Gazan Doctor: Entire Families Have Vanished In Operation Protective Edge

[Jefferson23]

TRNN Correspondent Lia Tarachansky and Islamic University Professor Dr. Khamis Elessi discuss the situation in Gaza & Israel after the 72-hour ceasefire expired - August 10, 14

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Joining us from Gaza City is Dr. Khamis Elessi. Dr.. Elessi is an assistant professor at the Islamic University's College of Medicine in Gaza city.

Also joining us, from Tel Aviv, is our Middle East correspondent Lia Tarachansky.

Thank you both for joining us.

DR. KHAMIS ELESSI, ASS'T PROF. MEDICINE, ISLAMIC UNIV., GAZA: Thank you.

LIA TARACHANSKY, MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT, THE REAL NEWS NETWORK: Thank you.

WORONCZUK: So, Lia, let's start with you. The 72 hour ceasefire that expired on Friday was the longest since Operation Protective Edge began. Why was the ceasefire not extended?

TARACHANSKY: Well, there's a lot of rumors and a lot of leaked information about why the ceasefire was not extended. The Palestinian side is blaming the Israelis for dragging their feet. The Israeli side is blaming the Palestinians for wanting too much. In the meantime, the Europeans--Germany, France, and England--have proposed their own conditions for a stable ceasefire. And so you have here a lot of different sides pushing for the ceasefire to be extended and a lot of different sides pulling for it to fall apart.

What we do know for a fact is that a lot of pressure has been exerted on the Jordanians, as the newest members of the UN Security Council, to pressure for some kind of resolution to pressure Israel into stopping its war on Gaza. So far that hasn't worked.

WORONCZUK: Okay. And Dr. Elessi, you are in Gaza City right now. What is your sense of the level of support for Hamas now that the fighting has resumed?

ELESSI: [I won't lie. (?)] You can't gauge exactly what level, but from the people who have lost their loved ones and they have lost their homes, those kind of people, they tend to support somebody who will assist this sort of actions and will some sort take revenge for their big losses. And when you're speaking about almost 2,000 Palestinian dead, most, the vast majority of them, are women and children. And when you speak about almost 10,000 Palestinian injuries, of course, you can imagine the kind of sentiment in the hearts of those people who have lost everything, not forgetting about more than 20,000 homes which have been partially or totally destroyed. So the more killing you have in this streets, the more hatred will be implanted in the hearts of the people who have lost everything. And I think this will create more and more support for militant resistance against Israel.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12223

[oberliner]

1. "2,000 Palestinian dead, most, the vast majority of them, are women and children"

This is just a blatant lie.

[Jefferson23]

2. Yea, he is so far off the mark, I think people should be suspicious of him.

You want to correct him and call him a blatant liar...have at it.

[oberliner]

4. I agree

The absolute highest figures I've seen reported have been 35 percent which is well short of "most" or "the vast majority" by any definitions of those terms.

[Jefferson23]

5. Good for you, remain suspicious. On edit, I guess you have a different age group for those

listed as children than the physician in Gaza.

[Jefferson23]

3. PCHR condemns killing of Gaza human rights worker

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A rights group Monday condemned an Israeli drone attack on Gaza that killed a Palestinian worker for a human rights organization the day before, a statement said.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said that an Israeli drone attack killed 43-year-old Anwar al-Zaanin, a staff member of al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, at 1:20 p.m. on Sunday in Beit Hanoun.

PCHR said Zaanin was standing near a number of maintenance workers from the Beit Hanoun municipality who were repairing a water network near his house when an Israeli drone fired a missile at them.

"As a result, al-Zaanin was seriously wounded and 2 workers were moderately wounded: Majdi Mousa Shabat, 41; and Sofian Khalil Abu Harbid, 40. They were all evacuated to the hospital, but al-Zaanin succumbed to his wounds," the report said.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=719844

[FBaggins]

6. More than 20,000 homes destroyed...

... yet fewer than 2,000 deaths.

Either those Israelis have really bad luck.. or someone got people out of those homes before they were hit.