Israel destroys 2 Gaza high-rises in escalation

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By IBRAHIM BARZAK

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel bombed two Gaza City high-rises with dozens of homes and shops Tuesday, collapsing one building and severely damaging the other in a further escalation of seven weeks of cross-border fighting with Hamas.

In the past, the military has hit targets in high-rises in pinpoint strikes, but left the buildings standing. Since Saturday, it has toppled or destroyed five towers and shopping complexes in an apparent new tactic aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas.

The objects of the latest strikes contain apartments inhabited almost exclusively by middle-class Gazans, who up until now have been largely spared the considerable dislocation that has affected tens of thousands of other Gaza residents in densely populated neighborhoods like Shijaiyah.

That has raised the possibility that the Israeli military is trying to use better-off Gazans, like professionals and Palestinian authority employees, to put pressure on Hamas to end the fighting on Israel's terms.

FULL story at link.



Palestinians salvage items from the rubble of the destroyed 15-story Basha Tower, following early morning Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. Israel bombed two Gaza City high-rises with dozens of homes and shops Tuesday, collapsing the 15-story Basha Tower and severely damaging the Italian Complex in a further escalation in seven weeks of cross-border fighting with Hamas. Both buildings were evacuated after receiving warnings of impending strikes. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140826/ml--israel-palestinians-220fc29ae7.html

[blackspade]

1. The Israeli government disgusts me.

Destroying people's homes just o put 'pressure' on Hamas.
What a bunch of fucking idiots. This just pisses people off.
But that is the whole point I guess. Keep the fighting going for another generation.

[oberliner]

2. How did not a single person get killed in this attack?

Seems miraculous.

[cpwm17]

3. No, deliberately destroying all of these towers where all of these people live is extremely cruel

Israel is engaging in terrorism against a highly oppressed population. Many of these people have had their homes destroyed or have been expelled from their homes on multiple occasions, starting in 1947. There is nothing miraculous about that.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/video-shows-israeli-bombing-gaza-apartment-tower/story?id=25098946

Maher Abu Sedo, an area resident, said. "This is crazy. The state of Israel has resorted to madness. In less than a minute, 44 families have become displaced. ... They lost everything, their house, their money, their memories and their security."

Israeli had fired a warning missile five minutes before the attack, allowing some residents to escape the homes in time.

But 22 people were wounded, including 11 children and five women, according to Gaza hospital officials.

Before picture, and like any respectable terrorist Israel consistently goes for the largest targets



Israeli war jets destroy 2nd largest residential tower in Gaza:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-08/26/c_126916283.htm

Witnesses said four small rockets were fired from Israeli drones and after a short while, four heavy bombs landed on the huge building and turned it into rubble. Ambulances rushed to the neighborhood and evacuated the casualties.

This residential town, located in Nasser Street, is known as the Italian residential compound. It was built in 1995 by an Italian construction company.

The residents of the tower said they received warning phone calls from Israeli army speakers, telling the residents to evacuate their houses because there are apartments in the residential towers used by Hamas movement.

This is one of numerous mosques destroyed or damaged by Israel :large
Picture taken two month ago, now destroyed by Israel

[seveneyes]

4. Hamas is wearing out their welcome

An expected outcome from harboring terrorists.

[cpwm17]

5. Anyone with a detectable soul knows who the real terrorist is

[onwardsand upwards]

7. If he had been born German in 1890, there is no question ...

... this man would have been a Nazi.

[FarrenH]

8. So you're a fan of collective punishment

A near-universally condemned practice that is illegal in international law. I continue to be astonished by attitudes to the I/P conflict that are so far to the right they border on fascism - on a purportedly liberal board.

[cpwm17]

9. Even if they won't admit it, this is obviously Israel's supporters belief:

This brief exchange took place across from the Washington DC convention center on May 23, 2011, where the American-Israel Political Affairs Com. (AIPAC) was holding its annual convention which attracted more than 10,000 members and guests including 3/4 of both houses of Congress. As the video opens, the man, an attendee at the conference, has just been told that a young Palestinian (to her right and not shown) has just described how three members of his family had been murdered by the Israelis in Gaza. The woman, who was part of the Move Over AIPAC protest across from the convention center, asks him what he thinks about that.

[snappyturtle]

6. Bottom line:

snip.............

Gaza's war has so far killed at least 2,133 Palestinians and wounded more than 11,000, according to Palestinian health officials and the United Nations. The U.N. estimates more than 17,000 homes have been destroyed, leaving 100,000 people homeless.

On the Israeli side, 68 people have been killed, all but four of them soldiers.

I guess this makes Israel feel safer from the "heinous" crimes of the Palestinians as described in the article.