Israel-Gaza: Tracking the latest violence
-
The Israel-Gaza conflict entered its sixth day. Here are the key developments on Monday:
An incoming missile hit a building housing local and international media in Gaza City. There are reports of casualties.
The Israeli Defense Forces is reporting rockets fired from Gaza have hit a home and an empty school in Askkelon, Israel.
The Israeli military is investigating an air strike targeting the commander of Hamas's rocket-launching operations. Instead, the attack killed 11 civilians - including 9 from the same family.
This live blog is now closed. Thanks so much for joining us. For our latest coverage please check www.globeandmail.com
-
Smoke is seen after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Israeli missiles blasted a tower block that houses many international media for a second straight day on Monday, targeting a computer shop in the building, witnesses said. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
-
-
-
BREAKING: Gaza group Islamic Jihad says Israeli strike on media center killed one of its top militant leaders.by The Associated Press via twitter 11/19/2012 2:48:59 PM -
We are just checking that latest AP alert - which would be very significant. We know that a building housing media organizations has been targeted. I've just spoken to our correspondent Patrick Martin who was at the site of the still smouldering building in Gaza City.
-
-
The Globe's Patrick Martin, who is in Gaza City, just told me that one killed and four injured in the missile hit on the building housing media organizations. He also mentioned that the building contained non-media organizations. He's trying to verify the report of the top leaders of Islamic Jihad being killed as result of the hit on the building.
-
Just some background (via Patrick Martin) about Islamic Jihad - it is the second largest militant organization in Gaza, second to Hamas. Islamic Jihad has carved out a different position than Hamas, which is more closely aligned with the Islamic Brotherhood. Islamic Jihad is not. Patrick Martin described Islamic Jihad as more militant, connected to an international network, and behind some of the rocket launches from Gaza against Israel. Patrick also mentioned that while Hamas has cut off links with Iran, Islamic Jihad continues those links.
-
I'm going to speaking with the Globe's Patrick Martin via Skype - so look out for that video on our site later this morning. But just wanted to share a few more things that Patrick mentioned over the phone: he arrived at the scene of the media building as firefighters continued to put out the last of the flames; he described quite a scene on the streets of journalists, first-responders, and young Palestinians racing through the streets when hearing another explosion. Basically, people rushing to the explosion site and he described it as "meat being thrown in to a pool of sharks." Just a flavour of the movement on the streets between explosions as people race to find out what has happened, and assist any injured.
-
Shortly, after arriving at the scene of the bombed out media building, Patrick reported hearing another explosion. The crowd raced to the scene of the explosion - it appeared that a missile hit an open area, blew out some windows resulting in injuries due to glass.
-
The senior PIJ cadre was operating in a media building. They were't there to be interviewed. They were using reporters as human shields.by IDF via twitter 11/19/2012 5:33:35 PM -
We targeted only the 2nd floor, which is where the senior terrorists were. The rest of the building was unharmed. Direct hit confirmed.by IDF via twitter 11/19/2012 5:33:59 PM
-
Those last two tweets are via the Israeli Defense Forces Twitter feed about the missile hit on a Gaza City building that housed the offices of some local and international media. This was the second hit on the same building in two days - and this time, the IDF saying that key members of the militant group Islamic Jihad were targeted.
-
The Israeli Defense Forces feed has the names of the Islamic Jihad militants it was targeting: twitter.com
-
This via Associated Press - the name of one of the Islamic Jihad militants confirmed killed:
"In Monday's violence, an Israeli airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza City killed Ramez Harb, a senior figure in Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al Quds Brigades, the group said in a text message to reporters. A number of foreign and local news organizations have offices in the building, which was also struck on Sunday. A passer-by was also killed, medics said." -
-
-
Al Qassam Brigades shelling Beer Sheva with 5 Grad missiles. #Gaza #GazaUnderAttack #Hamas #Palestine #Israel #ShaleStones #Egypt #Freedomby Alqassam Brigades via twitter 11/19/2012 5:46:37 PM -
-
It is worth putting in to context the various diplomatic efforts: one that is underway in Egypt, with the BBC reporting that senior Israeli and Hamas officials are present in Cairo - but no word on whether negotiations are, in fact, under way. The Egyptians are speaking to each side separately. Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group is seen as being behind the strongest diplomatic push. But he is not alone.
-
Here is another diplomatic push under way - coming from the United Nations:
UNITED NATIONS (AFP)--UN chief Ban Ki-moon will this week meet Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as part of a growing push for a Gaza war ceasefire, his spokesman said Monday.
“The secretary general wishes to add his diplomatic weight to these efforts, which are considerable and extremely important,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters from Cairo, where Ban arrived Monday. -
-
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish youths look at an Iron Dome anti-missile battery near Tel Aviv November 19, 2012. Israel bombed dozens of targets in Gaza on Monday and said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that would end Palestinian rocket fire from the enclave. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
-
An Israeli air force pilot poses near a F15-E fighter jet at the Tel Nof air base in central Israel November 19, 2012. Israel bombed dozens of targets in Gaza on Monday and said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that would end Palestinian rocket fire from the enclave. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
-
-
A Palestinian protester (L) uses a sling to throw a stone at Israeli security forces as others take cover during minor clashes against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank village of Birzeit, near Ramallah November 19, 2012. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
-
Israeli border policemen stand guard during clashes with Palestinian stone-throwing protesters against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip, near a portion of the controversial barrier at Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
-
-
-
-
The Globe's Global Affairs Writer Patrick Martin has been talking to me about entering Gaza earlier today and what he has witnessed on the ground. Some "macabre" scenes, he tells me:
www.theglobeandmail.com -
RT @borzou: Islamic Jihad official Ziyad Nakhalah,tells Iran's Al-AlaM TV: "We are hours away from signing a comprehensive truce."by Affan Chowdhry via twitter 11/19/2012 7:31:01 PM -
-
AP reports: "The White House says Obama and Morsi discussed ways to de-escalate the situation in Gaza. And Obama underscored the need for Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. In a statement, the White House said Obama also expressed regret for the deaths of Israeli and Palestinian civilians in his calls with both leaders."
-
-
-
Top Egyptian official to Haaretz: We are very close to cease-fire deal http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/top-egyptian-official-to-haaretz-we-are-very-close-to-cease-fire-deal-1.478922by Anthony De Rosa via twitter 11/19/2012 7:40:05 PM -
Al Jazeera TV speaking to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is
Special Quartet (European Union, United States, United Nations and Russia) envoy on the Middle East has been talking about the steps towards a ceasefire: 1)secure ceasefire 2)stop rocket attacks and 3)opening Gaze (which has been under blockade). You can see interview here: bcove.me
The aim here is to "de-escalate" and use a short-term ceasefire to then negotiate the finer details a more long term ceasefire. -
There have been funerals today for members of the Dalu family, which lost 9 members in a missile strike Sunday in Gaza City. An interesting profile of the family via the New York Times:
"The obliterated two-story structure had been home to 15 people in three generations. The patriarch, also named Jamal, ran a shop in Al Zawya market selling seeds, sugar, teas and other staples that his grandfather had started and he had worked in since childhood. He survived because he had been at the market when the bomb hit. Jamal’s son Mohammed worked in the Hamas government as a police officer; neighbors and relatives insisted that he was not a Qassam fighter or a political leader, though the scope of the militant presence at the funeral raised questions.
"Besides Mohammed, his wife and his four children, Jamal’s sister, wife and two daughters were killed in the attack, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, along with two neighbors, an 18-year-old and his grandmother. Jamal and his wife, Tahani, had recently returned from their first pilgrimage to Mecca, relatives said, and were filled with joy and optimism from the experience. They have five surviving children, relatives said, including 18-year-old Abdullah, who was practically carried through the funeral, his arms around the shoulders of two friends." -
The Israeli Defense Forces continues to investigate that missile strike on the building in Gaza City that claimed 9 members of the Dalu family. More on the New York Times story here: www.nytimes.com
-
