Gaza

Gaza tunnels used to smuggle KFC

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:00:43 +0100

Palestinians have started smuggling Kentucky Fried Chicken into Gaza, Haaretz has reported.

Yamama, a Gaza-based delivery service, employs motorcycle couriers to pick the chicken up from the border tunnels and deliver it to customers. The meals are made at KFC outlets in cities around the Sinai Peninsula.

Hamas not sourcing missiles

Anshel Pfeffer — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:00:43 +0100

Israeli intelligence has found no evidence that Hamas is rebuilding the missile-firing capabilities damaged during Operation Pillar of Defence five months ago.

Hamas is instead focusing on its attempts to solidify political control of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian movement.

Four years ago, after Israel destroyed much of Hamas’s missile capability in Operation Cast Lead, the terrorist movement acted swiftly to re-equip itself with thousands of missiles, backed by Iran and Syria.

This time round, Hamas is intensifying its ties with Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Egypt, and with Turkey and Qatar.

Hamas’s new allies are willing to supply it with economic assistance and diplomatic support but not, so far, with arms.

Indeed Egypt, mainly for internal political and economic reasons, has begun an unprecedented operation to destroy hundreds of smuggling tunnels beneath the border with Gaza.

The shift in strategy has not yet changed Hamas’ rhetoric, which still calls for the “armed struggle”. But it has led the terrorist group to focus instead on cracking down on political dissent in Gaza.

This has taken two forms. A Hamas force has been hunting down Salafist groups that have been defying its rule and trying to break the ceasefire by launching rockets.

At the same time, it has stepped up the enforcement of hardline religious policies by shaving the heads of long-haired youths and cancelling events that mix men and women — as it did with the Gaza Marathon.

West Bank stabbing, pinpoint strike in Gaza but ‘no escalation’

Anshel Pfeffer — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:45:44 +0100

Evyatar Borovsky, an actor and security guard from the settlement of Yitzhar, who was stabbed to death on Tuesday, was the first Israeli killed in a terror attack in the West Bank in nearly two years.

Hours later, Israel carried out the first “targeted killing” of a terror operative in Gaza in five months.

Although both incidents marked the end of significant lulls in certain kinds of violence, neither are seen by Israeli security officials as signs of an escalation in the West Bank or on Israel’s southern border.
Mr Borovsky, who was 31 years old, was killed at the Tapuach Junction near the town of Ariel while waiting for a lift.

The murderer, Salam Azuol from Tul Karm, grabbed Mr Borovsky’s pistol and started shooting at a Border Police post. He missed and, when the police returned fire, was shot and severely wounded.

According to the initial investigation, Azuol, a member of the Fatah movement, acted on his own initiative. His motive, aside from killing Israelis, could have been an attempt to “clear” his family’s name after his brother was accused of collaborating with Israel.

Following the murder, settlers in the area embarked on a widespread rampage which included burning Palestinian-owned fields and stoning their cars.

The settlers’ Yesha Council said the murder was “a direct continuation of the Palestinian Authority’s incitement and the forgiving attitude [of the Israeli authorities] towards stone-throwing attacks”.

While there has been an increase in stone-throwing against Israeli vehicles in the West Bank, and in “local” terror attacks, security officials say that the co-ordination with the Palestinian Authority security apparatus remains “close and useful” and that the main terror organisations have so far not succeeded in rebuilding their networks in the West Bank.

A couple of hours after the stabbing, a pinpoint airborne attack took place on the Gaza Strip coastal road, close to a Hamas training camp. The death of Hitham Mishal, 29, who was hit while riding his motorbike, was the first “targeted killing” carried out by the Israeli Air Force and the Shin Bet in the five months since the end of Operation Pillar of Defence last year in Gaza.

According to IDF sources, Mishal — who worked as a police officer — supplied rockets to jihadist groups operating in Gaza and Sinai and had provided the Grad rockets that were fired at Eilat two weeks ago.

Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said following the attack that Israel “will not allow a trickle of rockets from the Gaza Strip, and we will certainly not allow terrorists to leave Gaza and attack Eilat”.

Over the past five months, the ceasefire around Gaza has generally been observed but there have been sporadic attacks by jihadist groups which flout the authority of the Hamas government. One of these groups fired five mortar rounds in retaliation to Mishal’s killing but none of them hit targets in Israel.

Israeli security sources said that, due to Mishal’s “freelance” role, they did not expect any major retaliation.

Senior Salafist terrorist killed in Israeli air strike

Zoe Winograd — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:57:35 +0100

A senior Salafist terrorist has been killed in Gaza.

An Israeli Air Force strike killed 29-year-old Hitam al-Mahsal near a Hamas training base on Tuesday morning. Reportedly, Mahsal was responsible for the rocket attack on Eilat from the Sinai Peninsula on April 17.

Mahsal was deemed an “explosives expert” by the IDF.

This was the first time Israel has targeted a terrorist in Gaza since Operation Pillar of Defence last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Today we struck at one who was involved in the rocket fire at Eilat. I said we wouldnt ignore this, our action is continuation of our policy."

It’s boom not bombs in Gaza for Channel 4 documentary

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:30:48 +0100

The presenter of a Channel Four documentary about Gaza has said that the local population would not recognise the portrayal of the area in much of the UK media as war-torn.

Seyi Rhodes travelled to the Gaza Strip in February to film an episode of Unreported World, which airs tonight.

But rather than reporting on a region torn apart by conflict, the programme focuses on the property market and booming construction taking place there

Mr Rhodes said the experience confounded his expectations. "Before I started researching, I thought the region was destitute - people living literally hand-to-mouth on aid, with constant security threats. I took it for granted that people would be living in temporary accommodation provided by the UN."

In fact, he found "a growing wealth gap", with ordinary families struggling even to rent but new flats being sold for up to $3 million to wealthy Palestinians with money from abroad or from jobs with the Hamas government.

"As a left-wing student, I was given one view of Gaza/Palestine," said Mr Rhodes. "But I realise now that many of those representations were entirely politically motivated.

"Even Gazans wouldn't recognise the image that is portrayed of them sometimes. The woman crying over her dead son, the man throwing stones at tanks."

He added that such stereotypes were "frankly offensive as most of these people live their lives with the same concerns as you and me… getting on the housing ladder, educating your children. People didn't even talk about Israel unless I brought it up."

The programme also highlights the flourishing black market in Gaza, with 90 per cent of new constructions using materials smuggled in through the network of tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt.

Mr Rhodes emphasised that the property market is strong because most residents have no choice but to live in Gaza.

In his view, the blockade of Gaza was unsuccessful because it served to strengthen Hamas, but also turned the "old system of wealthy families and merchants with links to Israel on its head".

"Many of those people are now losing out to the Hamas tunnel economy," he said.

BBC Gaza reporting ‘misleads’

Anna Sheinman — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:30:59 +0100

Media organisations including the BBC and Reuters have published articles that might mislead readers into thinking that current tensions between Gaza and Israel were started by the Jewish state, a pro-Israel group has argued.

On Wednesday morning, the BBC published an article with the headline: “Israel launches air strike on Gaza since truce”. Similar headlines were used by Reuters and the Guardian.

Each article relegated the fact that the airstrikes were in response to rocket attacks from Gaza to the third, fourth, or in Reuters’s case, the fifth paragraph.

The BBC later amended its article. A spokesperson said: “The original story led with Israel’s air strike on Gaza because this was a new development and the first time Israel had launched an airstrike of this kind since November. The article fully explained that the strike followed a Palestinian rocket attack on the previous day. As is usual, the story has since been updated with further developments and reaction.”

Bicom CEO Dermot Kehoe said: “The coverage from several media outlets on the recent rocket fire from Gaza has been disappointingly misleading.”

Israel hit by second round of Gaza rockets

Anna Sheinman — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:00:06 +0100

More rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel this morning after Israel launched an air strike on Gaza on Tuesday in response to a Hamas mortar attack.

Sirens sounded in Sderot at 7.33am this morning and two rockets exploded. They hit open ground and no one was hurt, Ynet reported.

The attack followed the first Israeli air strike on Gaza since the ceasefire in November. An Israeli military statement said their planes targeted "two extensive terror sites" and had "accurate hits". Palestinian officials said nobody was hurt.

The air raids were in response to rocket fire from Gaza on Tuesday. Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement: "We will not in any way allow a routine of rocket fire steadily dripping on our civilians and soldiers.”

This marks the worst outbreak of hostilities since the November ceasefire and the first exchange of fire since President Barack Obama’s visit two weeks ago.

Responsibility for the original rockets was claimed by al-Qaeda linked group Magles Shoura al-Mujahadeen, Reuters reported. The group claimed they were responding to the death that day of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail who, it was claimed, had not received sufficient medical treatment for cancer. Israeli officials denied the allegation.

BBC backs down over Gaza Surf Club article

Anna Sheinman — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

The BBC has accepted that statements made on their website about freedom of trade and movement in Gaza do not “accurately reflect the current situation” and have now amended them.

The changes were made to an article accompanying a BBC Radio 4 programme The Gaza Surf Club, broadcast in November last year.

The article originally stated that “few [Gazans] are able to leave the territory or to import and export goods” and that Palestinians who surf in Gaza “defy… the Israeli blockade”.

Londoner Stephen Franklin, who regularly uses the BBC complaints procedure, complained, pointing out that residents of Gaza can travel to both Israel and Egypt, there is trade in both directions with both countries and there is no blockade preventing surfers from using the sea.

In a process that took from November until this week the programme’s producer Jeremy Grange has finally changed both phrases.

Two months after the original complaint was made, Mr Grange responded: “As far as the fishermen are concerned there is a blockade: they are not allowed to go more than three miles out to sea. However, although these restrictions apply to fishermen I accept that they don’t affect surfers who pursue their sport close to the shore, and we will therefore find a more appropriate wording on the website.”

The whole sentence was then removed from the website.

However, it took a further complaint from Mr Franklin and another two months to receive a response on the issue of free movement and trade.

Mr Grange wrote: “I accept your point that the statement ‘few Gazans are able to leave the territory or to import and export goods’ doesn’t accurately reflect the current situation.”

That phrase was then changed.

Mr Franklin explained: “I am not trying to score cheap hits. I just hope that such complaints will put a little extra pressure on the BBC journalists to paint a truer picture of what is happening in the Israel/Palestine dispute.”

A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Every effort is made to ensure that the BBC’s content is accurate but on this occasion we could have been clearer about some of the points made in the online programme description, which now have been changed.”

Palestinian rocket may have killed family of BBC journalist, says UN report

Sandy Rashty — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:50:34 +0000

A United Nations report yesterday announced that a misfired Palestinian rocket may have killed family members of a BBC journalist during the Israel-Gaza conflict last November.

The Associated Press photograph of BBC video editor Jehad Mashhrawi holding the dead body of his son Omar was internationally circulated and used by activists to attack the Israeli army for conducting air strikes during the Pillar of Defence operation.

Family of the child and his aunt and uncle who were also killed in the Gaza City raid, blamed Israel for the deaths.

However, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the house could have been hit by a Palestinian rocket. They also said the damage was inconsistent with an Israeli air strike. The conclusions came after the OHCHR group visited the home in Gaza City four weeks after the incident.

According to a report on the BBC, Mr Mashhrawi has dismissed the conclusions as “rubbish”. He reportedly added that Palestinian militant groups tend to apologise to the family if they are responsible for deaths.

Nearly 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed during the November conflict last year.

Gaza marathon cancelled over Hamas ban on women

Jennifer Lipman — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:20:32 +0000

The UN Relief and Works Agency has called off the Gaza marathon because the Hamas authorities have refused to allow women to join the race.

The third Gaza marathon was due to take place next month, but will not go ahead because "the authorities in Gaza… have insisted that no women should participate".

Ina statement, the UN agency described the decision as "disappointing" but said an alternative programme of events would be arrange for those who had already made plans to come to Gaza for the marathon.

"UNRWA sincerely regrets the inconvenience this causes those who planned to participate in the marathon," said the statement.

The agency, which is tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees, receives funding from the British government.