

The absurdity of this came out with yet another military expert, retired Lt. Gen'l Russel Honore. He said --- with a straight face --- that having destroyed the rockets, the task for the IDF was to "win over" the Gazan people with food and medical aid.

The irony reminds me --- in a tragic way --- of Britain's Prince Philip, a keen hunter of all things two- and four-legged, "protecting" them as head of the World Wildlife Fund.



8:15 p.m. And now CNN, for objective analysis, is turning to Michael Oren (whom I once knew as a pretty good historian), who is now an arch-defender of Israel crushing "Islamic fundamentalists".

Enough pseudo-analysis amidst a lull in the news. Off to dinner with the kids.

8:07 p.m. Good old CNN. To counter the images of humanitarian crisis, correspondent Christiane Amanpour trots out to give the response of Israeli Foreign Minister's Tzipi Livni: "I can't understand this notion of proportionality....They are targeting civilians. We are not."

Oh, yes, Amanpour also recycles Benyamin Netanyahu's talking points one more time. Why not just attach her and CNN to the Israeli Foreign Ministry's communications section and be done with it?

8:05 p.m. Israeli Defense Forces is still saying 1 soldier killed and 30 wounded in fighting. More significantly, IDF says 40 rockets fired into southern Israel (up from 30 on Saturday)

8 p.m. Red Crescent sending a convoy of 11 trucks with medical supplies and food from Damascus. A test of the Israeli blockade: will the Israeli Defense Forces let the aid through?

7 p.m. Israel Defense Forces claim they have killed three leading members of Hamas' military wing: Housam Hamdan and Mohammed Hilou in an airstrike in Khan Yunis and Mohammed Shalpokh in Jabaliya.

6:40 p.m. Palestinian head of emergency and ambulance services say more than 50 Gazans killed since start of ground invasion.

Israel is allegedly dropping flyers asking Gazans to call and provide information. The Angry Arab News Service has a copy of one leaflet.

6:15 p.m. Forgive me, but this is really terrible journalism. Because CNN had Erakat on, it has to then put on former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In contrast to the "isn't Hamas terrible?" refrain thrown at Erakat, disregarding his points about the humanitarian situation and damage to the peace process, Wolf Blitzer plays set-up man for Netanyahu: "How do you respond to the UN Secretary-General's criticism of humanitarian action?", "There are some suggesting that Israel is seeking remove Hamas and install Mahmoud Abbas as leader in Gaza --- is that true?", "Finish your thought on how you're hoping this operation against Hamas will end differently from your operation against Hezbollah in 2006", etc.

So Netanyahu gets a comfortable platform to roll out his talking points which, at least to provide interest, include, "Ultimately we will have to remove Hamas."

6:10 p.m. On CNN Saeb Erakat, the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, is issuing a strident denunciation of the Israeli attack and calling for an immediate cease-fire. Sticking to the proper script, CNN's Wolf Blitzer keeps banging on, "Is Hamas to blame for the current crisis?" To his credit, Erakat keeps cool, "I'm not here to score points. I'm concerned with the consequences --- this is undermining the peace process. We need a process of de-escalation," and calls again for cease-fire and dealing with the humanitarian crisis.

6 p.m. Shimon Peres, President of Israel, has rejected calls for a cease-fire on American television:

We don't intend neither to occupy Gaza nor to crush Hamas, but to crush terror. And Hamas needs a real and serious lesson. They are now getting it.

Al Jazeera is leading with the story of a father, mother, and three children killed in an Israeli attack in the northern Gaza Strip and a report on the "desperate situation" in Gaza's hospitals. The injured are dying as they await treatment.

In a disturbing twist on the medical story, Israel's Channel 1 is highlighting the allegation that "top Hamas terrorists" are hiding in Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital.

Reports say Israeli Defense Forces have confirmed the death of one soldier. The IDF is denying that Hamas has kidnapped any of their troops.

Most telephone lines in Gaza have been cut. The only electricity for most people is coming from generators and car batteries, running small devices.

4:10 p.m. I'm taking a break to go bowling with the kids --- please send updates via "Comment" section and I'll upload on my return.

4:06 p.m. Forgive the analogy but this is starting to feel like the Israeli occupation of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.

4 p.m. Al Jazeera updates show Gaza split in half by Israeli forces. Ayman Mohyeldin reports that Israeli objective is to surround Gaza City --- Israeli forces can be seen advancing towards it. Question is now whether those forces will try and enter the city.

3:45 p.m. Al Jazeera shows statement of US Deputy Representative to UN, Alejandro de Wolf: "We are not going to equate the actions of Israel, a member state of the UN, with the actions of the terrorist group Hamas. There is no equivalence here."

3:30 p.m. United Nations Relief and Works Agency representative speaks of humanitarian crisis in Gaza and says population are being "terrorised" by situation: "It is impossible to convey in words how bad this is."

3:25 p.m. Doctor with Norwegian Aid Committee at Gaza's main hospital reports that majority of casualties are civilians. Almost 30 percent are children.

3:17 p.m. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev, reporting on this morning's Israeli Cabinet meeting, repeats the mantra that a cease-fire must be "sustainable and durable" and not just a "band-aid solution".

Pushing the political strategy, Regev stresses that there are "cracks" between Hamas and the Gazan population.

3:15 p.m. Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida tells Al Jazeera that "entire Palestinian people support this resistance....The battle is just starting."

3:13 p.m. As Al Jazeera's correspondent on Israel-Gaza border gives a live report, two rockets are fired into southern Israel.

3:07 p.m. CNN has interview by phone with Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan (30 seconds)

3 p.m. CNN hands over its broadcast to Israeli Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog who, while setting out the proper interpretation of the "defensive" invasion, confirms that Israeli troops have moved from east to west to cut Gaza in two.

Herzog adds that concern for Gazans is "at the bottom of the heart" of Israeli Cabinet, as it ensures "no humanitarian pressure" in Gaza. Only 10 percent of Gazan casualties are civilians, and Israel has made more than 100,000 phone calls to the population.

2:50 p.m. At least 30 Palestinians killed since start of ground invasion. Fighting east of Hamas stronghold of Zeitoun.

2:15 p.m. Israeli troops have captured Al-Aqsa Television and are broadcasting messages calling on Hamas leaders to give themselves up.

The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, using this image from Reuters, is claiming the use of cluster bombs by Israeli forces. (hat tip to one of our readers)



2:10 p.m. Protests are growing in Ramallah on the West Bank with reports that Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian in Qalqilya.

2 p.m. Palestinian sources confirm that Israeli forces control eastern Gaza.

Lebanese Army and police use tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators in front of US Embassy in Beirut.

Reports of 12 rockets fired into southern Israel. Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin confirms that rockets have been fired from Gaza City. Hamas says it welcomes Israeli ground invasion as a sign that it is winning the conflict.

1 p.m. Massive protests in Ramallah in the West Bank and in Beirut, Lebanon

12:30 p.m. Ominous signs for the Israel public-relations campaign: not only Al Jazeera but CNN are focusing on humanitarian crisis, showing medical staff treating injured on the floors of hospitals

12:15 p.m. Palestinian medical sources now say at least 25 Gazans killed since start of Israeli ground attack.

Investigative Journalism of the Year: "Escape from Hamas", Become a Christian

Fox "News" is so blatant that I can only shake my head in wonder:

On Friday, America's Fair and Balanced News Service unveiled its dramatic hour-long documentary, "Escape from Hamas". What is it? Well, let's let the dramatic voice of the narrator tell you:

This hour, a tale of faith, violence, betrayal, and conversion....The son of a top Hamas leader embraces Christianity and confronts radical Islam....Can those ideas change the world?....Escape from Hamas!

Fox has repeated the programme several times throughout the weekend. I just catch the tail end of one repeat here in Britain, where it was followed by Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee hosting a group of Elvis impersonators on his talk show.

Magic.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ZXXtzbmVk[/youtube]