Today's Top Islamic News (DAILY)

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Hello.. arman welcome to DT and in this thread too!

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Israeli warplanes have carried out a massive airstrike on Hamas security compounds inside the Gaza Strip, killing at least 180 and wounding 800 others.

At least 180 people have been killed and 800 other Palestinians have been wounded in the Israeli blitz, a Press TV correspondent reported from the Gaza Strip.

Video footages showed the bodies of dead people including men, women and children on Gaza streets.

Hamas radio reported that Gaza police chief Tawfiq Jabber was among the dead.

Israel F16 bombers and apache helicopters carried out at least 30 simultaneous raids on at least 30 separate targets in Gaza City.

Israeli tanks are said to be moving closer to the impoverished region which has been under a strict Israeli-imposed blockade.

Israeli authorities have announced that they would continue the attacks.

"This is only just the beginning of an operation launched after a security cabinet decision. It could take time. We have not fixed a timeline and we will act according to the situation on the ground," Israeli Military spokesman Avi Benayahu told army radio on Saturday.

The strikes have caused widespread panic and confusion among the Gaza residents who have refused to withdraw their support form the Hamas resistance movement.

Hamas does not recognize Israel as a legitimate state.

A Hamas spokesman said Israel will pay a heavy price for the attacks.

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum told our correspondent that Tel Aviv carried out the strikes after receiving green light from its allies and certain regional countries.

Barhoum described the raids as 'collective punishment' of Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas in West Bank said in a statement that he "condemns this aggression" , according to an aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
Source: Press TV

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CAIRO — The sights of death and destruction in the besieged Gaza Strip struck close to the hearts of many Egyptians, especially with their government being accused of complicity in the latest Israeli crime.

"Arab governments are complicit in what happens to the Palestinians," Ashraf Abdel Monem, who workers at a pharmaceuticals company, told IslamOnline.

"These governments help Israel tighten its grip on the dispossessed Palestinians and kill them."

At least 206 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a series of Israeli air strikes against targets in Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian resistance responded with rocket salvoes that killed one Israeli and wounded several others.

But the images of Palestinians lying on the ground in the aftermath of the raids while blood was dispersed everywhere sent shockwaves in Egypt, a country that has officially signed a peace treaty with Israel almost 30 years ago, but continues to consider its northeastern neighbor an enemy on the public level.

Abdel Monem joined several thousands of Egyptians, including opposition activists and MPS, who gathered outside the Journalists’ Syndicate in downtown Cairo to protest the latest Israeli crime.

Many accused President Hosni Mubarak's regime of taking a spectator’s position while the blood of the Palestinians continues to be shed in the Gaza Strip.

"Mubarak and (Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi) Livni have agreed on the genocide of the Palestinian people," read one banner.

"Mubarak is an accomplice in attacks against the Palestinian people," read another.

Livni met with Mubarak in Cairo on Thursday and said Israel would strike the Gaza Strip.

The Egyptian regime has been criticized for closing down Rafah crossing, Gaza's only window to the outside world.

Angry

In a rare occurrence, Mohamed Mahdi Akef, the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest opposition force, urged Arab governments to take action to stop "Zionist criminals of Israel."

"Egypt should stop to welcome the Israelis here," Akef said.

"It’s not logical that the Israelis kill our brothers and sisters in Palestine and we throw the red carpet for them here," he told IOL.

Egypt condemned the Israeli onslaught, opening its Rafah border crossing to allow the wounded through for treatment.

"We call for an immediate end to Israeli military operations. We cannot allow these attacks to continue," Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on state television.

"We cannot permit the murder of Palestinians."

Countering criticism that Egypt might have told Hamas Israel was not about to launch an attack, Abul Gheit said "Israel told the international community and its officials told the whole world of their intentions."

Egypt summoned Israeli Ambassador Shalom Cohen to demand an end to the bombardment.

Earlier, President Mubarak condemned "the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip and blames Israel, as an occupying force, for the victims and the wounded."

The MPs who took part in the protest said they will call for a special parliament session on the Israeli attacks.

"We will continue to put pressure on Arab governments as well as the criminals of Israel until Palestine is free," said Abdel Monem Abul Fotouh, a member of the Doctors Union.
Source: IslamOnline

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US veto blocks UN anti-Israel resolution
Sun, 28 Dec 2008 08:17:23 GMT
The UN Security Council has been unable to force an end to Israeli attacks against Gaza due to the intervention of the United States.

Washington once again used its veto powers on Sunday to block a resolution calling for an end to the massive ongoing Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip.

The council has only been able to issue a 'non-binding' statement that calls on Israel to voluntarily bring all its military activities in the besieged region to an immediate end.

The statement comes as Israel has begun a fresh wave of air strikes on Gaza on Sunday, killing at least six people. At least 230 people were killed and 800 wounded in similar attacks on Saturday. The number of Palestinians deaths has so far risen to 271.

The council called on the parties to address the humanitarian crisis in the territory but has not criticized the Israeli air attacks.

Croatian UN Ambassador Neven Jurica read out the non-binding statement on behalf of the 15-member body that "called for an immediate halt to all violence" and on the parties "to stop immediately all military activities."

"The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern at the escalation of the situation in Gaza," he said, as the president of the council.

The council also requested the opening of border crossings into Gaza to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza and to ensure medical treatment and a continuous supply of food and fuel.

US representative to the UNSC, Zalmay Khalilzad, defended the Israeli move, saying Tel Aviv has the right to self-defense.

"I regret the loss of any of all innocent life," he said, adding that Hamas rockets precipitated this situation.

Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip fire rockets into Israel in retaliation for the daily Israeli attacks against them. Unlike the state-of-the-art Israeli weapons and ammunition, the home-made Qassam rockets rarely cause casualties.

The US, a staunch ally to Israel, has so far vetoed over 40 anti-Israeli resolutions sought by the council since 1972.

Since 2004, Washington has prevented the adoption of four other resolutions that called for Tel Aviv to halt its operations in the Gaza Strip.

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'Israeli leaders must be summoned'
Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:04:19 GMT
Iran's President says it is necessary to make a complaint as soon as possible in international courts against the officials of the Israel regime.

"The issue (of Israeli atrocities against the innocent people of Gaza) must be followed through Interpol by officially summoning those responsible for the attacks," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday during a session of the Iranian Cabinet.

Israel launched a series of deadly attacks on the Gaza Strip on Saturday killing at least 300 Palestinians and injuring nearly 800. The devastating attacks in the past two days have prompted worldwide condemnation demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has been unable on Sunday to force an end to Israeli attacks against Gaza strip due to a US veto.

Ahmadinejad added that those who attacked the defenseless people of Gaza must be introduced as war criminals and murderers.

"The move must be fast and the writ of summon must be sent to the heads of the Israel regime during this week," he said.

Ahmadinejad condemned also on Sunday the UN Security Council's indifference to Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people.

"Claimants of human rights keep silent and support Zionists' atrocities. The UN Security Council does not even issue one resolution [against Israel]," he said.

MVZ/MMA

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Israeli Raids on Gaza Continues, Death Toll Touches 345 Date : 29/12/2008 Time : 18:24

GAZA, December 29, 2008 (WAFA)- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued, Monday, their raids on the Gaza Strip for the third day, rising the death toll to 345 victims, making this the deadliest military operation in Gaza since Israel seized control of the coastal territory from Egypt in 1967.



Palestinian and media sources in Gaza reported that Israeli air strikes hit overnight a security compound seized by Hamas, a mosque, the Islamic University, and a network of tunnels along the border with Egypt . The Palestinian death toll hovered around 300, making this the deadliest operation in Gaza since Israel seized control of the coastal territory from Egypt in 1967.



Meanwhile, the international Red Cross said Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are overwhelmed and unable to cope with the casualties from Israeli air strikes.



'Hospitals are overwhelmed and unable to cope with the scale and type of injuries that keep coming in,' Marianne Robyn Whittington, an ICRC health delegate in Gaza, said in a statement from the organization.
Source: AJP

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GAZA CITY — Mosques across the Gaza Strip have become the latest target of the Israeli military juggernaut, unleashed against the impoverished coastal enclave since Saturday.

"As if it was not enough for them to kill our people and children, the Israelis are also destroying the houses of Allah," Abu Khalid, a Gaza resident, told IslamOnline.net.

Two people were killed and scores wounded when Israeli warplanes attacked a mosque near Abu Khalid's house in western Gaza.

"We heard a big boom and saw a black cloud of smoke billowing into the sky," he recalled.

"We went out to see what happened and were dumbfounded to see the mosque razed to the ground."

Israeli warplanes blitzed a mosque in Jabaliya early Monday.

Five girls of the same family, including a 14 month-old toddler, were killed overnight when Israeli war jets pounded a mosque near their home in the northern town of Jabaliya.

A third mosque in the southern town of Khan Younis was also flattened after Israeli aircraft bombed it out.

The massive Israeli bombardment of targets in Gaza has killed at least 345 people, including 57 civilians, according to medics and UN figures.

At least 27 of the dead are children.

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Crime

Gazans were infuriated by the Israeli attacks on their mosques.

"How dare they attack places of worship places," fumed a visibly moved Abu Rami, whose house was destroyed in an Israeli attack.

"They shall answer to Allah the Almighty."

Abu Omar, a mosque imam, could not believe himself.

"Why are they targeting mosques? Are the mosques being used to fire rockets?" he asked.

"Mosques are the houses of Allah and are only used for worship. Such attacks are the worst of crimes," he said angrily.

Wael Al-Zard, a preacher, lamented the silence of Arab and Muslim countries over the Israeli onslaught.

"Do not the Israeli attacks constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity?"
Source: IslamOnline

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CAIR says Israel has turned Gaza into a giant jail
Barbara Ferguson | Arab News


WASHINGTON: As Israel kept up its string of attacks on Gaza for a fourth day that has killed hundreds and injured hundreds more through air attacks, US President George W. Bush leaned on Palestinian leaders to urge Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel.

Israel has said it will not cease its assault until Hamas stops firing missiles into its territory.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday in Crawford, Texas that Bush telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss a “sustainable cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip.

“They agreed that for any cease-fire to be effective, it must be respected, particularly by Hamas,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in Gaza has been characterized as panic.

“I’ve been on the phone much of the weekend doing interviews with people in Gaza,” said Nora Barrows-Friedman of Flashpoints Radio. “The people there are filled with panic and terror — and this comes after a prolonged siege that deprives them of needed food, medicine, clean water, electricity — the basics of life.”

Saying that Israel has turned Gaza into a “giant jail,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim advocacy group in the US, has called for the US government to act immediately to end to Israel's “illegal and immoral” bombardment.

“We also demand that the Bush administration join with the international community in seeking to end the collective punishment imposed on the civilian population of Gaza by Israel's ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. “We call for a resumption of the cease-fire that, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, was ‘unilaterally violated when (Israel) blew up a tunnel.’”

The outgoing US administration maintains that Israel has the right to defend itself. Washington has also cautioned Israel to do what it can to avoid civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, the Israelis refusal to allow the media into Gaza makes it impossible for the world to know what's happening there.

Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, called for an explanation on the bombing of Al-Aqsa TV headquarters in Gaza City on Sunday.

“We are also dismayed by the army's decision to declare Gaza’s northern boundary with Israel and other parts of the territory ‘closed military zones’,” said Simon.

This latest move, along with previously stated restrictions, prevents journalists from effectively reporting from the Gaza Strip."

Israel’s Supreme Court will hear a petition Thursday brought by the Foreign Press Association, which represents around 400 foreign journalists there, demanding that Israel allow reporters into Gaza to cover the latest conflict.

In an open letter, the Foreign Press Association said that the closure of the Erez crossing to journalists marked “an unprecedented restriction of press freedom. As a result the world's media is unable to accurately report on events inside Gaza at this critical time,” it said.

“Despite our protests the Israelis authorities have refused to let journalists in ... We believe it is vital that journalists be allowed to find out for themselves what is going on in Gaza. Israel controls access to Gaza. Israel must allow professional journalists access to this important story.”

Dr. Mounzer A. Sleiman, a National Security Affairs analyst based in Washington, criticized the US media reporting on the Gaza bombings. “The problem is that the dominant narrative in the American media is biased in favor of the Israelis because of the long influence and propaganda and ‘education’ that the Israeli side has been doing for decades.

“It is not helping is that we have a president-elect that has many hopes and frustrations being put on his shoulders, but his silence is complicit because he’s selective about his commentary of claiming that we have only one president.

“He enthusiastically commented on a whole set of issues from economics to Mumbai attacks, but when it comes to the war crimes that are being committed by the Israelis — he's deferring to the Bush administration, and we all know their position is ... Since Hamas came to power, the Israelis been trying to isolate the regime, so this campaign has many goals to achieve,” said Sleiman. “The primary goal is to affect the Israeli election and to provide better chances for the coalition of Labor and Kadima to maintain power and try to reduce the chances of the Likud coming back to power. And they’re using the Palestinian body count as a means of increasing their votes in the coming election.

“The other issue is to try, during the transitional period in the US to the new president, to change the status quo to where Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, will expand their authority over Gaza. The Israelis want a willing partner for a potential compromise and they need to prepare the situation on the ground, and the weak Palestinian Authority is willing to sign on to the Israeli demands for the control of Gaza.

“It’s a kind of military coup by the Israelis to bring their interlocutor to power, like the military intervention in Iraq, to bring a power into government that was subservient,” said Sleiman.

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Saudi relief supplies reach Palestine
Ghazanfar Ali Khan | Arab News Thursday 1 January 2009 (05 Muharram 1430)


RIYADH: On the orders of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia is sending several planeloads of relief supplies to Palestinians.

“At least six planeloads of relief materials will be sent for the injured Palestinian patients within a week from now,” Khaled Al-Mirghalani, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said yesterday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent received medicines and other relief supplies sent from the Kingdom over the past few days at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

“The first consignment of the succor is now on its way to Palestine,” said Al-Mirghalani, adding that the rest of the cargo planes will be reaching there over the next few days. This will be by far the largest relief convoy from any single country for the Palestinian victims amid ongoing Israeli attacks.

A second Saudi aircraft, carrying 16 tons of food and medicine, arrived at Arish airport, which is the nearest Egyptian airport to Gaza crossing, yesterday afternoon. Two cargo planes carrying relief supplies had left Riyadh airbase on Tuesday night.

“King Abdullah has ordered an adequate response to the needs of the growing number of wounded Palestinians,” said Al-Mirghalani. “The Kingdom has decided to send one planeload of relief materials every day,” he said.

He pointed out that another cargo plane would leave Riyadh today. “Our two Medevac planes with more than 24 doctors and paramedical staff are waiting at Areesh Airport to airlift wounded Palestinians,” said Al-Mirghalani.

Each of the two Medevac planes has seven ICU beds besides regular beds. Dozens of hospitals in Riyadh are fully geared to receive Palestinian victims of the ongoing conflict as soon as they are airlifted here.

The health ministers of Gulf countries strongly condemned the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza. “This aggression, which violates all international laws and human traditions known in history, should be stopped immediately,” said Hamad Al-Manie, minister of health and chairman of GCC Health Ministers Council.

The council said in a statement that Israel’s continuous aggression, which is resulting in the death of civilians in densely populated areas, and the long-standing siege would exacerbate the tragic health conditions of people of Gaza. The council added that a lack of basic health care in the area to help wounded people who are in need of immediate aid would further exacerbate the situation.

It added that all GCC member states should pool their resources in helping the Palestinians and bringing them relief.

The council urged all regional and international health and relief organizations to provide aid to the people of Gaza, and called on them to make Israel accountable for its aggression.

“The situation demands a strong international stance against the aggression which has resulted in very inhumane and tragic conditions in which the Palestinians are being forced to live,” the statement added.

Empty blood bags

The Ministry of Health has sent empty blood bags to authorities in Gaza as part of humanitarian efforts to help people wounded in Israeli bombing, a ministry statement said yesterday.

The blood bags were requested by the Palestinian authorities, which said there was no need for blood as there are enough donors in Palestine.

The statement thanked Saudis and expatriates who have donated blood in large numbers, but said the blood could not be kept for long, as it needs special storage and preservation. It added that it was not possible to transfer donated blood to Gaza due to a total Israeli blockade, which includes food and medicine.

The Ministry of Health has enough blood for both the Kingdom’s need and when wounded Palestinians arrive here for treatment, the statement said. It also urged potential donors to contact the Saudi Red Crescent, which is in charge of international blood donations.

WAMY call

According to Saleh Al-Wohaibi, secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), the Cairo-based International Islamic Council for Dawa and Relief (IICDR) has called a meeting in the Egyptian capital on Jan. 4 to coordinate relief efforts of different Arab and Islamic aid agencies. WAMY, he said, would attend the meeting in order to step up relief efforts on a regional level.

He pointed out that the move to hold the meeting was primarily intended for aligning relief operations in view of the volatile situation in Gaza in particular and the region as a whole.

The IICDR has 86 Islamic organizations, including the International Islamic Relief Organization-Saudi Arabia, affiliated to it. WAMY is a founder member of the organization.

Al-Wohaibi said the response to the donation campaign launched by WAMY to help the wounded Palestinians “has been very encouraging.”

He said WAMY launched the campaign, with the slogan “Save your brothers in Palestine,” in all Saudi regions. It has allocated SR3 million in the first installment of emergency relief for Gaza and called on all scholars and civil societies to support the Palestinian victims.

WAMY can be reached at toll free number 800-124-4400 for more information about the campaign. Donors can directly deposit their contributions at Account No. 27960801066633, Al-Rajhi Bank.

— With input by Saeed Al-Khotani

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GAZA CITY — The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories accused the Israeli army on Tuesday, December 30, of perpetrating atrocities against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. "Israel is committing a shocking series of atrocities by using modern weaponry against a defenseless population - attacking a population that has been enduring a severe blockade for many months," Richard Falk, the special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories, said in a BBC interview.

Children again fell victim to Israel's "all-out war," with two sisters, aged four and 11, dying when a missile slammed into their donkey cart in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun.

According to Gaza medics, at least 39 children under 16 years old have died as a result of the Israeli strikes that have killed at least 367 Palestinians in Gaza since Saturday.

On Sunday night, five sisters died when masonry from a mosque hit by an Israeli strike crushed their house.

Falk, an emeritus professor of international law at Princeton University, urged the international community to put more pressure on Israel to end its attacks on the overcrowded territory of 1.6 million.

The same appeal was made earlier Tuesday by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who demanded an end to the "unacceptable" violence.

"Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and... a ceasefire must be declared immediately," he said.

In Brussels, the European Union's executive arm sounded the alarm about the "plight of civilians" in the battered territory, and called for an immediate halt to military hostilities.

But Israel spurned the world appeals for a truce, warning that its deadly assault could last for weeks.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the bombardment so far was "the first of several stages approved by the security cab."

War Crime

Falk, the UN rights rapporteur, accused Israel of war crimes against the people of Gaza. "Certainly the rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel are unlawful," he said.

"But that illegality does not give rise to any Israeli right…to violate international humanitarian law and commit war crimes or crimes against humanity in its response," stressed professor Falk.

"The entire 1.5 million people who live in the crowded Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants."

He said Israel's blockade of Gaza led to food shortages and prevented medical aid from reaching the injured.

The same message was echoed by the World Health Organization, which urged Israel to ensure that medical supplies are channeled to those hit by its military action.

"Civilians are paying the price for the prolonged blockade," it said in a statement.

"As a top priority, the shortages of essential and life-saving medicines need to be abated without delay."

Gaza's hospitals suffer power blackouts lasting up to 12 hours a day and severe shortage of medicine and medical equipment.

"The inability of the hospitals to cope with a problem of this magnitude, if the situation continues unchanged, will result in a surge in preventable deaths from complications due to trauma," warned the WHO.

"WHO reiterates its call for the immediate discontinuation of the current violence and the removal of blockades so that much-needed food, water, fuel, medicines and other humanitarian aid can reach those in need."

Source: IslamOnline