[Peace-discuss] Your tax money at work

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Understandably enough, the US and Israel are working hard to prevent any 
independent accounts of what they're doing in Gaza.  Here's one of the few I've 
seen. --CGE]


	MAAN NEWS AGENCY
	---------------------------
	Fighting concentrated in ring around Gaza City
	Date: 04 / 01 / 2009  Time:  19:39

Gaza/Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel escalated land, air, and sea attacks on the Gaza 
Strip on Sunday, fighting Palestinian gunmen throughout the Strip and killing 
more than 40, including numerous civilians.

The heaviest fighting, according to initial reports, appears to be taking place 
in a ring round Gaza city, a Israeli tanks pushed towards the sea in a column 
south of the city and moved closer to the city in three separate prongs from the 
north. The Israeli army hs cut off the main roads into Gaza City.

Fighting has been reported in the northern towns of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya, 
and Jabaliya, near the former Israeli settlement Nitzarim, and in Gaza City 
neighborhoods, including Zaytoun, At-Toufah, and Ash-Shuja’yya.

Sunday's developments are as follows:

By Sunday evening there are reports that Israeli troops are entering residential 
areas.

7:00pm Medical officials confirm two are killed by an airstrike near a mosque in 
the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

6:30pm Israeli warplanes bomb a money changer's shop in Ar-Rimal, an upscale 
neighborhood of Gaza City. Two explosions heard including one at Talateeni Street.

6:00pm Two airstrikes kill three medics and wound another in Tal Al-Hawa, south 
of Gaza City.

5:00pm An airstrike killed five Palestinians near a Mosque in Jabaliya.

4:45pm An airstrike in At-Toufah, in Gaza City, killed a mother and four children.

4:00pm Four children are among 10 civilians killed in airstrikes in Beit Layhia.

12:15pm Israeli artillery hit a market area killing at least five civilians and 
injuring more than 40.

11:45am Israeli missiles targeted the Palestinian Ministry of Waqf and Religious 
Affairs in Gaza City, injuring several passersby.

11:30am Israeli warplanes fired missiles at Khan Younis in the southern Gaza 
Strip. Ambulances were seen speeding up towards the area.

11:15am An Israeli reconnaissance plane fired a missile at the Rafah home of 
senior DFLP leader Muhammad Abed Barbakh, killing him, his father Abed, his two 
brothers Mahdi and Yousef, and his nephew Musa Yousef. Barbakh was a leader in 
the National Resistance Brigades, the DFLP’s military arm. He lived in the 
An-Nahdah neighborhood of Rafah

11:00am An-Nassar Salah Ad-Din activist died of wounds in Saudi Arabia hospital.

Tanks advance from four points

Israeli forces breached Gaza borders at ten Saturday evening and have been 
advancing ever since. Palestinian fighters clashed with the advancing army, 
reportedly injuring 30 Israeli soldiers.

East of Gaza City tanks entered Gaza through the Nahal Oz and Karni crossing 
points, they advanced and headed south of Gaza City and are currently stationed 
at the abandoned Israeli settlement of Netzarim. Tank fire killed three in the 
Ashuja’yya neighborhood.

In Beit Hanoun in the north eastern Gaza Strip, tanks penetrated hundreds of 
meters closing the main road between Beit Hanoun and Gaza City.

 From the northwest witnesses said Israeli forces reached the American school 
north of Beit Lahiya. Forces killed two in Beit Lahiya. The school was leveled 
on Saturday by and Israeli airstrike.

 From the south tanks entered near the destroyed Yasser Arafat Airport east of 
the city of Rafah amid heavy artillery fire, killing one Palestinian fighter and 
injuring several others.

Just before the ground invasion Israeli warplanes bombarded more than 45 targets 
throughout the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military claimed the targets were 
ammunition caches and groups of Palestinian fighters, although the bombing 
destroyed a school and apartment buildings.

Another air raid was also in the southern Strip near Khan Younis. The strike 
killed Hamas activist Muhammad Al-Heila and injured another who could not be 
identified.


http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34600