Israel’s navy shells Gaza, injuring seven

Date: 22 / 01 / 2009  Time:  09:57
Gaza – Ma’an –

 Israeli terrorist navy ships shelled the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, injuring seven Palestinians, including five fishermen.

Mu’awiyah Hassanain, the director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Palestinian Health Ministry told Ma’an that Israeli gunboats shelled the Al-Sudaniya area northwest of Gaza City.

He said the wounded people were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Hassanain added that rescue teams are still working to recover the corpses, many of them now decomposing, of those killed in Israel’s three-week war on Gaza.

Separately, two Palestinians died in Egyptian hospitals where they were treated for wounds from Israel’s three-week offensive.

Medical officials identified them as: Tamer Omar Al-Louh, 22, from Gaza city and Azzam Mu’awadh Al-Shafe’y, 24, from Rafah.

The death toll from the war is now 1,330, with more than 5,000 injured.

Al-Aqsa Brigades ‘will respond to Israeli ceasefire violations’

Date: 22 / 01 / 2009  Time:  13:06
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, said on Thursday that they are “prepared to respond” to violations of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The group issued this statement came after Israel’s navy shelled the Gaza harbor, wounding seven Palestinians in spite of a ceasefire declared on Saturday.


The Yasser Arafat Brigades, a faction within the Al-Aqsa Brigades, said that it views this shelling as a violation.

The group said it would respond in “at the appropriate time and place.” The group said it would not “remain silent” while Palestinian civilians are attacked.

Civil defense service in Gaza lost 11 members to war

Date: 22 / 01 / 2009  Time:  09:52
Gaza - Ma'an –

The Civil Defense service in Gaza said that it lost eleven of its members in the recent three-week Israeli offensive. In addition, 13 firefighters were injured, including three who had their arms amputated when they went to put out a fire in the Al-Maqqousi Tower following an airstrike.

The Director General of the civil defense Yousuf Al-Zahar said that international law prohibits attacks on firefighters.

He called for Israeli soldiers and politicians to be prosecuted for war crimes.

He praised the brave work of the civil defense crews and their determination to fight fires amid the Israeli bombardment. He said the motto of the civil defense service is “Our defense is force, sacrifice and cooperation.”

Bodies of two old women found under the rubble, four citizens succumb to wounds

[ 21/01/2009 - 05:11 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Medical and civil defense squads on Wednesday recovered two bodies of two old Palestinian women from the rubble of destroyed homes in northern Gaza, medical sources reported.

Mu'awiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency in the PA health ministry, said that the bodies of Kamela Al-Attar, 90, and Halima Siyam, 62, were found under the rubble of their homes.

He added that four seriously wounded Palestinians had succumbed to their wounds one in an Egyptian hospital, another in Shifa hospital and two in Khan Younis hospital.

The health official underlined that the number of martyrs in the Israeli occupation terrorist forces' aggression Gaza had risen to 1326 while the wounded reached 5450 many of them suffering severe and critical wounds, which might increase the number of victims or the number of those living with permanent disability as a result of the IOF use of internationally banned weapons.

Hassanain earlier stated that the ambulance and civil defense teams were still looking for victims under the rubble of the big number of devastated buildings in the Strip, noting that the immense devastation was impeding easy access to those under the debris.

The IOF withdrawal from the Strip, which according to the Hebrew radio was completed on Wednesday, had revealed many humanitarian tragedies.

For his part, John Ging, the director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, has said that the people in the Strip were engulfed in a deep sense of grief.

He said in a press statement that around 35000 Palestinians in the Strip were now without shelter as a result of the huge destruction.