Israeli occupation terrorist forces murder a Palestinian family in Gaza, death toll climbs to 781
 
Gaza, January 9, 2009, (Ramattan)-

Six family members and several other Palestinian people were killed by the Israeli Occupation Terrorist Forces (IOTF) on Friday in the Gaza Strip as the death toll climbed to 781, including 220 children and 92 women, Palestinian medical sources said.
 
Witnesses said that the Israeli terrorist jet fighters pounded the house of Fayez Salha, in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza, with two rockets killing and wounding several people.
 
Medics said that two little sisters; Rola, 15-month-old, and Rana, 11-year-old, Baha, 5 years, their mother Randa, 32 and her sister Fatima, 20, were killed in the Israeli terrorist air strike on Friday morning.
 
Two other girls, Fatima Sa'ad, 20, and Thawriya Sa'ad, 25, were killed on Friday in an Israeli strike in Gaza city, according to medics.
 
Several other citizens were killed across the Gaza Strip on Friday. At least 30 Palestinians were killed after the UN resolution calling for cease fire in Gaza.
 
Cameraman of Palestine TV, Ehab Al-Wuhaidi,, his wife and his mother in law were killed last night when an Israeli terrorist gunship pulverized their house in the neighborhood of Tal Al-Hawa, south of Gaza City.
 
In a separate attack, the Israeli terrorist gunship targeted a house in Gaza city killing a mother from Ocarina Abera Al-Jaro, and her child. Her two other daughters were also wounded, one of them is in critical condition.
 
For the 14th day, the IOTF continued air strikes against Gaza while the artillery continued bombing populated neighborhoods especially north of Gaza.

Israeli terrorist forces ignore UN call for ceasefire - Official toll reaches 774 - Focus of fighting shifts to middle Gaza

Date: 09 / 01 / 2009  Time:  09:50
Gaza – Ma’an –

 The invading Israeli terrorist forces ignored a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, killing at least 21 Palestinians since the resolution was passed on Friday morning local time.

The latest casualty to be identified is 15 year-old Muhammad Atef Abu Al-Husna, who was killed when Israeli warplanes leveled a house in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza. He was taken to nearby Kamal Udwan hospital and identified by Mu’awiyah Hassanain, the director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Dr Hassanain said that the death toll over two weeks of the Israeli terrorist war on Gaza is 774. The official toll is rising as dozens of bodies are recovered from demolished buildings, including many in the central Gaza Strip towns of Al-Latara and Juhr Al-Deek.

Three more bodies were recovered on Friday morning in Al-Saghira, near the city of Khan Younis. Medics identified them as Hamed Al-Samiry, Jihad Abu Madif and Ahmad Al-Sharihi.

An additional 3,200 Gazans have been injured.

Six members of family killed

Six Palestinians from the Salha family were killed by an invading Israeli terrorist forces tank shelling at 4am that leveled their home in the town of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Later in the morning, two women were killed by another airstrike in Jabaliya. The women were identified by medics as 42-year-old Fatima Sa’eed and 25-year-old Sumayah Sa’eed. A 12-year-old boy, Ata Jamil, was injured.

Israeli Navy attacks central Gaza

In the town of Al-Zawaydah, in the central Gaza Strip, three were killed and seven injured by shelling from Israeli terrorist gunboats. The victims were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital.

Tanks pushing across Khan Younis district

Also at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, nine corpses and 40 injured people arrived overnight, victims of an attempt by Israeli tanks to cut across the middle of the Gaza Strip to the sea. Israeli tanks have already cut across in one place farther north.

Among those killed in the central Gaza incursion is a member of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad. The movement said Jihad Abu Mudif died after being seriously wounded in fighting with Israeli troops near the city of Khan Younis.

Air raids level houses

Israeli terrorist forces airstrikes demolished ten homes overnight, including the residence of the chief of police in Gaza Abu Obaida Al-Jarrah, in the Shaikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

Warplanes also destroyed the house of the head of Palestinian security in the southern city of Rafah, a man who is said to be affiliated to Hamas’ armed wing.

A police station in the Zaytoon neighborhood of Gaza was also demolished, along with the Al-Rebat Mosque in Khan Younis and an office linked to Islamic Jihad.

***Updated at 11:41 Gaza time

Israel, Hamas reject Security Council resolution

Date: 09 / 01 / 2009  Time:  13:32
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Both Israel and Hamas rejected on Friday a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt to hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri argued that the resolution is biased in favor of Israel and against the Palestinians, and is intended to exact a political price from Hamas.

He said the resolution does not fulfill Hamas’ conditions, which are “to end the Israeli aggression immediately, lift the blockade and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.”

The Hamas-run de facto government in Gaza has no voice at the United Nations. The Palestinian Authority mission to the UN represents the rival Fatah-led government in the West Bank.

In rejecting the resolution, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "The State of Israel has never agreed that any outside body would determine its right to defend the security of its citizens.”

He also called the document “not practical,” blaming Palestinian organizations for continuing to fire projectiles and rockets into Israel. He said the Israeli military “will continue operations.”

The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza." It also called for an end to the smuggling routes from Egypt into Gaza, the reopening of Gaza’s borders, and "unimpeded provision" of humanitarian aid.

Fourteen of 15 member states voted for the resolution, which was submitted by the UK. The United States abstained.

Palestinian resistance fighters battle Israeli army, fire missiles as far as 40km from Gaza

Date: 09 / 01 / 2009  Time:  12:18
Gaza – Ma’an –

Palestinian resistance fighters affiliated to Hamas and other factions did not heed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, continuing their armed resistance against the invading Israeli terrorist forces and launched some rockets into Israel.

According to Israeli officials, some 20 homemade projectiles and Russian-manufactured rockets landed in Israeli territory in the course of Friday morning. One Israeli man was injured and several buildings were reportedly damaged.

Four Grad missiles landed near the city of Be-er Al-Saba'a, nearly 40 kilometers from Gaza. Palestinian rockets have reportedly landed in and around the city for over a week without causing casualties, in retaliation to the Israeli terrorist attacks on Gaza Strip.

Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said that the range of their Grad missiles is now 45 kilometers. They claimed on Friday to be targeting an air force base called Tal Nof. They also claimed to target the border town of Sderot with two small projectiles.

The Al-Qassam Brigades also claimed to have fired one projectile at an Israeli military installation called “Tselem,” the city of Asqalan, and Kibbutz Al-Ayn Al-Thalitha. The organization also said its members fought Israeli troops in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, and another group called the Eagles of Palestine, said they fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at an Israeli tank near the car market (Souq Al-Sayarat) area of southern Gaza City.

The Eagles of Palestine also said they clashed with Israeli forces near Shaikh Zayed towers in northern Gaza.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)’s military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing two projectiles at Sderot on Thursday night.

Ukrainian citizen, infant son, killed by Israeli shell

Date: 09 / 01 / 2009  Time:  10:33
Gaza – Ma’an -

 A Ukrainian citizen and her infant son were killed by Israeli shelling in Gaza overnight, Palestinian medical officials reported.

Thirty-six-year-old Olvera Al-Jarou, and her one-year-old son, Yousuf, were killed by an artillery shell in the Al-Sha’af area of the Al-Shuja’iyah neighborhood of Gaza City. The woman became the first foreign national to die in the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Al-Jarou’s husband, Palestinian doctor Awny Al-Jarou was injured. Their daughter Yasmin lays critically injured an intensive care unit. Another son was also slightly injured.

Dr Al-Jarou said his wife’s body was blown to pieces. He said he was at first unable to send his wife and children to a hospital because of the intense shelling.

PA TV cameraman killed by Israeli terrorist shelling

Date: 09 / 01 / 2009  Time:  10:29
Gaza – Ma’an –

A journalist working for the Palestinian Authority’s official television station was killed the Israeli terrorist onslaught in Gaza, Palestinian medical officials announced on Friday.

Palestine TV cameraman Ihab Al-Wahidi was killed along with his mother and his wife and mother when Israeli tanks shelled his house in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood south of Gaza City on Thursday night. His wife, Rukaya Abu Al-Naja, is of Moroccan origin.

Others were injured when two shells struck Al-Wuhaidi’s apartment.