Gaza Fighting Continues Even As FAA Lifts Flight Ban To Tel

Aviv
GAZA/JERUSALEM, July 23 (Reuters) - Gaza fighting raged about Wednesday, displacing 1000's a lot
more Palestinians in the battered territory as U.S. Secretary regarding State John Kerry stated
efforts in order to secure a truce among Israel along with Hamas had made a number of progress.
U.S. aviation authorities lifted a new ban about flights to become able to Tel Aviv which usually have
been in force for 2 days, prompted by rocket salvoes out in the Gaza Strip, however a great many
other global airlines had been avoiding the particular Jewish state.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, speaking inside Qatar, praised the particular group's fighters, whom
he had been quoted saying had produced gains against Israel along with said he supported any
humanitarian truce but a ceasefire would just be acceptable as the swap for easing Gazans' plight.
"Let's agree 1st on the demands as well as on implementing these and then we are in any position to
agree on the zero hour to obtain a ceasefire... We won't accept virtually any proposal that will not lift
the actual blockade... We do not really desire war and in which we do not want it to become able to
carry on nevertheless we is certainly not going to always be broken through it," he said.
Adding for the stress in Israel, U.N. Substantial Commissioner regarding Human rights Navi Pillay
stated there is "a strong possibility" that will it absolutely was committing war crimes inside Gaza,
where 703 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died within the fighting, according to Palestinian
wellness officials.
Pillay furthermore condemned indiscriminate Islamist rocket fire from Gaza and the Un Human
rights Council mentioned it might launch a worldwide inquiry directly into alleged violations.
Israel denied virtually any wrongdoing. "Get lost," Justice Minister Tzipi Livni mentioned on her
Facebook web page in response for the investigation.
Kerry met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plus a grim-
faced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Wednesday. He later on returned in order to
Egypt, which usually shares a new border using Gaza and contains mediated together with Islamist
Hamas.
"We have got certainly produced several steps forward. There's nonetheless work to be done," said
Kerry, in certainly 1 of his the majority of intensive regional visits since the peace negotiations he
had brokered in between Netanyahu and also Abbas eradicated inside April.
An Egyptian official stated he expected any humanitarian truce for you to go into impact through the
weekend, in time for that Eid al-Fitr festival, Islam's greatest annual celebration in which follows the
fasting month of Ramadan.
However, a new senior U.S. official played along the Egyptian official's confidence which there
would be the truce throughout Eid, saying this was any U.S. hope but it had been by simply no
means locked in.
"It wouldn't be accurate to state that we expect a ceasefire by the weekend," said the U.S. official,
which spoke about issue involving anonymity. "We are usually continuing to always be able to work
in it, but it is not set at this point."
Kerry, who plans in which for you to stay Cairo until Friday, may be operating via Abbas, Egypt as
well as other regional proxies since the United States, like Israel, shuns Hamas as getting a terrorist
group. Hamas brushed off your U.S. diplomat's appeal, stating it could not necessarily hold fire with
out creating gains.
"Our interest as well as which of our individuals is the actual fact that simply no agreement needs to
become able to be made prior for you to the conditions involving factions associated with resistance
are met," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Israel launched its offensive upon July 8 to always be able to halt rocket salvoes by simply Hamas
and its allies, which have struggled below an Israeli-Egyptian economic blockade on Gaza along with
been angered with a crackdown about their supporters in the close by occupied West Bank.
After an aerial as well as naval bombardment failed for you to quell your outgunned guerrillas, Israel
poured ground forces to the Gaza Strip final Thursday, trying to knock out Hamas's rocket shops and
destroy a new vast, underground network of tunnels.
"We are meeting resistance around the tunnels ... they might be constantly wanting to attack us
around and inside the tunnels. Which is the trend," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel
Peter Lerner stated about Wednesday.
MILITARY LOSSES RISE
Israel announced that 3 regarding its soldiers were killed by simply explosive devices in Wednesday,
lifting the army death toll to become able to 32. three civilians have got furthermore been killed
throughout rocket attacks out of Gaza, which includes any Thai laborer hit upon Wednesday.
The military says certainly 1 of its soldiers can furthermore be lacking along with believes he could
be dead. Hamas says it's captured him, however provides not necessarily launched a picture of him
within their hands.
Already harm by simply mass tourist cancellations, Israel faced elevated economic stress following
your U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took the rare step upon Tuesday of banning flights
to Tel Aviv, renewing your order on Wednesday after which canceling it.
"Before creating this decision, the particular FAA worked using its U.S. government counterparts to
assess the security situation throughout Israel and punctiliously reviewed both significant new info
as well as measures your Government regarding Israel is actually using in order to mitigate possible
risks to civil aviation," the actual FAA mentioned inside a press release. (http://1.usa.gov/1pdxowF)
U.S. carriers Delta Air Lines, American Airlines group and also United Airlines didn't instantly reply
for you to requests with regard to feedback outside normal U.S. company hours.
Many some other foreign carriers, about heightened alert following a Malaysian airliner was shot
down over a new combat zone inside Ukraine last week, banned flights. Israeli carriers continued for
you to operate.
"Hamas's good results to summarize the actual Israeli air room is truly a great victory for the
resistance, an awful failure pertaining to Israel in which wrecks the actual image regarding Israeli
deterrence," mentioned Hamas's Abu Zuhri.
The Tel Aviv stock exchange as well as shekel
currency had been flat, along with traders
showing small concern about the flight
stoppages.
Clouds of black smoke hung over Gaza with
the normal thud involving artillery as well as
tank shells filling your air, sending a
significant range of civilians fleeing from the
city of Beit Hanoun inside the northern Gaza
Strip.
"This is not war, this could be annihilation," said 17-year-old Hamed Ayman. "I once wanted in order
to be learning to become a doctor. today I am homeless. They Will should watch out for what I could
become next."
Palestinian medics stated 2 worshippers had been killed and 30 wounded throughout an attack on
the mosque in the coronary heart with the densely populated Zeitoun neighborhood within eastern
Gaza City.
A Palestinian protester died following a confrontation together with Israeli forces inside the West
Bank.
Israel named 4 commanders associated with Hamas ally Islamic Jihad that it said it had killed within
latest days.
HAMAS DEMANDS
Egypt offers attempted to obtain each sides to keep fire after which negotiate terms for protracted
calm throughout Gaza, which has been rocked simply by regular bouts regarding violence since
Israel unilaterally got out with the territory within 2005.
Hamas, that rejects Israel's right for you to exist, features balked in Cairo's original proposal,
wanting its circumstances to be satisfied entirely prior to any kind of end to the conflict.
These demands range coming from the discharge of countless Hamas supporters just lately arrested
within the regional West Bank plus an end to the Egyptian-Israeli blockade regarding Gaza, which
features stymied the economy and made it close to impossible for anyone to travel abroad.
The war can be extracting a heavy toll about impoverished Gaza, together with Palestinian officials
saying that no less than 475 houses ended up totally destroyed by Israeli fire as well as 2,644
partially damaged. A Range Of 46 schools, 56 mosques along with seven hospitals had furthermore
suffered varying levels of destruction.
"There seems to be a strong possibility in which international humanitarian law has been violated,
inside a manner which could total war crimes," the U.N.'s Pillay informed an emergency session in
the UN Human Legal Rights Council (HRC) inside Geneva.
Netanyahu reacted furiously to become able to news with the planned U.N. investigation, conscious
of your damning record straight into Israel's 2008/09 Gaza operation, which killed a lot a lot more
than 1,000 Palestinians.
"The selection nowadays by the HRC is really a travesty," he said in the statement. "The HRC needs
for you to be launching an investigation straight into Hamas's decision to show hospitals straight
into military command centers, use schools as weapons depots and place missile batteries next to
end up being able to playgrounds, private homes as well as mosques."
(Additional reporting through Arshad Mohammed, Maayan Lubell and Ori Lewis within Jerusalem,
Noah Browning along with Nidal al-Mughrabi throughout Gaza, Ali Sawafta within Ramallah,
Yasmine Saleh throughout Cairo, Amena Bakr inside Doha as well as Stephanie Nebehay inside
Geneva; Composing through Crispian Balmer; Editing by Anna Willard, Giles Elgood, Louise Ireland
as well as Nick Macfie)
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The FAA lifted its flight restrictions in U.S. commercial flights vacationing within and also out of
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport late Wednesday night.
The ban has been instituted upon July 22 following a rocket strike landed in regards to become able
to a mile fromthe airport.
FMI: Click on here.
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After 17 events of fighting among Israel and Palestinian forces, the actual death toll topped 700 in
Gaza, with a ceasefire nonetheless evading world leaders.
Reuters reports:
The death toll in Gaza topped 700 on Thursday as Israeli tank fire just before dawn killed 16 folks
within the Hamas-dominated coastal territory, which includes 6 members of the same family,
Palestinian wellness officials said.
Read Reuters report here.
-- Andrew Hart
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Rockets discovered in a college run from the united Nations inside Gaza possess gone missing,
according for the the U.N. secretary-general.
Israel has accused Hamas involving storing weaponry throughout civilian locations, and last week a
UN organization claimed to have found about twenty rockets hidden throughout certainly one of the
actual UN's schools.
On announcing the actual rockets disappearance, Ban Ki-moon known as for a review of such
incidents which in turn it holds provides happened no much less than two times inside the current
conflict in between Israel along with Palestinian militants.
A statement from Ban Ki-moon stated "Those responsible are turning schools in to prospective
military targets, and endangering the actual lives associated with innocent children."
Read the actual AP statement here.
-- Andrew Hart
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Speaking to CNN via Jerusalem, former The Huge Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained his
trip for the state presently within conflict with Palestinian militants as an try "to show support
regarding Israel's right to end up being able to defend itself," also to reason that the particular FAA
ban on flights for you to Tel Aviv would always be a mistake. "If you do not feel safe here, I don't
know where you'd feel safe," Bloomberg said.
Watch the occupation interview coming from CNN below.
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Buzzfeed's Rosie Gray reports:
The most potent pro-Israel lobbying group within Washington provides emerge against any Federal
Aviation Administration ban on U.S. airlines flying to Israel after getting a rocket landed close to Ben
Gurion International Airport, saying that the actual ban "sends the completely wrong message."
In a statement released about Wednesday, the actual American Israel Public Affairs Committee
acknowledges that the FAA must protect air travelers' safety however says it is "concerned" by the
FAA's choice to be able to ban flights in order to Israel.
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Relatives as well as friends regarding Natan Cohen, a new 23-year-old Israeli army captain who was
killed in the Gaza Strip, mourn in the course of his funeral in July 23, 2014, in the central city
associated with Modiin, Israel. (GIL COHEN MAGEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Relatives as well as buddies regarding Natan Cohen mourn during his funeral in July 23, 2014,
inside the central city associated with Modiin, Israel. (GIL COHEN MAGEN/AFP/Getty Images)
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Wall Street Journal middle East correspondent Tamer El-Ghobashy reports:
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Gaza's Wellness Ministry says your Palestinian death toll has risen for you to 693. Much More as
compared to 4,500 Palestinians happen to be injured.
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The ITAR-TASS information agency reviews which Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke over your
phone using Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. Putin "reiterated his
readiness in order to facilitate mediatory efforts and additionally the implementation of peace
initiatives, such as within the actual UN framework."
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After a new Twitter account that will appears to belong to Montreuil-Juign Deputy Mayor Jacques
Renaud compared a dead little one to become able to halal meat Wednesday, the social network
erupted using sharp criticism of the political figure's callous remark.
Read your full story around the Huffington Submit here.
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German astronaut Alexander Gerst tweets a photo from your International Room Station showing
explosions in Gaza along with Israel.
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Reuters reports:
The Israeli military said about Wednesday it had detained a quantity of soldiers along together with
a civilian in suspicion associated with leaking Gaza casualty figures over social media just before
family members of the dead as well as wounded might be formally informed.
A week straight into ground fighting along with Hamas which includes killed no less than 32
soldiers, a few Israelis complain involving very first understanding their relatives were dead through
WhatsApp, or associated with becoming misled by simply erroneous messages directly into trusting
they were one of the toll.
The phenomenon provides led to front-page calls simply by Israeli commentators to prevent your
relaying of unauthorised casualty updates. Hoping to control the actual information, the particular
army features confiscated the cellphones of troops sent straight into combat.
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A team associated with former Israeli soldiers wrote an empty petition, revealed through the
Washington Post, declaring these people would refuse for you to serve as reservists throughout
Gaza.
They write:
We are more than 50 Israelis have been as quickly as soldiers along with now declare our refusal to
become section of the particular reserves. We oppose the particular Israeli Army and in addition the
conscription law. Partly, that's because we revile the particular present military operation. but
nearly all of your signers listed here are females and also wouldn't normally get fought inside
combat. Regarding us, your army can be flawed regarding reasons way broader compared to
"Operation Protective Edge," or perhaps the occupation. We rue the actual militarization associated
with Israel and the army's discriminatory policies.
Read your full story here.
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Greg Keenan involving The Actual Globe and Mail reports:
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Haaretz' diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid reports:
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'Hamas offers called airliners' selection to suspend flights for you to Israel any "great victory,"
Agence France Presse studies in Wednesday.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, stated in the statement: "The achievement of Hamas to
summarize Israeli airspace can become a fantastic victory for your resistance, along with will be the
crown associated with Israel's failure."
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Israel's Protection Minister Ya'alon told soldiers at the Gaza border upon Wednesday they want
being ready regarding "the subsequent stages."
"We are usually preparing the particular subsequent phases of the fighting following dealing with
the tunnels and you need being ready for just with regards to any mission," Y'alon said, in
accordance with Haaretz. "You require to become ready pertaining to more essential stages in Gaza
and additionally the units in which have become on standby have to prepare to end up being able to
go in."
Read much more here.
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Israel has asked the united States regarding 225 million us dollars to buy new parts regarding its
Iron Dome missile shield, Haaretz reports.
The protection system may be crucial inside intercepting rockets fired at Israel through Gaza within
latest weeks.
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U.S. Secretary involving State John Kerry offers fulfilled with Israel's President Peres inside
Jerusalem for you to discuss the crisis within Gaza.
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Fares Akram studies the Red Cross features received approval pertaining to medics for you to get
into a quantity of locations throughout Gaza.
"A convoy of seven ambulances and a couple Red Cross cars went inside Shujaiyeh for you to
evacuate the particular wounded," ICRC spokeswoman Cecilia Goin said, in accordance with
Haaretz. she added in which a new second convoy was deployed near Khan Younis and which the
sale have been exercised along with both Hamas as well as Israel.
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said upon Wednesday in which his country can be ready to deliver
health-related teams for you to Gaza, yet which Israel doesn't allow Iran's medical help to reach the
actual Palestinians. "We are ready to just accept the particular injured Palestinians in Iranian
hospitals," Rouhani added, according towards the Iranian information agency Fars.
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In the effective op-ed printed inside the new York times on Wednesday, Mohammed Omer describes
lifestyle throughout Gaza during the Israeli invasion -- the actual concern with airstrikes, loosing
children, the particular resilience involving patients as well as families within Shifa hospital.
Here inside Gaza City, the actual electricity has been gone; it absolutely was darkish everywhere.
Your h2o supply has been foul, meals ended up being rancid, and also fear permeated summer time
night.
On Eighth Street, I visited the al-Baba family. With Regard To this family of 15, any corrugated tin
roof had been almost all in which stood bewteen barefoot and also shoes and the bombs. Hani al-
Baba, 23, heard the particular hum of the drone. Several are generally with regard to surveillance,
several are weaponized. Which Usually is actually which, 1 in no way knows. The Particular audio
was adequate to deliver the kids scurrying in to corners, trembling and praying. Nervously, Hani
scanned the night sky.
Read the particular complete document here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/24/gaza-fighting_n_5615851.html