Gaza Conflict

In the course of researching the horrible mass murders approved by HAMAS within a Jewish seminary, I ran across references to the killing of 120 including many civilians by the Israelis in a raid in North Gaza that I had not previously heard about. I will continue looking for credible reports on what that is about, but so far it sounds pretty terrible and has been underreported by the Western press. Updates to come when I have reliable information on this.

Update from from the AP reported March 2:

Early today, Israeli aircraft destroyed the office building in Gaza City used by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, witnesses said. Five people were lightly wounded in the raid.

At least two dozen Palestinian civilians, including a baby, were among those killed Saturday, and militants said 25 fighters died. Health officials said about 200 people were wounded, 14 of them critically.

The overall death toll was the highest in a single day since the current round of violence erupted in September 2000. The highest previous death toll was 38 on March 8, 2002.

The intense fighting pushed the Palestinian death toll to more than 80 since fighting flared Wednesday. About half of those were civilians.

While expressing regret for civilian casualties, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed "Hamas and those firing rockets at Israel," his office said in a statement, pledging to continue the offensive to protect Israeli towns and cities.

On Friday, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai renewed a threat to invade Gaza to crush militant rocket squads that attack southern Israel daily.

Palestinian fighters kept up a steady stream of rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli targets, firing around 50 on Saturday alone in defiance of the Israeli assault. Six Israelis were injured by rockets that reached as far as Ashkelon, a coastal city 11 miles north of Gaza.

The Israeli military said one of its airstrikes on northern Gaza targeted a parked truck loaded with 160 rockets.

On Thursday, militants raised the stakes by firing Iranian-made rockets into Ashkelon, striking closer to Israel's heartland than ever before and putting more Israelis at risk. Palestinian rocket fire earlier in the week also killed an Israeli man.

Here is a follow up from AFP on March 4:

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israeli warplanes early Tuesday carried out raids on the north of the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and wounding two others, a Palestinian medical source said.

Israel had vowed on Monday to keep hitting Gaza even as troops pulled out of the Hamas-run territory after clashes that killed more than 120 Palestinians and dealt a major blow to Middle East peace talks.

A first raid against Gaza City killed one person while the second further north killed one and wounded two. The victims were not immediately identified.

A military spokesman in Tel Aviv told AFP that the Israeli air force had "attacked a group of terrorists who were preparing to fire rockets at Israel."

An Israeli military source said a rocket fired from the Beit Hanoun district north of Gaza City on Tuesday had smashed into a house in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, but nobody was hurt.

"We are not prepared to show any tolerance, period. And we will respond. Our reaction is not limited to a specific operation or day," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a meeting of his Kadima party in Jerusalem on Monday.

"The operation will not end before we achieve our goals and our first goal is a significant reduction of Qassam and Grad rocket fire against Israeli civilians," he said, referring to rockets used by Gaza militants.

It is tragic when civilians get killed in fighting between militants. It is hard to assess this situation though, knowing that Palestinian Islamic militants have been known to use innocent Muslim women and children as shields.

It is terrible when innocents lose their lives as "collateral damage." It does not appear that Israel is targeting innocents, but is instead targeting terrorists, killing innocents in the process. The level of civilians killed must be condemned.

It is evil, even Satanic, to deliberately target innocents as HAMAS did in the Jewish seminar, and then laud the action.

Further Update: As bad as the Israeli actions appear to be in terms of the loss of innocent life, it is as if HAMAS want to prove that HAMAS is worse.