Day 3 – 1 year ago

Taken from Daily Alert of December 30, 2008.

Reports of “targeted killings” by Hamas start to emerge.

On Monday, Dr. Ashour was not the only official in charge. Armed Hamas militants in civilian clothes roamed the halls. Asked their function, they said it was to provide security. But there was internal bloodletting under way.

In the fourth-floor orthopedic section, a woman in her late 20s asked a militant to let her see Saleh Hajoj, her 32-year-old husband. She was turned away and left the hospital. Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Hajoj was carried out by young men pretending to transfer him to another ward. As he lay on the stretcher, he was shot in the left side of the head.

Mr. Hajoj, like five others killed at the hospital this way in 24 hours, was accused of collaboration with Israel. He had been in the central prison awaiting trial by Hamas judges; when Israel destroyed the prison on Sunday he and the others were transferred to the hospital. But their trials were short-circuited.

Note also, that the report observes that members of Hamas were patrolling the hospital in civilian clothes. Members of Hamas were thus violating the neutrality of hospitals and were not wearing distinctive clothing. Reuters reported two more killings.

Despite increased rocket fire into Israel

Southern Israel under fire: Three days after Operation Cast Lead was launched, Hamas has stepped up its attacks on Israel Monday evening. Heavy mortar shell and rocket barrages rained on Ashdod, Ashkelon, Netivot and the western Negev, leaving two people dead and at least nine wounded, with two of them sustaining serious to critical injuries.

Irit Sheetrit, 39, was killed after rockets fired from Gaza exploded in the coastal town of Ashdod north of Ashkelon. Although she managed to get out of her car and take cover on the ground, she was wounded critically and later succumbed to her injuries. Her sister, Ayelet Morduch, was also in the vechile and sustained light wounds.

Israel continued to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the Gaza crossings remain closed on Tuesday. Despite the order, Israel will allow some 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to cross into the Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The trucks, carrying basic food and medical supplies donated by the Turkish and Jordanian governments and various international organizations, are due to enter the Hamas-controlled territory through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Five ambulances donated by Turkey to the Palestinian emergency services will also be allowed to pass.

Though the media played up the reaction of the Arab street, it appeared that much of the rest of the world was supportive of israel at this point.

The EU has called for a cease-fire to end the violence that has killed almost 350 Palestinians. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said Israel had the right to defend itself.

“Let us realise one thing: Hamas increased steeply the number of rockets fired at Israel since the cease-fire ended on December 19. That is not acceptable any more,” Schwarzenberg told daily Mlada Fronta Dnes in an interview.

France, which will hand over the EU’s rotating presidency to Prague, has condemned Israel’s strikes and the rocket attacks from Hamas militants and called for both to stop immediately.

And more significantly:

In his visit to Egypt, PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) placed the responsibility for the Israeli attack on Hamas, saying, “We called the leaders of Hamas, and told them both directly and indirectly, through Arab parties and non-Arab parties. We talked with them on the phone. We told them, ‘Please, do not end the tahdiah.'”[i]

Nimr Hammad, an advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, said: “The one responsible for the massacres is Hamas, and not the Zionist entity, which in its own view reacted to the firing of Palestinian missiles. Hamas needs to stop treating the blood of Palestinians lightly. They should not give the Israelis a pretext.” He called upon the leaders of Hamas to stop carrying out “operations which reflect recklessness, such as the firing of missiles.”[ii]

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.