Gaza Toll Rises to 690 on Day 16 of Israeli Offensive as Meshaal Rejects Truce unless Blockade Lifted
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
At least 687 Palestinians have been killed as Israel continued bombarding Gaza for the sixteenth day in a row, while fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants was briefly suspended Wednesday in several flashpoint areas of the Strip to allow convoys of ambulances to retrieve the wounded.
Amid the ongoing violence, Hamas rejected a ceasefire to end 16 days of deadly fighting unless the blockade on the Gaza Strip is lifted, its chief Khaled Meshaal said in Doha.
"We reject today and will reject in the future" a ceasefire before negotiations on Hamas's demands, which include lifting years of blockade against the Palestinian enclave, Meshaal told reporters.
Listing the eight-year blockade is a main demand of Hamas which also wants the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and Israel to free prisoners.
As international calls for an end to the fighting in Gaza mount, Meshaal insisted that the Islamist Hamas "welcomes all efforts to end the aggression" and "does not object" to mediation by any party, including Egypt.
"We will not accept any initiative that does not lift the blockade on our people and that does not respect their sacrifices.
"Let us agree on achieving our demands and we will then agree on the zero-hour for a ceasefire," Meshaal said.
In the latest Israeli attacks, tank fire killed five people, including two children, in southern Gaza, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, as Wednesday's body count reached at least 56 Palestinians.
A series of other strikes and shellings throughout Gaza brought the total number killed from 16 days of conflict between Israel and Hamas to 687 Palestinians.
Another air strike on Wednesday killed a two-year-old girl, Qudra said.
Early on Wednesday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in clashes at the West Bank village of Hussan, near Bethlehem, Palestinian security sources told Agence France Presse.
They named the man as Mahmud al-Hamamra, 32, and said he was shot in the chest while throwing rocks at Israelis.
The Israel military told AFP it had no immediate word on such an incident but would look into it.
The clash was reported shortly after the Palestinian leadership, meeting in Ramallah, called for "widespread popular protest in solidarity with Gaza and the resistance."
Of the over 56 Palestinians killed in fighting on Wednesday, most of the victims were in Khuzaa, medics say, although no exact number was quoted.
Meanwhile in southern Israel, a foreign worker died after being hit by a mortar round fired from the Gaza Strip, police said.
"There was a foreign worker killed by a mortar," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, bringing to three the number of civilians in Israel killed by fire from Gaza since the latest round of violence began on July 8.
The victim, whose nationality was not immediately publicized, was critically wounded while working in a greenhouse on a moshav collective village in the area of Ashkelon regional council. Police said he died on the way to hospital.
So far, the violence has killed more than 690 Palestinians in Gaza, and 32 people in Israel, including 29 soldiers and three civilians.
Also on Wednesday, fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants was briefly suspended in several flashpoint areas of Gaza to allow convoys of ambulances to retrieve the wounded, an ICRC spokeswoman said.
"A convoy of seven ambulances and two Red Cross cars went inside Shejaiya to evacuate the wounded," ICRC spokeswoman Cecilia Goin told AFP, saying the move had been coordinated with both Israel and Hamas.
A second convoy of nine ambulances and two Red Cross vehicles went into Khuzaa near the southern city of Khan Yunis, an area which also came under very heavy Israeli fire overnight, she said.
A third team went into the northern town of Beit Hanun, the agency said.
"We have coordinated with both Hamas and the Israelis to be able to take out the wounded," Goin told AFP, indicating both sides had agreed to hold their fire, although it was not immediately clear for how long.
There was no immediate comment from the Israelis and an AFP correspondent in Khuzaa said the shooting appeared to be ongoing.
Since the early morning, there have been major clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in Khuzaa, which lies on the Israeli border, some six kilometers (four miles) southeast of Khan Yunis.
24 July 2014, 00:39
32
Why I should be in predicament? I live free and I don't need you to remind me of my freedom.
23 July 2014, 19:24
34
There is no way Israel can win here. Hamas can achieve something just by surviving and causing casualties to the IDF. The best thing to do is stop it now and go for a comprehensive ceasefire.
23 July 2014, 21:19
24
you have another script? you keep saying the same things Hasbara gave you!!!
23 July 2014, 19:28
34
Israel student union sets up “war room” to sell Gaza massacre on Facebook.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-student-union-sets-war-room-sell-gaza-massacre-facebook
23 July 2014, 20:00
37
Caliph Al Baghdadi's media department hinted the Caliph may appear simultaneously with nassrallah and together they will address the nation of islam.
23 July 2014, 20:31
25
"enjoy freedom and human rights"...... you are a blind hateful ignorant person. We are supposed to believe you just because you say it. The world is judging you now and has already judged you as a nation of terror, hatred, discrimination, and genocide..
23 July 2014, 21:33
36
@veritas: As an American also born and raised in the United States of America I must say what you have been writing on this forum does not conform to what Americans believe in and stand for. We were brought up to respect humanity, fight for freedom and justice and side with the poor and oppressed. Isn't that what our forefathers taught us and the principles upon which our country was founded. Those protesting in the US of A and around the world are not crazy leftists but rather decent law abiding and peace loving people. I know how the great honorable American people think. You are not representative of us.
24 July 2014, 07:26
10
Why don't you ask the Arab Judge on the Israeli Supreme Court, why don't you ask the thousands of Arab Israeli Judges, Lawyers, Doctors, Nurses, Police and Army (yes Army) Officers, Ambassadors and Consuls, Members of Parliament etc?
Even better, if you had peace with (not pieces of) Israel you would be able to see with your own eyes how your leaders have been lying to you for nearly 70 years.
23 July 2014, 20:35
102
hezbollah, syria and iran arm and support palestinians, before even thinking of criticizing them, tell us what your saudis and gulfies are doing?
when it is about spreading takfiri "democracy", destroying syria and beheading fellow arabs they send funds and weapons and mercenaries without problem, but how come they dont lift a finger for palestine?
what a change since those times
http://youtu.be/QxLGoGERXdg
23 July 2014, 20:37
22
Stop complaining. Hamas wants this.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/139003
23 July 2014, 20:38
10
like the hospital and schools they are shooting from? we have video proof of hamas using schools mosques and hospital. check ynet news in engligh
23 July 2014, 20:41
62
philipo if israel's concern was really the rockets, they wouldnt have constantly violated every cease fire agreement.
it is israel that has been relentlessly violating all ceasefires by striking gaza, killing civilians and executing officials.
http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2012/12/israeli-ceasefire-violations-in-gaza.html
23 July 2014, 21:32
25
hasbaratchik boy, the Jews invented terrorism, remember the Jewish terrorists bragging about blowing up the King David Hotel.
http://youtu.be/U8ZavzbeaFE
24 July 2014, 07:28
10
Just a few years before that you may remember the Koran saying that all non Moslems should be annihilated
23 July 2014, 21:39
32
Hey Southern why are you ignoring me? Our little chat about your loyalty to the resistance wasn't finished. You're delusional, Israel lost because flights are being cancelled. Let's look at the stats here: some 30 Israelis dead, almost 700 Palestinians dead. And how did 2006 prove IDF are cowards? Did you see the before-and-after satellite image of Haret Hreyk on the Wikipedia article of the war? Entire blocks were reduced to rubble, while Hezbollah did what -- shoot unguided missiles which landed in bushes and fields?
23 July 2014, 21:41
35
@nick: I think we need to leave our bickering aside for a moment and rally around southern in his rightful arguments against someone justifying murder and mass murder.
23 July 2014, 21:51
32
I'm not rallying behind delusional people. I don't care how many Palestinians died, Hamas allowed this to happen with their unreasonable demands. Do you really think Israel is gonna lift their siege of Gaza and allow Hamas to freely administer Gaza i.e. be able to import weapons by sea? Yeah...right
23 July 2014, 22:08
33
I caught part of the Christians United for Israhell shindig on my local Christian station and saw Bibi NetanYahoo and Sheldon Adelsen and his wife addressing the crowd. The zombies in attendance were dutifully waving their Israeli flags and gazing with rapt attention at their heroes. What a betrayal of Christ!
23 July 2014, 22:10
25
@veritas: I was born and raised in Southern California which as you know has a large Jewish community specially in the Greater Los Angeles Area. My family and I own 3 large businesses in California and we employ many fellow Americans of the Jewish faith. We are no haters but we can distinguish between right and wrong. Thank you for the discussion..
23 July 2014, 23:35
14
@nick: the issue now and at this stage is more humanitarian than anything else. Btw, I did not vote down any of your comments. Take care friend, gotta go.
23 July 2014, 22:49
43
What's the difference between a Jew and a pizza?
Pizzas don't scream when they are put in the oven!
23 July 2014, 23:03
10
Zionists are not telling the Truth....!! Their human loss might be of lesser impact that of Gaza, but what will bring the apartheid entity of Zionistan to it's knees is the blow to their socio-economy..!! Resistance rockets are not manufactured to kill people... they are simply to destroy Zionist Business life and bring misery to Zionists who are used of luxurious life, are now forced to stay in bomb shelters.. like sever rats..!!
Zionistan is a tiny entity that simply can’t handle a prolonged military conflict..!! Even an ineffective Grad Rocket is inflicting a heavy blow to Zionists…. Economically and Psychologically..!! Resistance fighters will definitely make it possible to drag Zionistan to a Prolonged confrontation… to destroy it SLOWLY, but SURELY…. even without killing Zionist civilians.. but making their life miserable is the Goal..!!
23 July 2014, 23:04
32
To my last day, I will never understand how or why so many people consider the Old Testament “holy scripture” rather than the book of Jewish supremacist mythology that it actually is.
Passages such as:
“…he will give you a land filled with large, flourishing cities that you did not build, houses filled with wealth you did not earn, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant…”
What kind of “loving” god finds virtue in sloth and the cruel enslavement of others? That’s exactly what all of these lines promote. Only the devil would advocate for such an unjust world.
Why so many Christians tie their New Testament beliefs to the opposite and acrid filth of the Old Testament is mind-boggling.
24 July 2014, 07:33
30
Tony - don't you remember the simplest thing about your demi-God Jesus Christ - HE WAS A JEW.
23 July 2014, 23:07
43
So Mr Mishaal is sitting in a 5 star hotel in Doha rejecting cease fires while his people are massacred. now that s a leader his people should be proud of.
23 July 2014, 23:48
24
golani; guess what gave you away : the word "hezbos". This is a pure forum lebanese idiom. Nice try though
24 July 2014, 00:46
20
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24 July 2014, 01:02
14
mowaten, what is so good about the youtube you present and the nostalgia for such speeches. It is exactly that mentality that brought the Arabs to the mess they are in today. Islam this and religion that, no sense of nationalism and unity and diversity. No wonder you love Hezb.
24 July 2014, 05:40
11
You have said something so true, but the Arabs will not hear of it, although they know it in their hearts that you are right!!!The Palestinians still have to learn this again,and again and again... after all their defeats since 1948!! Some people are hard of learning!!!
24 July 2014, 05:44
01
What a clown. Mashaal starting to change his tune, as the absolute defeat of Hamas start to dawn on him. Israel is quite for a reason. Just wait a few days!!!
24 July 2014, 05:50
30
If you celebrate Israeli casualties, don't the Israelis allowed to celebrate ten times more. base on the # of Jihadi casualties?
24 July 2014, 05:53
30
I pity your pipe dreams, to be replaced by a horrible disappointment for you and your Jihadi Hamas friends.
24 July 2014, 05:58
21
I only saw Muslims demonstrating and make a nuisance of themselves all over Europe. Yes you are united in telephone calls,talking, while stabbing each other in the back in real life.
24 July 2014, 07:08
40
Southern - MAKE UP YOUR MIND
"all palestinian victims are civilians"
"the fallen palestinian fighters are martyrs"
24 July 2014, 07:12
00
Southern - when was the last time you looked at a map. The Israeli forces are a lot more that a few hundred meters from the border, and anyway yo blow up tunnels dug from far inside Gaza into Israel, you don't need to go to the very source.
24 July 2014, 07:15
10
"the zionists will lose the battle once the arabs outnumber them"
Israelis 8,000,000 Arabs over 500,000,000.
I think the Arabs outnumbered the Israelis many many years ago, well before the Israel War of Independence, The Six Day War, Yom Kippur War, and all the other skermishes that have taken place in the last 66 years.
24 July 2014, 07:18
20
Armed Zionists Jews - An agricultural worker from Thailand, a Bedouin from a village in the Negev.
24 July 2014, 14:19
20
ghadanfar.farahnaz - According to the New Testament he was killed by the Romans and not the Jews, and even the Vatican has stated that fact time after time. But why should the truth trouble you!!
31 January 2015, 00:15
00
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