The Israeli ground movement into Gaza to destroy tunnels and strongholds of the terrorist group Hamas moved into another day with an exchange of tank fire that put Gaza City in the dark.
Tank fire struck the fuel depot of the only power plant in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, destroying the fuel supplies and cutting off electricity to 1.8 million residents of Gaza City. The plant provides the Gaza Strip with about 2/3 of its electrical power.
“The power plant is finished,” its director, Mohammed al-Sharif, told the Jerusalem Post.
The plant had previously been hit by mortar fire from Gaza last week leaving the plant at 20 percent capacity. The result was electricity for only a few hours a day to the residents of the city.
Meanwhile, 5 more Israeli soldiers were killed when Hamas terrorists ambushed them from a tunnel.
A 72-hour humanitarian cease fire was also reportedly rejected when Hamas said they would never honor a cease fire with Israeli troops still on the ground in Gaza.
The United Nations Security Council has voted for an “immediate and unconditional” cease-fire in the Gaza Strip after more than 1,000 people were confirmed dead because of the fighting.
The demand for the cease-fire comes on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Fitr that is part of the end of the Ramadan month of fasting.
The demand from the United Nations makes no reference to the fact Israel has respected five cease-fire agreements so far in the conflict and Hamas had rejected or breached each one.
President Barack Obama reportedly spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that the U.S. continues to support their right to defend themselves from Hamas attacks.
“The President underscored the United States’ strong condemnation of Hamas’ rocket and tunnel attacks against Israel and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself. The President also reiterated the United States’ serious and growing concern about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives, as well as the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza,” the readout of the call provided to the press said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire because it gives benefits to a “murderous terrorist organization” and completely ignoring Israeli security.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu called U.N. head Ban Ki-moon to tell him that the deal is not acceptable to Israelis.
“The statement did not deal with the harm done to Israeli civilians, nor to the fact that Hamas turned Gaza civilians into human shields,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu reminded Ban that Hamas violated three different humanitarian cease-fires and that the U.N. has never condemned the terrorists for using U.N. facilities to store their weapons and supplies.
The U.N. representative from Jordan, who represented the Arab League on the Security Council, said that the cease-fire was necessary because of the loss of civilian life in Gaza. He called for “full respect” for international humanitarian law.
Netanyahu pointed out that unless the U.N. demilitarizes the area, takes away Hamas’ weapons and destroys their tunnels, no peace can be achieved.
“They are continuing to fire even now at Israel citizens,” he said. “Israel will continue to deal with the terror tunnels, which is only the first step in demilitarization.”
A suicide bomber killed nine people near the Zein al-Abidin mosque in Damascus as reports continue to filter out to the world that the Syrian cease fire may not be holding firm.
Twenty people were also injured in the blast, the first of two that hit Damascus on Friday. The second blast happened in an industrial area with no reports of casualties. Continue reading →