By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip–Fresh strokes in the ongoing conflict between the Israel and Palestine has caught the attention and concern of the international community. With the current volatile situations in other countries of the region taking center stage, such as Libya and Syria, the timeless conflict has pushed its way back to the headlines after drifting somewhat into the background.
A third Israeli raid crushed a military training camp in the Gaza Strip after rockets fired from Gaza fell in southern Israeli on the fourth day of a continued cross-border conflict that has claimed the lives of 30 individuals.
Al-Jazeera’s Safwat Kahlout reported that at least nine Palestinians, including a brutally injured 13-year-old boy, were wounded on Sunday from Israeli drones and F-16 fighter jet attacks. The Israeli attacked targeted a Hamas police station and a military training camp belonging to the al-Ahrar movement.
On 20 August 2011, Hamas announced that it was formally ending its two-year truce with Israel. This was the first time in months that Hamas had openly declared its involvement in rocket attacks against Israel, since observing the de facto truce since the end of a three-week offensive in January 2009.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Cal Perry shared these sentiments concerning Hamas involvement.
“Hamas has called off the ceasefire that was in place with Israel, largely due to the violence and the continued strikes that we see from Israeli aircraft, killing at least 15 Palestinians. They do blame Hamas whenever anything originated from Gaza, be it a rocket attack from the south-we have seen 70 of those since Thursday-or an attack like we saw from southern Israel.”
Israeli army officials reported that at least 12 rockets fired from Gaza fell in southern Israel and hit an empty school, not creating any serious injuries. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting on Saturday night to discuss the violence after an Israeli man was killed that evening by a rocket strike in the southern city of Beersheba. According to the AFP news agency, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) has claimed responsibility for the Beersheba attack. PRC is a faction in Gaza that is traditionally loyal to Hamas.
Israeli aerial attacks on Gaza have claimed the lives of at least 15 people, including gunmen and five civilians, three of them children. Israeli officials blamed the attack on Palestinian fighters who had entered southern Israel from Gaza through Egypt.
The Arab League implored the international community to “pressure the Israeli occupation authorities to put an immediate end to this assault,” after holding emergency talks in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday.
“The Arab League calls on the UNSC to assume its responsibilities and take quick steps to halt this brutal assault.”
As recently as 23 August, Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip fired rockets into southern Israel overnight, according to Israeli police. Hamas officials said that Palestinian factions and Israel had agreed to observe a ceasefire after three days of border skirmishes. Ghazi Hamad, Hamas’ deputy foreign minister, has confirmed the reported ceasefire to Al-Jazeera, detailing that both sides reached an informal ceasefire through Egyptian and UN mediation.
“We have temporarily stopped firing rockets at Israel according to the national consensus.”
For more information, please see:
BBC-Israel and Hamas agree Gaza truce, reports say-23 August 2011
Al-Jazeera-Hamas says Gaza ceasefire agreed-22 August 2011
Ahram-Gaza militants agree to halt fire on Israel-22 August 2011
NYT-Efforts Seek to Restore Calm Between Israel and Hamas-21 August 2011
CNN-Rockets kill 1 in Israel; Hamas military wing ends truce-20 August 2011
