An Israeli tank drives along the Israel-Gaza Border following clashes between the army and Palestinian gunmen, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008. Israeli troops and Palestinian militants fought with missiles and mortars along the Gaza-Israel border on Wednesday, raising new concerns that an increasingly shaky five-month-old truce might collapse. Four Hamas militants were killed in the exchange. (Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)
Hamas unleashes powerful rockets at major southern city deep inside Israel
By BEN HUBBARD Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip November 14, 2008 (AP)
Hamas militants bombarded a major southern Israeli city with rocket fire Friday, unleashing their most powerful weapons yet in a week of tit-for-tat fighting that threatens to destroy a five-month-old cease-fire.
Both Israel and Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers held out hope the calm would be restored, and Israeli leaders decided against any immediate major military action in retaliation. But the sides also vowed to strike hard at each other if violence persisted.
"If you want to leave the truce, we are ready. And if you want to continue it, then abide by it," Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar said in a Friday sermon....
UN runs out of Gaza food (video - click here)
UN relief chief says the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip is 'desperate' as an Israeli blockade forces the world body to suspend food to 750,000 Palestinians.Israel has sealed off the Hamas-run enclave since November 5th following a flare-up of cross-border violence, which threatens to end a five month ceasefire. Israel says it will only reopen the border crossing into Gaza when Palestinian militants stop firing rockets at southern Israel. But on the 11th day of exchanges, Hamas Islamists fired their longest-range rockets at a southern Israeli city in reprisal for an Israeli air force attack on their Gaza stronghold. There were no Israeli casualties but the fresh exchanges were another sign of the deteriorating situation in Gaza.
MIDEAST: ISRAELI HELICOPTERS ATTACK GAZA, PEOPLE WOUNDED (click here)
(AGI) - Gaza, Nov 14 - At least two Palestinian extremist militiamen were wounded in a new air attack by Israel on the Gaza Strip at dawn Friday. Air-to-ground missiles launched by gunships hit two members of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed branch of Hamas, the radical group in controll of the Stip. The raid, reported by eyewitnesses and confirmed by local hospital sources, was in reprisal for a new rocket and mortar attack yesterday against south Israel. In return all border points into the Strip were closed down and haven't yet been reopened. As a result some 30 trucks carrying UN humanitarian aid for Palestianian civilians, suffering from the embargo in force since november 5, were stopped. Israli border authorities also interrupted the flow of fuel supply organized for Gaza by the European Union. As a result, the single power station in the Strip was forced to close down by the lack of fuel.
