BICOM

• Hamas continues to extend rocket ranges, reaching Israeli cities 40 km from Gaza
• Israel air strike kills Hamas leader in the strip
• Diplomatic efforts expected to be intensified in the coming days

 

Key statements:

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit accuses Hamas of the escalation (1/1): “We expect the Palestinian side to say that if a cease-fire is announced, we’ll stop firing rockets although some loose group can decide to continue firing rockets and make it difficult to have a ceasefire. The signals that Israel was determined to strike Hamas in Gaza for the past three months were clear. They practically wrote it in the sky. Unfortunately, they (Hamas) served Israel the opportunity on a golden platter to hit Gaza.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni during meeting with French officials in Paris (1/1): “We want to weaken Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the end of the day, Hamas is a problem not only to Israel but to the entire Palestinian people. They are a problem to all the Arab states who understand that they have their own radical elements back home, including Muslim brotherhoods in different places.”

Col. Moshe Levi, commander of the IDF’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, on the humanitarian situation in Gaza (2/1): “Hamas is trying to create the appearance of a humanitarian crisis, but together with the international organizations, we are preventing this from happening.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Israel’s objectives (1/1): “It was clear that we could not live in the reality which had been created. We could not countenance a situation in which hundreds of thousands of people were going to sleep and waking up in the morning in fear, distress and uncertainty. We will act so that there will be quiet in the southern communities.”

Hamas Spokesperson Fawzi Barhum rejects EU ceasefire proposal (01/01): “It is a false statement devoid of any truth. It was disseminated by hostile parties in order to raise doubt as to Hamas positions.”

 

Situation on the ground

• A heavy barrage of at least 20 rockets hit southern Israeli towns and cities this morning. Four rockets hit the city of Ashkelon, with one of the rockets directly landing on a house in the city. One woman was wounded from shrapnel by the attacks. One of the rockets damaged the main power line to the Shaar Hanegev regional council. Yesterday, over 50 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel from Gaza reaching the cities of Ashdod and Beer Sheva. Approximately 900,000 Israelis are in range of Hamas’s rockets and missiles.

• Israel continued its operations through Thursday and into Friday. Air and naval forces attacked some 20 Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip. One of Hamas’s leaders in the strip, Nizar Rayyan, was killed yesterday in one of the attacks.

• Diplomatic efforts to reach a resolution to the conflict continued yesterday. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as part of a tour by the Turkish leader to work out an Egyptian-Turkish initiative to end the violence. The United Nations Security Council will convene in the coming days to discuss the situation in the region. With the New Year vacation over, diplomatic efforts are likely to intensify in attempt to bring an end to the fighting.

• Approximately 250 foreign nationals were transferred out of the Gaza Strip this morning to Israel, en route to their countries of origin. Some are Palestinian carrying foreign passports, while others are employees of international organisations operating in the strip.

 

Daily tally of rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Hamas unilaterally renounced ceasefire.

• January 2 – 20 rockets (by 12:00 pm GMT)
• January 1 – over 50 rockets, mortars and longer range Grads
• December 31 -over 100 (precise figure not yet available)
• December 30- 70 rockets
• December 29 – 80 rockets (approximate figure)
• December 28 – 40 rockets and mortar rounds, including two long-range Grad missiles.
• December 27 – 110 rockets and mortar rounds, including one Grad-Katyusha missile.
• December 26 – 25 mortar rounds
• December 25 -7 Qassam rockets, one Grad missile and 9 mortar rounds.
• December 23 & 24 – 33 rockets (Grad-Katyushas and Qassams), 37 mortar shells
• December 22 – 2 Qassams, 1 mortar
• December 21 – 19 Qassams, 3 mortars
• December 19 & December 20 – 10 Qassams, 24 mortars

For a daily tally of rockets and mortars fired into Israel, see: BICOM Statistics: Total number of identified rocket and mortar shell hits since 2001 and daily tally for 2008.

Humanitarian aid to Gaza

Israel conducts the latest operation while making sure that food, basic supplies and medical needs are constantly transferred into the Gaza Strip. Israel maintains ongoing contact with humanitarian agencies and enables the constant flow of goods and supplies into the strip:

 

• Israel agreed to transfer 22 injured Palestinians out ofGaza to receive medical treatment in Israel.
• Approximately 1000 units of blood were transferred to hospitals in Gaza.
• On Tuesday, 30 December, Israel transferred around a 100 trucks of aid into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
• On Monday, 29 December,63 trucks carrying food and medical supplies as well as 10 ambulances were transferred to Gaza
• Coordinator of Government Operations in the Territories reports that crossings are expected to continue operating in similar frameworks this week, only the number of trucks is likely to vary.
• The transfer of aid through the crossings is being delayed by the high risk of terrorist attacks on the crossings themselves. There is a long history of such attacks, including:

• 22 May 2008: a Palestinian bomber blew up an explosives-laden truck on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing, causing substantial damage.
• 20 April 2008: Hamas gunmen wounded 13 Israeli soldiers in an assault with mortar shells, explosives-laden vehicles and gunfire against the Kerem Shalom crossing.
• 9 April 2008: Two Israeli civilian fuel truck drivers working at the Nahal Oz fuel depot – which supplies fuel to Gaza – were killed in an attack by Gaza militants.

 

Further Information

• For links to the latest BICOM’s Analysis on the purposes of the Gaza operation, click here.
• For a full news review for 2 January click here.
• For a fuller background briefing on issues of humanitarian access and terrorism in Gaza, click here.