15-01-2009, 20:50
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חבר מתאריך: 17.03.07
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CNN: Israel intensifies attacks on Gaza City
התרשמותי מהשבועות האחרונים היא שה-CNN מחזיק בקו פרו ישראלי ברור, במיוחד בהשוואה לכלי תקשורת זרים אחרים.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/m...plea/index.html
GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- Israeli ground forces -- backed by massive air power and heavy shelling -- pushed deep into Gaza City on Thursday.
Observers called the shelling the most intense since Israel launched its military operation nearly three weeks ago.
Heavy battles with Hamas militants damaged the United Nations' main relief compound, a foreign media building and a hospital.
Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Siam was killed Thursday by an Israeli airstrike, along with his son and brother, Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV announced.
The Israeli military confirmed it targeted a house in Jabalya -- north of Gaza City -- where Siam and two other senior Hamas operatives were present.
As it stepped up its military campaign, Israel on Thursday also dispatched senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad to Cairo to discuss a cease-fire proposal. A Hamas delegation is also in the Egyptian capital, talking with leaders there who are trying to hammer out a temporary truce. Watch as civilians suffer most »
Israeli officials have said that it was likely the Jewish state would increase its military incursion in Gaza as movement toward a cease-fire progressed.
Israel said it initiated the operation into Gaza -- which is controlled by Hamas -- to stop rocket fire on its southern cities and towns. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died in the operation in Gaza and from rocket strikes on southern Israel, according to the Israeli military. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, including many civilians, Palestinian medics said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in the region as part of the diplomatic effort to secure a truce. He met with Israeli officials on Thursday, and condemned the attack on the U.N. Relief and Works Agency's compound in Gaza City that destroyed relief supplies and wounded three people. Watch as fire blazes at U.N. compound »
Speaking at a news conference in Tel Aviv with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Ban said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the shelling of the compound "was a grave mistake and he took it very seriously."
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said that Barak actually told the U.N. chief that "if it was Israel's fire, it was a grave mistake." Watch Regev respond to accusation »
Later, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the U.N. compound was hit in retaliation for militant fire, Regev said.
In addition, the Foreign Press Association said international news agency offices in Gaza City were hit by Israeli fire Thursday and demanded Israel stop shooting at the building that houses them.
Palestinian security sources said two employees for Abu Dhabi television were wounded in the incident.
UNRWA director John Ging said the agency's headquarters -- located in a densely populated neighborhood -- was hit repeatedly by shrapnel and artillery, including white phosphorus shells -- the use of which is restricted under international law.
Some 700 Palestinians were taking shelter in the compound at the time, Ging said.
"We warned the Israelis hour by hour through the night of the vulnerabilities here as the shells came closer and closer and shrapnel was coming into the compound on a regular occasion," Ging said. "Nonetheless, we have now been subjected to these direct hits." Read an aid worker's diary
Ging said the phosphorus shells sparked a fire at the compound that left a massive pillar of billowing black smoke hanging over Gaza City.
"It looks like phosphorus, it smells like phosphorus and it's burning like phosphorus," Ging said. "That's why I'm calling it phosphorus."
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the allegation. Regev said that Hamas is also armed with phosphorus shells and has fired them at Israelis.
The U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using white phosphorus shells in Gaza during its campaign against Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
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