Gaza rocket kills man in southern Israel A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Thursday killed a migrant worker in the northern Negev.
Paramedics brought the man to the infirmary at Moshav Nativ Ha'asara, but declared him dead shortly after. This was the third rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in less than 24 hours, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
One rocket hit an open area in the south Wednesday night. There were no casualties in the incident, but two women were treated for shock after hearing the Color Red rocket alert.
Two more rockets were fired on Tuesday at the western Negev, causing no casualties or damages. Residents of nearby communities said they did not hear the rocket alert before the explosion.
The rocket on Thursday was launched as European Union's foreign affairs chief was visiting the Hamas-controlled enclave.
The EU's top diplomat, Briton Catherine Ashton, had crossed into the Gaza Strip from Israel about an hour before the attack, the first deadly strike from the territory since the end in January 2009 of Israel's Gaza war.
More than 100 rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israel since Operation Cast Lead ended in January 2009, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel has responsed to strikes since the war with air raids, targeting militants and suspected weapons-manufacturing facilities in the territory.
Hamas Islamists, who seized the Gaza Strip in 2007 in fighting with forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, have been urging other militant groups not to mount attacks on Israel, voicing concern about retaliation.
An unknown Gaza group, Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility for the attack, launched a day before the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators was to meet in Moscow to discuss ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157365.htmlMan dies after Qassam hits Ashkelon Coast Regional CouncilA 30-year-old Thai foreign worker was killed Thursday after a Qassam rocket hit the hothouse area in Netiv Ha'asara in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, north of the Gaza Strip. Magen David Adom emergency units tried to resuscitate the man but were eventually forced to pronounce him dead.
"A Color Red alert was sounded," one of the community's residents related. "We ran to find cover. There were about 20 seconds until we heard a very loud explosion. I saw the smoke and realized it hit a hothouse compound belonging to one of the local residents, where a group of Thai workers was employed. To the best of my knowledge there are concrete shelters and one would have made it there on time, but apparently the workers didn't respond to the warnings," he added.
The attack marks the third time rockets have been fired into Israeli territory in the last 24 hours. On Wednesday night a rocket exploded in an open area in Sderot. Several hours earlier another rocket landed in the region causing two people to suffer from anxiety.
The al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Suna Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack from the Gaza Strip.
Alon Shuster, head of the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council told Ynet, "Unfortunately, on the one hand we succeeded in achieving deterrence opposite Hamas, and on the other hand their weapons arsenal keeps on growing. It's a problem that needs solving.
"The last year was relatively quiet, residents returned to the region and business owners expanded their businesses. We hope the state of calm will be maintained further."
Prior to Wednesday's attack, the last rocket hitting Israeli territory was fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday night. It landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council two days after an abandoned structure in the council was hit by a Qassam rocket. Israel's Air Force has been recently responding to Qassam attacks by striking terrorist targets in the Strip.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 28,00.htmlThe Gaza siege myth United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is set to arrive in Israel to visit the Gaza Strip amidst demands to end a so-called siege on the terrorist-controlled territory. Yet one has to ask what siege, or blockade, he is referring to, with 738,576 tons of humanitarian aid being transferred into the Gaza Strip in 2009.
Moreover, the UN has provided $200 million in Gaza Strip aid following a military operation that reportedly claimed 1,300 fatalities
amongst a population of less than 1.5 million – meanwhile, notwithstanding plans to raise more funds, it has provided only $10 million to natural disaster victims in Haiti as of the end of January, an earthquake that claimed the lives of over 230,000 people and affected over 3 million. Of course, that is without mentioning that Haitians have not been attacking an innocent nearby civilian population for a near decade.
The international community has bought into a bold-faced lie about an Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip while ignoring the facts on the ground. International humanitarian aid has been flowing rapidly into the Gaza Strip for years and in no way stopped after Operation Cast Lead, as 30,576 aid trucks entered the territory in 2009. In 2009, 4,883 tons of medical equipment entered the Gaza Strip. Just last month, a new CAT scan machine was brought into the Strip.
The world’s largest prison?
The Gaza Strip has also been referred to as “the world’s largest prison”, implying that residents are not being able to exit the territory. Yet in 2009, 10,544 patients and their companions left the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israel, and last week alone nearly 500 patients and companions from Gaza entered Israel for treatment.
Meanwhile, US government officials such as Congressmen Keith Ellison and Brian Baird, both of which visited Sderot with the Sderot Media Center, have promoted the idea of a “Gaza Siege.” They must be ignoring the fact that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged $900 million in aid to be sent to the Gaza Strip following Operation Cast Lead. A USAID and DOD report calculating the aid sent to the quake-raved Haiti noted that, as of last month, all US government programs provided just over $700 million in aid, nearly $200 million less than to the terrorist-controlled Gaza Strip.
Over a year has passed since Operation Cast Lead and the international community is still buying into the lie about a “Gaza Siege.” Meanwhile, the Sderot Media Center has reported that over 320 rockets and mortars have hit Israel in that same year. Indeed, Ban Ki-moon should be visiting Kibbutz Nirim to see where a rocket destroyed a building just last week, instead of helping promote a myth by visiting the Gaza Strip.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 92,00.html
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