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Subscribe to RSSThe violence continues in Gaza while negotiations between Hamas and Israel are taking place in Egypt. An estimated 100 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed so far. NBC's John Ray reports.
Updated at 3:02 p.m. ET: GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The leader of Hamas said Monday it was up to Israel to end the new conflict it had started, adding that a "land war" would cost Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the election.
"[Netanyahu] can do it, but he knows that it will not be a picnic and that it could be his political death and cost him the elections," Khaled Meshaal, exiled leader of Hamas, told a news conference in Cairo.
"Whoever started the war must end it," Meshaal said, adding that Netanyahu, who faces an election in January, had asked for a truce, an assertion a senior Israeli official described as untrue.
For its part, Israel said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that would end Palestinian rocket fire.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon has said that "if there is quiet in the south and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel's citizens, nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack."
According to a poll by Israel's Haaretz newspaper, 84 percent of Israelis supported the current Gaza assault, but only 30 percent wanted an invasion, while 19 percent wanted their government to work on securing a truce soon.
Acting as a mediator, Egypt said Monday that a deal for a truce to end the fighting could be close, as Israel bombed dozens of suspected guerrilla sites in the densely populated Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population.
Twelve Palestinian civilians and four fighters were killed in the sixth day of fighting, local officials said, raising the number of Palestinian dead to 101, the Hamas-run Health Ministry told Reuters, listing 24 children among them. Hospital officials in Gaza said more than half of those killed were non-combatants. Three Israeli civilians died on Thursday in a rocket strike and dozens others have been wounded.
Ammar Awad / Reuters
Two sides exchange deadly airstrikes, rocket attacks.
Among the targets struck in Gaza City Monday was the Al Shorouq media building, which Israeli warplanes hit for the second straight day. The attack targeted a second-floor apartment used by a leading Islamic Jihad militant. He was killed and four others were injured, NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin reported.
The Israeli military said it targeted only the floor used by the militants. “The senior [Islamic Jihad] cadre was operating in a media building. They weren’t there to be interviewed. They were using reporters as human shields,” it said on Twitter.
But the lower floors of the building caught fire, trapping journalists on the higher levels. Firefighters were trying to put out the blaze and get the journalists out of the building. The Hamas TV station is located on the top floor.
Family mourned
Thousands turned out on Gaza's streets Monday to mourn four children and five women, who were among the 11 people killed in an Israeli strike that flattened a three-story home the previous day.
The bodies were wrapped in Palestinian and Hamas flags. Echoes of explosions mixed with cries of grief and defiant chants of "God is greatest."
Israel said it was investigating the strike that brought the home crashing down on the al-Dalu family, where the dead spanned four generations. Some Israeli newspapers said the wrong house may have been mistakenly targeted.
Since Wednesday, 877 rockets have been fired from Gaza toward Israel, the Israeli military said Monday. Of those, 570 rockets have struck Israel while the country’s air defense system has intercepted 307, according to the military. Forty-five rockets were fired at southern Israel on Monday, causing no casualties, police said.
Israel's decision to step up targeted attacks on leaders in Gaza on Sunday marked a new and risky phase of the operation, given the likelihood of civilian casualties in the crowded territory of 1.6 million Palestinians.
A three-story building in Gaza was flattened by an overnight Israeli airstrike that was targeted at a Hamas militant. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Negotiations inch forward
International efforts to wrest a cease-fire from the two sides has intensified despite the escalated hostilities. The failure to end the fighting could touch off an Israeli ground invasion, for which thousands of soldiers, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, have already been mobilized and dispatched to Gaza's border.
Leading cease-fire mediation efforts is Egypt, which borders both Israel and Gaza and whose Islamist-rooted government has been hosting leaders of Hamas.
“I strongly urge the parties to cooperate with all efforts led by Egypt to reach an immediate cease-fire," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said before leaving for Egypt. He visits Israel on Tuesday.
European Union governments also said they supported Egyptian efforts to mediate.
Related links:
NY Times columnist, Tom Friedman and NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Andrea Mitchell discuss America's role in the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Key players in the Israel-Gaza cross-border conflict
How Israel's 'Iron Dome' intercepts incoming rockets in Gaza conflict
Israeli government websites under mass hacking attack
On Sunday, President Barack Obama said it would be "preferable" to avoid a move into Gaza, but that Israel had a right to self-defense and no country would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and several other Arab foreign ministers will visit Gaza on Tuesday to show solidarity with Palestinians. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will accompany them, officials said.
Mohammed Saber / EPA
A Palestinian woman inspects the rubble of her destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike in the eastern part of Gaza City on Monday.
Forces gather
Israel launched the current offensive Wednesday after months of intensifying rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which continued despite the strikes.
Israeli tanks, artillery and infantry have massed in field encampments along the sandy, fenced-off border and military convoys moved on roads in the area. Israel has also authorized the call-up of 75,000 military reservists, so far mobilizing around half that number.
Overnight, aircraft targeted about 80 militant sites, including underground rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels and training bases, as well as command posts and weapons storage facilities located in buildings owned by militant commanders, the military said Monday in a release.
Aircraft and gunboats joined forces to attack police headquarters, and rocket squads were struck as they prepared to fire, the release said.
In all, more than 1,000 Gaza targets have been struck since the operation began.
Some Hamas rockets reached as far as Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, but were shot down by the country's air defense system.
As a precaution against the rocket interceptions endangering nearby Ben-Gurion International Airport, civil aviation authorities said on Monday new flight paths were being used.
Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com
Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and force Hamas to stop rocket fire that has bedeviled Israeli border towns for years. The rockets now have greater range, putting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem within their reach -- a strategic weapon for Gaza's otherwise massively outgunned guerrillas.
Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images
Israeli soldiers prepare their weapons in a deployment area near the Gaza border on Monday.
NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- 'Some indications' Hamas-Israeli truce is possible, Egypt says
- Key players in the Israel-Gaza cross-border conflict
- French girl found tied up - but alive - in trunk after routine traffic stop
- Mexican company Bimbo may be eyeing Twinkies
- Trains packed as festival travelers head homeward in India
- Syria rebels seize airport near Iraqi border, activists say
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Those animal hamas use women and children as their shields anyway, so if the victims are children or women, that is the price those animals pay. Leave Isreal alone, and they won't have to deploy rockets in self defense! Stay strong Isreal!!
President Barack Obama said he has told Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that "those who champion the cause of the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future."
Does our President actually think the Isrealis will ever agree to a two-state solution with the Palestinians? I am pretty sure Isreal knows by now that a two-state solution is not a solution. A two state solution will simply give the Palestinians and their terrorist government more freedom of movement, an enhanced ability to get weapons closer to Jewish cities, and compromise Isreal's ability to defend itself. These people do not want peace. They will never want peace. I will even go so far as to say that if, hypothetically, Isreal as a nation was gone tomorrow, all these terrorist groups would just turn on eachother. The killing will never end.
Izzat Risheq, aide to Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, wrote on Facebook that Hamas would enter a truce only after Israel "stops its aggression, ends its policy of targeted assassinations and lifts the blockade of Gaza."
Really? Hamas is the aggressor. Keep sending missles up their a$$ until THEY stop the aggression Isreal!
Give me a break, just existing is aggression to hamas
They are a piece of work for sure RL56.
What I don't understand is they are always willing to sacrifice a hundred, a thousand Palestinians to kill one Isreali. Seriously, everytime they poke the bear they loose a hundred people. You'd think they would quit poking the bear.
Their religion of Islam and it's holy book, the Qur'an teaches them it is their duty as a Muslim to kill them where you find them..
Mo-ham-mad taught Muslims to murder non-Muslims.
Qur'an 2:191: And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.
He also went to a cave where their were was conviniently no witness to his claims either but that's another story. I don't exactly want to attack Islam as a whole however.
I can just imagine from a practical point of view a kill ratio of 1/100 (and that is at best for the Palestinians) is going to win you the war. At that rate you will run out of people before they do. I'm not upset at their logic because if they were a well trained fighting force like the Isrealis the slaughter in this conflict would be enormously higher on Isreal's side.
I think the Isrealis should negotiate the transfer of ALL Palestinians to Egypt since they are so damn concerned and all....wtf btw is that all about anyway?
Isreal just needs to keep its fighting force sharp and its nukes armed because this conflict will exist until there is one ideology in the middle east. Don't know about you but I'm putting my money on the west when that day comes.
I hope Isreal flattens those animal Hamas and the Palestinians!
What would the US do if Cuba started launching rockets into Miami?
The island would be a smoldering crater, and justifiably so.
It's the old adage, don't grab a tiger by the tail if you don't have a plan for his teeth. Civilians getting killed in Gaza is the fault of no-one but Hamas. War is a messy and brutal business. Don't act outraged by the consequences if you start one.
Funny you should mention Cuba. Wasn't our current re-elected president the one caught on mic/video telling the Russian president he would have more leverage AFTER (the election) November when they were discussing nuclear arms? Wasn't Russia the ones that put missiles in Cuba pointed at the USA?
And John Kennedy, the Democratic president of the time.... put an end to it... what would Nixon have done?
Nixon who?
Kennedy was a true leader. Personal life was off but he actually did things and made decisions for the people he led. He was a leader and not a divider, unlike our current president. I SO wish Obama was not black so people would see him for what he really is, NOT a president.
edited the tapes....
Doesn't Israel realize by destroying all these hamas locations they are provided an unlimited amount of rocks that the terrorists can now throw at the Israeli tanks?
But seriously, to the people of gaza, you are sitting in a movie theater that is on fire. If you stay, you will surely die. Get out of gaza, go somewhere, anywhere for a few days until this is over.
This can happen unless the hamas won't let you leave. hamas needs you to shield their stores of hidden rockets. hamas needs you to die and get injured so they can cry to the cameras of how Israel is killing civilians.
Only cowards hide behind women and children. Only cowards hide their faces with hoods. hamas claims they will rip the Israeli forces to shreds. Really? Do they actually believe their own bullsh*t.
Gaza, you lost the war in 2002. You are living with that consequence. You will lose again...and again...and again. But the people of gaza are so afraid of the hamas thugs they really are caught in the middle. Just like nazi germany and the only solution is to level gaza and turn it into a huge parking lot.
Let's see if I got this right. I walk into a biker bar, call everyone a bunch of pus*ies and when I get the sh*t kicked out of me, I cry to the cameras.
But then again, when the unemployment rate is 40%+ in gaza, what else do they have to do beside elect more leaders that will take them down the path of destruction. Time to liberate the people of gaza from the terror and reign of the terrorists.
Death to hamas
They want their Palestinian land to not be occupied by Israel any longer. Is that so hard to understand? If the US was occupied by another country, what would YOU do? Just sit on your duff and watch TV? And don't fool yourself....the US govt isn't much better than Hamas. Research, then research again. You actually learn something.
The "occupied" land you speak of was gained by Israel AFTER they were attacked by all sides and won. Israel was NOT Palestinian land before WWII.
You do realize that Israel will not let them leave, right? They have a land, air and sea blockade and Gazans can not simply leave.
Not only do the Palestinians fake the deaths and injuries of non-combatants, or cause them themselves, but they also use photos from unrelated events to fake their casualties. I'm not saying that all the casualties are faked, but many of them are. And, tragically, of those that have occurred, especially those of children, they may not have happened if Islamobrainwashed Hamas terrorists didn't choose to fire their missiles and locate their arsenals in highly populated areas.
Ending the death and conflict is simple. Israel re-takes Gaza and in the process eliminates Hamas and their minions with instant death.
What a people, what a quasi religious political machine. Shoot rocket after rocket into Israel and when they respond you are the victim and they are the aggressor. This is the way of Islam. Not guided by any philosophy other than the attempt to rally emotions while they allow your women and children to die needlessly. They have no respect for human life at all. A life is just a tool to further their Islamic agenda.
If ever the Muslims love their children more than they hate the Israelis then and only than there will be peace. If this is not enough proof to convince everyone that Islam religion is all about hate, destruction and oppression than there is very little hope for you as well.
I choose to follow a faith in the One that teaches to love all red, yellow, black or white they are all precious in God’s sight….
Jesus even tells us to love our enemies.
Romans 12: 20-21 “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he
is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil
with good.
I like Sheldon's idea on the Big Bang Theory of building an exact replica of Jerusalem in the middle of the Mexican desert.
Finally at long last, the "Chosen" people of a supposedly god of peace and love, show their true color for all the world to see....yellow as the dogs they are, and the god that "chose" them was Satan himself, not a benign god because he wouldn't permit it. And of course if you'd ask them, what would Jesus do?...how convenient they don't believe in Jesus, because Jesus wouldn't agree with the slaughter and hatred they have undressed for the world to see them as they really are either. A people of pure hatred and twisted minds, thinking they're always better than anyone else with the centuries old lying and stealing and trying to fool the masses into always thinking that poor lil Israel is always the innocent victim. They can't hide behind that veil anymore. Israel, I think your time has come, and countries will come to the aid of Gaza and the West Bank, and hopefully you'll be driven out once again. Now can the world see why the Israelis/Zionist Jews have been hated throughout most of history?? Wretched, soulless people out for only what they can gain in their own false god.....land and money and whatever else in material goods they can get their hands on, and laying waste to any that would dare stand in their way by slow starvation, cowardly bombing innocent people in the middle of the night with MUCH more superior firepower than Gaza while telling the world they don't kill children at least 3 were killed just yesterday, imprisonment within their own borders the Palestinians live within tall concrete barriers in the OCCUPIED West Bank and Jerusalam, the ONLY checkpoint out of Gaza is ONE through Egypt at Sinai, embargoes so they go but so far out in the ocean to even fish, peaceful flotillas are stopped and turned away by the Israeli Navy, they can't even get medical supplies that the Israelis have kept hostage since Thursday of last week, They need oil to keep generators running so the hospitals can function, but worse are the preemie babies who have done no harm and still in incubators, and some are probably orphaned by now, will die by your hands, blood of tiny little babies all over your hands when the oil runs out, the gas and/or electric to cook with IF there's food available at all, and clean water no longer flows through the taps in homes and hospitals, and you deny more and you ultimately will, but I think your days are numbered because the world has begun to open it's eyes, and more eyes open everyday to see who you really are, what you really are. Greedy, cold blooded murderers and thieves. The New Nazi regime. How strange how history not only repeated itself, it reversed the roles. How very strange indeed. I hope you get great pleasure out of a holocaust of your OWN making, and let your minds never forget what you've wrought. The screaming in your heads will never drown out. If you understood what OCCUPIED meant, you'd KNOW why Gaza sends almost toy missiles by comparison into Israel....they want you out of THEIR land!
hesfailed, there was never "Indian" land in recorded history either. A previous post of yours indicates we are "occupying" Indian land. By your own argument you state that the Palestinians are the same as native Americans yet only one is wrong.
"In July 2010, Egyptian journalist Ashraf Abu Al-Houl wrotein Al-Ahram (Egypt's most prominent newspaper) that "in actual terms" Gaza is not under siege. He further noted that stores were "flowing with goods" at "low prices." Abu Al-Houl went as far as detailing the thriving entertainment and amusement parks industry in Gaza.
Moreover, numbers speak for themselves: in March 2012, the same month when 300 Hamas rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli towns, 3,653 truckloads of goods were delivered from Israel to Gaza and 1,375 Gazan patients and companions entered or passed through Israel for medical treatments, followed by another 1,364 in April, 2012.
In August 2012, the Hamas prime minister's brother in law was allowed to enter Israel for treatment in an Israeli hospital."
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3453/besieging-gaza
An understanding of the nature and behavior of reptiles is needed before negotiating with Hamas or the PA.
Chuck... War story my father told me. There was USA B 54 shot down near our village by Germans. Six airmen have died, they were buried in our cemetery and whole town cried for them. About the same time Germans took away about 24 Jewish families; men women children, strangest thing, no one cried for them. When I asked my father, I was little child that time; he told me about those people just about something similar what you describing, they were hated by everyone. I sympathized with the poor Palestinians.
Indians, unlike the Iran fortified Hamas, didn't have mortar and rockets but surely would have used them if they did. My point genius was that neither of the two are "defending" their land.
"An Emboldened Hamas Makes New Demands--Netanyahu Holds Fast" front page, New York Times, this morning: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/world/middleeast/an-outgunned-hamas-tries-to-leverage-rise-of-islamists-in-region.html?pagewanted=all
The Hamas new demands are mind-numbing. Their arrogance can only result in the damage to the Palestinian infrastructure and population. That's ok with Hamas: they don't have to rebuild it.
Israel has the option to agree to a 21-day temporary cease fire--on condition that, during the cease fire, the Palestinians would identify, dismantle and turn over to Israel all missiles and rockets and allow inspection of Gaza and those and other sites specified by Israel.
If the Palestinians refuse, or agree but do not honor the commitment, Israel could resume bombing and/or land invasion and achieve substantially the same military result, albeit with regrettable civilian casualties and property damage.
It may be in the interest of the Palestinians to initiate and complete those adjustments now.
It is unfortunate that the Palestinians underestimated the sincerity of the Israelis after having 500 rockets sprayed on them.
It is tragic the Palestinians have intransigence as a strategy, as the death toll rises hourly now exceeding 100.
"New demands": the Palestinians need to deal effectively with Hamas, now and in the future
the palestinians get what they give. if the u.n. cannot contribute, they need to get out of the way.
The only thing the Arab's EVER understand is force. They tell us they hate the Jew. Go IDF- level Gaza and Israel wont ever have to be rocketed by Hammas again, filthy cowards who hide behind civilians. They count on that to make Israel retticent about retalliation. Times up for all the UAE, disgusting cowards- Israel should level gaza and put the civilians on the road. Enough is enough, and the USA (while well meaning) needs to shut up and let Israel protect itself once and for all. Israel is the ONLY country thats worth a flip over there, these people cant even govern themselves
Democracy Now! has a great discussion about the deteriorating situation inside Gaza and Israel today. They’re joined by human rights lawyer Raji Sourani, and UN special rapporteur on human rights Richard Falk. Watch it here:
jd1966, your an idiot
I think the Jewish and Palestinian people just want to live and get along. But the politics and power won't allow that to happen.
Now what was Egypt and others saying about a Truce. No one wants Peace so this will continue on until there is no more Hamas, rockets fired into Israel or both sides can bring themselves to try Peace. Since hatred and bigotry always prevail don't look for this insanity to end anytime soon.
"Defend itself"?? That's a good one. So a burglar enters your home, steals everything you have, pushes you out and then when you dare to fight back, he has the right to "defend himself"?? So what about the Palestinian homes bulldozed, what about the Palestinian families thrown out of their homes and thrown off their lands so that Jewish settlers can take over their property and build colonies on it?
What about the Palestinian and Bedouin graves and cemeteries desecrated by Israeli citizens? And Barack Obama says they have the right to defend themselves? Does the average US citizen have any idea how much of his hard-earned USD are going yearly to support the State of Israel to defend itself?
Suppose the State of Israel pulled back to the 1948 frontiers which under international law it is supposed to live in, suppose Israel disbanded its illegal colonies in the West Bank and suppose Israel started behaving like a member of the international community?
You cannot steal territory, build colonies on it then play the victim when the dispossessed fight back.
It's called War. You shoot 500 rockets a week into someone territory you can't cry foul. Rockets don't stop then the War continues. You have Hamas which don't want Peace no matter what then War continues. You try to kill them and they end of killing you that's War. It is never going to end until the hatred and bigotry ends and the two sides can sit down and except a Peace good for both. As for stealing of territory it's been that way for the past 10,000 years by just about every country on the face of the Earth. It's the World we all live in. Again, shoot rockets then there will be a War. Those are facts.
If you poke the bear, you will get bit. Firing rockets into Israel will only get retaliation from them. The more you do this the stronger the force used. It is not a hard concept to understand.
Sign this petition and get Hamas off of Twitter!
http://www.change.org/petitions/twitter-delete-all-hamas-twitter-accounts#
Jesus teaches,do to others as you would want others to do to you,but in wars you do to others what you don't want done to you-and Jesus says,expect no reward from God loving who love you,even sinners love their own,but in wars you love those who love you-and Jesus says,love your enemies,but in wars you kill your enemies.There are many who call themselves Christians,but don't believe or follow any of these teachings of Jesus,but they believe in wars.Jesus says in the Bible,Matthew 7:21-23,there will be many who will say,Lord didn't we do many wonderful works in your name,but I will say,depart from me you who work sin,I never knew you.
...
If Israel would only negotiate, non of this would be necessary.
The muslims just do not like the Israelis trying to impose their religion on the region.
.
Joe Biden in 2016.
...
Yep only Joe would support people who hang gays, put bomb vest on children and women, radical Hamas who support stoning women for adultery, show kiddie cartoons of Muslims killing Jew's, yep some swell people over there he is supporting. Progressives supporting hate isn't it hysterical
I can only surmise your entire post is sarcasm.
Israel HAS multiple Christian AND Muslim enclaves in Israel.
The bargaining position of Israel is simple. Stop launching rockets indiscriminately at Israel, and Israel will not destroy Hamas facilities and people with a high degree of accuracy.
Let's see, a quick count, Israel - 100 bombs dropped, Gaza-Hamas 20 missiles launched.
Now, IF Allah (God) wanted Israel defeated, don't ya think he would make these stats just a tiny bit closer? Or even give Gaza-Hamas the upper hand in all of this? How the heck can these people think that they are somehow doing God's will? And if they aren't doing God's will, then how will they become martyrs and get their 72 virgins if they get killed trying to harm Israel?
Can anyone please explain this to me? Am I missing something here?
Yeah. What happens when you run out of virgins. There can't possibly be 72 virgins either dead or alive for every martyr. Also before Israel took action there was like 500 rockets launched at them in a week. Palestine/Hamas want War and they got War.
No they didn't get war. Israel is giving an ass kicking. Don't even ask what a war would look like.
And what did the Virgins do to deserve this?
Good one skeptical. Finally got a good laugh out of all of this.
Hey Taz, more like over a 1000 missiles from Gaza in the last 6 days.
The Palistinians voting for Hamas was like Democrats voting for Obama.
They are getting what they deserve for being stupid.
Actually, it's more like Republicans voting those TeaBaggers back into the House of Reps so that the country has to suffer 4 more years of solid UNCOMPROMISING GRID LOCK.
That's democracy you dimwit.
Democracy is nothing more than mob rule...if your mob turns out more voters you win...if doesn' t matter if your mob is full of lunatics...
The most ironic part about this whole situation is that the Gaza Strip has never smelled better.