Israeli Attacks on Gaza Continue, Thousands Protest

by Rob Walker | January 2, 2009 at 10:00 am

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Thousands of protesters in the Middle East took to the streets as bombing attacks continued in Gaza.

Israel is alleged to have killed a Hamas leader, along with 20 other people in a one-tonne bomb strike at his home. At least 30 air strikes took place in the last 24 hours.

Israel bombed a mosque it said was used to store weapons, along with the homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives and leaders. Military buildup around the border continued in preparation for a ground assault.

Israel bombed a mosque it said was used to store weapons and destroyed the homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives Friday, but under international pressure, the government allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports to leave besieged Gaza.

Israel has been building up artillery, armor and infantry on Gaza's border in an indication the week-old air assault on Gaza's Hamas rulers could soon expand with a ground incursion.

Thousands of Afghans protested against Israel's week-long military offensive in the Gaza Strip, outside two of Afghanistan's biggest mosques after Friday prayers.

More than 400 Gazans have been killed since Israeli air forces began bombing the Hamas-controlled territory as part of a planned military operation to weaken the Islamist faction.

The United Nations is warning that Palestinians in Gaza are facing a mounting crisis, as a week of Israeli air strikes have put a serious strain on health care and even food and utilities.

The "critical emergency" comes despite an increase in humanitarian shipments, said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN's chief aid co-ordinator for the territory.

Protests

Thousands of protesters marched in Lebanon and Afghanistan to protest the continued bombing strikes in Gaza.

Police in Jordan and Egypt have cracked down on hundreds of protesters that have been marching almost daily in response to the Israeli air strikes. Protests continued in Kashmir, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, among other countries.

Jordanian and Egyptian riot police cracked down on Friday on protesters demanding an end to Israel's attacks on Gaza and to ties with the Jewish state.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Iranian cities used the occasion of Friday prayers to voice support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Turkey, starting a two-year stint as a member of the U.N. Security Council, urged Israel on Thursday to end its offensive on Gaza and lift its blockade of the coastal strip.

Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank have joined demonstrations after a call from Hamas for a "day of wrath" against the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Palestinian leaders have declared an all-out war with Israel, vowing suicide bombings and other attacks on Israel and their interests.

Palestinian Islamists vowed revenge on Israel on Friday for killing a senior Hamas leader and his family, and said all options including suicide bombs were now open to "strike at Zionist interests everywhere."

The war is being waged online as well, with PR representatives of both parties posting on youtube and facebook, even up to including an official Israeli Defence Force youtube channel.

A furious public information battle is taking place on sites ranging from YouTube to Facebook between the Israeli state and Hamas.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States is making all efforts to create a ceasefire that will be 'durable and sustainable'.

The United States is making efforts to realize a ceasefire in Gaza that ought to be "durable and sustainable," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday.

However, Rice said that she has no plan to travel to the Middle East at this point to try to mediate the fighting between Israel and Hamas, which is ruling Gaza.

Member Stories

NowPublic member Sameh Habeeb is in Gaza City and has been posting regular updates for us.

For the 7th day in consequence, Israeli military machine pursue the suffocating air raids and shelling through the Gaza Strip.

Israel's nuclear facility is in the line of fire, writes NowPublic staffer Sanjay Jha:

Fightings between Israel and Hamas have taken a new dimension, threatening Israel nuclear plant.

NowPublic user Rosie posted about the cries of war from Hamas members today.

January 2, 2009 - Israel stands firm and continues to siege Gaza by sending in ground troops and planning solid action against the Gaza militants.

NP member Shareef Sarhan is posting from Egypt, and posted some new pictures for us. Thanks Shareef!

Gaza today ... Exposed to shelling from the Israeli occupation aircraft

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Paschen

at 16:51 on January 2nd, 2009

It will go on and stop and start again until the Veto powers in the UN are revoked and this UN will finally be able to act as it should have yet could not already decades ago.

stephjoyous

at 17:28 on January 2nd, 2009

A protest also took place in Kansas City, Missouri. At least 400 people demonstrated against the bombing of Gaza. Families, business owners, and community members came together to protest the holocaust and raise money for aid.

stephjoyous has contributed a photo to this story.

George Gahooch (not verified)

at 06:57 on January 3rd, 2009

I don't think the numbers add up to "tens of thousands". Subtract the obvious numbers from the Arab states and Iran (and the best Iran can do is 6,000 ??) and you'll see that the numbers protesting Israel's actions are low, very low.

It appears that Hamas has little support because people understand it's a terrorist operation that deliberately targets Israeli civilians as well as deliberately putting Gazan women and children in harms way. With the money they've received from the UN and Europe they could have done wonderful things for the people, instead they use the resources for war. They provoked this war and now they're leaders, who hide in underground bunkers (while sending other to "martyrdom") are whining because they're getting their butts kicked.

By the way, it doesn't appear that Hamas has much support among other Arabs, either. They don't seem to be in any hurry to stop Israel.

con10t

at 08:51 on January 8th, 2009

There is lots of criticism one can dig up on Hamas and its factions. Your lazy arguments don't hold much water. I suggest you spend some energy presenting valid and hefty criticism of Hamas.

One point is that the 9000 Israeli reservists killing children in Gaza (even the UN agrees) have weapons at their civilian homes. Hamas reservists are being attacked massively and are in a similar reservist category of soldier. Were the high-powered US-paid weapons of civilian destruction pointing the other way, you could say the Israeli reservists at home, firing back with sub-standard weapons were also then using human shields. What a weak argument. Gaza is the most highly populated area in the region, if not the world. I mean attack hong Kong and then claim the armed and civilian mix are configared as you claim, with the elbow-to-elbow armed and civilian population there?

And Hamas and other sieged Gazan quasi-militant factions targeting Israeli citizens from their geo-political prison cell in Gaza with homemade DIY erratic low-range rockets? The Gazan resistance to the Isreali inhumane and illegal blockade (Israel siege bureaucrats even determine what underwear is imported, and what food if any you get in Gaza, where you travel, and where you don't, if your lightbulbs glow or not) is not unlike an uprising in a prison where the inmates brandish shaped and sharpened coffee cup lids to attack their incarcerators for overcrowding or other abuse. I am a pacifist and don't support any use of violence at all, but there is a perspective that negates your hyper-lazy now-cliché rhetoric masquerading as discreet contextless arguments.

azzayindia

at 07:25 on January 3rd, 2009

when will we see peace in the region?

Kelly Timms (not verified)

at 14:33 on January 12th, 2009

Was not the state of Israel created after the second world war. A gift from the 'superpowers' to try and make up for the atrocities and attempted ethnic cleansing of the Jewish people perpetrated by the nazi's.

My question is, now that Israel has become the ethnic cleansers, surely they are no longer entitled to the gift that was once given out of pity. Have they themselves not proven Israel, time and again, was a terrible mistake? Perhaps the Jewish people had no homeland for a reason?

Might I add that I am a white Australian middle aged woman with an affiliation to no religion. My belief is in god, and if your religion is demanding you to destroy, maim and take god's gift of life from others, then that religion has truly forgotten god behind and is run by man.