Posted on 01/15/2009 4:50:54 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
GAZA CITY – Israel killed a top Hamas leader on Thursday as tanks pressed into the heart of Gaza City setting landmark buildings ablaze, including a hospital filled with refugees that was engulfed in a ball of flames.
Said Siam , interior minister in Gaza's Hamas government, was slain along with his brother and son in an air strike on the brother's house north of Gaza City, Hamas said, as its armed wing vowed to avenge his death.
His sister-in-law, bodyguard, and four neighbors also died in the strike, according to Gaza medics, who said more than 40 Palestinians were killed in fighting across the territory on Thursday.
The latest deaths pushed the overall toll past 1,100 and cast a heavy shadow over ongoing peace efforts.
A Hamas hardliner, Siam had created the Executive Force, a militia that played a key role in the Islamist takeover of Gaza in June 2007. He is the highest-ranking Hamas official killed since the war began on December 27.
The assassination came after a day of fierce fighting in which Israeli tanks rolled into the centre of Gaza City and forces struck a hospital, a media building and a UN compound, setting ablaze a warehouse filled with food aid.
A tide of terrified civilians, many gripping wailing children, fled the advancing Israeli troops inside Gaza's main city as warplanes pounded the impoverished Hamas-ruled enclave in a bid to stem Palestinian rocket fire.
Hundreds of people took shelter from fierce fighting in the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, but were forced to flee the facility after nightfall when it was engulfed in flames.
The building had been hit by an Israeli tank shell earlier in the day, causing part of it to collapse and igniting the blaze.
As the fire flared hours later, patients who had been wounded in the fighting could be seen struggling to get out of their beds only to head out into an icy night pierced by gunfire, according to an AFP photographer.
At least three babies in incubators and three people on life support were wheeled out into the flame-lit streets.
Despite the Israeli onslaught, Hamas militants continued to launch projectiles Thursday, sending two long-range Grad rockets crashing into the southern Israeli city of Beersheva and wounding five people, medics said.
At least 25 rockets and mortar rounds were fired from Gaza into Israel on Thursday, with Palestinian militants having launched at least 1,090 projectiles since the war began, according to the army.
As the battles raged on the ground, Egypt pressed ahead with Western-backed efforts to end the war in which an estimated 600 Palestinian civilians have been killed.
In what could be a major breakthrough, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would travel to Washington to sign a memorandum on joint efforts to halt smuggling beneath the Gaza-Egypt border.
Shutting down the hundreds of tunnels beneath the frontier that form Hamas's main resupply route was one of Israel's chief war aims.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Israel shortly before an Israeli tank shell hit the UN refugee agency's main Gaza compound, wounding three employees and torching a warehouse filled with tens of millions of dollars worth of aid.
Ban said he had conveyed his "strong protest and outrage" and demanded an explanation in talks with Israeli officials as part of a regional tour aimed at cajoling the two warring parties into a ceasefire agreement.
Olmert said that Israeli troops had shelled the compound in Gaza in response to fire coming from the building, charges denied by the UN refugee agency.
The European Union's Czech presidency joined a chorus of international protests at the strike, calling it "simply unacceptable," while Amnesty International said the strike could constitute a war crime.
Another Israeli raid hit a building housing several media outlets in central Gaza City, wounding two cameramen.
Since Israel unleashed its Operation Cast Lead, at least 1,105 people have been killed and at least another 5,130 wounded, according to Gaza medics. Among the dead are at least 355 children and 100 women.
Israel says 10 of its soldiers and three civilians have died as a result of combat or rocket fire in the same period.
Egyptian officials said Israeli envoy Amos Gilad responded "favorably" to Cairo's plan for a ceasefire, which would halt the fighting and the weapons smuggling and lift a crippling 18-month blockade of the territory.
An Israeli government spokesman said however no decision had yet been reached on the plan.
Hamas also has yet to reach a final decision, having said only that it does not reject the "broad outlines" of the proposal.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair, now the international community's Middle East peace envoy, said he was still hopeful for a ceasefire, saying the Egyptian plan contained all the necessary elements.
"I hope very much in a short space of time there will be a stop," he said.
My sweet little old mother-in-law used to say, “One at a time is pretty good fishing...”
Good Shootin’ Israel!
He said "Siam." He was trying to say "Sayonara."
“Good Shootin’ Israel!”
Exactly! Keep it up, Israel!
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!"
Way to go IDF.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Israel shortly before an Israeli tank shell hit the UN refugee agency’s main Gaza compound, wounding three employees and torching a warehouse filled with tens of millions of dollars worth of aid.
A warehoue filled with tens of millions of dollars worth of aid supplies?? I thought they were hurting for aid supplies, even Cynthia McKinne was trying to sneak in a lousy couple of tons of supplies while the Un has Tens of millions of dollars worth?? Somebody is lying.
He will get special attention in Hell.
The UN supplies the caviar, truffles, and well aged port to those who can afford it. Cynthia was on her way with the Spam and Wonder Bread.
When will these Hamas idiots learn that "dog bites man" is not newsworthy. Having some barbaric militant Islamist threaten mayhem and violence and murder is just ho hum, same old same old, been-there-done-that trash talk. Ain't nobody gonna be surprised or 'sorry' when a thug threatens that they're gonna act thuggishly.
What would make news is for a bunch of them to declare that Islam is a religion of peace, and that they are going to stop the killing for good, and arrest (and keep in jail) and punish the thugs who are perpetrating the violence in the name of Islam. But I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen, because most Palestinians apparently support the thugs and all of their thuggishness, so it ain't gonna happen any time soon...
Keep up the good work Israel
Do you want peace? Do you want the bombardment to stop? Do you want to live your life free of gunmen?
Surrender now! Stop letting Hamas fight on your son's bones! Throw them out! Shoot them! Israeli occupation would be more just!
Surrender and the bombardment will stop.
Surrender and the blockade will end.
Surrender and you can sleep peacefully at night.
“THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITH OUT PICTURES!!!
I wanna see the fire!”
Here ya go. Look to the right of the tall building. Looks like flames.
http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/live-web-cam-gaza-israel-war
Scroll to the bottom for the live view.
Burn baby burn (disco inferno), Burn baby burn...
I actually hate disco music (yet love Saturday Night Fever), but it has rarely seemed so appropriate.
Yep, no bias in this story...
But that would be a downright lie.
Ishaq:208 "When Allah gave permission to his Apostle to fight, the second Aqaba contained conditions involving war which were not in the first act of submission. Now we bound ourselves to war against all mankind for Allah and His Apostle. He promised us a reward in Paradise for faithful service.
Ishaq:204 "'Men, do you know what you are pledging yourselves to in swearing allegiance to this man?' 'Yes. In swearing allegiance to him we are pledging to wage war against all mankind.'"
Qur'an:8:7 "Allah wished to confirm the truth by His words: 'Wipe the infidels out to the last.'"
Qur'an:8:39 "So, fight them till all opposition ends and the only religion is Islam."
BTTT
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