Date: 19 / 05 / 2009  Time:  22:32
Gaza – Ma’an –

A Palestinian man was hospitalized after being shot by Israeli occupation soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, becoming the sixth casualty in less than 24 hours.

On Wednesday afternoon, another airstrike was reported in eastern Gaza City. There are no reports of casualties yet.

Earlier, Israel’s air force bombed smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip, just hours after overnight strikes left five Palestinians wounded. The renewed violence follows weeks of relative calm in Gaza.

At 11:20pm, Israeli terrorist warplanes bombed a position east of the Zaytoun neighborhood in the northern Strip, and there were no casualties. Fifteen minutes later, the same area was bombed, and four people were injured including a Hamas fighter.

Muawiya Hassanain, director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, said the wounded were evacuated to the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. According to Hassanein, the Hamas fighter sustained moderate wounds, while the civilians were slightly injured.

After midnight, Israeli air forces bombed three blacksmiths’ workshops in the central Gaza Strip, on Jaffa Street in Gaza City, and in east Jabaliya in the north. As a result of these airstrikes, one Palestinian civilian was reported injured, and he was evacuated to Ash-Shifa Hospital.

On Wednesday morning, Israel warplanes resumed shelling in Gaza, targeting the borderline at Rafah. Witnesses said four missiles hit the tunnels area, resulting in massive physical damage, but no casualties were reported.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Ziad Abu Hadid was moderately injured by Israeli fire in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning.

According to Hassanain, the Health Ministry official, Abu Hadid was hit by a gunshot in the leg, and was taken to Kamal Udwan Hospital in neighboring Beit Lahiya for treatment.

The Israeli military confirmed the airstrikes, which came hours after a homemade Palestinian projectile landed in southern Israel, moderately injuring one Israeli teenager.

Also on Wednesday morning, Palestinian fighters said they launched three mortar shells at an Israeli military installation called Megen, east of Al-Maghazi, in the central Gaza.

The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed joint responsibility for the shelling, which they said was in retaliation to the Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday night.


***Updated at 11:46 local time

Beit Hanoun man injured by Israeli fire

Date: 20 / 05 / 2009  Time:  11:39
Gaza – Ma’an –

A Palestinian civilian, 23-year-old Ziad Abu Hadid, was moderately injured by Israeli fire in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning.

According to Mu’awiya Hassanain, director of Ambulance and Emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, Abu Hadid was hit by a gunshot in the leg, and was taken to Kamal Udwan Hospital in neighboring Beit Lahiya for treatment.

Radwan: Latest escalation aims to blackmail Hamas

[ 20/05/2009 - 01:58 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Hamas has warned the Zionist entity against stepping up its escalation against the Gaza Strip stressing that the Palestinian resistance has the right to retaliate to the occupations aggression and crimes against the Palestinian people.

Israeli occupation airplanes carried out a number of air-raids on targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night wounding a number of Palestinians and destroying a metal workshop.

Dr. Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader in Gaza, told Quds Press on Wednesday that the new Israeli occupation aggression aims to influence the Palestinian political scene, create a new turbulence in the region and rekindle a state of confrontation [with the resistance] in the Gaza Strip.

He also opined that the escalation is part of the efforts to blackmail Hamas into accepting a one sided truce adding that no truce will be given without opening the border crossings, lifting the blockade and halting the aggression.

About the question if this escalation had anything to do with Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States, Radwan said that it could be part of trying to get a green light from the US administration for a new campaign of Zionist terror against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad said, in a statement on Wednesday, that any Zionist escalation will be met with retaliation by the resistance.

Abu Ahmad, spokesman of the Quds Brigades, said that the resistance will retaliate to the latest attacks at a suitable time and place, adding that all resistance factions are in agreement in this regard.

He also said that all resistance factions are prepared for confronting any aggression on the Gaza Strip, calling for an end to internal differences.