Gaza Blog

Fluctuating between shelling a temporary truce, Operation Protective Edge has left a high civilian death toll in its wake.

3rd & 7 37yd

Another image of the port explosion. This one from ITV correspondent Dan Rivers.
Dan Rivers
@danieljerivers
Shattering explosion at port near our hotel - sent debris across our roof of our building. deafening roar. Terrifying http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BtrXANJIgAA7iu-.jpg
Jul. 29, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Barry Malone 7/29/2014 3:18:39 AM
Our lead story has been updated. Read it here.

by Barry Malone 7/29/2014 3:49:21 AM
Bitter Eid for children in Gaza
by Al Jazeera English via YouTube

Muslims world-wide began to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan. But as Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford reports, there's little joy for Palestinians in Gaza.

by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 4:23:49 AM
A building within the Gaza port is seen on fire after several strikes early today.
[Loulou D'Aki/AFP]

by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 4:29:36 AM
Pillar of smoke rises from the port, hit in an early morning airstrike #gaza #gazastrip #port #smoke #sea #war #idf #attack #palestinianterritories #groundinvasion #everydaymiddleeast #madness
by dakiloulou via Instagram

by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 4:35:23 AM
The Israeli army has confirmed that five of its soldiers were killed overnight, bringing the total Israeli death toll to 55.

by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/29/2014 5:00:42 AM
Gregg Carlstrom
@glcarlstrom
Overnight Israeli jets bombed the home of Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader and the former prime minister in Gaza.
Jul. 29, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 5:08:24 AM
Mohammed Omer 
@Mogaza
Israeli missiles hit home for Barwai family just now!! ambulances on the way...
Jul. 29, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 5:37:52 AM
David Blair
@davidblairdt
View from Al-Deira Hotel after last night's pounding of #Gaza http://t.co/tx5pc8cRbI
Jul. 29, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
.
by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 5:45:02 AM
Ruth Pollard
@rpollard
When you see the devastation of neighbourhoods in Shajaiyah it is hard to imagine how much worse it can get in #Gaza http://t.co/OF9T3rXQVa
Jul. 29, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 5:45:40 AM
Home of Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh was hit by a missile fired by Israeli aircraft before dawn causing damage but no casualties.
[Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters]

by Rabii.Kalboussi 7/29/2014 5:57:44 AM
At least 100 Gazans have been killed in Israeli bombardment on Tuesday, Gaza officials have said, hours after shells hit the enclave's only power station.
A thick column of black smoke was seen rising from the power station on Tuesday, mingling with other plumes sent into the air by Israeli shelling.
Click here to read our full report.

by Hamza Mohamed 7/29/2014 3:19:17 PM
All Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have united to offer a 24-hour ceasefire in Gaza, Palestine Liberation Organization said.

More on that here.

by Hamza Mohamed 7/29/2014 3:29:42 PM
According to a senior Palestinian leader who spoke to Al Jazeera, Egypt has told all sides in the Gaza conflict that a 24-hour ceasefire must be in place before talks get underway in Cairo.

by Hamza Mohamed 7/29/2014 4:05:40 PM
The United Nations agency that looks after Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday it had found a cache of rockets at one of its schools in the Gaza Strip and deplored those who had put them there.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness condemned those responsible for placing civilians in harm's way by storing the rockets at the school but he did not specifically blame any particular party.

Gunness said in a statement:

We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school. This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of U.N. property.
[Reuters]

by Tamila Varshalomidze 7/30/2014 12:00:01 AM
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in a single day of fighting in Gaza. Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford reports from the territory's largest refugee centre, now home to more than 100,000 people.

by Tamila Varshalomidze via YouTube

by Tamila Varshalomidze 7/30/2014 12:59:01 AM
Israeli fire killed at least 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday as the Jewish state said it targeted Islamist militants at dozens of sites across the coastal enclave, while Egyptian mediators prepared a revised ceasefire proposal.

Israeli tank shells pounding houses in eastern Jebalya in the northern Gaza Strip killed 13 people and wounded many others, health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said. Among the dead were a medic and an infant, he said.

Eight people, including five members of the same family in Jebalya, were killed in other strikes across the Gaza Strip.

Gaza hospital officials put the total number of Palestinians killed in the conflict at 1,224, most of them civilians. On the Israeli side, 53 soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the start of the offensive on July 8. [Reuters]

by Tamila Varshalomidze 7/30/2014 1:21:46 AM
Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City on Tuesday [AP]

by Tamila Varshalomidze 7/30/2014 1:30:11 AM
A tweet from a teenage Palestinian girl from inside Gaza:
Guess what
@Farah_Gazan
Bombing continues in all parts of #Gaza strip #GazaUnderAttack #AJAGAZA #acall43rdintifada
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite

Guess what
@Farah_Gazan
Ministry of health: 1230martyrs (287 children, 130women, 57elderly) and more than 7000 wounded. They'r still increasing #Gaza
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite

Guess what
@Farah_Gazan
2nd day of power cut: food in the fridge rotted, water on th verge of force bc we can not run the motor, Mobile Charge almost finished#Gaza
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
1 of 3
by Tamila Varshalomidze 7/30/2014 2:28:13 AM
Reports that a UN school has been shelled, killing 20:
Agence France-Presse
@AFP
#BREAKING: Israeli shelling of north Gaza UN school kills 20 people, say medics
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
Agence France-Presse
@AFP
#UPDATES: Israeli bombardments kill 32 Palestinians in Gaza, including 20 at a UN school, medics say http://t.co/Qv7kKFE3E1
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Philippa Stewart 7/30/2014 4:12:11 AM
Sherine Tadros
@SherineT
Heavy shelling of Jabalia northern #Gaza hasn't stopped since last night still going on now - dozens killed and wounded #skybreaking
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/30/2014 4:54:07 AM
Israeli shelling on a UN school being used as a shelter in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 16 people and injured scores of others, the health ministry in Gaza says.

Wednesday’s shelling hit the school in Jabaliya refugee camp, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, on the 23rd day of Israel's military campaign against the Palestinian coastal enclave.

Earlier, medics put the death toll at 23.

An official for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) told the AFP news agency that the strike hit a bathroom and two classrooms inside the girls' school.

Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital, where scores injured were taken, said there were more than 90 people wounded.

"Looking around me I can see some with have what appears to be shrapnel wound and some have far more serious wounds," he said.

He said people there did not know why Israel had hit the shelter, adding that the attack caused panic among people living in different UN-run shelters.

"As we were travelling to the hospital, we saw families with many children leaving other UN schools. They feel insecure. There seemed to be no safe shelter for them in Gaza, not even in UN schools," Tyab said.

by Basma Atassi 7/30/2014 5:25:14 AM
Our correspondent reports from Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza where the dead and injured from the shelling that hit a UN school were brought to.
Audio: Imtiaz Tyab reports from Kamal Adwan hospital
by Rahul Radhakrishnan

by Rahul Radhakrishnan edited by Basma Atassi 7/30/2014 5:31:03 AM
Remember that you can watch or listen to our live coverage online. Stream it here.

by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/30/2014 5:36:21 AM
REPOST: Our Charles Stratford reports from Gaza's largest refugee centre, which is now home to more than 100,000 people, and was hit by Israeli shelling last night.

Israeli rockets hit Gaza's largest refugee centre
by Al Jazeera English via YouTube

by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/30/2014 6:18:25 AM
We are completely overwhelmed. This is a cry from the heart. We can't go on, we've reached breaking point [...] It's intolerable that humanitarian workers are paying such an inordinately high price. It's got to stop. -- The UNRWA's Chris Gunness, on the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Audio: Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesman on desperate humanitarian situation
by Rahul Radhakrishnan

Technical note: This is a single-channel audio recording (right).

by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/30/2014 6:37:37 AM
The Israeli army says Hamas fighters have fired over 2,670 rockets into Israel since the beginning of their military offensive against the group in Gaza.

Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defence system has intercepted a number of these rockets. So far, three civilians were killed in Israel, which includes a Thai national.
IDF
@IDFSpokesperson
ROCKET COUNT: Hamas has fired over 2,670 rockets at Israeli civilians since July 8. http://t.co/DjQ3hyfr1s
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/30/2014 7:00:33 AM
Chris Gunness is the spokesperson for the UNRWA and Yigal Palmor is the spokesperson of Israel's foreign ministry.

by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/30/2014 10:27:24 AM
Audio: James Bays reports on the diplomatic discussions on Gaza
by Rahul Radhakrishnan

by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/30/2014 11:29:01 AM
The US has condemned the bombing of the UN school this morning, but stopped short of blaming Israel. The UN is in no doubt, based on its investigations, that Israeli shells hit the school in Jabaliya, which was being used by 3,300 internal refugees.

by Graeme Baker 7/30/2014 6:22:48 PM
From Al Jazeera's Mohammed Omer, at Shifa hospital, which received scores of casualties from the market bombing this afternoon. Apology for the typo in Crescent.

Palestinian Red Cresent teams arrive every few minutes with new victims, one of the medics says most of those injured had lost body parts due to direct artillery shelling.

One of the survivors told Al Jazeera: "When rescue teams and ambulances arrived to the location, than Israeli tank shells continue to hit new locations, causing more victims".

Shifa hospital is unable to cope, while hundreds of people are at the gate of Al-Quds hospital in Tal al-Hawwa, just next to an UNRWA school which became shelter for people from Shujayea.

by Graeme Baker edited by Umut.Uras 7/30/2014 6:26:24 PM
Paul Hirschson, deputy spokesperson with Israeli ministry of foreign affairs, talks to Al Jazeera on his country's offensive on Gaza.

by Umut.Uras 7/30/2014 8:34:42 PM
ICRC in Israel & OT
@ICRC_ilot
Engineer Sara explains the human cost of the damage to #Gaza's power plant, electricity & water infrastructure VIDEO http://t.co/de01slMcoo
Jul. 30, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
Gaza: power plant destroyed, electricity and water supplies collapse
by International Commit... via YouTube
by nadine.cheaib 7/30/2014 10:42:52 PM
Palestinian Death toll in Gaza:
The Gaza Health Ministry announced that the death toll in Gaza is now 1361 killed and more than 6780 were injured since the start of Israel’s Protective Edge offensive.
According to the Health Ministry:
Out of the killed
315 Children
166 Females
58 Elderly
Out of the injured
2307 Children
1529 Females
287 Elderly

According to the Israeli military, the Israeli death toll is as follows:
59 have been killed in Israel so far, including:
55 Israeli soldiers
1 Israeli soldier "killed in action whose burial site is unknown"
2 Israeli civilians
1 Thai citizen working in Israel was also killed.

The Palestinian Death toll OUTSIDE of Gaza of those killed in clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli army/police in Jerusalem/West Bank:
13 Palestinians were killed and at least 577 have been injured. At least 388 of them have been injured from live ammunition, according to Al Jazeera sources on the ground.

by nadine.cheaib 7/30/2014 10:56:53 PM
BREAKING: US Department of Defense confirms it has supplied Israel with "munitions"

by nadine.cheaib 7/30/2014 11:16:54 PM
BREAKING UPDATE: Al Jazeera's @PattyCulhane reports the #Pentagon confirms delivery of two types of munitions to #Israel in the last week: 120mm mortar rounds and 40mm grenades, while calling for a ceasefire in #Gaza

by nadine.cheaib 7/30/2014 11:32:51 PM
US supplies Israel with bombs amid Gaza blitz
by Al Jazeera English via YouTube

by nadine.cheaib 7/31/2014 12:15:55 AM
Israel mobilised 16,000 additional reservists, taking their total to 86,000, as military operations in the Gaza Strip continue, an army spokeswoman said.

"The army has issued 16,000 additional mobilisation orders to allow troops on the ground to rest, which takes the total number of reservists to 86,000," said the spokeswoman.

[AFP]

by Basma Atassi 7/31/2014 4:35:56 AM
UNRWA
@UNRWA
#Gaza: 219,657 displaced Palestinian civilians are now sheltering in 86 UNRWA shelters. That's an average of 2,554 people per school.
Jul. 31, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Basma Atassi 7/31/2014 5:15:55 AM
IDF
@IDFSpokesperson
We struck 110 terror sites in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including 5 command centers.
Jul. 31, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Basma Atassi 7/31/2014 5:17:48 AM
Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Gaza Strip, says it is relatively quiet this morning.

"That said, we were told a mosque at Jabaliya refugee camp has been targeted over the past hour by artillery shelling," Tyab said.

At least 10 people were reportedly injured in the bombardment.

by Basma Atassi 7/31/2014 5:35:40 AM
Death toll update:

The Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip, which began on July 8, has so far claimed the lives of 1,360 Palestinians, including scores of children. More than 7,700 people have been injured.

Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel have killed two Israeli civilians and one Thai citizen. The fighting has killed 56 Israeli troops. One soldier remains missing and is presumed dead, according to the Israeli army.

by Basma Atassi 7/31/2014 5:53:36 AM
Israel says it's "a few days away " from completing tunnel hunt

Israel has ordered its ground forces to focus on locating and destroying a warren of tunnels
through which Hamas has menaced its southern towns and army bases.

Major General Sami Turgeman, chief of Israeli forces in Gaza, said on Wednesday they were "but a few days away from destroying all the attack tunnels".

The army said 32 of the secret passages had been found so far and half of them blown up.

by Basma Atassi 7/31/2014 6:03:30 AM
Gregg Carlstrom
@glcarlstrom
The Israeli cabinet will meet at 11am today in Tel Aviv.
Jul. 31, 2014
Reply
Retweet
Favorite
by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/31/2014 6:09:37 AM
by Rahul Radhakrishnan via YouTube

The White House is making increasingly strong statements condemning Israeli strikes that kill Palestinian civilians, including Wednesday's attack on the UN school.

But at the same time the Pentagon has confirmed they are resupplying the Israeli military, this while President Obama calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Al Jazeera's White House Correspondent Patty Culhane reports.

by Rahul Radhakrishnan 7/31/2014 6:53:21 AM

Gaza Blog

Fluctuating between shelling a temporary truce, Operation Protective Edge has left a high civilian death toll in its wake.

Witness

Guantanamo's Child: Omar Khadr

Featured Documentaries

Saudi Aramco: A story of oil, wealth and power

People & Power

Hong Kong's Summer of Defiance

My Ethiopia

Meaza Ashenafi: Judging Ethiopia's Future