Tag Archives: Hamas

IDF Says Hamas Fired From School Grounds

Israeli Defense Forces say that tank fire which struck near a school killing 19 people who were sheltering inside came in response to Hamas terrorists using the school grounds as a base to fire mortar attacks.

“Earlier this morning, militants fired mortar shells at (Israeli) soldiers from the vicinity of the UNRWA school in Jabaliya (refugee camp). In response, soldiers fired towards the origins of fire, and we’re still reviewing the incident,” a military spokeswoman told the Jerusalem Post.

The incident occurred just hours after the United Nations reported finding Hamas missiles and weapons being stored inside one of their schools for the third time in two weeks.  A U.N. spokesman said unlike the previous two times, the weapons are not being turned over to local authorities who in turn return them to Hamas.

However, a U.N. weapons disposal team that was scheduled to make the school safe for children has been unable to reach the site.

“We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school. This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of UN property,” a U.N. statement read without naming Hamas directly.

Gaza Power Plant Destroyed By Weapons Fire

The Israeli ground movement into Gaza to destroy tunnels and strongholds of the terrorist group Hamas moved into another day with an exchange of tank fire that put Gaza City in the dark.

Tank fire struck the fuel depot of the only power plant in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, destroying the fuel supplies and cutting off electricity to 1.8 million residents of Gaza City.  The plant provides the Gaza Strip with about 2/3 of its electrical power.

“The power plant is finished,” its director, Mohammed al-Sharif, told the Jerusalem Post.

The plant had previously been hit by mortar fire from Gaza last week leaving the plant at 20 percent capacity.  The result was electricity for only a few hours a day to the residents of the city.

Meanwhile, 5 more Israeli soldiers were killed when Hamas terrorists ambushed them from a tunnel.

A 72-hour humanitarian cease fire was also reportedly rejected when Hamas said they would never honor a cease fire with Israeli troops still on the ground in Gaza.

U.N. Demands “Unconditional” Cease Fire In Gaza

The United Nations Security Council has voted for an “immediate and unconditional” cease-fire in the Gaza Strip after more than 1,000 people were confirmed dead because of the fighting.

The demand for the cease-fire comes on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Fitr that is part of the end of the Ramadan month of fasting.

The demand from the United Nations makes no reference to the fact Israel has respected five cease-fire agreements so far in the conflict and Hamas had rejected or breached each one.

President Barack Obama reportedly spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that the U.S. continues to support their right to defend themselves from Hamas attacks.

“The President underscored the United States’ strong condemnation of Hamas’ rocket and tunnel attacks against Israel and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself. The President also reiterated the United States’ serious and growing concern about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives, as well as the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza,” the readout of the call provided to the press said.

Netanyahu: U.N. Proposal Provides No Security To Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire because it gives benefits to a “murderous terrorist organization” and completely ignoring Israeli security.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu called U.N. head Ban Ki-moon to tell him that the deal is not acceptable to Israelis.

“The statement did not deal with the harm done to Israeli civilians, nor to the fact that Hamas turned Gaza civilians into human shields,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu reminded Ban that Hamas violated three different humanitarian cease-fires and that the U.N. has never condemned the terrorists for using U.N. facilities to store their weapons and supplies.

The U.N. representative from Jordan, who represented the Arab League on the Security Council, said that the cease-fire was necessary because of the loss of civilian life in Gaza.  He called for “full respect” for international humanitarian law.

Netanyahu pointed out that unless the U.N. demilitarizes the area, takes away Hamas’ weapons and destroys their tunnels, no peace can be achieved.

“They are continuing to fire even now at Israel citizens,” he said. “Israel will continue to deal with the terror tunnels, which is only the first step in demilitarization.”

Massive Jewish New Year’s Terror Plot Against Israel Revealed

A plot by Hamas terrorists and associated terror groups to make a massive attack on Israeli citizens on Rosh Hashanah has been exposed by Israeli security forces.

The announcement of the foiled plot were released late yesterday by Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting with his cabinet.  He said the plot was so massive that the death toll would have quickly and easily passed the 2,200 deaths suffered during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

A former U.S. Marine Corps general who had visited the site of the offensive in Gaza said that he saw tunnels designed for attacks on Israel and in locations designed to avoid response from Israeli troops.

“Unlike tunnels that I had seen during the Iraq war that were designed for smuggling, this Hamas tunnel was designed for launching murder and kidnapping raids. The 3-mile-long tunnel was reinforced with concrete, lined with telephone wires, and included cabins unnecessary for infiltration operations but useful for holding hostages,” Gen. James T. Conway, USMC (ret.) wrote in the Wall Street Journal.  He noted the tunnels were located near schools.

The massive amount of tunnels lead one Israeli intelligence official to tell reporters it’s almost as if there is a “second underground Gaza.”

Israel Rejects Kerry Proposal

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed a “cease fire” that did nothing to address the fact Hamas uses tunnels to conduct terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.

The Israeli ministers voted unanimously to reject the proposal because Kerry did nothing to address Hamas’ as a terrorist organization killing civilians.

The proposal was reportedly a “watered down” version of the deal that was proposed by Egypt with significant benefits and concessions given to the terrorist group.  One observer close to the vote said Kerry’s proposal was “pro-Hamas and essentially a win for the terrorists.”

The Israeli Defense Forces said the death toll among Israeli troops as of noon Friday had reached 35 soldiers.

The head of IDF says that Hamas in the Gaza Strip are “weakening and losing morale.”

“The spirit of Hamas terrorists is weakening,” Southern Region Commander Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman says. “I see terrorists in distress, abandoned by their commanders who deserted them at the front and stayed behind…and facing them, our reserve and standing army units led by commanders leading the force.  Every day of combat there is a day of accomplishments for us, both on the issue of tunnels and on the issue of enemy units.”

Kerry Meets With Netanyahu

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel trying to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop the offensive in Gaza aimed at eliminating the terrorist threat to Israeli citizens.

Kerry reportedly made little progress with Netanyahu, who was enraged at the United States placing a ban on airlines flying into Ben Guiron International Airport for two days.  The FAA lifted the ban just before midnight Thursday.

Two senior State Department officials told the Washington Post that Kerry is trying to find a way to get a cease-fire done so he can work on a long term peace agreement.

Another sign that Israel is paying little attention to Kerry’s attempts to get them to stop defending themselves from Hamas was a statement from Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon to troops about expanding the ground campaign.

“We are preparing the next stages of the fighting after dealing with the tunnels, and you need to be ready for any mission,” Yaalon told the soldiers. “You need to be ready for more important steps in Gaza, and the units that are now on standby need to prepare to go in.”

Hamas reiterated they will continue to fire rockets at Israeli citizens until they obtain their demands.

Iranian Leader: Only Solution Is Israel’s Destruction

Iran’s supreme leader has been reported by Iran’s official news agency as saying the only way to achieve peace in Gaza is to destroy Israel.

The declaration came the same day that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said they have a new missile system that can completely destroy Israel’s Iron Dome system and leave them vulnerable to rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of college students Israel’s existence is the reason for the conflict in Gaza.

“These crimes which are beyond imagination and show the true nature of the wolfish and child killer regime, which the only solution is its destruction,” the ayatollah declared to his audience. “However, until that time, the expansion of the armed resistance of the Palestinians of the West Bank is the only way to confront this wild regime.”

He then attacked the U.S. and England for supporting Israel.

“We believe that the West Bank needs to be armed just like Gaza and those interested in the future of Palestine must become active in this field [guerrilla warfare] so that the suffering of the Palestinian people through their strength and their weakness due to the Zionist regime is reduced,” he said. “Some Western countries including America and filthy England defend with clarity the crimes that no ordinary person would. The President of America in the face of these child killings, destruction, torture and suffering of the people in Gaza, with a comical logic states that Israel has the right to defend itself! Don’t the Palestinians have the right to defend their lives and security?”

Hamas Found Storing Rockets In Second School Building

Terrorist group Hamas has been found storing rockets used to attack Israeli civilians inside a school that has been used by the United Nations to teach Palestinian children.

“Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip,” the organization said in a statement issued Tuesday. “As soon as the rockets were discovered, UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets. The school is situated between two other UNRWA schools that currently each accommodate 1,500 internally displaced persons.”

While the second time that the U.N. has found terrorist weapons in their facilities twice, no action is being taken against Hamas.  The U.N. found 20 rockets in a school last Wednesday during a routine inspection of a school.

The U.N. gave the 20 rockets last week back to the local government which is controlled by Hamas.

Israel called out the U.N. for their refusal to stop terrorists from attacking their country.

“Time and again, over the years, UNRWA has been abused by gunmen from different terrorist factions who are using UN facilities to stockpile weapons, to fire rockets from, to steal UNRWA humanitarian equipment and to cause damage and fire in UNRWA’s hangars,” a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official told The Times of Israel.

“Against all evidence, UNRWA refuses to acknowledge reality and pathetically attempts to ingratiate itself with Hamas, pretending that nothing serious has happened,” the senior official said. “This is a classic case of beaten-wife syndrome, which we have been witnessing for years from UNRWA. The people of Gaza, and indeed taxpayers from countries who contribute to UNRWA’s budget — including Israel — deserve better.”

FAA Orders American Airlines To Stop Flying To Israel

Every American airline company was banned from flying into Israel’s main airport because of a Hamas rocket that fell near the airport grounds.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued the edict around noon Tuesday, leaving thousands of Americans and Israelis unable to travel to the Holy Land.

“At 12:15 EDT on July 22, 2014, the FAA issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) informing U.S. airlines that they are prohibited from flying to or from Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport for a period of up to 24 hours,” read the alert posted on the FAA website.  “The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile from Ben Gurion International Airport on the morning of July 22, 2014.  The NOTAM applies only to U.S. operators, and has no authority over foreign airlines operating to or from the airport.”

Strangely, edicts like this have not been issued for ongoing war zones such as Syria or Iraq.

Over 160 flights were cancelled into Ben Gurion Airport.

German airline Lufthansa announced they would be cancelling flights into the airport for at least two days after the FAA’s order.