By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East
GAZA CITY, Gaza – On the morning of December 27, Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched a series of massive air raids on Hamas targets in Gaza. IAF air raids targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in Gaza and included targets from Gaza City to Khan Yunis. According to analysts, this is the largest and most intensive air attack since the Second Intifada began in 2000.
For the first time, Israel attacked not just militants ordering or taking part in operations but members of the security forces and any buildings connected with them. Every known police station, arms store and headquarters building in Gaza was attacked, regardless of whether they were occupied.
Israeli sources said that 50 targets were struck by 60 jet fighters in the first raid, beginning at around 11.40am. A second wave then attacked militants attempting to retaliate by launching rockets at Israel.
At least 200 people are believed to be killed; the BBC reports that 225 were killed. In addition, the raid resulted in an estimated 400 injuries. Retaliatory fire from Gaza killed one civilian in southern Israel.
The raids followed a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Security Cabinet to widen reprisals for cross-border rocket attacks on Israel. The rocket attacks began again, after the six month cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas ended last week. On December 25, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, issued a warning. She stated that Israel “cannot tolerate” continuing attacks. This warning came after about 50 rockets or mortars were fired from Gaza.
While Israel had been warning for days of action against Gaza’s militants, the scale and intensity of the attack, code-named Operation Cast Lead, was unexpected. Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, warned that air attacks would continue until the threat of militants firing rockets into Israel had been dealt with once and for all: “The operation will go on and be intensified as long as necessary… The battle will be long and difficult, but the time has come to act and to fight.”
The intensity of the operation and the number of casualties resulted in Palestinian, Arab, and international condemnation of Israel’s actions. Knesset Member Jamal Zahalka, an Arab-Israeli, labeled the raid as a war crime and called for indictment of Barak, Israel’s Defense Minister, on war crimes in Gaza. Zahalka also called for a general strike by Israel’s Arab community in protest of the operation.
Arab-Israelis across Israel rallied against the raids. Protests also occurred in several West Bank cities and throughout the Arab world. Egypt condemned the Israeli raids and opened its border with Gaza to allow casualties to be treated inside its hospitals.
In Lebanon, Hizbullah called for speedy international and UN action against Israel. “What is going on in Gaza Strip is an Israeli war crime and represents genocide,” said a Hizbullah statement. International and UN action is necessary “because silence is tantamount to complicity in this aggression.”
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said he was “deeply alarmed” by Israel’s air attack and appealed “for an immediate halt to all violence.” Additionally, Javier Solana, the European Union Foreign Policy Chief, called for an immediate ceasefire and urged “everybody to exert maximum restraint.” White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, blamed the recent violence on Hamas, yet urged Israel to “avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”
Despite the large number of casualties, Hamas leaders remain defiant. Exiled political leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, called for a new uprising against Israel; “I call upon you (Palestinians) to carry out a third intifada.” He added, “Resistance will continue through suicide missions.”
Meanwhile, Hamas leaders and former Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh declared that Gaza would never cave to Israeli pressure, no matter how great. “We will not leave our land, we will not raise white flags and we kneel only before Allah,” he said.
For more information, please see:
AFP – Thousands Protest in Rabat Against Israeli Strikes on Gaza – 27 December 2008
Al Bawaba – Hamas Calls for New Intifada Against Israel as Gaza Death Toll Climbs to 225 – 27 December 2008
Al Jazeera – Hamas Press Conference After Israeli Gaza Strikes – 27 December 2008
BBC – Massive Israeli Air Raids on Gaza – 27 December 2008
BBC – Israel Defends Gaza Strikes – 27 December 2008
CNN – Israel Vows to Keep Up Gaza Attacks – 27 December 2008
The Economist – Hamas Rocket Attacks on Israel are Met with a Huge Air Strike on Targets in the Gaza Strip – 27 December 2008
The Guardian – Ian Black on Israel’s Hammer Blow in Gaza – 27 December 2008
The Telegraph – Israel’s Heaviest-Ever Air Strikes on Gaza Strip Kills Hundreds – 27 December 2008 l
The Wall Street Journal – Israel Strikes on Gaza Kill Scores – 27 December 2008
Yedioth – “Israeli Ministers War Criminals” – 27 December 2008
Yedioth – Mashaal: Launch Third Intifada – 27 December 2008
Yedioth – Olmert: Patience Needed on Gaza Op – 27 December 2008
