Global News Post: Gaza

Gaza, Israel Calm as Cease-Fire Holds

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Palestinians and Israelis went about their
day blanketed in relative calm Thursday, after a cease-fire brokered hours
before gave citizens in the volatile area their first quiet night in more than
a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">If Israel and the Hamas militants who run
the Gaza Strip can maintain peace until 9:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), border
areas from Gaza will be opened, allowing people and goods to move in and out of
the territory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The truce brokered by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> took
effect at 9:00 p.m. local time Wednesday. 
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr made the truce announcement
in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city> with
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Gazans poured into the streets after the
cease-fire began, with some firing guns in celebration. In the West Bank
Palestinian territory, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
army said Thursday it arrested 55 suspected senior-level Palestinian militants
that were members of various armed factions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Egypt</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> is monitoring both sides for violations
of the cease-fire agreement. The truce follows several days of intense aerial
assaults on both sides of the border between <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the Gaza Strip, leaving
more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The deal was reached amid hours of intense
diplomacy involving <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>,
as well as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Clinton</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> called the truce "a critical moment
for the region.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The people of this region deserve a
chance to live free from fear and violence and today's agreement is a step in
the right direction that we should build on," said <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:city w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Clinton</span></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> also praised <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region>'s
new government for assuming a key role in the effort and for pledging to work
with <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
to ensure the cease-fire holds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On Wednesday, a bomb blast on a bus in
central Tel Aviv wounded at least 27 people, some seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">New rounds of missile and air attacks
rained down on <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
following the Tel Aviv attack. Palestinians medics Wednesday said at least 10
people were killed, including a young boy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> and Hamas had traded rocket fire since an
Israeli missile killed Hamas's military chief in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gaza</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>
last week. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> says the
attack was a direct response to months of almost daily rocket fire into
southern <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city></st1:place>. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaza, Israel Calm as Cease-Fire Holds

Palestinians and Israelis went about their day blanketed in relative calm Thursday, after a cease-fire brokered hours before gave cit...

Gaza Ceasefire Efforts Step Up as Death Toll Mounts

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeN9TclWS5Xqbvlzho1rJzFF2och7I1STWekL1U-qeC6rOmavTqQFX-X7MYw8d2Db9O6CTI6IKyi4O3R8v4xUvoDyaXNsC6DmJbLjlyU1tx4LnImCqq1Uoyo62yl8KLlU2j-xU_sjPnTM/s1600/2012112015281444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeN9TclWS5Xqbvlzho1rJzFF2och7I1STWekL1U-qeC6rOmavTqQFX-X7MYw8d2Db9O6CTI6IKyi4O3R8v4xUvoDyaXNsC6DmJbLjlyU1tx4LnImCqq1Uoyo62yl8KLlU2j-xU_sjPnTM/s1600/2012112015281444.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">NNN---</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">Osama Abdel Aal is rescued after his family’s house collapsed during an Israeli strike in the Tufah neighborhood of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gaza</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> on 19 November 2012. Photo courtesy Bernat Armangue---NNN</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW/GAZA   (RIA Novosti) – Israel carried out some 100
airstrikes on Gaza overnight as the bombardment of the Palestinian enclave
entered its seventh day amid frantic negotiations to stem a rapidly rising body
count.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Gaza’s
health ministry said on Tuesday at least 111 people, many of them children, had
been killed in the densely-populated city of 1.7 million since Israel began its
airborne assault on Wednesday in response to a surge in rocket attacks from the
enclave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
Israeli military said 29 rockets had been fired from <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>,
ruled by the Hamas Islamist group, towards <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> since early Tuesday. Most
were intercepted, but three landed in the town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beersheva</st1:place></st1:city>. A rocket - the second of the
current conflict - also landed near <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>,
Israeli media said. No injuries were reported in either attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Three
Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> since the start of the military
campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"My
message is clear - all sides must halt fire immediately,” UN Secretary Ban
Ki-moon said in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>
during talks with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby ahead of a meeting with
Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mursi
- a member of the Muslim Brotherhood movement that gave rise to Hamas - hinted
late on Tuesday afternoon that a truce was imminent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The
farce of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip will end on Tuesday,"
he said. "The efforts to conclude a truce between the Palestinian and
Israeli sides will produce positive results in the next few hours."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ban
is also due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Tuesday,
before traveling to the West Bank city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ramallah</st1:place></st1:city>
to speak to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">US</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> officials said on Tuesday that Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton was heading for the region to press for a truce and would
visit <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> and the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israeli
and Palestinian officials were also reported to be negotiating via an Egyptian
mediator in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cairo</st1:city></st1:place>
on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
developments came as an Israeli government source told RIA Novosti on Tuesday
that Israel would put off an invasion of Gaza for another 24 hours to give
“diplomatic efforts a chance.” He also admitted that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
was coming under intense “international pressure” to halt its bombing of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> is demanding a complete cessation of rocket
fire from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
before it halts its attacks on “terrorist” targets in the densely-populated
city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tel
Aviv has called up 75,000 reservists and a ground force is massed near the
border with <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>,
awaiting orders to enter the enclave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ban
warned that any Israeli ground invasion of <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>
would be a “dangerous escalation,” but said <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> had “legitimate concerns that
must be respected in international law.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">’s last invasion of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, in 2008-2009, killed 1,400
Palestinians, the majority of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis died in the
22-day military operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A
Haaretz-Dialog poll taken on Sunday indicated that 84% of the Israeli public
supports the present military campaign, with 12% opposing it. But only 30% of
the Israeli public would support a ground offensive in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, the pollster reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">US
President Barack Obama reiterated on Sunday <st1:state w:st="on">Washington</st1:state>’s
insistence that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has the right to self-defense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"There's
no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens
from outside its borders... we are fully supportive of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s right
to defend itself," said Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
ordinary people in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
were scornful of Obama’s comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Since
when does the occupier have the right to defend itself from the occupied?” said
north <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
resident Sameh Alborai. “Many people here believe <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> is being attacked because of the Israeli
elections that are coming up. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
has an internal conflict and, like always in these situations, they are
targeting <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> votes in parliamentary elections in
January.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan alleged on that Friday Israel’s attack on <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> was a pre-election
ploy aimed at drumming up support for Netanyahu’s Likud Party. On Monday,
Erdogan labeled <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
a "terrorist state."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Netanyahu
dismissed the accusations: “We are defending ourselves,” he said last week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A
spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged
Israel on Tuesday to "scrupulously meet its legal obligations to
distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The
high commissioner reiterates her condemnation of the continuing indiscriminate
attacks and targeting of civilians in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
by militants in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city></st1:place>,"
the spokesman, Rupert Colville, also said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaza Ceasefire Efforts Step Up as Death Toll Mounts

NNN--- Osama Abdel Aal is rescued after his family’s house collapsed during an Israeli strike in the Tufah neighborhood of Gaza C...