FRIDAY FEATURE

1st-Hand: News of a Death Reaches a Relative at a Washington Picnic


2045 GMT: Addressing the United Nations Security Council tonight, Palestine Ambassador Riyad Mansour said at least 278 Gazans have been killed, including 66 children, 48 women, and 17 elderly. More than 2,200 have been wounded.

More than 47,000 people have been displaced.

Among the dead from Israeli ground operations this evening are four children, the youngest aged 2. Thirteen Gazans were killed and 30 wounded in one hour.

Four more children reportedly died from an Israeli airstrike as families were breaking the Ramadan fast with Iftar dinner.

Mansour struggled to hold back tears as he read a statement in Arabic to Gazans. He told the Council, “We have a duty to our people. To leave no stone unturned…and attain our inalienable rights. We call on the UNSC to adopt a solution to condemn the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip.”

Jeffrey Feltman, the Undersecretary-General, continued the shift of UN criticism towards Israel. While condemning “indiscriminate rocket fire” from Gaza, he said, “We are alarmed by Israel’s response….The Secretary General is extremely concerned that this escalation will further increase the already appalling death toll.”

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor responded by saying that there is no moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas: “There’s a clear diff between Israel and Hamas: the jewish people believe in the value of life and Hamas believes in the value of taking lives.

Prosor brought out a large compass to “guide the international community” in the stand of good against evil.

In contrast to the UN position, US Ambassador Samantha Power put the blame for the violence firmly on the Gazan leadership: “A cessation of violence would have offered both sides a chance for peace, but Hamas continued to fire rockets.”

In a declaration this evening, the European Union’s Catherine Ashton was more balanced. She said the EU is “very concerned” about the escalation of attacks, “including the resumption of rocket fire into Israel and the Israeli ground operation”.

1630 GMT: Following a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama has said, “I reaffirm my strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself. We are hopeful that Israel will continue to approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties”.

Obama pointedly said that while he was speaking with Netanyahu this morning, sirens went off in Tel Aviv.

He then said Secretary of State John Kerry is prepared to come to the region, as “we are working hard to return to the 2012 ceasefire”.

Netanyahu’s office said that the Prime Minister thanked Obama “for US support and partnership in developing the Iron Dome anti-missile system”.

1330 GMT: Peter Beaumont of the Guardian posts a first-hand account of the reality of the Israeli ground assault:

Three branches of the Entez family, around 60 people, were sheltering in a house in Zeitoun when it was struck by an artillery shell shortly after 8.45pm. Three of the family were killed – Abed Ali, 24, Mohamed Ibrahim, 13, and Mohamed Salem, two – and four injured. Three of the exterior walls destroyed in the blast.

In the wreckage of the home on Friday morning, Salem Entez, 29, Mohamed Salem’s father, approached the Guardian with a plastic bag, which he opened to revealed pieces of flesh he was collecting for burial. “This is my son,” he said.

At the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday morning, three children from the Musallem family were brought in – Mohamed, 15, Wallah, 13 and Ahah, 11. They had been sleeping in the same room in an apartment close to the border when an artillery shell hit. Mohamed and Ahad were killed instantly. Wallah died in the ambulance on its way to the hospital.

“It’s very dangerous, there is shelling all the time,” ambulance driver Mohamed Zaher told the Guardian. He had made between 40 to 50 trips overnight to collect the dead and injured. “There was so much smoke and shelling. I haven’t slept in three days.”

1110 GMT: Video of an Israeli airstrike on homes in Gaza:

Human Rights Watch notes that residents are given one minute to evacuate by the Israeli military before the attack, far short of the minimum under the laws of war.

0855 GMT: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said at a press conference that the Israeli military is prepared for a “significant expansion” of its ground offensive in Gaza.

Just before meeting Ministers, Netanyahu said Israel “chose to embark on a ground incursion after having exhausted all other possibilities”. He maintained the official line that the operation is directed against tunnels used by Gazan fighters.

The Prime Minister insisted, “The IDF (Israel Defense Force) is a moral army like no other. Those responsible for the damage to uninvolved civilians are the Hamas, and Hamas alone, who use civilians as human shields.”


0800 GMT: Doctors have warned that Israeli military action is damaging the Gazan health care system, with hospitals damaged by air strikes and enduring frequent power cuts.

“Most of the cases received are women and children,” said Dr Hosam Abu-Elwan, an emergency physician for Doctors of the World. “Some essential drugs are starting to dry up and no one knows how long our stock will last”.


Nine days after it began airstrikes, Israel invaded Gaza on the ground on Thursday night, following an order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli tanks moved across the border as Netanyahu announced, “Israel is committed to act to protect its citizens. The operation will continue until its goals are reached: To bring quiet to the citizens of Israel for a long period of time, and to seriously harm Hamas and other terrorist organizations’ infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”

As the Cabinet called up 18,000 additional reservists, the Israeli military said it was “striking a significant blow to Hamas’ terror infrastructure” while claiming the limited goal of destroying tunnels used by Gazan fighters.

The Israeli line appeared to be drawn to satisfy Washington: in a phone conversation late Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry Netanyahu that the US. expected the ground offensive in Gaza to be a “precise operation” against the tunnel. The State Department said Kerry “emphasized the need to avoid further escalation and to restore the 2012 cease-fire as soon as possible…and the importance of doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties”.

Earlier on Thursday, Israel said it had intercepted 13 gunmen trying to use one of the tunnels.

The Israeli Defense Force said this morning that it has “neutralized 14 terrorists, destroyed 20 rocket launchers, carried out 9 strikes on tunnels & hit a total of 103 terror targets”. It warned Gazans by phone text, “If you have weapons, put them down now, because much worse is to come.”

The death toll on the ground has now reached 27, including a 5-month-old baby and nine people in a house in Khan Yunis.

GAZA GRAPHIC CONFLICT 18-07-14

A Gaza resident said of the tank and artillery attacks, “They’re firing from every direction, everything here is shaking.”

Another told the BBC, “Death is everywhere.”

One Israeli soldier has died in the assault. The Israeli Defense Forces is investigating if he was killed by “friendly fire”. Three soldiers have been wounded, two by fire from Gazan fighters.

After a five-hour humanitarian pause on Thursday afternoon, Israel had resumed airstrikes. The death toll in Gaza reached 267 by Friday morning, including the aerial killing of at least four more children, four family members in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, and two civilians in the northern town of Beit Hanoun.

More than 80% of those slain since the Israeli operations began on July 8 were civilians. At least 1,920 Palestinians have also been wounded.

Israel says its operations are responding to at least 1,460 rockets fired from Gaza. One Israeli civilian has been killed and several wounded.

After anti-war protests on Thursday, Israel’s Home Front Command has effectively banned further large demonstrations by prohibiting gatherings of more 1,000 people in open areas 40-80 kilometers (25-50 miles) from the Gaza Strip, a perimeter which includes Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was not as accommodating as the US Government of the Israeli invasion and continuing airstrikes:

I regret that despite my repeated urgings, and those of many regional and world leaders together, an already dangerous conflict has now escalated even further.

In the past 24 hours, there have been a number of incidents involving the deaths of civilians, including the appalling killing of four boys on a beach in Gaza City

I urge Israel to do far more to stop civilian casualties. There can be no military solution to this conflict. This applies as much to Israel-Palestine as it does to Syria.