This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-strip-conflict.html
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Israel Levels Upscale Gaza High-Rise | Israel Levels Upscale Gaza High-Rise |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| GAZA CITY — The high-rise known as the Italian Compound had four apartments on each of 13 floors, above an 80,000-square-foot mall with seven shisha cafes surrounding a garden and shops selling shoes, pharmaceuticals and mobile-phone accessories, as well as the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Public Works. It was one of Gaza’s finest residential towers, with 24-hour guards, and generators and wells to keep the elevator running and taps flowing when electricity and water ran short. | |
| On Tuesday morning, the apartment line on the southeast corner and the elevator shaft were all that was left after a series of Israeli airstrikes that started after midnight, injuring about a dozen residents and leaving 40 families homeless. | On Tuesday morning, the apartment line on the southeast corner and the elevator shaft were all that was left after a series of Israeli airstrikes that started after midnight, injuring about a dozen residents and leaving 40 families homeless. |
| “We spent the whole night in the street outside because it was dangerous to move,” said Hani Ashi, 44, who bought his 1,750-square-foot apartment on the tower’s fifth floor for $63,000 four years ago. Mr. Ashi said he had fled in shorts and a sleeveless undershirt, carrying only his family’s identity cards and a jalabiya, or cloak, which he donned when he got outside. | |
| The Italian Compound was one of two large buildings Israel targeted in strikes early Tuesday, after destroying an 11-story Gaza City apartment tower on Saturday, as its battle with Hamas, the Palestinian faction that dominates Gaza, entered its 50th day. In Israel, barrages of rockets from Gaza continued to pound southern cities for the seventh consecutive day, with a direct hit on a home in Ashkelon that sent more than 20 wounded people to the hospital, the most in a single strike this summer. | The Italian Compound was one of two large buildings Israel targeted in strikes early Tuesday, after destroying an 11-story Gaza City apartment tower on Saturday, as its battle with Hamas, the Palestinian faction that dominates Gaza, entered its 50th day. In Israel, barrages of rockets from Gaza continued to pound southern cities for the seventh consecutive day, with a direct hit on a home in Ashkelon that sent more than 20 wounded people to the hospital, the most in a single strike this summer. |
| The destructive exchanges came amid continued reports from Cairo of efforts toward a long-term cease-fire that had yet to solidify. Sirens signaling incoming rockets sounded throughout the morning in Israel’s south, and at least one was intercepted over Tel Aviv around 6:30 a.m., according to the Israeli military. | The destructive exchanges came amid continued reports from Cairo of efforts toward a long-term cease-fire that had yet to solidify. Sirens signaling incoming rockets sounded throughout the morning in Israel’s south, and at least one was intercepted over Tel Aviv around 6:30 a.m., according to the Israeli military. |
| In Ashkelon, 50 houses were damaged by shrapnel after a rocket smashed through the red-tile roof of the home where Yuval and Ofra Cohen had lived for 10 years with their children, now 14 and 17, around 7 a.m., according to the Israeli police and Ynet, an Israeli news site. A water heater fell into the Cohen home, which was destroyed, and a water pipe outside was damaged. | In Ashkelon, 50 houses were damaged by shrapnel after a rocket smashed through the red-tile roof of the home where Yuval and Ofra Cohen had lived for 10 years with their children, now 14 and 17, around 7 a.m., according to the Israeli police and Ynet, an Israeli news site. A water heater fell into the Cohen home, which was destroyed, and a water pipe outside was damaged. |
| “We hadn’t managed to make it into the safe room when it fell in our bedroom,” Mr. Cohen said in an interview on Army Radio. “It caught us in the children’s room, all the shrapnel and the dust and all of the glass. I don’t know how we escaped without harm, it’s a miracle.” | “We hadn’t managed to make it into the safe room when it fell in our bedroom,” Mr. Cohen said in an interview on Army Radio. “It caught us in the children’s room, all the shrapnel and the dust and all of the glass. I don’t know how we escaped without harm, it’s a miracle.” |
| In Gaza, the Health Ministry said six people had been killed in airstrikes. Two died at dawn and four died in the afternoon, in an airstrike in east Gaza City and a drone attack on a car in the territory’s north. Voice of Palestine radio said that more than 20 homes had been destroyed overnight. | In Gaza, the Health Ministry said six people had been killed in airstrikes. Two died at dawn and four died in the afternoon, in an airstrike in east Gaza City and a drone attack on a car in the territory’s north. Voice of Palestine radio said that more than 20 homes had been destroyed overnight. |
| Hamas officials had taken over spaces in Al Basha in 2009 after some of their headquarters were destroyed in Israel’s winter incursion, posting paper signs saying they were information technology companies. But most had moved out after offices were rebuilt. | Hamas officials had taken over spaces in Al Basha in 2009 after some of their headquarters were destroyed in Israel’s winter incursion, posting paper signs saying they were information technology companies. But most had moved out after offices were rebuilt. |
| Al Basha was knocked on its side and by noon on Tuesday was still blocking the intersection of two normally busy streets, Al Jala and Jamal Abdel Nasser. Three bulldozers were working to clear it. A guard who gave his name only as Abu Ismail said an Arabic speaker who identified himself as representing the Israeli military had called his mobile phone twice as a warning before the strikes began about 4:20 a.m. They began with three drone-fired missiles that Israel calls “knocks on the roof,” followed by four bombs dropped by F-16 warplanes. | |
| The guard said the tower contained no residences, just offices over four stores, including a showroom for a juice factory and a business that sold bathroom tiles and fixtures. But some people whose homes elsewhere in Gaza had been destroyed during the fighting had been staying in the building’s basement. | The guard said the tower contained no residences, just offices over four stores, including a showroom for a juice factory and a business that sold bathroom tiles and fixtures. But some people whose homes elsewhere in Gaza had been destroyed during the fighting had been staying in the building’s basement. |
| At the Italian Compound, Zaki Shneino, a guard, said one of the apartments hit early in the latest fighting was owned by Dirar Abu Sisi, an engineer who Israel captured in Ukraine in 2011 and who has since been held in prison on charges that he designed Hamas weaponry. Shortly after midnight Tuesday, said Mr. Shneino, who has worked at the building 10 years, several residents received calls on their mobile phones advising them to evacuate. | |
| Mr. Ashi, who lived on the fifth floor with his wife and eight children, the youngest of them 10-year-old twins, said there were four “knocks on the roof” 10 to 20 minutes apart, then six or seven large bombs. | Mr. Ashi, who lived on the fifth floor with his wife and eight children, the youngest of them 10-year-old twins, said there were four “knocks on the roof” 10 to 20 minutes apart, then six or seven large bombs. |
| By late morning, uniformed police officers and detectives in plain clothes prevented journalists and others from getting close to the rubble of the building, where bedcovers, cooking-gas cylinders, a computer and an 11th-grade textbook could be glimpsed among the debris. A man was loading boxes of unsold shoes into a van, while a cafe owner recovered bamboo chairs whose dark-red seat coverings had turned gray from the dust. | By late morning, uniformed police officers and detectives in plain clothes prevented journalists and others from getting close to the rubble of the building, where bedcovers, cooking-gas cylinders, a computer and an 11th-grade textbook could be glimpsed among the debris. A man was loading boxes of unsold shoes into a van, while a cafe owner recovered bamboo chairs whose dark-red seat coverings had turned gray from the dust. |
| Residents said 40 of the tower’s 52 apartments had been occupied, many of them by doctors, merchants, engineers and other professionals. It was built by a Palestinian-Italian company, they said, and opened in 1998 or 1999. | Residents said 40 of the tower’s 52 apartments had been occupied, many of them by doctors, merchants, engineers and other professionals. It was built by a Palestinian-Italian company, they said, and opened in 1998 or 1999. |
| “Prices here are a little bit higher than other buildings,” said Mr. Ashi, who worked as a police officer for the Palestinian Authority before it was routed by Hamas in 2007, and then for 10 months in the Hamas-controlled security service. “Because this is a distinguished place.” | “Prices here are a little bit higher than other buildings,” said Mr. Ashi, who worked as a police officer for the Palestinian Authority before it was routed by Hamas in 2007, and then for 10 months in the Hamas-controlled security service. “Because this is a distinguished place.” |