Israeli airforce bombs government buildings, media overnight; Israel refuses truce terms 22Nov12 November 22, 2012
IMEMC - 21 November 2012
The Israeli military has reported dropping over 100 bombs on Gaza overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday, including government buildings and media offices. The Abu Khadra government building in Gaza City was hit repeatedly, and the headquarters of Agence France Presse in Gaza City was also bombed.
The Al Jazeera office in Gaza City was damaged, and Press TV reports that its correspondent Akram al-Sattari was injured. One airstrike on Wednesday morning hit a group of civilians next to Shafi mosque.
The number of casualties from the late night bombings is still unknown, although the two victims of one of the 100 airstrikes Tuesday night were identified as Ahmad Hamad and Mahmoud Al-Arja , whose bodies were blown apart by an airstrike on their vehicle at around 11:45 pm in Al-Shouka area western Rafah. Journalist Samah Saleh reported that Ibrahim Hamad, 15, and 16-year-old Mahmoud al-Arja bled to death and the medics from the Red Crescent couldn't reach them for four hours.
Five Israeli soldiers were reportedly wounded by a Palestinian homemade shell overnight.
Palestinian police headquarters were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, along with several nearby buildings, the al-Karama security compound near Rafah was severely damaged, and the Interior Ministry building was destroyed. In addition, a major bridge linking Gaza City with the southern Gaza Strip was destroyed by an airstrike.
Sixteen separate airstrikes targeted tunnels near Rafah, which serve as a lifeline for bringing in goods banned by Israel – including fuel, electric and building supplies.
Also overnight in Gaza, six alleged collaborators with Israel were shot by unknown gunmen. At least one was accused of marking buildings as targets for Israeli airstrikes. The killings were condemned by Hamas deputy chief Mousa Abu Marzouk, who vowed that such killings must never happen again.
The international hacker collective 'Anonymous' continued its cyber attacks on Israeli websites throughout the night, as well. Over the last week at least one hundred Israeli government, military and business websites have been targeted. At around 3 am Wednesday morning, hackers hijacked the Twitter account of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, tweeting "END THE OCCUPATION. FREE PALESTINE" and "PALESTINE WE LOVE YOU".
In political developments, Egyptian government officials attempting to negotiate a truce between Israel and Hamas have thus far been unsuccessful. Hamas officials had announced on Tuesday that they were willing to agree to the terms of a ceasefire, but Israeli officials refused the terms.
Over the last week of the Israeli assault on Gaza, 143 Palestinians have been killed, and over 950 wounded. Of the 143 people killed in the last week by the Israeli military, only six have been identified as being resistance fighters. One quarter of those killed have been children, including at least three families (parents and children) wiped out.
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