Gaza: From "Summer Rain" in the South to "Autumn Clouds" in the North
by Yousef Alhelou in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip
On Wednesday morning, the Israeli army declared Beit Hanoun a closed military zone. All residents were ordered to stay indoors. The Israeli army issued a warning through two local radio stations (“Freedom Radio” and “Youth Radio”) after they occupied the airwaves for a few minutes.
The town of Beit Hanoun, which lies only a few kilometers from the Israeli settlement of Sderot on the other side of the Gaza-Israel border, has 28,000 inhabitants.
The Israeli army conducted a large-scale offensive in Beit Hanoun at dawn on Thursday. It combined air and ground forces, including infantry, armored corps, tanks and engineer corps forces.
According to Palestinian sources, this incursion is the tenth into the town of Beit Hanoun since the Israeli army “left” the Gaza Strip, last August 2005.
The death toll of the Israeli Operation “Autumn Clouds” has raised to 48, after nine Palestinians were killed on Saturday. So far, in repeated incursions and aerial attacks, 260 have been injured, including 38 in a critical condition. It continues to rise.
Security sources said that Mazin Shabat, 38, was killed when an Israeli sniper shot him near the Erez crossing point, north of Beit Hanoun. Shabat had been arrested by the Israeli forces in the area, but was released a short time afterwards, only to be shot by a sniper, just minutes after his release. His relative, Zahir Shabat, was also critically injured.
Isra'a Talal Nasser, 15, was shot in the head by Israeli forces, yesterday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the operation "a massacre" and an "abominable crime", he added that Israeli military escalation proves that Israel does not want peace.
Spokesman of the Palestinian Hamas-led government, Dr Gazi Hamad has described the Israeli military offensive in Beit Hanoun
as bloody and brutal, "the Israelis adopt the policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide", he said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh declared: "This is the fruit of [“Israel, Our Home” Chairman] Avigdor Lieberman's addition to the government.” In an interview Lieberman has said “Israeli army should apply in Gaza the methods used by the Russians army in Chechnya.”
The Prime Minister also accused Israel Friday night of turning the Gaza strip into an experiment field for non conventional weapons that are being used for the first time.
Loudspeakers across Gaza called on people to come to demonstrations after Friday prayers to express solidarity with Beit Hanun. Tens of thousands representing various Palestinian factions massed in streets throughout the Strip
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas “saluted the women of Palestine ... who led the protest to break the siege of Beit Hanun.” Haniyeh urged United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to witness firsthand “the massacres of the Palestinian people” and appealed to the Arab world and the international community to “stop the ongoing bloodshed”.
In the meantime, he accused the U.S. of terroroism, as they gave the Israeli occupation forces the green light to killing the Palestinian people and destroying properties under the excuse of self defense !
Haneyyah added “we think of one thing which is to the remove the Israeli occupation to our lands.” He named the battle between the Israeli army and the resisitance men as “The Battle of Homeland Defense and Dignity”.
Meanwhile, media sources in the prime minister's office said that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haneyyah will hold a very important press confrence Monday midday to discuss important issues related to the current situation.
John Ging, UNRWA’s Gaza Field Director, demanded that the International Community ensure the entry of food and humanitarian aid to the surrounded residents in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
In a press conference held in Gaza, on Friday evening, Ging appealed for the entry of food, water and all needed materials to the surrounded civilians in Beit Hanoun.
He also demanded Israel facilitate the movement of ambulances, in order to be able to evacuate the injured residents and the bodies of the casualties.
“Our main demand is that all parties should act in order to halt the military operations and violence”, he stated, “We believe that violence should stop; the civilians are paying a very high price”.
In another development, The spokesperson of the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu Mujahid, has on Sunday accused the Israeli occupation of plotting to kill the Israeli soldier, Corporal Gil'ad Shalit, who is being detained by resistance brigades in Gaza.
In a press conference in Gaza City, the spokesperson held the Israelis responsible for any harm that may occur to Shalit through Israeli shelling of Gazan homes, public spaces and offices.
Abu Mujahid confirmed that the Israeli soldier is alive and that the captors are interested in exchanging him for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
In a related event, a spokesman for the Al Quds brigades of Islamic Jihad have presented two men to the media, alleging that they are Israeli agents, captured in the Salatin area of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. He said that they have captured four collaborators who were giving registration plate numbers of the cars driven by resistance fighters to the Israeli military authorities. They are also accused of defusing roadside bombs, planted by the resistance in the streets of Beit Hanoun.
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society has appealed to its friends and partners around the world to take immediate action to bring an end to 5 days of carnage in the northern Gaza Strip, in which at least 48 Gazans have been killed, more than 30 of whom were mostly civilians, including 7 children, 3 women, and 3 paramedics, since Israel began its bloody re-invasion of Beit Hanoun last Wednesday.
Autumn clouds pile up above Beit Hanoun
More than 260 Palestinians have also been injured in this continued offensive, most of them civilians, including approximately 43 women, 30 children, 1 paramedic,
and 1 journalist.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused Sunday to say when Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip will end, telling his Cabinet the operation will continue until Palestinian rocket attacks significantly decrease.
Local radio stations in the Gaza strip conducting an open wave for the fifth day, during day and night, to keep listeners informed of any breaking news while playing patriotic songs saluting the resistance men and military wings afflitaed to factions,
While I was driving on my way to Kamal Udwan hospital in Beit Lahia and listening to a local radio station to get News updates, suddenly the Israeli army managed to occpuy the airwave for few minutes and played recorded message warning the residents in the north area to stay inside their houses and to keep away from millitans and not offer them any assistant or protection.
Zeyad Abdul Dayem, an ambulance driver has said: we had to wait today for 15 hours until the Israeli army gave us permission to evacuate the body of a dead man who was killed by Israeli snipers who are taking positions at the roof tops of high buildings belonging to Palestinian residents in Ezbet Beit Hanoun.
Mohamed Al-Kafarnah, 43, father of 4 children has said: “I was not in Beit Hanoun when the Israeli army entered the town”, and when I asked him, “How do you keep in touch with your family and what are you doing here in hospital ?” he said: “I was lucky to talk to them for the last four days by mobile, but an hour ago they said their battery is running out and they don’t have electricity in the whole town, so they wont be able to charge the mobile; moreover, they can not use telephone land lines because the Israeli army destroyed telephone centrals and wire networks in the area.
“I'm so worried about them; they don’t have drinking water, food, milk and medicine for the children who are suffering and scared.”
He added: “People are in very critical situation; some of them drop food to each other through the roof and windows; there are 100's of Israeli snipers occupying peoples' houses and they shoot at any moving object; they even killed animals.”
He added: “The reason why I'm in the hospital is because of the body of my dead cousin, still in the morgue; we are waiting for the Israeli army to lift the siege, curfew and to end their incursion to the town, so that we will be able to bury him in the cemetery of Beit Hanoun.
Munir Abu Oudah, 38, has said: “This incursion and offensive is different from the previous one. I think they are going to commit massacres like what they have done in Jenin City in the west bank; this time they destroy houses and carry out mass arrests of men of Beit Hanoun and take them to unknown destinations; they are even surrounding Beit Hanoun Hospital, and the unmanned drones or "Zannanah", as people call it because it is issuing a noisy sound, do not stop hovering the skies above our heads, all the time.
Aysha Gaben, 45, school teacher, lives in Beit Lahiya near Beit Hanoun, she said: “We are worried that the Israeli army will expand their incursion and escalate the offensive; I'm going to leave my house by tonight, along with my family, to stay in our relative's house in Gaza City.” She added: “I can not see the Israeli army killing my sons, or taking them prisoners; they do not know mercy; they are punishing all people in the Gaza strip because of one Israeli soldier but we have more than 10,000 prisoners behind the Israeli jails, thanks to the American Administration for giving them the green light and participating in this incursion by sending American officers to help the Israelis and put plans to wipe out our town. The Israeli occupation army made our lives miserable; we prefer death rather than being humiliated and deprived from dignity and freedom. The American administration is always pro Israel; the U.N., headed by Kofi Annan, does not care about our tragedy; I hope my words reach them and tell me why, we the Palestinians have to suffer. Just use your role to end the Israeli occupation .
“The whole world should understand that we are conducting a war of independence; we are not terrorists as they portray us in the media and manipulating the facts; we are the victims of the Israeli occupation. Enough is enough! We are tired of this; are they not tired ? When will they realize that we are humans like them, dreaming to have our rights back and to have an independent state called Palestine.”
Nedal Wahdan, a resident of Beit Hanoun, 48, said, “The Israeli army says that this operation will be rapid, without re-occupation of the Strip! Are they fooling us? They still occupy us, even after they left the Gaza Strip, by turning the Strip into a big prison. I cannot go to my farms, fearing that a shell might him me or at least its shrapnel.” He added that Beit Hanoun used to be a paradise full of trees and planted fields: "We used to have a barbecue between the trees, enjoying the singing of the birds but now it has become a desert because the Israeli bulldozers destroyed everything.”
Basmah Al-Kafarnah, 36, mother of 6 children, said, “My children get scared and terrified whenever they hear tanks shelling. I don’t have an alternative house to move to. It is very dangerous when shrapnel falls on the roof and hits the windows. The shells don’t differentiate between militants and civilians, they are conducting random killings; they even killed animals in our field yard.”
Naem Al-Masri, 31, a farmer, said, “God knows how many people they are going to kill this time. On the day of Eid El-Fitr, a few weeks ago, they killed 7 people. We have lost many loved ones. I wonder why the Israelis have the desire to commit ethnic cleansing. We demand the international community to intervene and stop this genocide. Do we not as Palestinians have the right to live like the Israelis? The only solution to this crisis is to end the Israeli occupation to our lands; we need to breathe! FREEDOM!"
Palestinians are leaving the territories, due to the harsh security and economic situation there, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Ahmed Suboh, a Palestinian Foreign Ministry official, said at a Ramallah press conference, that over the last four months, foreign and Arab diplomats have authorized 10,000 Palestinians to enter their countries.
Ahmed Abu Harabid, 15, a school student, said, “I was wounded last week by shrapnel to my leg and abdomen. It hurts so much. I want to tell the Israeli children to feel how we feel. We don’t enjoy our lives like they do. I want to be a doctor one day, to help treat people, especially innocent babies and children. My uncle is imprisoned in an Israeli jail and my cousins lost their father 2 years ago.”
While I was listening to Ahmed speak, a group of young children came and asked him to go with them to play soccer in the street but his father shouted, “Son, go inside the house. I don’t want to lose you.” The father said to me, in a sad tone, “When he was wounded the last time, we thought he was going to die. Thank God he is still alive! We are always worried. The drones are hovering in the skies, so it is dangerous; I should go to my house."
Yousef Alhelou is a freelance Palestinian Journalist. He can be contacted on ydamadan@hotmail.com
Please also see:
“No-one is safe” – a doctor’s testimony from Gaza
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/11/06/jabalya-06-11
Mustafa Barghouti: The Prison and Its Wardens
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-11050684126.htm
Palestinian Women Shield Fighters
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2765&blz=1
by Yousef Alhelou in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip
On Wednesday morning, the Israeli army declared Beit Hanoun a closed military zone. All residents were ordered to stay indoors. The Israeli army issued a warning through two local radio stations (“Freedom Radio” and “Youth Radio”) after they occupied the airwaves for a few minutes.
The town of Beit Hanoun, which lies only a few kilometers from the Israeli settlement of Sderot on the other side of the Gaza-Israel border, has 28,000 inhabitants.
The Israeli army conducted a large-scale offensive in Beit Hanoun at dawn on Thursday. It combined air and ground forces, including infantry, armored corps, tanks and engineer corps forces.
According to Palestinian sources, this incursion is the tenth into the town of Beit Hanoun since the Israeli army “left” the Gaza Strip, last August 2005.
The death toll of the Israeli Operation “Autumn Clouds” has raised to 48, after nine Palestinians were killed on Saturday. So far, in repeated incursions and aerial attacks, 260 have been injured, including 38 in a critical condition. It continues to rise.
Security sources said that Mazin Shabat, 38, was killed when an Israeli sniper shot him near the Erez crossing point, north of Beit Hanoun. Shabat had been arrested by the Israeli forces in the area, but was released a short time afterwards, only to be shot by a sniper, just minutes after his release. His relative, Zahir Shabat, was also critically injured.
Isra'a Talal Nasser, 15, was shot in the head by Israeli forces, yesterday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the operation "a massacre" and an "abominable crime", he added that Israeli military escalation proves that Israel does not want peace.
Spokesman of the Palestinian Hamas-led government, Dr Gazi Hamad has described the Israeli military offensive in Beit Hanoun
as bloody and brutal, "the Israelis adopt the policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide", he said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh declared: "This is the fruit of [“Israel, Our Home” Chairman] Avigdor Lieberman's addition to the government.” In an interview Lieberman has said “Israeli army should apply in Gaza the methods used by the Russians army in Chechnya.”
The Prime Minister also accused Israel Friday night of turning the Gaza strip into an experiment field for non conventional weapons that are being used for the first time.
Loudspeakers across Gaza called on people to come to demonstrations after Friday prayers to express solidarity with Beit Hanun. Tens of thousands representing various Palestinian factions massed in streets throughout the Strip
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas “saluted the women of Palestine ... who led the protest to break the siege of Beit Hanun.” Haniyeh urged United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to witness firsthand “the massacres of the Palestinian people” and appealed to the Arab world and the international community to “stop the ongoing bloodshed”.
In the meantime, he accused the U.S. of terroroism, as they gave the Israeli occupation forces the green light to killing the Palestinian people and destroying properties under the excuse of self defense !
Haneyyah added “we think of one thing which is to the remove the Israeli occupation to our lands.” He named the battle between the Israeli army and the resisitance men as “The Battle of Homeland Defense and Dignity”.
Meanwhile, media sources in the prime minister's office said that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haneyyah will hold a very important press confrence Monday midday to discuss important issues related to the current situation.
John Ging, UNRWA’s Gaza Field Director, demanded that the International Community ensure the entry of food and humanitarian aid to the surrounded residents in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
In a press conference held in Gaza, on Friday evening, Ging appealed for the entry of food, water and all needed materials to the surrounded civilians in Beit Hanoun.
He also demanded Israel facilitate the movement of ambulances, in order to be able to evacuate the injured residents and the bodies of the casualties.
“Our main demand is that all parties should act in order to halt the military operations and violence”, he stated, “We believe that violence should stop; the civilians are paying a very high price”.
In another development, The spokesperson of the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu Mujahid, has on Sunday accused the Israeli occupation of plotting to kill the Israeli soldier, Corporal Gil'ad Shalit, who is being detained by resistance brigades in Gaza.
In a press conference in Gaza City, the spokesperson held the Israelis responsible for any harm that may occur to Shalit through Israeli shelling of Gazan homes, public spaces and offices.
Abu Mujahid confirmed that the Israeli soldier is alive and that the captors are interested in exchanging him for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
In a related event, a spokesman for the Al Quds brigades of Islamic Jihad have presented two men to the media, alleging that they are Israeli agents, captured in the Salatin area of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. He said that they have captured four collaborators who were giving registration plate numbers of the cars driven by resistance fighters to the Israeli military authorities. They are also accused of defusing roadside bombs, planted by the resistance in the streets of Beit Hanoun.
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society has appealed to its friends and partners around the world to take immediate action to bring an end to 5 days of carnage in the northern Gaza Strip, in which at least 48 Gazans have been killed, more than 30 of whom were mostly civilians, including 7 children, 3 women, and 3 paramedics, since Israel began its bloody re-invasion of Beit Hanoun last Wednesday.
Autumn clouds pile up above Beit Hanoun
More than 260 Palestinians have also been injured in this continued offensive, most of them civilians, including approximately 43 women, 30 children, 1 paramedic,
and 1 journalist.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused Sunday to say when Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip will end, telling his Cabinet the operation will continue until Palestinian rocket attacks significantly decrease.
Local radio stations in the Gaza strip conducting an open wave for the fifth day, during day and night, to keep listeners informed of any breaking news while playing patriotic songs saluting the resistance men and military wings afflitaed to factions,
While I was driving on my way to Kamal Udwan hospital in Beit Lahia and listening to a local radio station to get News updates, suddenly the Israeli army managed to occpuy the airwave for few minutes and played recorded message warning the residents in the north area to stay inside their houses and to keep away from millitans and not offer them any assistant or protection.
Zeyad Abdul Dayem, an ambulance driver has said: we had to wait today for 15 hours until the Israeli army gave us permission to evacuate the body of a dead man who was killed by Israeli snipers who are taking positions at the roof tops of high buildings belonging to Palestinian residents in Ezbet Beit Hanoun.
Mohamed Al-Kafarnah, 43, father of 4 children has said: “I was not in Beit Hanoun when the Israeli army entered the town”, and when I asked him, “How do you keep in touch with your family and what are you doing here in hospital ?” he said: “I was lucky to talk to them for the last four days by mobile, but an hour ago they said their battery is running out and they don’t have electricity in the whole town, so they wont be able to charge the mobile; moreover, they can not use telephone land lines because the Israeli army destroyed telephone centrals and wire networks in the area.
“I'm so worried about them; they don’t have drinking water, food, milk and medicine for the children who are suffering and scared.”
He added: “People are in very critical situation; some of them drop food to each other through the roof and windows; there are 100's of Israeli snipers occupying peoples' houses and they shoot at any moving object; they even killed animals.”
He added: “The reason why I'm in the hospital is because of the body of my dead cousin, still in the morgue; we are waiting for the Israeli army to lift the siege, curfew and to end their incursion to the town, so that we will be able to bury him in the cemetery of Beit Hanoun.
Munir Abu Oudah, 38, has said: “This incursion and offensive is different from the previous one. I think they are going to commit massacres like what they have done in Jenin City in the west bank; this time they destroy houses and carry out mass arrests of men of Beit Hanoun and take them to unknown destinations; they are even surrounding Beit Hanoun Hospital, and the unmanned drones or "Zannanah", as people call it because it is issuing a noisy sound, do not stop hovering the skies above our heads, all the time.
Aysha Gaben, 45, school teacher, lives in Beit Lahiya near Beit Hanoun, she said: “We are worried that the Israeli army will expand their incursion and escalate the offensive; I'm going to leave my house by tonight, along with my family, to stay in our relative's house in Gaza City.” She added: “I can not see the Israeli army killing my sons, or taking them prisoners; they do not know mercy; they are punishing all people in the Gaza strip because of one Israeli soldier but we have more than 10,000 prisoners behind the Israeli jails, thanks to the American Administration for giving them the green light and participating in this incursion by sending American officers to help the Israelis and put plans to wipe out our town. The Israeli occupation army made our lives miserable; we prefer death rather than being humiliated and deprived from dignity and freedom. The American administration is always pro Israel; the U.N., headed by Kofi Annan, does not care about our tragedy; I hope my words reach them and tell me why, we the Palestinians have to suffer. Just use your role to end the Israeli occupation .
“The whole world should understand that we are conducting a war of independence; we are not terrorists as they portray us in the media and manipulating the facts; we are the victims of the Israeli occupation. Enough is enough! We are tired of this; are they not tired ? When will they realize that we are humans like them, dreaming to have our rights back and to have an independent state called Palestine.”
Nedal Wahdan, a resident of Beit Hanoun, 48, said, “The Israeli army says that this operation will be rapid, without re-occupation of the Strip! Are they fooling us? They still occupy us, even after they left the Gaza Strip, by turning the Strip into a big prison. I cannot go to my farms, fearing that a shell might him me or at least its shrapnel.” He added that Beit Hanoun used to be a paradise full of trees and planted fields: "We used to have a barbecue between the trees, enjoying the singing of the birds but now it has become a desert because the Israeli bulldozers destroyed everything.”
Basmah Al-Kafarnah, 36, mother of 6 children, said, “My children get scared and terrified whenever they hear tanks shelling. I don’t have an alternative house to move to. It is very dangerous when shrapnel falls on the roof and hits the windows. The shells don’t differentiate between militants and civilians, they are conducting random killings; they even killed animals in our field yard.”
Naem Al-Masri, 31, a farmer, said, “God knows how many people they are going to kill this time. On the day of Eid El-Fitr, a few weeks ago, they killed 7 people. We have lost many loved ones. I wonder why the Israelis have the desire to commit ethnic cleansing. We demand the international community to intervene and stop this genocide. Do we not as Palestinians have the right to live like the Israelis? The only solution to this crisis is to end the Israeli occupation to our lands; we need to breathe! FREEDOM!"
Palestinians are leaving the territories, due to the harsh security and economic situation there, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Ahmed Suboh, a Palestinian Foreign Ministry official, said at a Ramallah press conference, that over the last four months, foreign and Arab diplomats have authorized 10,000 Palestinians to enter their countries.
Ahmed Abu Harabid, 15, a school student, said, “I was wounded last week by shrapnel to my leg and abdomen. It hurts so much. I want to tell the Israeli children to feel how we feel. We don’t enjoy our lives like they do. I want to be a doctor one day, to help treat people, especially innocent babies and children. My uncle is imprisoned in an Israeli jail and my cousins lost their father 2 years ago.”
While I was listening to Ahmed speak, a group of young children came and asked him to go with them to play soccer in the street but his father shouted, “Son, go inside the house. I don’t want to lose you.” The father said to me, in a sad tone, “When he was wounded the last time, we thought he was going to die. Thank God he is still alive! We are always worried. The drones are hovering in the skies, so it is dangerous; I should go to my house."
Yousef Alhelou is a freelance Palestinian Journalist. He can be contacted on ydamadan@hotmail.com
Please also see:
“No-one is safe” – a doctor’s testimony from Gaza
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/11/06/jabalya-06-11
Mustafa Barghouti: The Prison and Its Wardens
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-11050684126.htm
Palestinian Women Shield Fighters
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2765&blz=1