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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <font
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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-pounds-gaza-after-rocket-strikes-house">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-pounds-gaza-after-rocket-strikes-house</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Israel pounds Gaza after rocket strikes
house</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy">Maureen
Clare Murphy</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2019-03-25T23:27:38+00:00">25 March 2019</span></span>
</p>
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dir="ltr">
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<figure id="file-76161"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p><a
href="https://twitter.com/press221/status/1110266689898401798">Seven</a>
Palestinians were injured as Israel bombarded Gaza on
Monday night in what Israel’s acting foreign minister
<a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/military-prepares-for-gaza-offensive-after-rocket-strikes-central-israel-1.7059002">said</a>
was the military’s largest offensive there since 2014.</p>
<p>Palestinian factions fired rockets from Gaza towards
southern Israel in response. Video showed a home in
Sderot that was hit with a rocket fired from Gaza:</p>
<div id="file-76166">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">أضرار داخل منزل للمستوطنين
في "سديروت" بعد استهدافه بصاروخ من قطاع <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة</a>.
<a href="https://t.co/8b5e8c8OfC">pic.twitter.com/8b5e8c8OfC</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1110276102424064000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>The bombing and rocket launching continued despite
reports that Egypt had mediated a ceasefire agreement
between Israel and Palestinan factions in Gaza.</p>
<h2>Gaza rocket destroys Israeli house</h2>
<p>The bombing began Monday hours after a rocket fired
from Gaza <a
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-sirens/israel-says-six-wounded-near-tel-aviv-in-long-range-gaza-rocket-attack-idUSKCN1R60A2">destroyed
a home</a> in Mishmeret, an agricultural town north
of Tel Aviv, <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/military-prepares-for-gaza-offensive-after-rocket-strikes-central-israel-1.7059002">injuring
seven</a>. No Palestinian faction claimed
responsibility for the rocket.</p>
<p>Monday marked the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-pounds-gaza-after-mistaken-missile-launch">second
time</a> in two weeks that projectiles fired from
Gaza reached central Israel, both <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-investigating-rocket-fire-official-cites-bad-weather-as-possible-cause/">purportedly</a>
by accident.</p>
<div id="file-76171">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">That’s right.
Indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations
are strictly prohibited under int’l law. But
it’s equally prohibited to resort to belligerent
reprisal against the civilian population,
civilian objects, objects indispensable to the
survival of the civilian population. <a
href="https://t.co/Fd4NZnCvEe">https://t.co/Fd4NZnCvEe</a></p>
— Jamil Dakwar (@jdakwar) <a
href="https://twitter.com/jdakwar/status/1110161502735163398?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div id="file-76211">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Raining fire on densely
populated area (2 million in 25 by 7 mile
territory) on population you've occupied for 50+
yrs & caged in open-air prison for 10+ bound
to result in civilian death & won't make
Israel safer. Sending a message should never
come at expense of civilian life. <a
href="https://t.co/b8rHpexZYp">https://t.co/b8rHpexZYp</a></p>
— Omar Shakir (@OmarSShakir) <a
href="https://twitter.com/OmarSShakir/status/1110213252271796229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Israel <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-march-25-2019/#liveblog-entry-2043911">claimed</a>
that a three-story building in Gaza targeted by its
warplanes was a “secret headquarters” belonging to the
intelligence services of Hamas.</p>
<p>Videos were said to show that building being hit:</p>
<div id="file-76176">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">مشاهد أخرى للحظة قصف مبنى
الأمن الداخلي في <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة</a>.<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9_%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AA_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة_تحت_القصف</a>
<a href="https://t.co/QXODL2kQR4">pic.twitter.com/QXODL2kQR4</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1110278845813452800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div id="file-76181">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">لحظة قصف الطيران الحربي
لمقر الأمن الداخلي غرب <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة</a>.<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9_%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AA_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة_تحت_القصف</a>
<a href="https://t.co/4FqKVyANRH">pic.twitter.com/4FqKVyANRH</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1110276481098362880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Also <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/military-prepares-for-gaza-offensive-after-rocket-strikes-central-israel-1.7059002">reportedly
targeted</a> were the offices of Ismail Haniyeh, the
head of Hamas’ political wing:</p>
<div id="file-76186">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar"><a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%84?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#عاجل</a>
<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AF?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#شاهد</a><br>
قصف صهيوني يستهدف مكتب رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة
<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#حماس</a>
إسماعيل هنية غرب مدينة <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة</a>.
<a href="https://t.co/PNTAgZZOoG">pic.twitter.com/PNTAgZZOoG</a></p>
— قناة الأقصى الفضائية (@AqsaTVChannel) <a
href="https://twitter.com/AqsaTVChannel/status/1110250994963759104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div id="file-76191">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">طيران الاحتلال يدمر مكتب
رئيس المكتب السياسي لحماس إسماعيل هنية.<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9_%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AA_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة_تحت_القصف</a>
<a href="https://t.co/HN6GjBXcR3">pic.twitter.com/HN6GjBXcR3</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1110262854354116609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Israel also closed the Erez and Kerem Shalom
checkpoints, preventing the movement of people, <a
href="https://twitter.com/joedyke/status/1110235615826796544">including</a>
international correspondents, and goods in and out of
northern Gaza.</p>
<div id="file-76196">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<p>Israel closes crossings between Israel &
Gaza and blocks all access to the “fishing
zone” off Gaza’s coast. Trucks are being
turned away at Kerem Shalom and exit via Erez
is limited to humanitarian exceptions. </p>
<p>(Thread)</p>
</div>
— Gisha גישה مسلك (@Gisha_Access) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Gisha_Access/status/1110162209634746368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Nickolay Mladenov, the UN’s Middle East peace envoy,
decried the firing of the missile towards Israel and
said that his side was working with Egypt “but [the]
situation remains VERY tense.”</p>
<div id="file-76201">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>:
Today's firing of a rocket from <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gaza</a>
towards <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Israel</a>,
which hit a house north of Tel Aviv and injured
seven people, is absolutely unacceptable. This
is an extremely serious incident! <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UN</a>
is working intensely with <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Egypt?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Egypt</a>
and all sides but situation remains VERY tense.</p>
— Nickolay E. MLADENOV (@nmladenov) <a
href="https://twitter.com/nmladenov/status/1110146667599282177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is up for
reelection in 15 days, faced a barrage of criticism
from other Israeli leaders who demanded blood after
the Israeli home was hit.</p>
<h2>Israeli leaders call for assassinations</h2>
<p>Culture minister Miri Regev echoed <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-gantz-as-pm-i-would-resume-targeted-killings-in-gaza-if-israel-is-attacked-1.7019979">previous
calls</a> by Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s chief election
rival, by calling for the extrajudicial killing of
Palestinian leaders.</p>
<p>“Only when the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in
Gaza feel they’re being hunted down and are in the
crosshairs will they start to interpret us
differently,” she <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/opponents-blame-netanyahu-following-rocket-attack-on-central-israel-1.7048675">said</a>.</p>
<p>Israel’s finance minister, Moshe Kahlon, also
advocated “restoring the policy of targeted
assassinations.”</p>
<p>Before they were limited by Israel’s high court, 339
Palestinians – 210 of them the target and 129 of them
civilian bystanders – died in “targeted killings”
between 2000 and 2006, <a
href="https://www.btselem.org/firearms/20061219_targeted_killing_ruling">according
to</a> B’Tselem, a human rights group.</p>
<p>Itamar Ben-Gvir of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party
stated “it is high time to charge Gaza a heavy price.”
He said that for every rocket fired from the
territory, “30 terrorists should be killed, Gaza
should be leveled and we should return to Gush Katif,”
referring to a settlement in Gaza evacuated by Israel
in 2005.</p>
<p>In a joint statement, Ayelet Shaked and Naftali
Bennet, the outgoing justice and education ministers,
respectively, stated that “Israeli deterrence has
collapsed,” and that “deterred people don’t shoot.”</p>
<p>Israeli leaders have long sought the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-wants-break-gaza-once-and-all">total
capitulation</a> of Gaza’s population, now more than
two million, half of them children, and two-thirds of
them refugees from lands on the other side of the
Gaza-Israel boundary fence.</p>
<p>Israel’s land, sea and air blockade, imposed on Gaza
after the elected Hamas government took charge there
in 2007, was intended to do just that, as were
Israel’s three major offensives on the coastal
enclaves between 2008 and 2014.</p>
<p>Over the past year Palestinians in Gaza have rebelled
against the siege, which has seen unemployment rates
reach the <a
href="https://unctad.org/en/pages/PressRelease.aspx?OriginalVersionID=467">highest
in the world</a>, families thrust into poverty, a <a
href="https://www.nrc.no/news/2019/march/gaza-childrens-mental-health-rapidly-deteriorating/">majority
of children</a> grapple with psychological distress,
and its population become dependent on humanitarian
aid.</p>
<p>Palestinians have paid dearly for that rebellion,
with nearly <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-gaza-protesters-un-body-condemns-unlawful-force">200
shot and killed</a> and 7,000 <a
href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-snapshot-casualties-context-demonstrations-and-hostilities-gaza-30-march-2018">injured
by live fire</a> during massive unarmed
demonstrations under the banner of the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/great-march-return">Great
March of Return</a>.</p>
<p>A UN commission of inquiry has <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/un-investigators-call-arrests-over-gaza-war-crimes">found</a>
that Israel’s use of lethal force against protesters
warrants criminal investigation and prosecution and
may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>This week marks the one-year anniversary of the
protests.</p>
<h2>Trump signs executive order on Golan Heights</h2>
<p>Palestinians in Gaza reported Monday’s attacks in
real time on social media as Netanyahu, in Washington,
watched his American counterpart Donald Trump sign an
executive order <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-gaza-protesters-un-body-condemns-unlawful-force">delivering
on his promise</a> to recognize Israel’s claims to
sovereignty over the Golan Heights.</p>
<p>As recognized by international law, the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/golan-heights">Golan
Heights</a> is Syrian territory captured by Israel
during the 1967 war along with the Palestinian West
Bank and Gaza Strip, and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from
which Israel eventually withdrew.</p>
<p>After Israel claimed to annex the Golan Heights in
1981, the UN Security Council <a
href="https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/73D6B4C70D1A92B7852560DF0064F101">declared</a>
the move “null and void and without international
legal effect.”</p>
<p>Syria’s foreign ministry <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-trump-to-sign-executive-order-recognizing-golan-as-israeli-territory-1.7058996">said</a>
the US move was a “blatant attack on the sovereignty
and territorial integrity” of Syria.</p>
<p>Al-Marsad, a human rights group based in the Golan
Heights, stated on Monday that “The decision sets a
dangerous standard that glorifies systematic human
rights abuses, legitimizes illegal aggression and
occupation, and endangers peace in the Middle East.”</p>
<div id="file-76206">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"We unequivocally reject
the U.S.'s decision today and will contest all
of its practical impacts. The Syrian people must
have the final say in what happens on their
land." <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Golan_is_Syrian?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Golan_is_Syrian</a>
<a href="https://t.co/xHaZQbyogr">pic.twitter.com/xHaZQbyogr</a></p>
— Al-Marsad | المرصد (@GolanMarsad) <a
href="https://twitter.com/GolanMarsad/status/1110230002631622661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p><a
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-israel-un-idUSKCN1R623E">The
head of the United Nations</a>, as well as <a
href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/25/golan-expected-us-policy-shift-reflects-disdain-rights">Human
Rights Watch</a>, emphasized that Trump’s executive
order did not change the status of the Golan Heights
under international law:</p>
<div id="file-76216">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">U.N. chief clear that Golan
status has not changed: spokesman <a
href="https://t.co/11N1iYJzII">https://t.co/11N1iYJzII</a>
<a href="https://t.co/ztfITG2bYx">pic.twitter.com/ztfITG2bYx</a></p>
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1110292086820093952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div id="file-76221">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Let’s be clear - <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GolanHeights?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GolanHeights</a>
still occupied <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Syria?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Syria</a>
territory, and unilateral declarations cannot
deprive Syrians of their rights under occupation
law. Only thing this does is embolden other
occupying states to double down on their own
land grabs. <a href="https://t.co/a0Ab2BnYhY">https://t.co/a0Ab2BnYhY</a>
<a href="https://t.co/Aab9wJCMUi">https://t.co/Aab9wJCMUi</a></p>
— Sara Kayyali (@skayyali1) <a
href="https://twitter.com/skayyali1/status/1110223466874261505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
25, 2019</a></blockquote>
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