Israeli military steps up attacks on Gaza, death toll by midday hits 12

Tuesday December 18, 2007 15:28 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Israeli sources reported on Tuesday midday that the Israeli government has decided to step up attacks on the Gaza strip. Palestinian sources said that the death toll in the coastal region by midday Tuesday had reached 12.

injured palestinian in the daily shelling in the north of gaza - File 2007

The Israeli army claimed that the recent attacks come in response to Palestinian home made shells fired from Gaza into the nearby Israeli towns.

The Palestinian home made shells, also known as Qassam shells, have killed one Israeli this year.

Meanwhile Israeli army attacks on Gaza have left at least 450 dead, among them children and many more others injured.

Hospitals in Gaza issued a report on Tuesday midday stating that the number of Palestinians killed on Tuesday reached 12. 

Israeli air strikes on Gaza have been omnipresent across the coastal region over the past several weeks as Israel declared Gaza a 'hostile entity' in September. A total of nine Palestinians were killed in Israeli air-strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday.

Four were killed late Monday night, following an air strike several hours earlier that killed three Palestinian resistance fighters of the Islamic Jihad group's armed wing 'Saraya al-Quds'. That strike came shortly after a leader of the Saraya al-Quds, Majed al-Harazin and his aid were killed during a missile strike on their car in western Gaza city earlier that evening.

Media reports said those killed were the chief of the manufacture unit at the Saraya al-Quds of the Islamic Jihad, Abdelkarim al-Dahdouh, his brother Ahmad and Ammar aL-Said. Medical sources reported that corpses of the killed reached the hospital dismembered, and some children were among five other people injured during the air strikes.

On Tuesday before noon, Israeli gunboats shelled a Palestine Police station in Rafah city located in southern Gaza, killing two Palestinians and injuring four. Medics identified the two as Hanni Barhoum and Mohamed Al Shareef.

The Gaza-based resistance factions vowed to avenge the killings. Leaders of Palestinian resistance in Gaza during radio interviews sent out calls to resistance groups to turn off their mobile phones in an attempt to foil Israeli electronic tracking and to stay out of vehicles.

The Israeli army chief of staff, Gabi Ashkanazi, stated earlier this month that the Israeli army had finished all preparations for a massive ground invasion into the Gaza strip.

The siege that the Israeli government has imposed on Gaza since Hamas took total control there in mid June, has left the 1.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza lacking medicine, fuel, and food. UN and international aid work agencies have warned of humanitarian crises in Gaza in the near future due to the siege.

gaza strip | israeli attacks | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org