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Israelis and Gazans Clash, but Fighting Is More Subdued Israelis and Gazans Clash, but Fighting Is More Subdued
(35 minutes later)
JERUSALEM — Cross-border hostilities between Gaza and Israel continued into Saturday, a day after a temporary cease-fire expired, but the simmering exchanges, which came amid Egyptian-brokered efforts for a renewed cease-fire and for a resumption of talks for a more durable end to the conflict, were markedly less severe than the fighting that has raged during most of the last month. JERUSALEM — Cross-border hostilities between Gaza and Israel continued on Saturday, a day after a temporary cease-fire expired. But the simmering exchanges were on a markedly lower scale than the fighting that has raged for most of the last month, as Egyptian-brokered efforts continued for a new cease-fire and a resumption of talks on a more durable end to the conflict.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had struck more than 30 targets in the Gaza Strip since midnight, describing them as “terror activity sites, command and control centers and weapon storage facilities.” Medical officials in Gaza said five people were killed. Five Palestinians were reported killed in Israeli airstrikes, and Palestinian militants fired more rockets into Israel. No new casualties were reported on the Israeli side.
Almost a dozen rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel by Saturday afternoon, the Israeli military said, far fewer than during several previous days of fighting. All of the rockets launched on Saturday fell in open ground, they said. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza and is leading the Palestinian fighting, had refused to extend the 72-hour cease-fire that expired at 8 a.m. on Friday and immediately fired salvos of rockets into Israel. The group was frustrated with what Palestinian officials said was a failure by Egypt and Israel to address Hamas’s demands for a full lifting of the blockade on Gaza and the construction of a seaport.
Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza and is leading the Palestinian fighting, had refused to extend the 72-hour cease-fire that expired at 8 a.m. Friday. Militants immediately fired salvos of rockets into Israel, frustrated with what Palestinian officials said was a failure by Egypt and Israel to address Hamas’s demands for a complete lifting of the blockade on Gaza and the construction of a seaport. The Israeli government accused Hamas of having violated the cease-fire after two rockets or mortars were launched against Israel before dawn on Friday. An official Palestinian statement said the attacks had resumed “after Israel withdrew from the cease-fire negotiations in Cairo.” The Israeli delegation, which has traveled to and from Cairo for days, left Egypt at 7 a.m. on Friday. The Israel government subsequently said it would not negotiate under fire.
The Israeli government accused Hamas of having violated the cease-fire after two rockets or mortars were launched against Israel before dawn on Friday. An official Palestinian statement said attacks were resumed “after Israel withdrew from the cease-fire negotiations in Cairo.” The Israeli delegation, which has traveled back and forth from Cairo for days, left Egypt at 7 a.m. on Friday, but the Israel government later said it would not negotiate under fire. Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official in Gaza, said in an interview on Saturday that the responses the Palestinian delegation to the Cairo talks had received so far did not “meet the minimum level of the Palestinian people’s aspirations, and there was no real response or acceptance of any of the main demands.”
Musheir al-Masri, a Hamas official in Gaza, said in an interview on Saturday that the responses received so far by the Palestinian delegation to the Cairo talks “do not meet the minimum level of the Palestinian people’s aspirations and there was no real response or acceptance of any of the main demands.” The interview was held at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where Mr. Masri presumably felt safe from any Israeli attack.
Mr. Masri called concessions offered so far at thin Cairo had been only “partial” and “limited,” and he accused Israel of wasting time “through political maneuvers meant to lower the ceiling of the Palestinian demands.” Mr. Masri said the concessions Israel had offered so far were “partial” and “limited,” and he accused the Israelis of wasting time “through political maneuvers meant to lower the ceiling of the Palestinian demands.”
The interview took place at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where Mr. Masri presumably felt safe from any possible Israeli attack. Three Palestinians were killed early Saturday when an Israeli missile destroyed the Qassam Mosque in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, and two cousins were killed in a separate strike as they rode a motorcycle east of Nusseirat, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and witnesses.
Three Palestinians were killed early Saturday when an Israeli missile destroyed the Qassam Mosque in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, and two cousins, aged 60 and 18, were killed in a separate strike as they rode a motorcycle east of Nusseirat, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and witnesses. The mosque sits in a residential area of close-packed houses and alleys. A neighbor, Alaa Eid, a professor of journalism at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University, said Israel had called a man whose home is adjacent to the mosque and asked him to evacuate because the mosque was going to be hit.
The mosque sat in a residential area of close-packed houses and alleys. A neighbor, Alaa Eid, a professor of journalism at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University, said that Israel had called another neighbor whose home is next to the mosque and asked him to evacuate because the mosque was going to be hit. Hearing the commotion, Mr. Eid woke his family, and they all left the house.
Hearing the commotion, Mr. Eid woke his family and they all left the house. “Women, children and old men were all running, and they filled the alley,” Mr. Eid said, describing the moments around 3:30 a.m. when an Israeli warplane dropped a guiding or warning missile and then hit the mosque. The blast knocked some people to the ground, but Mr. Eid said none were injured. He said it was unclear why the three people who were killed had been in the mosque at the time. About four hours after the strike, he said, a bulldozer and rescue teams came and dug their bodies out of the rubble.
“Women, children and old men were all running and they filled the alley,” Mr. Eid said, describing the moments, about 3.30 a.m., when an Israeli warplane first dropped a guiding or warning missile and then hit the mosque. The blast caused some people to fall to the ground but Mr. Eid said none were injured. He said it was unclear why the three people who were killed were in the mosque at the time of the strike. About four hours later a bulldozer and rescue teams came and dug their bodies out from under the rubble, he said. The Palestinian authorities in Gaza say that Israel has destroyed 64 mosques and damaged 150 others since the beginning of its military operation in Gaza on July 8, which Israel said was intended to quell Palestinian rocket fire and to destroy Hamas’s network of tunnels leading into Israeli territory. The Israeli military has acknowledged striking several mosques and has distributed photographs and footage showing weapons and shafts leading to a tunnel under the prayer room of a mosque.
Palestinian authorities in Gaza say that Israel has destroyed 64 mosques and damaged 150 others since the beginning of its military operation in Gaza on July 8, which Israel said was intended to quell Palestinian rocket fire and destroy Hamas’s network of tunnels leading into Israeli territory. The Israeli military has acknowledged striking several mosques and has distributed photographs and video footage showing weapons and shafts leading to an underground tunnel under a mosque prayer room. Israel has also said that Hamas sometimes uses mosques to store weapons and ammunition and shelter fighters. The cousins killed on their motorcycle were identified by relatives as Abdel Hakim al-Mossadar, 60, and Hani al-Mossadar, 18. A spokeswoman for the Israeli military, speaking on the condition of anonymity under army rules, said they were “terror operatives” who had been targeted in a pinpoint attack. Relatives of the two said they had nothing to do with the resistance and were on their way to work at a family-owned gas station when they were hit.
The two cousins who were killed on their motorcycle were identified by relatives as Abdel Hakim Al-Mossadar, 60, and Hani Al-Mossadar, 18. A spokeswoman for the Israeli military, speaking on the condition of anonymity under army rules, said they were “terror operatives” who were targeted in a pinpoint attack. Relatives of the two said they had nothing to do with the resistance and were on their way to work at a family-owned gas station when they were hit. Another Israeli missile hit the Ansar security compound in Gaza City, which contains security facilities such as the training directorate for police recruits in the territory. Columns of smoke rose from the compound, which was empty at the time and had already been hit and partly destroyed in the last month.
Another Israeli missile hit the Ansar security compound in Gaza City, which contains the training directorate for police recruits in the Hamas-dominated territory and other security buildings. Columns of smoke rose from the compound, which was empty at the time and has already been hit and partly destroyed in the last month. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had struck more than 30 targets in the Gaza Strip since midnight, describing them as “terror activity sites, command and control centers, and weapon storage facilities.”
In the West Bank, where tensions have also risen in recent weeks, two Palestinian men were reported killed during clashes with Israeli forces. One man identified in the Palestinian news media as Nader Muhammad Idris, 40, was shot in Hebron on Friday and died of his wounds early Saturday, according to hospital officials. Another, identified as Ahmed al-Qatari of the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, was fatally shot during clashes near the Jewish settlement of Psagot, near Ramallah, on Friday. It added that almost a dozen rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel by Saturday afternoon — a much lower number than most of the previous days of fighting — and that they had all fallen on open ground.
The Israeli military said that in both events Palestinians hurled rocks and firebombs at Israeli security forces who used live fire after they had “exhausted” the use of riot dispersal means. In the West Bank, where tensions have also risen in recent weeks, two Palestinian men were reported killed during clashes with Israeli forces. One man, identified in the Palestinian news media as Nader Muhammad Idris, 40, was shot in Hebron on Friday and died early Saturday, hospital officials said. Another, identified as Ahmed al-Qatari of the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, was fatally shot on Friday during clashes by the nearby Jewish settlement of Psagot.
The Israeli military said that in both events, Palestinians hurled rocks and firebombs at Israeli security forces, who used live fire after they had “exhausted” riot dispersal methods.