...and do not want a war with Iran but if Israel doesn't stop bombing Gaza then,,, Irsrael will a problem and a war with Iran and the WORLD.MASKED gunmen killed six suspected collaborators with Israel at a busy Gaza City intersection.
The Hamas military wing has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Witnesses say the six men were pulled out of a van, forced to lie face down on the street and shot dead.
They say five of the bodies lay in a pile as a mob stomped and spat on them. The sixth was tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets as people screamed, "Spy! Spy!"
Hamas has posted a sign on an electricity pole, naming the six alleged informers.
An Israeli border guard fires a tear gas canister during clashes with Palestinians following the funeral of a policeman who died two days ago at a demonstration against the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Ceasefire negotiations continue
Egypt's president predicted overnight that Israel's nearly offensive in the Gaza Strip would end within hours.
And Israel's prime minister said his country would be a "willing partner" to a ceasefire with Hamas aimed at ending relentless Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian rocket attacks. A Hamas official has said that the truce has been agreed upon and would come into effect within hours but that has been disputed by the Israelis and Egyptians.
A senior Egyptian official said there were strong hopes the agreement would be reached today, but that everything depended on Israel giving its assent to the proposal, which had still not come.
"Egypt has sent the final proposal... and we are waiting for the final Israeli response," the official said. "If there is agreement on this it means we are close to announcing a ceasefire."
As indications grew of an imminent end to the fighting, international diplomats raced across the region to cement a deal. President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Mideast from Cambodia, where she had accompanied him on a visit.
Mohammed Morsi, perhaps the most important interlocutor between the militant Hamas group that rules the Palestinian territory and the Israelis, gave no explanation for his statement, saying only that the negotiations between the two sides will yield "positive results" during the coming hours.
In Brussels, a senior official of the European Union's foreign service said a cease-fire would include an end of Israeli airstrikes and targeted killings in Gaza, the opening of Gaza crossing points and an end to rocket attacks on Israel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"If a long-term solution can be put in place through diplomatic means, then Israel would be a willing partner to such a solution. But if stronger military action proves necessary to stop the constant barrage of rockets, Israel wouldn't hesitate to do what is necessary to defend our people," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a joint press conference in Jerusalem with visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Mr Ban condemned Palestinian rocket attacks, but urged Israel to show "maximum restraint."
"Further escalation benefits no one," he said.
Minutes before Mr Ban's arrival in Jerusalem from Egypt, Palestinian militants fired a rocket toward the holy city. Earlier overnight, a man identified as Hamas' militant commander urged his fighters to keep up attacks on Israel, even as Israeli airstrikes killed a senior militant and five others in a separate attack on a car, according to Gaza health officials.
Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets on several Gaza neighborhoods asking residents to evacuate and head toward the center of Gaza City along specific roads. 'The army "is not targeting any of you, and doesn't want to harm you or your families," it said. Palestinian militants urged residents to ignore the warnings, calling them "psychological warfare."
Senator Clinton was scheduled to meet with Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and Egyptian leaders in Cairo. Turkey's foreign minister and a delegation of Arab League foreign ministers traveled to Gaza on a separate truce mission. Airstrikes continued to hit Gaza even as they entered the territory.
"Turkey is standing by you," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh. "Our demand is clear. Israel should end its aggression immediately and lift the inhumane blockade imposed on Gaza."
It was unclear how diplomatic efforts to achieve a cease-fire and stave off a threatened Israeli ground invasion into Gaza were hampered by the hard-to-bridge positions staked out by both sides - and by the persistent attacks. Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers have been dispatched to the Gaza border in case of a decision to invade.
The ceasefire came despite another rocket being fired from Gaza struck near Jerusalem.
A loud boom was heard in Jerusalem shortly after air raid sirens wailed, with the Israeli police and army saying a rocket had crashed into an open area near Gush Etzion without causing any casualties.
An Israeli soldier became the first army casualty.
"I can confirm that an IDF (army) soldier was killed this morning in Eshkol regional council as a result of rocket fire," the spokesman told AFP, referring to an area which flanks the southern part of the Israel-Gaza border.
An Israeli civilian was also killed by a rocket, a defence ministry spokesman said, the deaths raising to four the number of Israelis killed in Gaza rocket fire since November 14. On Thursday, a rocket strike on the Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi hit a house, killing two men and a woman.
A statement from the military named the dead soldier as 18-year-old Yosef Fartuk and said he was from the West Bank settlement Emmanuel.
The attack was claimed by Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which said it had fired "an M75 rocket at the occupied city of Jerusalem".
The second such attack in five days, it came with Hamas engaged in Egyptian-led talks with Israel for a ceasefire on the seventh day of the Jewish state's bombing campaign against rocket-firing militants in the enclave.
A Hamas official said chief Khaled Meshaal and his negotiators were currently in a meeting with the intelligence chief. "But it's no secret we're on the verge of an agreement," he said.
As the violence raged for a sixth day, with Israeli strikes killing 32 Palestinians, a missile killed a senior Islamic Jihad militant in a Gaza City tower housing Palestinian and international media, the second time in as many days it has been targeted.
With UN chief Ban Ki-moon in Cairo pushing for a ceasefire, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said his movement was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.
In New York, US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said there had to be an agreed ceasefire between the Israelis and Hamas for any halt in violence to be ''meaningful or sustainable''.
But Russia warned that unless an Arab-proposed statement calling for Israel-Hamas hostilities to end was agreed overnight it would press for a vote on the full council resolution - setting up a potential veto clash with the United States.
The United States, Britain, France and Germany all had problems with a text proposed by Arab nations last Thursday because it made no mention of rocket fire from Palestinian militants in Gaza, diplomats said.
Terrified and desperate, many Gaza families have fled their homes, some seeking haven in the south, which has seen fewer strikes.
Mourners flocked to the funeral of nine members of one family killed in a weekend strike on a Gaza City home, the bodies of the five children carried through the streets wrapped in Palestinian flags.
As the overall death toll in Gaza hit 109, with the 32 killed on Monday making it the bloodiest day so far, the Israeli army said that 42 rockets had struck Israel and another 19 had been intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.
To date, the military has struck more than 1350 targets in Gaza, and 640 rockets have hit southern Israel while another 324 have been intercepted.
The violence, coming ahead of an Israeli general election on January 22, raised the spectre of a broader Israeli military campaign like its 22-day Operation Cast Lead, launched at the end of December 2008.
Preparations for a ground operation continue despite the truce , with the army sealing all roads around Gaza and some 40,000 reservists reportedly massed along the border.
The latest negotiations aimed at ending the conflict, held behind closed doors in Cairo, ended without agreement. But all sides were willing to enter more talks.
As Russia accused the United States of seeking to ''filibuster'' a UN Security Council statement on Gaza, Ban was to meet Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, and President Mohamed Morsi and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Tuesday.
He will then go to Jerusalem to see Israeli leaders but has no plan to go to Gaza.
The League's Arabi is due in Gaza on Tuesday, accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and several Arab top diplomats.
Hamas is also understood to be seeking guarantees Israel will stop its targeted killings, like the one that killed a top military commander on Wednesday, sparking the current hostilities.
Israel has its own demands, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisting ''the first and absolute condition for a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza.''
Death toll reaches 109
As at 6pm AEDT Israeli strikes have killed 32 Palestinians, taking the Gaza death toll to 109 as UN chief Ban Ki-moon joined efforts to end the worst violence in four years and Israel's inner circle of ministers mulled their next move.
An Israeli missile killed a senior Islamic Jihad militant in a Gaza City tower housing Palestinian and international media, the second time in as many days it has been targeted.
With UN chief Ban Ki-moon in Cairo pushing for a ceasefire, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said his movement was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Terrified and desperate, many Gaza families have fled their homes, some seeking haven in the south which has seen fewer strikes. But they know nowhere is safe.
Mourners flocked to the funeral of nine members of one family killed in a weekend strike on a Gaza City home, the tiny bodies of the five children carried through the streets wrapped in Palestinian flags.
As the overall death toll in Gaza hit 109, with another 32 people killed on Monday making it the bloodiest day so far, the Israeli army said that 42 rockets had struck Israel and another 19 had been intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.
To date, the military has struck more than 1350 targets in Gaza, and 640 rockets have hit southern Israel while another 324 have been intercepted.
The violence, coming ahead of an Israeli general election on January 22, raised the spectre of a broader Israeli military campaign like its 22-day Operation Cast Lead, launched at the end of December 2008.
Analysts say the Israeli leadership appears satisfied with the success of Operation Pillar of Defence and that it could be ready for a ceasefire.
But the Jewish state has also signalled a readiness to expand the operation.
All the signs point to preparations for a ground operation, with the army sealing all roads around Gaza and some 40,000 reservists reportedly massed along the border, awaiting orders from the political echelon.
Dan Harel, former deputy chief of the Israeli military, said there was a maximum of 48 hours for Egyptian-led truce efforts to bear fruit or the troops would have to go in.
"There are two basic alternatives,'' he told journalists.
"One is an agreement, cooked in Cairo, and the other is escalating the situation and moving forward into the Gaza Strip with a land effort, which is going to be bad for both sides,'' he said in English.
"We are about 24 to 48 hours from this junction.''
Iran instigated Gaza violence: Peres
Against the backdrop of continued violence, the President of Israel has told CNN that Hamas is backed by Iran and while the Jewish state won't go to war with its neighbour, it is trying to prevent long-range missiles from the rogue state reaching Gaza.
"The unpleasant one is the Iranians. They are trying again to encourage the Hamas to continue the shooting, the bombing, they trying to send them arms," Shimon Peres told CNN's Piers Morgan.
"They are out of their mind," he said.
"And we are not going to make a war with Iran but we are trying to prevent the shipping of long range missiles which Iran is sending to Hamas. And they are urge to Hamas to fire," President Peres said.
"I think that Iran is a little bit disappointed that not only the Israeli army is trying to stop it, but also the Israeli people are behaving with great courage and great understanding."
Iran's willingness to fund terror organisations is a problem for countries other than Israel, Mr Peres said.
"Iran is a problem, world problem. Not only from the point of view of building a nuclear danger, but also from the point of being a center of world terror. They finance, they train, they send arms, they urge, no responsibility, nor any moral consideration. It’s a world problem and you know it," he said.
While talks are ongoing in an effort to reach a truce, ending the violence is in everyone's interests, Mr Peres said.
"The negotiations are still being continued. It's difficult for all parties, but it's not over and the best choice for all of us is to stop shooting," he said.
Those who criticise Israel's actions should suggest a solution, he said.
"Whoever criticizes us should suggest an alternative - we started with great restraint. In the last six days 1200 missiles fall on our civilians lives, on mothers, on children. We tried to do it with restraint, but apparently they hide themselves in private homes, even in mosques, and we are trying to do our best not to hit any civilian on the other side, but unfortunately a war is a war and they can stop it in one minute if they’ll stop shooting, there won’t be any causalities," he said.
Source (photos removed)
- AFP
- November 21, 2012
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