(ADDS COMMENTS HAMAS)
Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, was poised to announce a unilateral cease fire Saturday, January 17, and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, ending a three-week military campaign, Worthy News monitored.
The militant group Hamas has rejected a cease fire with Israel and Iran said the country has no “right to exist,” after Israeli forces killed a Hamas minister and struck a United Nations compound in the Gaza Strip.
Christians in the Gaza Strip faced another terrifying day Thursday, January 15, as Israeli forces pounded the Gaza Strip and Hamas militants fired rockets towards Israel, believers said.
The militant group Hamas admitted Thursday, January 15, that Israel had killed one of its key ministers in a major air strike in Gaza City, while the United Nations expressed outrage that Israeli forces attacked a U.N. compound used by refugees.
A song written by American Christians to encourage embattled Israel, entitled, “A Prayer Under Fire,” has aired for the first time on Israeli radio and television, Worthy News learned Wednesday, January 15.
A new audio message released Wednesday, January 15, allegedly from the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, has called for all Muslims to launch a holy war to stop the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to Islamist websites.
Suspected militants fired several rockets into Israel from neighboring Lebanon Wednesday, January 14, the second such attack in a week, residents and Israeli officials said.
Heavy shelling of areas surrounding Gaza City commenced today as the Israel Defense Force (IDF) pressed deeper into the Gaza Strip as Israeli tanks have taken up positions in Gaza City. Palestinian sources report that this is the first time since the beginning of the conflict that Israeli tanks have taken positions in the city.
A senior official involved in Israel’s ongoing offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip has said Israel does not want to re-occupy the Palestinian territory, and he accused the United Nations of being “an Israel bashing parade” and supporting Hamas.
Israel continued military attacks in the Gaza Strip Monday, January 12, with troops moving further into the world’s most populated region and Israeli warplanes pounding homes of Hamas fighters and smuggling tunnels near the Egyptian border.
Despite a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire, Israel continued its operation in the Gaza Strip Friday, January 9, saying it was trying to halt rocket attacks from Hamas militants, “hiding” between civilians.
The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution calling for an “immediate cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip. The United States abstained in the vote as the council passed the resolution 14-0. However, Israel continued a military offensive Friday, January 9, saying it has an obligation to protect its citizens, including one million Israelis who face threats from rockets fired from Gaza by Hamas militants.
At least two people were injured when rockets fired from Lebanon landed in the north of Israel early Thursday, January 8, officials said, raising fears militants of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group were preparing to support fighters of Hamas, who have fired rockets from Gaza.
A young Christian girl has died in the Gaza Strip, amid growing signs minority Christians there are caught in the crossfire as the Israeli army continues its offensive against militants of the Hamas group, Worthy News learned Thursday, January 8.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rejected a European Union request for a 48-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, saying Israel will uphold its commitment to provide basic foodstuffs and medicines to the residents of the Hamas-controlled region.
(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.