Let's Get Updated

Okay so let us get updated on the current situation that is going on in Gaza

Death Toll:
Israeli civillians
- 13 dead

Palestinian civillians
- 1330 dead (437 children under 16yrs; 110 women; 123 elderly; 14 medics; 4 journalist )

- 5,450 wounded (1,890 children & 200 in serious condition; 600 transfered outside Gaza for treatment)

(In 22 Days )


February 2nd, 2009:
BBCNEWS - An Israeli air strike on a car in the southern Gaza Strip has killed a 1 Palestinian and wounded at least 3 others, reports from Gaza say.

The fresh violence comes two weeks after Israel ended a devastating 22-day offensive in Gaza where 1,330 Palestinians were killed.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said Israel does not intend to launch another broad operation in Gaza Strip.

Israeli planes attacked a Hamas security complex and tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border on Sunday. There were no reported casualties.

Also on Sunday Palestinian militants fired about a dozen rockets and mortars into southern Israel, wounding 2 Israeli soldiers and a civilian.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak wants to negotiate a permanent ceasefire which could lead to Gaza's borders being reopened after an 18-month Israeli blockade.

January 28th, 2009:
Xinhua - Palestinian officials said Israel suddenly decided on Wednesday to partially reopen Gaza commercial crossing points following a one-day complete closure.

Israel decided to reopen the crossing points of Gaza to allow more humanitarian aids, fuels and daily basic needs of foods and medicines for Gaza Strip population.

Fatouh said that 110 trucks will be allowed into Gaza through Kerem Shalom crossing, including 82 trucks loaded with humanitarian aids and 36 trucks loaded with flour, fruits, agricultural equipment and diary products. He added that another 80 trucks loaded with fodder and wheat will be allowed through Karni crossing.

January 24th, 2009:
Xinhua - All schools in the war-battered Gaza Strip reopened Saturday, a week after Israel ended a 22-day large-scale military offensive on the enclave.

Officials in the Gaza education ministry and the United Nations said that about 200,000 schoolchildren are back to their classrooms. More than 35 schools were used to shelter families who have their homes destroyed and fled it.

UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said that during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, the United Nations opened 37 schools allover the Gaza Strip to shelter around 50,000 people who have their homes destroyed.

January 19th, 2009:
StarTribune - Israel plans to pull all of its troops out of the Gaza Strip by the time President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated Tuesday, but only if Hamas militants hold their fire, Israeli officials said.

Thousands of troops have left Gaza since Israel declared Saturday its intention to unilaterally halt fire after a devastating, three-week Israeli onslaught. Gaza's Hamas rulers ceased fire 12 hours later. Large contingents of Israeli soldiers have kept close to the border, prepared to re-enter the territory if violence re-ignites.

By getting its soldiers out before the Obama inauguration, Israel hopes to pave the way for a smooth beginning with the Obama administration and spare the incoming president the trouble of having to deal with a burning problem in Gaza from his first day, the Israeli officials said.
Israel has been quietly concerned about possible policy changes by the incoming administration after eight years of staunch support from President George W. Bush. Obama has said Mideast peace will be a priority even as he grapples with a global economic crisis and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

January 18th, 2009:
Associated Press - Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza agreed Sunday to a weeklong cease-fire with Israel, after three weeks of violence that Palestinian medics say has killed more than 1,000 people and turned Gaza's streets into battlegrounds. Sunday's announcement came about 12 hours after Israel declared its own unilateral ceasefire.

Hamas' Syrian-based deputy leader, speaking for the militant Palestinian factions, said on Syrian television that the cease-fire will give Israel time to withdraw and open all the border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

An Israeli security chief told Cabinet ministers the military operation "is not over" and that the next few days would be critical to determining whether it would resume.

The Israeli cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. Sunday local time after three weeks of fighting that killed some 1,300 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian and United Nations officials. At least 13 Israelis also died, according to the government.

The cease-fire went into effect just days ahead of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration welcomed Israel's decision and a summit set for later Sunday in Egypt is meant to give international backing to the truce.

Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic — which holds the rotating European Union presidency — are expected to attend along with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.


January 16th, 2009:
MySinChew - Israeli troops again pounded Gaza on Friday after killing a top Hamas leader, as the Islamists offered a conditional truce amid a diplomatic push to end the war that has killed more than 1,100 people.

The army locked down the occupied West Bank for 48 hours after Hamas called for a day of "wrath" against the offensive in Gaza that on Thursday saw one of its top leaders, interior minister Said Siam, killed in an air strike.

In the pre-dawn hours, Israeli tanks withdrew from the Gaza City neighbourhood of Tal Al-Hawa, where clashes the previous day levelled parts of the residential area and set a hospital ablaze. Medics rushed into the area, the site of furious clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters that sent hundreds of terrified civilians fleeing for safety. Many sought shelter at the Al-Quds Hospital in the neighbourhood, but the building was engulfed in flames after Hamas and Israeli troops fought pitched battles for 12 hours a few hundred metres (yards) from the medical facility. In scenes of utter panic, patients who had been wounded could be seen struggling to get out of their beds to head outside into a cold night where clashes raged.
At least three babies in incubators and three people on life support were wheeled out of the Al-Quds hospital into the flame-lit streets.

Since Israel unleashed Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 1,105 Palestinians have been killed and another 5,130 wounded, according to Gaza medics. Some 600 of the victims have been civilians, including 355 children, they say.

On the diplomatic front, Egypt pressed on with its Western-backed efforts to broker a truce in Israel's deadliest ever offensive on Gaza. Israeli negotiator Amos Gilad was due to return to Egypt on Friday to discuss the details of a possible ceasefire, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said. Gilad held four hours of talks in Cairo on Thursday. And in what was seen as a key breakthrough, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was to travel to Washington on Friday to sign a memorandum on joint efforts to halt smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border.

The deputy head of Hamas's Damascus-based leadership in exile, Mussa Abu Marzuk, told AFP the Islamists were ready to accept a one-year renewable truce if Israel pulls its troops out of Gaza. Hamas is awaiting Israel's response, Abu Marzuk said, adding that the offer is also conditional on Israel's lifting of the crippling blockade it has imposed on Gaza since the Islamists seized power.

Israel's offensive has sparked widespread outrage across the globe and on Thursday the Jewish state was roasted during an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly. The offensive has sparked widespread concern about a humanitarian crisis breaking out in one of the world's most densely populated places where the vast majority of the 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid. Tonnes of aid went up in flames on Thursday after an Israeli strike hit a UN compound, setting alight a warehouse.

January 15th, 2009:
Reuters - GAZA - Hamas tells Egypt it would agree to a year-long renewable ceasefire in Gaza if Israel pulls out all its forces within 5-7 days and reopens border crossings immediately, Hamas and diplomatic sources said.

JERSUSALEM - Israel's prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister will make "decisions" about a ceasefire after getting a briefing about talks in Cairo, an official said.

GAZA - Israel kills senior Hamas leader Saeed Seyyam in an air strike after unleashing its heaviest shelling of Gaza neighbourhoods since the start of the 20-day-old operation.

GAZA - Israeli shells strike a U.N. compound and a media building, an attempt to force Hamas to accept Israel's terms for a truce. A hospital was also hit the fighting.

JERUSALEM - Addressing a main Israeli concern, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by telephone that Washington would sign an agreement on measures to stop Hamas from rearming after a ceasefire, Olmert's office said.

DEATH TOLL - At least 1,076 Palestinians have been killed in the air-and-ground offensive and more than 5,000 have been wounded, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. A Palestinian rights group said at least 670 of the dead were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed -- 10 soldiers and three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire since Israel launched on Dec. 27 a military campaign it said was aimed at ending such salvoes


January 14th, 2009:
Xinhua - The Israeli army has intensified on Wednesday morning its strikes on several targets in Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, killing four Palestinians as the Israeli offensive on the enclave continues on the 19th day. Meanwhile, local radio reported Wednesday that Israeli warplanes fired dozens of smoke bombs on central Gaza City, adding that Gaza was covered with heavy white smoke.

Palestinians dug hundreds of tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt for smuggling goods from Egypt into the enclave which is under strict Israeli blockade.

Mo'aweya Hassanein, emergency chief said on Wednesday morning that 977 Palestinians were killed and 4500 wounded since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 27, 2008.


January 13th, 2009:
BBCNEWS - Israeli troops have entered the suburbs of Gaza City and are engaged in street fighting with Palestinian militants, according to reports. Witnesses say Israeli special forces have advanced several hundred metres into several districts and intense gunfire can be heard.

A Gaza rights group has said more than 90,000 people have fled their homes. Palestinian medical officials say more than 40 people were killed on Tuesday, as Israeli troops advanced into parts of Gaza City and continued attacks elsewhere in the Gaza Strip. They said emergency services had been unable to reach many of the areas targeted.

They say that since the offensive began, 952 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza - around a third of them children - and more than 4,200 have been injured.

Diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire are continuing in Cairo, where Egyptian mediators are pressing the Palestinian militant group Hamas - which controls the Gaza Strip - to accept a truce proposal. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday where he discussed the Gaza situation with King Abdullah. The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi, in Cairo, says the meeting indicates that Egypt is seeking Saudi Arabia's help in persuading Hamas to accept a ceasefire. Earlier, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said any agreement would have to entail a halt to Israeli attacks, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the opening of border crossings to end the blockade of Gaza.

January 12th, 2009:
BBCNEWS - Israeli forces are moving slowly into Gaza's most densely populates areas, reports say, as they continue air and ground attacks on Hamas militants. Air strikes also continued through the day against 25 "targets" across the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. Nearly 30 rockets or mortars were fired on Israel from Gaza. Overnight on Sunday fewer air strikes were carried out - 12 compared with as many 60 on previous nights.

Palestinian medical sources say 910 Palestinian have been killed in Gaza so far, of whom 292 were children and 75 were women. Israeli officials say 13 Israelis, including three civilians, have been killed. Israel is preventing international journalists from entering the coastal strip, making it impossible to independently confirm such figures.

Both Hamas and Israel have rejected last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Reports suggest diplomatic efforts between Egypt and Hamas in Cairo are progressing. After meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said the elements were in place for a ceasefire agreement.

January 10th, 2009:
YAHOO!News - The United Nations has decided to resume aid distribution for embattled Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after receiving security assurances from Israel, the world body announced. UNRWA suspended operations in the enclave on Thursday after a UN convoy was hit by two Israeli tank shells, killing one UN contract driver and wounding a second. The International Committee of the Red Cross also restricted its Gaza operations after one of its vehicles was hit, apparently by Israeli fire.

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans were in dire need of food, water and other essentials in the wake of Israel's two-week-old assault on the Palestinian territory. They described the health situation as "extremely worrying", adding that hospital staff had difficulty getting to their places of work. Most of the Gaza Strip was without power, solid sewage waste was piling up, and over 21,000 people were now sheltering in UN schools amid a shortage of blankets and other essentials, they added. Civilians were not safe anywhere in Gaza, said UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes stressing the rising civilian toll among the 792 dead Palestinians and 3,200 injured, according to Palestinian figures considered credible by the United Nations.

"The Secretary General spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by phone this afternoon and expressed his disappointment that the violence is continuing on the ground in disregard of yesterday's Security Council resolution," Michele Montas said.

January 9th, 2009:
Xinhuanet - A day after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved a resolution calling for cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Israel declared on Friday in a defiant gesture that its defense forces IDF will continue its operation in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.

After Arab and Western foreign ministers agreed on an amended version of a Britain-drafted resolution on Thursday, the UNSC adopted the Resolution 1860 calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza "leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces." It was approved by 14 votes in favor while the United States abstained.

At least 779 Palestinians have been killed and about 3,200 wounded since the operation. On the Israeli side, 13 Israeli's have died, including four killed in rocket attacks. The other nine were soldiers killed in ground battle in Gaza.

January 8th, 2009:
Bloomberg.com - At least three were rockets fired from Lebanon which struck northern Israel early today, the first time the Jewish state’s conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip has spread elsewhere in the region. The rockets slightly injured two people and leaving several others needing treatment for shock, police said.

The attacks come a day after Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Islamic Hezbollah militia, warned of “all possibilities” against Israel in reaction to the Gaza conflict. Israeli forces fought a monthlong war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006.

January 6th, 2009:
Bloomberg.com - Israeli soldiers and Hamas gunmen engaged in pitched battles in the Gaza Strip, as diplomatic efforts to end the 11-day conflict failed to make headway.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded by a tank shell in a “friendly fire incident” in the northern region of Gaza, the military said in an e-mailed statement today. Another soldier may also have been killed by fire from his own forces. Israel lost one soldier in fighting with Hamas Jan. 4.

At least 573 Palestinians have died in the conflict, some 50 in the overnight fighting, and 2,600 wounded, said Mu’awia Hassanein, chief of emergency medical services in Gaza. Israeli strikes today hit two schools run by the United Nations in Gaza, killing five people, Agence France-Presse cited UN officials as saying.

January 5th, 2009:
Bloomberg.com - French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Israel today to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in an attempt to push for a cease-fire.

Israel two nights ago broadened what started as an aerial campaign aimed at stopping rocket attacks on its southern towns and cities into a ground operation involving thousands of troops. Israel suffered its first combat death yesterday when a soldier was killed by Hamas gunfire. Rocket attacks have killed 4 other Israelis since fighting began. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed during the conflict.

Israel bombed a mosque it said was used to store weapons and destroyed the homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives Friday, but under international pressure, the government allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports to leave besieged Gaza. Many of the evacuees were foreign-born women married to Palestinians and their children. Spouses who did not hold foreign citizenship were not allowed out.

At least 9 Palestinian children were killed in two separate strikes by Israeli forces last night, said Mu’awia Hassanein, chief of emergency medical services in Gaza.

January 1st, 2009:
guardian.co.uk - Israeli warplanes today attacked government buildings in Gaza after rejecting any temporary halt to its bombing campaign. Hamas security officials said buildings housing the education and transportation ministries had been virtually destroyed. The Palestinian parliament building was also hit, they said. Gunmen in Gaza retaliated by firing a long-range rocket at the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva.

Israeli troops and tank crews have gathered in large numbers on the Gaza border ready for a new stage in the fighting. A possible invasion by Israeli forces could range from limited ground incursions to a much larger land invasion of Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Another call-up of reservists has been approved, bringing the total to 9,000. Israel widened its buffer zone under military authority around Gaza to a radius of 25 miles after the reach of Hamas rockets extended to the town of Be'er Sheva.

December 31st, 2009:
guardian.co.uk - Olmert met Barak Obama, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and his senior commanders for an apparently tense four-hour meeting on Tuesday night. A security cabinet meeting yesterday then decided against any pause in the bombing.

The French government had tried to convince the Israelis to accept the pause and to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. But Israel's leaders were keen not to repeat the experience of the 2006 Lebanon war when divisions over strategy led to recriminations and loss of confidence among the Israeli public.

Israeli jets yesterday bombed smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border as well as a mosque in Gaza City, which the military said was used to store weapons.

Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets into southern Israel, reaching a new range of around 25 miles and hitting the city of Be'er Sheva. The rockets have killed four Israelis since Saturday. The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza rose to 393 Palestinians with 1,650 wounded in five days.

Israel has allowed in around 100 trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies on each of the past two days, but that comes after months of severe economic blockade and big shortfalls in Gaza of food and medical supplies. The UN said it was still well short of what was needed and described the humanitarian situation in Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, as "alarming".

December 29th, 2009:
Xinhua - Israeli warplanes struck by air-to-ground rockets early on Monday several buildings into the Islamic University of Gaza. The residents said that several buildings at the female campus into the Islamic University compound that include chemical labs were completely destroyed. No injuries were reported.

Shortly before midnight, two Palestinian civilians, including a child were killed and four wounded in an Israeli air strike on northern Gaza Strip.

On Sunday night and on Monday predawn, the Israeli air forces intensified its air strikes on dozens of targets belong to Hamas movement, including security installations, metal workshops and institutions.

Medics in Gaza said that more than 300 Palestinians were killed and over 1000 wounded during the unprecedented intensive Israeli air strikes.

December 27th, 2009:
Reuters - At least 229 Palestinian's are reported killed and over 700 wounded after Israel launched a series of air strikes against multiple targets in Gaza Strip due which came after the expiry of the 6-month seize-fire between Israel and Palestine. "Saturday's death toll was the highest for a single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, when the Jewish state was established.

TIMESONLINE reported that the first round of air strikes came just before noon, followed by several more waves of missiles. Dozens of security compounds were destroyed and some missiles even struck as children were leaving school. As sirens filled the streets and smoke filled the sky, mothers were desperately looking for their children underneath the rubble. Television footage showed Gaza City hospitals crowded with people and civilians transporting the wounded in their cars.“We are treating people on the floor, in the corridors. We have no more space,” said one doctor at Gaza’s main Shifa Hospital.