Hamas Leader Killed In Israeli Airstrike

U.S. Rejects Arab Nations' Demand For Gaza Ceasefire, Calls Draft Security Council Resolution "Unbalanced"

(CBS/AP)  Gaza's ruling Hamas group said one of its top figures was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday.

Nizar Rayyan had close ties to the group's military wing. Medics said seven people were killed and around 30 were wounded in the airstrike on Rayyan's house.

This is the first time aircraft have targeted a high-level member of Hamas since Israel launched a bruising offensive in Gaza on Saturday in which 400 people have died and approximately 1,700 people wounded, according to Gaza officials.

Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed, and the UN says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died.

Israel says its offensive is meant to halt militants' rocket fire on southern Israeli communities.

Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip for the funeral of a number of Hamas militants killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier on Thursday.

The continuing attacks follow Wednesday's failed emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, at which an Arab League request for a legally binding and enforceable U.N. resolution condemning Israel and calling for a stop to its military attacks on Gaza was rejected by the United States.

The U.S. called the draft resolution circulated by Libya on behalf of the 22-member Arab League "unbalanced" and "one-sided" because it made no mention of halting the Hamas rocketing of southern Israel which led to the Israeli offensive.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States is working very hard to achieve an immediate cease-fire implemented by both sides - but he said Washington has not seen "any evidence" yet that Hamas is willing to end its rocket attacks.

The best way to move forward, he said, would be to get an agreement among the parties for a cease-fire and humanitarian access to Gaza through diplomacy, "and for that agreement to be enshrined in a Security Council resolution if necessary."

Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers also called the resolution "one-sided" but he told reporters a balanced resolution would have "a good chance of support" in the council.

No vote was taken Wednesday.

As diplomatic efforts offered little promise of imminent peace, Israel and Hamas continued assaulting each other, with both munitions and aggressive rhetoric.

CBS News correspondent Robert Berger reports from Jerusalem that Israeli warplanes bombed the Hamas parliament in Gaza City early Thursday.

Explosions shook the city as Israeli planes targeted three government buildings, including the parliament. Hospital officials said 25 wounded were evacuated from nearby houses. The military said aircraft also bombed smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, part of an ongoing attempt to cut off Hamas' last lifeline to the world outside the embattled Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian rocket hit an apartment building in the Israeli city of Ashdod.

The Israelis say until Hamas rockets stop landing in border cities like Sederot, they won't stop bombing Hamas, reported CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. Sederot is a frequent Hamas target, where the bus shelters are also bomb shelters.

In the Israeli city of Beersheba the streets were virtually empty on Thursday following rocket attacks from Gaza-based militants.

Most people stayed at home on because of the rocket threat. The 18,000 students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, southern Israel's only university, were also told to stay home.

Beersheba, a major southern Israeli city 19 miles from Gaza, had never before been within range of Gaza rockets, reflecting the increasing sophistication of Hamas' arsenal.

Many in Beersheba said they were leaving the town in order to escape the danger.

"Everybody is running away and so am I," said one student at Ben-Gurion. "It's frightening not to know when the rockets are going to hit, if we are going to get hit, if someone you know is going to get hit."

Four Israelis have been killed by militant rocket fire, including three civilians, since Israel launched its campaign against Gaza on Saturday.

Despite the loss of civilian life the bombing has caused, Phillips reported, the Israelis say there's another reason they think it's too soon to stop.

"Terror cannot work," said Israel's Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni. "Targeting Israel doesn't mean that they are going to get something that even can be perceived as a victory."

Victory is just what Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh promised Wednesday night in a broadcast speech, reported Phillips. It is closer, he claimed, than some people may think.

Separate from the fruitless Security Council meeting, U.N. officials warned Wednesday that Gaza's 1.5 million residents are facing an "alarming" humanitarian situation under constant Israeli bombardment, with the main power plant shut down, overcrowded hospitals struggling to cope and very limited food supplies.

The Gaza power plant shut down on Tuesday because Israel has blocked fuel delivery through the main pipeline since Dec. 26, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said. This has forced hospitals to use generators, which have limited fuel supplies, and left many of the 650,000 people in central and northern Gaza with power cuts of 16 hours a day or more, he said.

The warning from the U.N. challenged Israel's official, often repeated stance that "there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

"The situation remains alarming," Holmes said. "Hospitals are obviously still struggling very much to cope with the number of casualties. We have continued to get some medical supplies in and to help them cope, but this remains difficult and fragile."

Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which helps Palestinian refugees, told reporters by video link from Gaza that the agency has not distributed any food for two weeks because of the shortage of supplies and the Israeli bombardment.

"I think that means that 20,000 people a day have been without food that they expect - and probably is the bulk of what they get," she said. "So people are doing pretty badly. Everyone we know is sharing whatever they have, not just with their families but with their neighbors."

"We haven't seen widespread hunger. We do see for the very first time ... people going through the rubbish dumps looking for things, people begging, which is quite a new phenomenon as well," she said.

Israeli senior military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovitch told CBS News' partner network Sky News on Thursday "there is no humanitarian crisis," a claim that she and other Israeli officials have made since missile strikes began on Saturday.

Leibovitch said "at least 360 trucks" carrying humanitarian aid had been allowed into Gaza during the last five days, and, "as far as I know, the warehouses are full of food."

She said Hamas was to blame for not distributing stockpiled food aid to Gazans.

Holmes said the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel was open, with 55 trucks of food and medical supplies and five ambulances getting into Gaza on Tuesday, and about 60 trucks on Wednesday. That compares to 125 truckloads a day in October 2008 and 475 truckloads a day in May 2007, just before Hamas took control of Gaza, he said.

Some medical supplies, ambulances and generators also got into Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, he said.

In Crawford, Texas, President Bush's spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters that officials are seeing "a good flow" of medical and food supplies into Gaza.

Abu Zayd stressed that her U.N. agency needs 100 trucks of flour a day to meet the needs of refugees. But she said Israel has closed down the Karni crossing, the main gateway for cargo into Gaza where it is normally delivered, for security reasons.

She said UNRWA was told by the Israeli humanitarian coordinator that all other crossings aren't open because "there is intelligence about serious preparations for security operations."

"We wonder if it's serious enough to really keep things completely closed and to keep people on their edge of subsistence," she said.

Holmes said "the major needs, apart from medical supplies, remain ... grain and wheat flour and fuel - also cash would be very helpful to enable people to buy supplies."

He said the Israelis have been "cooperative in principle about these supplies but we need to see more results."

UNRWA launched an emergency appeal on Tuesday for $34 million for food, medical supplies and other goods, he said, and "there are good indications that the donors will respond generously."

[shirajordan]

To all the people who sleep safely in their beds at night and have the audacity to criticize the Israeli government, this is for you:
None of you spoke in the past 8 years when rockets and bombs fell in southern Israeli cities, causing death and destruction without any provocation on our part.
What you need to understand are two things-
First of all, there is no functioning government in Gaza. The Hamas took over (in a military coup!) and they are running the show. The Hamas, in case you didn''t know, is a terror organization. Just like Al-kaida and Hezbollah. Israel is dealing with terror organizations all through its borders. Not with governments. And not with civilians. We have nothing against the Palestinians. Only the terrorists.
The second thing you need to know is that the Hamas is a very cynical organization which uses innocent women and children to fight Israel. They launch their missals from civilian''s houses, not from open fields or military camps, and when the Israeli army wants to destroy those missals launchers- sometimes innocent people die.

[shirajordan]

-continue-
They stash weapons; bombs etc. in hospitals, mosques, civil houses and schools exactly for this reason- they know that the Israeli army will not bomb those places. Over the years, they have dig tunnels between Egypt and Gaza to smuggle everything, including weapons which is being used against us.
The Israeli army has such advanced technologies they can surgically hit those places. And that is exactly what we are doing. The manipulations in the media, done by the Arabs are ridicules, at best.
Ask yourself- what would you do if your life was constantly under threat? Look at the map. Maybe that will help you grasp our geographic situation.
The purpose of the Israeli army is to defend. Not attack.
So next time you think about how miserable and poor the Palestinians are, and how powerful and evil the Israelis are- think again. Israel has left Gaza more than 3 (!) years ago- their chaos and fights among themselves are not our responsibility.
(Written by a left-wing Israeli who thinks terror should not win anywhere in the world).

[mutifeldbra1]

its extremely disturbing to see the whole liberal media and liberals in general go crazy when Israel protects their citizens, don''t they see who is making all the trouble in the world killing their own people a whole day and blowing up people a whole day is that the Jews or the Muslims? . so why are the Muslims so outraged when people are being killed in Gaza they are busy killing each other and the west a whole day

[barsellers]

The World is ignoring human rights issues in the middle east. Check out www.SurviveIran.com

[kawosa]

As usual, most of you are forgetting that the first missiles to cross those borders were in fact Israeli born. Senility or just plain ignorance, call it what you may, but your defending Israel for this mass murdering while the pot is calling the kettle black is simply ridiculous. The blood of the innocent is on your hands as well.

If you don''t know what you are talking about, it''s best to keep trap shut.

[ghalie123]

Why do HAMAS have so much effort to transport bombs/rocket launchers/weapons around, but they don''t have heart to prepare foods/works/schools to their children?

If politicians are really care about their own people, this is what they do - ensure enough foods/jobs/schools for the entire country.

Palestinians are stupid to be taught that removing Israel will give them foods/jobs/schools ....

Maybe it is time Palestinians wake up and think carefully what they wish for.

[ghalie123]

Those who support HAMAS are evil in mind.

Please do not twist the facts that HAMAS bombed Israel for 18 months without good reason ... while Israel tolerated until recently to retaliate.

People who support HAMAS deserve their own share of death too.

[kretosdav]

bloody baby killer terrorists
stop israel for the sake of world peace !

[jsd330]

israeli support = terrorism
no israeli support = no terrorism

[renojmc]

Israel is forced to fight with one hand tied behind its back -- tied by the so-called "international community" that puts pressure upon it, and even convinces the weak-minded in the USA government to join in, when the Israeli goal is actually quite simple and straightforward.
That goal is to stop the sending of thousands of rockets indiscriminately into Israel, into such major population centers as Ashkelon, and Ashdod, requiring nearly a million Israelis to have to worry all the time about the 15 seconds they have to find shelter against incoming rockets. It is purely a military matter: is Hamas going to be allowed to continue a gigantic, a truly monstrous arms buildup, with every kind of missile that the Iranians or others can supply them with, or is it not?
Just keep this in mind: if there were no rockets shot into Israel, no arms buildup of military equipment, smuggled under several hundred tunnels that have been carefully constructed , then there would be nothing, absolutely nothing, not a gun, not a tank, not an airplane, not a paper airplane, from Israel going into Gaza.
It is a simple choice. It is the most understandable and basic request: stop sending rockets, stop spending all of your energies making war or preparing for war. Leave us alone. That''''s all. Just leave us alone. That is what any country -- even besieged and thrown-to-the-Muslim-wolves Israel -- has a right, and a duty, to demand. Posted by AlanW1077 at 05:14 PM : Jan 01, 2009
--
Excellent! Worth reposting.

[caldwellptr]

And Americans do not hate Arabs because of terrorism.

[rickstas]

"...a legally binding and enforceable U.N. resolution condemning Israel and calling for a stop to its military attacks on Gaza was rejected by the United States."

Arabs do not hate the U.S. because of its freedom.

[tonyb-d-bing]

You Beodishazmi

must stop your blind, destructive, primitive hate, and help contribute to an end of conflict among the Palestinians and Israelis.

[tonyb-d-bing]

Hey Beodishazmi

Would you agree that the Romans and the Catholic Church ruined the lives of BOTH the Hebrews and the local Arab residents in the Middle East?

And, BEFORE Islam was a religion, the Romans abused BOTH Arabs and Hebrews.

So, BOTH Israelis and Arabs need help and bridging to understand each other!

[roscoe2400-2009]

Another retardd moron maddoff by himself affected millions of investors you don''''t have millions of blacks in jails and most of them are petty crimminals and did not affected million .....jews are affecting the whole world...get your head out of your assss so you can see better....


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Beodishazmi at 04:38 PM : Jan 01, 2009

Sorry you can''t handle the truth!

[tonyb-d-bing]

IRAN MUST BE DEALT WITH NOW, BEFORE IT STARTS WORLD WAR3!

IT''S THE PRIMITIVE, HATEFUL, IRANIAN DEATH-WISHING REGIME, THAT IS CAUSING WORLDWIDE DESTRUCTION BY SUPPORTING TERRORISTS AND FORCING ISLAMOFASCISM ON THE WHOLE WORLD!

THE ENTIRE WORLD MUST UNITE AGAINST THE CURRENT DIABOLICAL IRANIAN REGIME BEFORE IT''S TOO LATE!!!

[beodishazmi]

(__1__)

[abrame]

Terror Rockets = Embargo

No Terror Rockets = No Embargo

[lopezf11]

Fvcking religious delusional king size asssholes with punny brain which happens to be your assses....educate youself rather pigshitt wasting time and posting crappp....

Posted by Beodishazmi

Most of us come here to for your truth, seer.

[abrame]

but probably not to settle them nor shake anyone''s faith
Posted by Beodishazmi

Gabriel''s Revelation
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Gabriel''s Revelation (also named Hazon Gabriel or the Vision of Gabriel[1]) is a three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew containing a collection of short prophecies written in the first person and dated to the late first century BCE.[2][3] One of the stories allegedly tells of a man who was killed by the Romans and resurrected in three days. It is a tablet hailed as a "Dead Sea scroll in stone"....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel%27s_Revelation