Israel News

(ADDS MORE DETAILS, HAMAS REACTION)
Israel is halting its military operations for three hours a day beginning Wednesday, January 7, for three hours each day, to allow humanitarian aid to enter into Gaza, Israeli officials said.

At least 40 people were killed and over 50 injured when the Israeli Air Force struck a United Nations-run school in the Gaza Strip in what it said was a response to repeated mortar and rocket attacks from militants of the Hamas group.

Signs that Hamas has isolated itself in the world have merged from two fronts. Iran, on Tuesday, pledged that Hezbollah will not open a front against Israel along Israel’s northern border. Israel had been concerned that Hezbollah, in an act of solidarity with Hamas, might initiate a war along the Lebanese border; thus, dividing Israel’s attention and its forces.

As Israel continued to fight Hamas in Gaza City, Tuesday, January 6, Israeli soldiers faced the inconvenient truth that weapons used by the militant group were indirectly supplied by Israel itself, the United States, Egypt and other countries.

As Israel’s offensive against militants of the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip continued Tuesday, January 6, around the world Arabic leaders, Palestinians and their supporters continued to pressure the Jewish state to end the operation.

More than half of the United States’ Lutheran bishops were on their way to Israel Monday, January 5, amid international concerns that an Israeli offensive against the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip would lead to more suffering of civilians, including the territory’s Christian minority.

As Israel continued its ground assault into the Gaza Strip Monday, January 5, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were on high alert along the country’s northern border amid concerns the militant Hezbollah group would fire rockets from Lebanon in revenge for the offensive.

Alarm bells echo around the world as Israel continues a major ground offensive it says is aimed at ending rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip fired by the militant group Hamas into Israel. Envoys of the European Union, including Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenburg along with the EU’s external relations commissioner and Schwarzenburg’s French and Swedish counterparts were due to hold talks in the region Monday, January 5.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon tried to bring an immediate end to Israel’s ground war in the Gaza Strip by backing a resolution to the Security Council that was drafted by Libya and put forward by the Arab League, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Some of Israel’s largest Websites, including Ynet English and Bank Discount, have been attacked by a pro-Palestinian group, who redirected them to a site with anti-Israeli messages, Worthy News established Monday, January 5.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unveiled new tactics in order to reduce the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. The IDF has dedicated resources calling residents of Gaza of impending strikes giving them a chance to flee before the attack. In some instances, the IDF has used sound bombs to warn civilians before attacks are carried out.

On Saturday, January 3, Israel launched a ground assault against Gaza on what was the eighth day of its aerial assaults against the seaside strip of desert. Israel’s stated objective for the ground confrontation is to end all rocket attacks. The immediate objective of the ground operations, according to Major Avital Leibovitch, a military spokeswoman, “is to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations.”

On Front Page Jerusalem this week, Cox & Kinchlow explore the complexities of the Gaza Pullout and the possibility of civil war as the summer evacuation date draws closer. They interview Israeli citizens representing both sides of the controversial issue. Joining in with their differing opinions in the FPJ’s Roundtable are Danny Seaman, Director of Israel’s Government Press Office, Yechiel Leiter, Chief of Staff for Benjamin Netanyahu, and Caroline Glick, Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post and award-winning columnist.

Jerusalem (ICEJ) — Five masked gunmen from Yasser Arafat’s al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades stormed the Ramallah TV studios of Arab satellite station al-Arabiya on Saturday night, smashing equipment and holding staff at gunpoint.

Jerusalem (ICEJ) — A thirteen-year-old Palestinian boy was reportedly killed Tuesday morning by shrapnel after Israeli special forces surrounded an eight-story building in Hebron in search for Hamas fugitives, two of whom died in the ensuing gun battle.

BEIRUT, LEBANON (ANS) — Bruce Balfour, the 52-year-old Canadian Christian charged with spying for Israel, has been found innocent by a Lebanese military court.

Jerusalem — (August 29, 2003 – ICEJ) — Officials from the Palestinian Authority froze the bank accounts of nine Islamic charities affiliated with the Hamas terror group Thursday, as part of a clampdown on armed groups demanded by the United States in the wake of last week’s Jerusalem bus bombing.

MEMRI) — On April 26, 2003, the Islamic website Islam Online (1) hosted Wasef Mansour, a diplomat with the Palestinian mission in Morocco, in an online discussion titled “What Israel Gains From the Occupation of Iraq.” (2) During the discussion, Mansour held Israel responsible for the looting of museums and banks in Baghdad, called for Jihad against ‘the occupiers’ of Iraq, Palestine, and three cities under Spanish rule regarded by him as Moroccan, denied Israel’s right to exist, and compared President George W. Bush to Hitler and other tyrannical leaders. The following are excerpts from Mansour’s discussion with visitors to the website:

Jerusalem, Israel (ICEJ) — It was all smiles at the White House Tuesday as US President George W. Bush toned down expected criticism of Israel’s seam-line security fence and repeated his call for the Palestinian Authority to “dismantle” the terrorist infrastructure, angering the PA leadership and Islamic terror groups.

(MEMRI) — On April 26, 2003, the Islamic website Islam Online (1) hosted Wasef Mansour, a diplomat with the Palestinian mission in Morocco, in an online discussion titled “What Israel Gains From the Occupation of Iraq.” (2) During the discussion, Mansour held Israel responsible for the looting of museums and banks in Baghdad, called for Jihad against ‘the occupiers’ of Iraq, Palestine, and three cities under Spanish rule regarded by him as Moroccan, denied Israel’s right to exist, and compared President George W. Bush to Hitler and other tyrannical leaders. The following are excerpts from Mansour’s discussion with visitors to the website: