The Israeli nerve centre watching Gaza's every move

[mawilson 2,133]

By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor

Published: 11 November 2006

A group of Israeli soldiers is gathered round a television screen. They are watching

the grainy images of a youth crawling towards the perimeter fence that hems the

Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip.

The dark form tracked on camera is placing a bomb by the fence. Minutes later,

his body is shaken by tank fire. A second shot confirms that the militant is dead,

and his bomb activated.

We are inside the Nahal Oz military base on the border with Gaza. With the help of

a white blimp bristling with cameras, and remote-controlled drones that buzz

overhead, the Israeli military have every square inch of Gaza under surveillance.

At Nahal Oz, the headquarters of the southern command which monitors Beit Hanoun

and the rest of northern Gaza, the cameras watching the nearby fence pick up

every sound.

Palestinians have been warned that if they approach within 300 yards of the fence

they are risking their lives. The sensors along the fence can tell the difference

between a human and an animal if it ventures into the no-man's land where

Palestinian crops and orchards have been flattened. A low throbbing alarm goes off

if the sensors are activated.

The moment a Qassam rocket is fired towards Israel, a siren sounds inside the army

base. The soldiers know they have 12 seconds before the notoriously inaccurate

missile reaches its target, usually in the town of Sderot.

"If a Qassam is fired, we don't fire back straight away because of the possibility

of hitting civilians," says a second lieutenant who identifies herself as Hila. "It goes

through a lot of levels before we have permission to fire."

On a quiet day, some seven or eight rockets come over the fence. But when tensions

are running high, as during the Lebanon war, up to 70 missiles are fired against the

Israelis. "They know where we can fire, and where not, so they deliberately choose

places where we cannot retaliate," the officer says. In one case, Palestinians fleeing

Israeli fire took refuge in a petrol station.

On the army base TV screens militants can be seen using children to place their

home-made bombs in an attempt to avoid reprisal gunfire. The fighters are also

accused of storing weapons on the first floors of houses, where civilians living in

downstairs rooms risk bearing the brunt of Israeli missile strikes.

Source

[Ban Hammer 13,349]

amazing, no comment yet on this.........

[Hornet 2]

So cool and high tech that they shell a civilian area and kill 18 civilians, mostly women and children.

But that's not unusual, as it happens again and again. And as usual the USA vetoes any resolution even codemning actions like this!!

"Physicians for Human Rights said nearly 63% of the 247 fatalities from Israeli fire in Gaza between 28 June and 27 October were civilians and more than a third of those civilians were children."

This isn't cool!! It's sad and pathetic that the world lets this continue...or I guess I should say the USA lets this continue...

[dalegg 143]

So cool and high tech that they shell a civilian area and kill 18 civilians, mostly women and children.

But that's not unusual, as it happens again and again. And as usual the USA vetoes any resolution even codemning actions like this!!

Reading about this story on Yahoo news, it says "The draft resolution had been weakened slightly in recent days to help improve its chances of passage. A section was added demanding the Palestinian Authority take immediate action to bring an end to violence, including the firing of rockets into Israel."Source

The Palestinians should thank the U.S. for vetoing it if that's true. A resolution suggesting that they should start firing rockets into Israel doesn't seem like a very healthy idea (for the Palestinians) to me.

[zzerous 0]

So pathetic. So not cool....the Israelis are committing a holocaust on the Palestinians and the world is silently watching...and other post thing like this thinking its cool..what a shame.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Collateral damage happens. No matter how technologically advanced your weapons of war are, you're still going to end up frying some civilians somehow. It's just a sad fact of warfare.

The difference between the Israelis and the Palestinians is that the former doesn't purposefully aim to kill civilians, while the latter goes out of their way to kill civilians.

If you think you're country's military has never killed civilians during wartime, then think again. All militaries have. Usually it's been by accident -- because the civilians were caught in the crossfire, an intended bombing target was next to a civilian area, etc. No one country's military is innocent of this.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor

Published: 11 November 2006

On the army base TV screens militants can be seen using children to place their

home-made bombs in an attempt to avoid reprisal gunfire. The fighters are also

accused of storing weapons on the first floors of houses, where civilians living in

downstairs rooms risk bearing the brunt of Israeli missile strikes.

Source

These militants are committing holocaust against their own people. Savages

[one...two...tree 2,762]

What happened to the bomb the youth placed?

He placed the bomb to destroy the fence. That doesn't sound like he was targeting any humans. Seems a bit excessive to gun him down from a tank over trying to damage a fence.

[Scott & Lai 12]

So cool and high tech that they shell a civilian area and kill 18 civilians, mostly women and children.

But that's not unusual, as it happens again and again. And as usual the USA vetoes any resolution even codemning actions like this!!

"Physicians for Human Rights said nearly 63% of the 247 fatalities from Israeli fire in Gaza between 28 June and 27 October were civilians and more than a third of those civilians were children."

This isn't cool!! It's sad and pathetic that the world lets this continue...or I guess I should say the USA lets this continue...

The Palestinian missles are being fired from civilian areas, thus drawing retaliatory fire. Why is there no condemnation of that practice?

[mawilson 2,133]

On the army base TV screens militants can be seen using children to place their

home-made bombs in an attempt to avoid reprisal gunfire.

So cool and high tech that they shell a civilian area and kill 18 civilians, mostly women and children.

If Palestinians use their women and children to place bombs, they should be treated

as combatants not as civilians.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

On the army base TV screens militants can be seen using children to place their

home-made bombs in an attempt to avoid reprisal gunfire.

So cool and high tech that they shell a civilian area and kill 18 civilians, mostly women and children.

If Palestinians use their women and children to place bombs, they should be treated

as combatants not as civilians.

You're against capital punishment but you don't have a problem with a young child being gunned down for planting a bomb on a fence?

[mawilson 2,133]

What happened to the bomb the youth placed?

He placed the bomb to destroy the fence.

Correct - and why did he do that? To sneak across the border and kill people.

You better believe it wasn't to plant olive trees on the other side of the fence.

You're against capital punishment but you don't have a problem with a young child being gunned down for planting a bomb on a fence?

No, I don't.

"Palestinians have been warned that if they approach within 300 yards of the fence

they are risking their lives."

Yet the morons still go and try to blow it up.

If you see a sign that says "Trespassers will be shot" and you purposely ignore it,

you deserve what happens to you next.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

If you see a sign that says "Trespassers will be shot" and you purposely ignore it,

you deserve what happens to you next.

I guess all those East-Berliners deserved what they got

[mawilson 2,133]

If you see a sign that says "Trespassers will be shot" and you purposely ignore it,

you deserve what happens to you next.

I guess all those East-Berliners deserved what they got

Resistance will be crushed by the mighty fist of the IDF.

"Good Arabs" that cooperate will be rewarded with more money and arms.

Those that refuse to cooperate will face "regime change" and "liberation."

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

If you see a sign that says "Trespassers will be shot" and you purposely ignore it,

you deserve what happens to you next.

I guess all those East-Berliners deserved what they got

Resistance will be crushed by the mighty fist of the IDF.

"Good Arabs" that cooperate will be rewarded with more money and arms.

Those that refuse to cooperate will face "regime change" and "liberation."

So simple yet people NEVER get it.