Latest updates as the renewed conflict enters a second day, as Tel Aviv is hit for the first time by Gaza rockets.
9:25PM GMT 15 Nov 2012
21.25 Three more Palestinians have been killed in a fresh round of air strikes on Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, a spokesman for Hamas emergency services has just told AFP.
Three citizens were martyred and 12 injured in an air strike in Beit Hanun.
20.32 Phoebe Greenwood, who is retiring for the evening, leaves us with a couple of notes.
There has been heavy bombing around our hotel here in Gaza City in the last hour or so. Reports are coming through the Twittersphere of troops amassing along the Israeli-Gaza border, following the Israeli announcement they are ready for "Phase 2". The assumption here is that there will be a ground offensive of some sort over night.
20.20 The UN has said that an Israeli airstrike killed a UN schoolteacher in Gaza on Wednesday.
Marwan Abu El Qumsan was in a car near the scene of a strike on the Palestinian territory. The Arabic teacher at a UN school was killed and his brother severely injured in the blast, said Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Palestinian refugees agency, UNRWA.
19.32 Suspect this might be too late considering what's happened the last two days, but Francois Hollande, the French president, has reportedly begun talks with Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid escalation in Gaza.
19.10 The Associated Press is reporting that Israel has begun moving troops towards the Gaza Strip, following the announcement of reservists being called up.
19.06 Phoebe Greenwood, our reporter in Gaza City, watched the funeral of 11-month-old Omar al-Masharawi, who was killed yesterday. Omar was the son of a Palestinian employee of BBC Arabic.
Gently soothing his crying toddler, Mr Misharwi struggled to explain why his family was hit.
"We don't belong to any political faction. There is no Hamas presence in this neighbourhood, no training grounds, no rocket launching sites. We are all just normal civilians here. I never expected this to happen," the 27 year-old said, absorbing the charred remains of his home.
As he pointed to the gaping hole in the roof under which Hiba and Omar died, his eyes filled with tears.
"They were all together. It was a matter of seconds between them but my wife survived and Omar is dead. It feels so random."
19.00 One of the remarkable things about this conflict is that a new kind of war has broken out between the two foes - a Twitter war. Alex Spillius, our Diplomatic Correspondent explains:
Within minutes of the strike that incinerated the vehicle Ahmed al-Jaabari, the Hamas militant wing leader, was travelling in, the IDF spokesman's office posted video of his car exploding on YouTube, which then quickly began circulating on Twitter.
It posted a red-tinted graphic of killed in an air strike, with the word "Eliminated" emblazoned in capital letters. It urged online users following the account to "retweet" the graphic.
Later in the day, the IDF, via its @IDFSpokesperson Twitter account, issued a transparent threat: "We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead."
The @AlqassamBrigade account of Hamas's military wing account quickly retorted: "@IDFSpokesperson Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves)."
Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been used to galvanise political protest in the Middle East and elsewhere, but this is the first time either has been used for such blatantly belligerent purposes.
The IDF is everywhere online it seems, including Tumblr.
18.50 For those of you just joining us, Agence France Presse has done us a very handy timeline of the events of the last 24 hours. Here's where we are:
- Wednesday
- Ahmed Jaabari, head of the military forces of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is killed in an Israeli missile strike on his car in Gaza City. His bodyguard also dies.
- The attack marks the start of an Israeli offensive that initially kills eight, including Jaabari, and injures around 90 according to Palestinian officials.
- The Israeli military says it is prepared to launch a ground operation if necessary in order to stamp out rocket fire from Gaza into Israeli territory.
- A Hamas spokesman says the offensive is a "declaration of war." A spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which Jaabari headed, says Israel has "opened the gates of hell."
- Egypt, the only Arab state to have full diplomatic relations with Israel, withdraws its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
- Thursday
- New Israeli raids on Gaza kill seven more Palestinians.
- The funeral of Jaabari takes place in the presence of thousands of people, including dozens of Hamas militants.
- Hamas says it will not consider a truce with Israel for now.
- Israel will take "whatever action is necessary" to defend its citizens from Palestinian rocket attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.
- A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip lands in the water just south of Tel Aviv, the farthest that a rocket from Gaza had ever hit inside Israel.
- Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi rejects on what he calls Israel's aggression in Gaza. Iran condemns as "organised terrorism" the Israeli operation.
- The Israeli army says it has carried out a total of 150 strikes on the Gaza Strip. Israel says more than 250 rockets have been fired from Gaza into its territory. Of that number, 48 were stopped by its vaunted Iron Dome anti-missile system.
18.44 Al-Jazeera has published an interactive map of Gaza, showing how different cities in the strip are impacted by Israeli air attacks.
18.17 More from Barak. According to AFP, Barak has greenlit a call-up of 30,000 reservists.
The US is meanwhile asking Egypt to use their influence to help end the Gaza violence. Mark Toner, the deputy State Department spokesman, said Hillary Clinton had spoken with her Egyptian counterpart.
We ask Egypt to use its influence in the region to help de-escalate the situation.
18.09 Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, has warned that the rocket fire at Tel Aviv is an escalation that will exact a price from Gaza militants.
This escalation will exact a price that the other side will have to pay.
17.24 Tel Aviv residents say they have heard an explosion following an air-raid alert, raising fears that a Gaza rocket strike on the commercial capital is increasingly likely.
Israeli authorities are trying to determine where the rocket may have landed. Eli Bean, the head of Israel's rescue service, told AP no injuries have been reported.
Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai says nothing landed on the ground, raising the possibility it fell in the sea.
A strike on Tel Aviv would be the first time Gaza rocket squads have reached the city and that would mark a significant escalation.
16.50 The White House has released a statement blaming Hamas for the explosion of violence in Gaza, mirroring comments made by William Hague earlier today.
Expressing regret for the victims on both sides of the conflict, White House spokesman Jay Carney said there was "no justification" for the violence on the part of Hamas, saying it "does nothing to help the Palestinians."
Carney's statement, given to reporters aboard Air Force One as it carried the president to New York, built on the US account of a telephone conversation the night before between Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Obama called on his counterpart in Israel to "make every effort to avoid civilian casualties," while stressing Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas' attacks, the White House said.
The two leaders agreed that Hamas needed to stop attacks on Israel to "allow the situation to de-escalate," the statement continued, putting the blame for the outbreak of violence squarely in the hands of the Islamist movement.
16.11 Resident's in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi, where three people died in a rocket attack earlier today, say they are fully behind the operation underway in Gaza.
Gaby Peretz, who worked with one of the three people killed in attack, told AFP: " Even if the rocket fire continues, the military operation should continue until there is quiet here."
"The Palestinians must pay a heavy price," he added.
Michael Ben-Ari, an extreme right-wing Israeli lawmaker, said: "Israel must stop using tweezers. Gaza should run red with the blood of terrorists."
16.03 Meanwhile in Tunisia, hundreds have gathered for a demonstration against Israel's attacks on Gaza.
Several hundred protesters gathered on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the centre of Tunis shouting slogans such as "No to reconciliation," and "The people want to criminalise normalised relations with the (Zionist) entity."
Youth supporters of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party Ennahda also called for a demonstration on Friday, "after the odious crimes committed by the Zionist entity, which has violated the land and places that are sacred."
16.01 Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil will visit the Gaza Strip tomorrow, Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu told AFP:
The Egyptian leadership informed us that Prime Minister Hisham Qandil will visit Gaza tomorrow, accompanied by a number of ministers. We welcome this visit and appreciate this courageous stand.
15.39 Alistair Lyon has written an analysis for Reuters on how this latest flare-up in the conflict will affect the situation in the Middle East, arguing that it is unlikely to ignite a wider war or destroy the Jewish state's 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.
Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, had become newly assertive in recent weeks, buoyed by a visit to Gaza by the emir of Qatar and by an apparent belief that Israel would not risk strong military action with Islamists ruling Egypt.
Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who has demanded that Washington rein in Israel's "unacceptable" attacks, faces popular pressure to act tough, but jettisoning the peace treaty would incur grave risks for a nation still in turmoil after last year's revolt against Hosni Mubarak, who upheld it for 30 years.
However, U.S. President Barack Obama, in telephone calls with Mursi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, merely emphasised Israel's right to self-defence and gave no hint that he was considering any new push for peace with the Palestinians.
Cairo receives $1.3 billion a year in U.S. military aid and looks to Washington for help with its ailing economy, constraining Mursi despite his need to show Egyptians that his policies differ from those of his U.S.-backed predecessor.
"Mursi cannot do anything beyond reaching out to the international community because the balance of power in the region is tilted towards Israel," said Nabil Abdel Fattah, at Cairo's Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
"Arab countries also remain too weak militarily and diplomatically for any serious push against such aggression."
Obama has other Middle East headaches for his second term, from the nuclear dispute with Iran to instability in Iraq and a conflict in Syria that has caused sometimes violent tensions on borders with Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Israel.
15.26 A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in a city just nine miles southeast of Tel Aviv, by far the farthest strike by Gaza militants in two days of fighting, according to the Israeli army.
"There was a rocket that hit in an open field in the Rishon LeTzion area. There were no injuries or damage," a spokeswoman said.
A smoke trail is seen as a rocket is launched from the northern Gaza Strip (REUTERS/Nir Elias)
15.19 The Shadow foreign secretary, Labour's Douglas Alexander, has spoken about the crisis:
The priority must be an immediate end to the violence to avoid a spiral downwards to even greater suffering. Escalating tension serves no one's interest.
Citizens in both Israel and Gaza deserve to live in peace and security.
The recent rocket attacks into southern Israel that have led to this latest response deserve our categorical condemnation but Israel must at all times act in accordance with international law.
This latest escalation of violence only emphasises why it is vital that negotiations to achieve a political solution to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict must resume with urgency.
14.54 A few more details are coming in on the Hamas spokesman's comments regarding a truce with Israel.
Sami Abu Zuhri told a press conference:
We will not be exposed to further tricks by the occupation. We consider talk of a truce at this time an attempt to provide more cover for the continuation of the escalation on Gaza
14.40 Breaking on the AFP newswire: Hamas has rejected talk of a truce with Israel at this time, according to a spokesman. More on that when it comes in.
14.20 Speaking earlier today, Israeli Army Spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said that "all the options are on the table, including the possibility of a ground operation" into Gaza:
14.00 Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has given a press conference in Tel Aviv in which he has warned Israel will take "whatever action necessary" to defend its citizens from Palestinian rocket attacks.
He said he has spoken to US President Barack Obama who has offered "unequivocal" support for Israel's right to defend itself from attack.
13.51 The Israeli operation has drawn fresh condemnation from Turkey and Iran, both Muslim countries that both have good relations with Hamas.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul "strongly" condemned Israel and criticized Washington for supporting Israel. Turkey's once close ties with Israel have collapsed over an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship in 2010.
Iran, a major backer of Hamas, called the Israeli operation "organized terrorism." Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast urged the world to cut ties with Israel.
13.43 Khaled Meshaal, the exiled chief of the Hamas movement has given a defiant speech in Sudan, declaring that "Israel will never defeat Gaza". Addressing a conference of Sudanese Islamists, he said:
This enemy is weak and cannot vanquish Gaza
I call on my brothers who have their fingers on the trigger to run the battle wisely and with a brave heart. The war against the enemy will go on even after Jaabari departed us. Women and men are queuing for jihad and martyrdom
13.38 The Telegraph's Chief Foreign Correspondent David Blair writes this analysis of the Israel/Gaza crisis: now the bloodshed will mount:
The clouds of smoke billowing across the white tower blocks of Gaza City and the towns of southern Israel are achingly familiar. Once again, the Arab-Israeli conflict has flared up into another confrontation. Over the next few days it will become clear whether Israel’s operation is a limited strike or one that will escalate into another war, comparable to the 22-day conflict of 2008-09.
In particular, Israel’s leaders will have to decide whether to follow up their air strikes with an incursion by troops on the ground. That is a far riskier proposition. Israel would have to weigh the probability of casualties against the likelihood of achieving its goals. And what objectives could be achieved from the ground and not from the air? If the aim is to destroy caches of weapons and kill Hamas operatives, that could all be done from the air. I could be proven wrong very quickly, but on balance I’d venture to suggest that a ground attack is unlikely.
13.12 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is cutting short his European tour and flying home after talks with Swiss officials as the situation in Gaza deteriorates, according to Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator. He told reporters:
We have a very grave situation in Gaza, we have situation deteriorating on the hour every hour and President Abbas now is in touch with His Excellency President Mursi of Egypt, Dr. Nabil Elaraby of the Arab League, Ban Ki-moon ... and others in Europe and the United States, hoping to begin a process of de-escalation of the conflict.
Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (EPA)
12.31 The Associated Press has filed a new wrap of the day's events so far, as the Israeli military presses forward with a second day of intense air raids and naval attacks on militant targets.
With Israel threatening to invade the Palestinian territory, the heaviest fighting between Israel and Hamas in four years shows no signs of letting up:
Militants fired salvoes of rockets into Israel on Thursday killing three while seven Palestinians died in waves of air strikes, as Israel pressed a vast offensive in Gaza into a second day.
The military said it had carried out more than 150 air strikes since it launched Operation Pillar of Defence on Wednesday with the targeted killing of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari, as militants fired some 250 rockets at southern Israel.
The Israeli assault on the Palestinian territory is its toughest in nearly four years and comes as the Jewish state heads towards general elections.
It has prompted fury from Palestinians and calls for restraint from world leaders.
In Gaza, thousands joined a procession carrying Jaabari's body from Shifa hospital to his home in Shejaiya, east of Gaza City, as militants fired in the area, breathing violent threats of revenge.
Even as the funeral was being held, Israeli raids continued, with the toll from more than 22 hours of strikes rising to 15 dead and 150 injured, medics said.
In the same period, three Israelis were killed and five injured as at least 195 rockets hit southern Israel while another 48 were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, a military spokesman said.
In the latest strike on the northern town of Beit Lahiya, 60-year-old man was killed, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, as medics said a child succumbed to injuries sustained in a morning strike on Khan Yunis.
And in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi, police said two men and a woman had been killed when a rocket landed on a residential building.
Medics said a total of 16 people were injured in rocket strikes on Thursday.
A building targeted by an Israeli air strike explodes inside the Gaza strip (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
12.21 Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal has condemned the killing of military commander Ahmed al-Jaabari and vowed to continue the "resistance" against Israel.
"Men and women in Palestine, we will continue the resistance," Meshaal said at a meeting of Islamic leaders in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, according to Reuters.
Khaled Meshaal, leader of Hamas, meeting with with Ahmed al-Jaabari in Cairo, on 18 October 2011 (EPA/HAMAS MEDIA OFFICE)
11.46 Minutes after William Hague's statement blaming Hamas for the renewed conflict comes this from Russia, condemning Israel's "disproportionate" use of force in air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
Foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters:
Attacks on the south of Israel and the disproportionate strikes on Gaza - especially when civilians are killed on both sides - are completely unacceptable.
We strongly appeal on all the involved parties to immediately end their armed confrontation and to keep the conflict from resulting in still further bloodshed.
We believe that considering the fragile situation in the Middle East and the entire North African region, such large flare-ups of violence are fraught with dangerous consequences, including in other parts of the Arab world.
11.29 The Foreign Office has just released this statement from Foreign Secretary William Hague in which he states that "Hamas bears principal responsibility for the current crisis".
“I am gravely concerned by the situation in Gaza and Southern Israel and deeply regret the loss of civilian life on both sides. I call on all those involved to avoid any action which risks civilian casualties or escalates the crisis.
“Hamas bears principal responsibility for the current crisis. I utterly condemn rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel by Hamas and other armed groups. This creates an intolerable situation for Israeli civilians in southern Israel, who have the right to live without fear of attack from Gaza. The rocket attacks also risk worsening the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which is already precarious.
“Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza should cease attacks against Israel immediately. I call on those in the region with influence over Hamas to use that influence to bring about an end to the attacks.
“I also strongly urge Israel to do their utmost to reduce tension, avoid civilian casualties and increase the prospects for both sides to live in peace. It is imperative to avoid the risk of a spiral of violence. The escalation of the conflict would be in no one's interest, particularly at a time of instability in the region.
“These events underline once again the fragility of the situation and the urgent need for progress toward a two state solution which allows Israelis and Palestinians to live alongside each other in peace and security. Britain will do all it can to support such progress and an urgent resumptions of negotiations.”
11.10 Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has rejected what he calls Israel's "aggression" in Gaza, saying it threatens to destabilise the region, the AFP newswire reports.
In televised remarks, Morsi said:
We are in contact with the people of Gaza and with Palestinians and we stand by them until we stop the aggression and we do not accept under any circumstances the continuation of this aggression on the Strip.
The Israelis must realise that this aggression is unacceptable and would only lead to instability in the region and would negatively and greatly impact the security of the region.
Egypt's Islamist administration, which has close ties with Gaza's ruling Hamas movement, recalled its ambassador in protest at the Israeli operation which killed Ahmed al-Jaabari.
In an earlier telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr "called on the United States to immediately intervene to bring to an end the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza," the ministry said in a statement.
10.45 Despite the ongoing violence and repeated attacks on Gaza over 1,000 people marched in the funeral of Ahmed Jabari today.
In this video interview Phoebe Greenwood, who followed the Jabari funeral procession in Gaza City, says the assassination was "the straw that's broken the camel's back".
10.32 The latest development is that three Israelis have been killed by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip as the conflict enters a second day. My colleague Barney Henderson writes:
"We have three killed," Israeli police spokesman Luba Samri told AFP, saying four other people were also injured in a "direct hit on a house" in the town which lies 18 miles north of the Gaza Strip.
The rocket attack comes amid a vast Israeli operation against Gaza militants which began on Wednesday with Israel's killing of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari in an air strike on a car in Gaza City.
Iran issued a statement on Thursday morning accusing Israel of "organised terrorism".
"Iran considers the criminal act of Israeli military forces in killing civilians as organised terrorism and strongly condemns it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
An Israeli missile is launched from the Iron Dome missile system in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva in response to a rocket launch from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip (EPA/JIM HOLLANDER)
10.25 It emerged overnight that the baby son of a BBC worker was among those killed in Israel's air strike on Gaza.
Jihad Misharawi, who is employed by BBC Arabic, lost his 11-month-old baby Omar. His brother was also seriously injured when his house was struck in the Israeli operation and his sister in law was killed.
Jihad al-Masharawi, a Palestinian employee of BBC Arabic, carries the body of his 11-month-old son Omar (REUTERS/Mohammed Salem )
10.22 The Telegraph's editorial this morning warns that Israel's action in Gaza highlights the region's volatility and why everyone must tread with care when looking for a settlement.
The National Security Council meets today, ostensibly to discuss the civil war in Syria and consider what, if anything, Britain should be doing to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe there, or to facilitate a political settlement. But as if there were not enough already to preoccupy diplomats and military planners, Israel’s renewed offensive on targets inside Gaza serves as a brutal reminder of the region’s volatility.
It is almost four years since the Israeli Defence Force last entered Gaza in response to rocket attacks against its territory by Hamas. The three-week Operation Cast Lead resulted in a terrible loss of life and was one of President Barack Obama’s first major foreign policy headaches. The reason for Israel’s air assault yesterday was the same as in December 2008 – Hamas has launched 100 missiles over the border since last Saturday. But the political dynamics of the region are fundamentally different today.
10.10 Phoebe Greenwood has also filed this dispatch from Gaza City:'Israel has 'opened the gates of hell'
It was shortly before four o’clock when Ghalib al Hatour glanced up from sorting through spare parts at his streetside workshop in Gaza City.
Driving towards him in the distance was a grey, Kia saloon – a new model it appeared. As he bent his head down to continue his task, he was thrown backwards, an ear-splitting blast detonating in the relative confines of the quiet, mostly residential street.
When the thick black smoke cleared, Mr Hatour could pick out the severed front of the Kia blazing furiously only yards away. But only the front. The rest of it was gone, strewn in charred pieces across the road, amid a carpet of glass, blood and blackened metal.
Looking around, he saw pieces of undercarriage and exhaust lying next to him. Blood was splattered on the white walls of one building opposite. Fragments of what appeared to be human flesh reached as far as a fourth floor window, above the height of trees in full leaf.
10.05 Our reporters Phoebe Greenwood, in Gaza, and David Blair, write that Israel's confrontation with Hamas is threatening to escalate into a new war after 20 air strikes rocked the Gaza Strip, killing the radical Islamist group's military chief and nine other Palestinians.
The Israeli army said that “Operation Pillar of Defence” was designed to stop Hamas from launching rocket attacks on its territory and that “if necessary” Israel was willing to “initiate a ground operation” inside Gaza.
The air strike killed Ahmed al-Jaabari, commander of the group’s military wing, and another official as they drove through Gaza City. Last night, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) posted video footage online showing the moment his car was struck as it passed along a crowded street.
Israel also bombed 19 more targets across the territory, triggering the most serious confrontation since the Gaza War of 2008-09, which claimed at least 1,200 lives.
Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence service confirmed it had carried out the attack, saying it had killed Jaabri because of his 'decade-long terrorist activity' (AFP)
10.00 Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of events in Gaza, where the renewed conflict has entered a second day.Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
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