ISRAEL'S OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE ENTERS ITS THIRD WEEK
Here are the main developments in the two weeks since Israel launched a major offensive in Gaza aimed at halting rocket fire.
The cycle of violence is the fourth between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas since 2006.
It began on June 12 with the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, prompting a major crackdown on Hamas, which triggered a surge in rocket fire from Gaza.
JULY, 2014
8: Israel launches Operation Protective Edge, with dozens of air strikes on Gaza in response to mounting rocket fire from Palestinian militants.
Hamas says "all Israelis" are potential targets.
9: Israel launches air strikes as rockets are fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
12: Fifty-six Palestinians killed as the UN Security Council urges Israel and Hamas to end hostilities.
13: Israeli naval commandos make a lightning strike in northern Gaza, the first since the offensive began, to hit a rocket launcher site.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas asks the UN to put the state of Palestine under "international protection".
15: Israel's security cabinet accepts a ceasefire proposal from Egypt. Hamas rejects it, demanding an end to the blockade of Gaza in effect since 2006. Israel resumes raids after the truce fails to hold.
16: Israel intensifies its bombardment, killing at least 25 Palestinians, including eight children, four of whom were on a beach.
17: Israel launches a ground operation, its first since the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead in which 1,400 Palestinians were killed.
Hamas says "Israel will pay a high price" for the assault.
Israel calls up another 18,000 reservists, taking the total to 65,000.
18: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says "a significant broadening" of the ground operation is possible, as air strikes alone cannot destroy Hamas's tunnel network.
20: The most deadly day of the offensive, with more than 140 Palestinians killed, including at least 70 in Shejaiya, east of Gaza City. On the Israeli side 13 soldiers from the Golani brigade are killed.
Hamas says it has captured an Israeli soldier, but Israel rejects the claim.
Palestinian and Arab League leaders accuse Israel of war crimes.
21: Fifty-five Palestinians, including 16 children, are killed by air strikes and tank shelling across the enclave which hit a hospital and a residential building.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry meet in Cairo on the crisis. Kerry says Washington will provide $47 million in humanitarian aid to help Palestinians.
22: World powers push for an end to the violence. Ban was to head to the West Bank and to Jerusalem to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Since July 8, nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,600 injured, mainly civilians, according to Palestinian rescue workers. More than 100,000 Palestinians have been displaced, the UN says. On the Israeli side, 29 have died, among them two civilians hit by rocket fire, and 27 soldiers, all of whom were killed in the five days since the ground operation began.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 22 Jul 2014 16:33
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