Israeli invasion of Palestine 2009
Thousands of Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip overnight with tanks and helicopters, accompanied by naval support and air strikes. A column of Israeli tanks and artillery, and armoured personnel vehicles has made its way through from the eastern part of Gaza, reaching as far as the Mediterrannean sea on the Western part, essentially splitting Gaza. Palestinian medical sources say at least 477 Palestinians have died and more than 2,300 had been injured since Israel began aerial bombardment of Gaza more than a week ago. Israel, meanwhile, extended its naval blockade of Gaza early on Sunday, from six nautical miles to 20 nautical miles, preventing humanitarian aid and protest vessels from trying to break the siege. Power lines have been cut throughout the Gaza Strip and more than 250,000 people in the northern part of the territory are without electricity. At least 25 per cent of the Palestinians killed since Israel began its aerial assault nine days ago were civilians, the UN has estimated. The Israeli military has destroyed several mosques during its week-long offensive in Gaza, saying Hamas uses the houses of worship to store weapons. Israel declared that their one main objective is to disarm Hamas and stop rockets from being launched from the Gaza Strip. Angry protests against Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip have continued throughout the world. In Europe, demonstrators have taken place across Britain with the biggest rally in London...
"I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace," Bush said in his weekly radio address. Bush said Hamas was responsible for the latest violence and rejected a unilateral ceasefire that would allow Hamas to continue to fire mortars on Israel from the Gaza Strip. Hamas' home made rocket attacks on jewish settlements led to the Israeli invasion. It was a moment they've been waiting for, a perfect excuse. With their supremacy in war-machines this offensive seems like walk in the park. When it comes to guerilla warfare, it's a different story. Beware a weak and unprincipled government, facing an election that it is likely to lose. There is a whiff of political opportunism about Israel's decision to subject Gaza to massive, deadly air raids which have killed hundreds of Palestinians. Arguments about how many Hamas rockets have recently penetrated southern Israel, and how deep, are, in that sense, almost a sideshow. As important is that Ehud Olmert's embattled government goes to the polls in February. Both his successor as leader of Kadima, Tzipi Livni, and the Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, appear to believe a show of muscle before Mr. Bush left office, may be the best way of seeing off Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party (sounds familiar?). How and why he believes a sustained aerial bombardment of Gaza is going to engineer the collapse of Hamas remains unclear. It ought, in fact, to have become clear that the earlier economic blockade of Gaza, while inflicting misery, was not achieving its political objectives.
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