UNRWA is reporting that for the first time in 50 years (dating back roughly to when Israel liberated Gaza in 1967), infant mortality in the Gaza Strip is increasing. It goes without saying that UNRWA blames the Israeli 'blockade' of Gaza.
"The number of babies dying before the age of one has consistently
gone down over the last decades in Gaza, from 127 per 1,000 live births
in 1960 to 20.2 in 2008," the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
said in a statement over the weekend.
However, "at the last count, in 2013, it had risen to 22.4 per 1,000
live births," UNRWA said. The statement was reported by the Lebanon
Daily Star.
The agency added that neonatal mortality in Gaza – the number of
babies who die before the age of four weeks – rose from 12 per 1,000
live births in 2008 to 20.3 in 2013.
In light of the new data, UNRWA intends conducting a new
Gaza-specific survey this year. Normally, infant mortality across the
region is surveyed every five years.
Akihiro Seita, director of UNRWA's health program, said the sudden upswing was unprecedented in the Middle East.
"When the 2013 results from Gaza were first uncovered, UNRWA was
alarmed by the apparent increase. So we worked with external independent
research groups to examine the data, to ensure the increase could be
confirmed," he said.
"That is why it took us so long to release these latest figures."
While the exact causes of the increased rate of infant mortality are
"hard to know," Seiko did not discount Israel's blockade of the Gaza
Strip, where close to 45 percent of the population is under 14 years
old.
"We are very concerned about the impact of the long-term blockade; on
health facilities, supplies of medicines and bringing equipment in to
Gaza," he said in the statement.
There's one way for the infant mortality rate in Gaza to immediately drop back to where it was: If Israel were to reoccupy the Strip. That would help even more quickly if the Hamas, Jihad, al-Qaeda etc. leadership were expelled at the same time.
Captured terrorist: 'Everyone knows Hamas leadership under Haniyeh hiding in Shifa Hospital'
The Shin Bet (General Security Service) has published interviews that it has done with Hamas terrorists who were captured during Operation Protective Edge. It has also taken the unusual step of publishing their names.
The ISA said that interrogation of captives taken in Operation
Protective Edge gave a “somewhat disturbing” picture of Hamas's use of
civilians and public buildings to carry out military activity, “out of
an assumption that Israel will avoid hitting them.”
In an unusual step, the ISA quoted captives and provided their names.
Abd el-Rahman Baalusha from Khan Yunis said that the mosques Al-Safa
and Al-Abra in Gaza City serve as staging and gathering points for
terrorists.
Two captives from Bayt Lahya, Afif Jarah and Amad Jarah, said that an
attack tunnel from a Bedouin village was dug from a point adjacent to a
kindergarten. In case of a successful operation to abduct an Israeli,
the abductee was to be broguht to the kindergarten and taken elsewhere
from there.
Muhammad Kadra of Khan Yunis told interrogators that “everybody
knows” that the Hamas leadership in Gaza under Ismail Haniyeh is hiding
out inside Shifa Hospital, apparently in an area that is out of bounds
to ordinary civilians.
If Netanyahu wants to raise his rating from 38% back to 82%, going after that area of Shifa Hospital would go a long way.
IDF knew where Deif was for 3 days, held off due to cease fire; Hamas spox son-in-law killed by IDF
The IDF knew where Mohammed Deif was hiding for three days last week, but did not kill him because a 'cease fire' was in effect. Today, with the 'cease fire' (and maybe Deif) long gone, the IDF killed the 27-year old son-in-law of Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
The IDF continues to show that Hamas's terrorist leaders are not
immune in the war they started on Israel, as the son-in-law of Hamas
spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum was killed on Monday.
Abdullah Mortaja, the son-in-law of the Hamas leader, was killed in a strike by the IDF. Yedioth Aharonoth reported on his connection to Barhoum.
The 27-year-old was a freelance journalist, who himself previously
worked in the propaganda machine of the terrorist organization Hamas's
Al-Aqsa TV station, according to AFP.
The news source added that Hamas medical officials claimed Mortaja
was hit by tank fire in the Sheijaya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.
...
Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif was targeted in a strike last
Tuesday night, in which his wife and two of his children died. There are
conflicting reports, with Hamas claiming he survived, but not saying
anything about his condition.
According to recent reports Sunday, Israel knew the location of the
arch-terrorist Deif as many as three days ahead of the strike, but chose not to act on the rare opportunity to take him out due to the ceasefire.
So when are we taking out the bunker at Shifa already?
Wow! SIX MORE Hamas commanders were supposed to be in bunker busted meeting
Six more senior Hamas commanders were supposed to be at a meeting that Israel broke up with three bunker busters on Thursday morning, killing Mohammed Abu Shamalah, Raed al-Atar and Mohammed Barhum. Hamas is so scared of what has happened that they have charged an additional 150 people as 'collaborators.'
Hamas's "military wing", the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, issued a
statement on Sunday saying that the men had been arrested over "security
leaks", a source told the Arabic-language outlet. The source claimed
Hamas was "in a state of confusion" following the elimination of three top al-Qassam Brigades commanders, Mohammed
Abu Shamalah, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhum on Thursday, as well as
an attempted assassination of the Brigades's top leader, Mohammed Deif.
Hamas claims Deif survived the attack, which killed his wife and two
of his children, but has not issued any word on his condition.
Compounding the group's fears is the fact that the Israeli Air Force
strike killed Abu Shamala, Attar and Barhum as they met in a top-secret
bunker some 30 meters underground. Six other commanders were reportedly
due to join them, but the decision appears to have been taken to
eliminate them as soon as they were together, to avoid the possibility
of any of them getting away.
And the assassinations of top Hamas leaders has continued since, with the group's top financial chief and "Justice Minister", Mohammed al-Ghoul, taken out by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday.
The bunker was located under the home of the "Kilab" family, and the
IAF targeted the house and the tunnel beneath it with bunker-buster
bombs weighing up to three tons, both ensuring the elimination of the
terrorists and avoiding unnecessary damage to surrounding homes as much
as possible.
Their liquidation essentially wiped out Hamas's entire southern military command in Gaza.
Why aren't we doing the same with Shifa Hospital, where the most senior Hamas commanders are hiding out?
Report: IAF destroys 7-story building in Rafah in 'change of tactics' (wth attack video and pictures)
For the second time in less than 24 hours, the IDF destroyed a large building that housed Hamas command and control centers in Gaza. This time, it happened in Rafah.
For the second time in two days, Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on
Sunday reduced a tall building to rubble, signaling a change of tactics
under which any structure used by Hamas can be put on Israel’s target
list.
Sunday’s early-morning strikes hit a seven-story office building in
the southern town of Rafah, leveling it and badly damaging an adjacent
shopping mall. A day earlier, a 12-story apartment tower in Gaza City
was destroyed, showering the area with smashed masonry.
Let's go to the videotape.
And here's another picture of how it looked this morning.
'Shopping mall'? They have 'shopping malls' in the 'impoverished' Gaza Strip? Oh yes, they do....
Oh and by the way, when will this 'change of tactics' mean that we go after the Hamas leadership hiding underneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City? They have to be worried about that....
There's a 72-hour cease fire in Gaza from 8:00 am this morning, which of course was preceded by a volley of rocket fire. Israel completed the withdrawal of its troops to staging areas just outside Gaza just before 8:00 am, where they can be sitting ducks for mortar attacks (that last clause was my gloss). Israel emphasized that the cease fire was completely unconditional and that it followed its completion of the destruction of the tunnels.
All of that allowed some Hamas officials to emerge from their caves and some stories about Hamas officials to come out from under cover. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri went to Hamas headquarters at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital (a war crime putting its headquarters there - but hey, they're fighting Israel), where he was attacked by Gazan civilians who have no place to go.
The residents blamed Hamas for the death of family members and for
destruction of their homes. Armed Hamas terrorists from the Izzedine
al-Kassam Brigades extricated Abu Zuri and arrested the angry residents.
Arabic website vetogate.com said that reporters in Gaza are well
aware of the incident but are afraid to report it, because Hamas's
security agency could go after them if they do.
A week ago, Palestinian sources reported that over 30 Palestinians
were executed by Hamas, most of them in the Shejaiya neighborhood. Hamas
claimed that they were collaborators with Israel.
Channel 10 said that Hamas executed 20 residents of Shejaiya who had dared demonstrate against Hamas.
Rockets were fired at Israel from next to Shifa Hospital during the fighting in Gaza, and Hamas's leadership hid under it.
I guess the Hamas leadership will be consulting with Hassan Nasrallah about how to live underground. Heh.
Israeli air force reportedly drops new leaflets over #Gaza: "Hamas commanders hiding in underground bunkers are not safe"
— Daniel Nisman (@DannyNis) August 3, 2014
Mohammed Deif: 'Our soldiers run toward martyrdom like yours flee from death'
Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif broadcast a message to Israel on Tuesday night on Hamas' al-Aqsa television network. In addition to the message in the title, he said that there would be no cease fire until the 'siege' of Gaza is lifted, and there would be 'no compromise.'
Let's go to the videotape.
Apparently, those 'brave warriors' who are 'running toward martyrdom' do not include the Hamas leadership, which continues to hide in the basement of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.
Reports by journos and human rights groups that Al Shifa hospital in #Gaza has been shelled.
— Dalia Hatuqa (@DaliaHatuqa) July 28, 2014
For those who have forgotten, Shifa Hospital is the main hospital in Gaza City. Hamas' leadership is hiding in its basement.
Hmmm.
Israel Radio reports that the building supposedly under attack is the outpatient clinic.
Clear that IDF is reacting to Hamas' shooting all day long.
More to follow.
UPDATE 5:30 PM
Israel Radio reports that the IDF has also attacked the Shati 'refugee camp' in Gaza City and that ten people are dead.
There is a story going around that a senior commander of the Izz a-Din al-Qassam brigades - Hamas' 'military wing' - has been killed. I cannot confirm that.
5:24 P.M. Palestinians report four were killed in an
IDF attack on a civilian vehicle near the Shati Camp, west of Gaza City.
In addition, three were reported killed and several wounded by a drone
strike in the Shifa Hospital's external clinics in Gaza. According to
eyewitnesses, an unmanned aircraft fired a rocket at the clinic. The
Palestinians noted that the hospital compound is used as a shelter by
thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes due to the fighting.
(Jack Khoury)
That 'civilian vehicle' may have been carrying the Hamas commander. Waiting for a car swarm....
UPDATE 5:51 PM
Israel Radio reporting IDF did attack Shati neighborhood in Gaza City. Hamas says ten killed and many wounded. Hamas claims most of dead are children.
There was a report of a building in Shifa Hospital being hit. The IDF denies that it attacked that building.
The significant attack was in Shati - 10 dead and 40 wounded. IDF also shooting east of Gaza City and east of Khan Yunis.
For Israel, the 'cease fire' today was premature. Hamas never accepted the cease fire and continued to shoot all day long. It was clear that this would not work.
Palestinian media reported that 10 people were killed and several injured, including children, in an explosion near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday afternoon.
The IDF confirmed that the hospital had been struck by a failed Gazan rocket, not by an IAF drone strike, as Hamas had claimed.
Thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge at Shifa Hospital, according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an.
The IDF did not comment on reports of an Israeli air strike that hit a public garden in the Beach refugee camp that, according to Palestinian medics, killed five of the 10 people.
Oh my... Al-Qassam Brigades office next to Shifa hospital emergency room
Elder catches a whopper. The headquarters of Hamas' Izz-e-Dine-al-Qassam Brigades (their 'armed wing') is one room over from the emergency room in Gaza City's Shifa hospital.
After four blocked attempts to leave Gaza without explanation over
weeks, the Palestinian journalist was summoned by the security services
of Hamas on Sunday. "I received a call from a private number. They
summoned me to Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza City center, " explains
Radjaa. He carried with him his two phones, his press card and a small
camera.
A few meters from the emergency room where the injured from bombings are constantly flowing, in the outpatient department, he was received in "a small section of the hospital used as administration" by a band of young fighters.
They were all well dressed, which surprised Radjaa, "in civilian
clothing with a gun under one's shirt and some had walkie-talkies " . He
was ordered to empty his pockets, removing his shoes and his belt then
was taken to a hospital room "which served that day as the command
office of three people."
A man begins his interrogation: "Who are you? Who do you call? What are
you doing?" "I was very surprised by the procedure," admits Radjaa,
who showed him his press card in response. Questions came. They asked if
he speaks Hebrew, he has relations with Ramallah. Young Hamas
supporters insistently ask the question: "Are you a correspondent for
Israel?" Radjaa repeated that only works for French media and a chain
of Algerian radio.
It was then that the three men delivered this message: "This is yours to
choose. We are an executive administration. We will carry the message of
Qassams. You have to stay at home and give us your papers. " Stunned
to be covered by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of
Hamas, Radjaa tried to defend himself and especially to understand why
such a decision was taken against him. In vain. "It is impossible to
communicate with these people," laments the journalist.
Hamas continues to launch rockets from Shifa Hospital
Watched two rockets fired toward Israel from near al-Shifa hospital, even as more bombing victims were brought in. Not over yet. #Gaza
— John Reed (@JohninJerusalem) July 23, 2014
The only chance there is to clean out Hamas is to clean out Shifa. One goes with the other.
Well, here we go. The IDF has just asked the 'Palestinians' to evacuate Shifa Hospital, which is being used as a military command and control center, and where the Hamas leadership is hiding in a bunker (link in Hebrew).
I'm embedding a live broadcast from Israel's Channel 2 below, and then I will go back and update with a summary in English on the post linked above.
The article is about the fighting at the neighboring al-Wafa Hospital (see previous post which went up two minutes before this one). The report says that over the past few days, the patients were removed from the hospital, and that it had become completely a military installation.
According to the article, the takeover of Shejaiya is nearly complete. More than 120 military targets embedded among the civilian population have been destroyed.
The last part of the story is about John Kerry's arrival (covered in a post that's queued for a little while from now).
I invite you to continue watching the broadcast above. If it stops, an arrow should pop up and just click on the arrow to continue.
Israel pounds Gaza despite international peace efforts
Excuse me? Israel has accepted every cease fire offered over the last two weeks. Hamas has refused every one. Within the last hour, Israel Radio reported that John Kerry has given up and that Ban Ki-Moon is about to admit that the reason there is no cease fire is because Hamas is not backing off demands that would turn a rout into a victory and make Israel pay a penalty for winning.
So Israel continues to pound Hamas in the hope that it will agree to a cease fire (or will lose all of its strategic assets if it fails to do so), and al-Reuters makes it sound like we should stop fighting and wait for Hamas to come to terms?
Parts of the article aren't much better. The headline reflects the tone of the article. And that is precisely the problem. You would have no clue from reading the article that the reason that there is no cease fire is that the Hamas leadership in Gaza - safely ensconced in its bunker underneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City - does not want one. They would rather fight to the last civilian. But don't expect Reuters to clue you in on that.
You have to wonder w the shelling how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see media pic.twitter.com/QmkRAon83B
— Nick Casey (@caseysjournal) July 21, 2014
Not to mention that it's also used for weapons storage....
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
