What Was Operation Cast Lead

Operation Cast Lead . The 2008 – 2009 Gaza Strip conflict , dubbed Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), was a military offensive from the air, land and sea preceded by an aerial bombing campaign over the Gaza Strip ( Palestinian territories), which began on 27 of December of 2008 and ending on 18 of January of 2009 .It was directed against targets Hamas infrastructure organization, mainly ports, ministerial offices, police stations , weapons depots and underground tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip with Egypt. The conflict was described as the ” Gaza Massacre ” in much of the world.

Israeli sources reported that the objective of this attack was to destroy Hamas’ “terrorist infrastructure” and military capabilities, in response to the firing of rockets and mortar shells against Israeli civilian targets by Palestinian militiamen: since the end of the fire until the beginning of the offensive, more than 200 projectiles hit Israel .

It is the attack with the highest number of casualties in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the last forty years, which left fourteen Israelis dead, eleven of them soldiers and three civilians; and more than 1,300 Palestinians killed, about half Hamas militants. There was a significant number of Palestinian civilian casualties, which could reach 50 % of the total, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . Likewise, the United Nations estimates that at least 412 of the Palestinian victims are children.

Due to the debris removal work being carried out in Gaza , the number of Palestinian casualties is provisional and therefore likely to increase. The Israeli army is conducting its own investigation into Palestinian casualties, and on January 28 it announced that it estimated the Palestinian dead at about 1,200, of whom at least 700 would be militants.

Immediately after the start of the offensive, Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip responded by firing hundreds of rockets towards Israel , killing one Israeli soldier and three civilians, after reaching the cities of Sderot, Ashdod, Ashdod. The leaders of these armed groups called for the Third Intifada against Israel and the resumption of suicide bombings. After the start of the land invasion of the Strip, nine Israeli soldiers died in combat in different actions, four of them as a consequence friendly fire on January 5 . Another Israeli soldier died on January 27 as a result of injuries caused by a bomb launched by Palestinian militiamen near the Kissufim pass.

Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak declared: “There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight.” While the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Ólmert, warned that “it may take time, and each and every one of us must be patient so that we can complete the mission”

Following the intensification of diplomacy in the previous days, on January 17, 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Ólmert announced a “unilateral cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip”, lasting 10 days. During this period, the Israeli army will continue to be deployed in the Strip, and according to a high command of the same, “if Hamas fires at Israeli forces, we reserve the right to respond.”

Following the declaration of a ceasefire, several rockets fell on Israeli territory and there was fighting between Palestinian militiamen and the Israeli military inside the Gaza Strip, causing the death of a Palestinian citizen.

The following day, January 18, it was Hamas along with other Palestinian organizations that announced an “immediate ceasefire.” This one, lasting one week, would have the objective of withdrawing the Israeli army from Gaza, although according to a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Ólmert, the Israeli army would not contemplate a withdrawal schedule until the firing of rockets on his territory.

Table of Contents

Summary

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1 Causes of conflict
2 How did the conflict start?
3 Why was Israel founded in the Middle East?
4 Why are there two Palestinian territories?
5 What are the main points of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis?
6 Is Palestine a Country?
7 Why is the US Israel’s main ally? Who supports the Palestinians?
8 Why are they fighting now?
9 How does Israel justify violence and how do the Palestinians?
10 What would have to happen for there to be a chance for lasting peace?
11 New episode of violence: Israel vs Gaza
12 What is the Gaza Strip?
13 What has been the historical evolution of the Gaza Strip?
14 What is the latent conflict in the Gaza Strip?
15 What is the position of the other countries in relation to the conflict?
16 Is it possible to reach a truce?
17 January 18, 2009- Israeli aggression. End of Operation Cast Lead
18 Source

Causes of the conflict

Almost a month after the start of the war in Gaza, the count of destruction and death continued. 1,717 Palestinians and 67 Israelis die. Of the total Palestinian victims, 1,176 were civilians, 377 children and 196 women. On the Israeli side, 64 were soldiers, two civilians and one foreign. But the impact of the war in Gaza is still harsh for those who are alive. According to United Nations figures, some 373,000 children have had to receive psychosocial assistance, 485,000 people have been displaced, which has led them to emergency shelters or the homes of other Palestinian families. Furthermore, 1.5 million people who do not live in shelters do not have access to safe water.

How did the conflict start?

The British Mandate of Palestine ruled between 1920 and 1948 . Encouraged by the anti-Semitism suffered by Jews in Europe, at the beginning of the 20th century the Zionist movement, seeking to establish a state for Jews, gained strength. The region of Palestine, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, considered sacred to Muslims, Jews and Catholics, belonged to the Ottoman Empire at that time and was occupied mostly by Arabs and other Muslim communities. But strong Jewish immigration, fostered by Zionist aspirations, was beginning to generate resistance among communities. Following the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, United Kingdomreceived a mandate from the League of Nations to administer the territory of Palestine. But before and during the war, the British had made various promises to the Arabs and Jews that they later failed to keep, not least because they had already divided the Middle East with France. This caused a climate of tension between Arab nationalists and Zionists that sparked clashes between Jewish paramilitary groups and Arab gangs. After World War II and after the Holocaust, the pressure to establish a Jewish state increased. The original plan contemplated the partition of the territory controlled by the European power between Jews and Palestinians. Following the founding of Israel on May 14, 1948, the tension shifted from a local issue to a regional issue. The next day, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq invaded this territory. It was the first Arab-Israeli war, also known by Jews as the war of independence or liberation. After the conflict, the territory initially envisaged by the United Nations for an Arab state was cut in half. For the Palestinians, the Nakba began, the so-called “destruction” or “catastrophe”: the beginning of the national tragedy. 750,000 Palestinians fled to neighboring countries or were expelled by Jewish troops. the beginning of the national tragedy. 750,000 Palestinians fled to neighboring countries or were expelled by Jewish troops. the beginning of the national tragedy. 750,000 Palestinians fled to neighboring countries or were expelled by Jewish troops.

But 1948 would not be the last confrontation between Arabs and Jews. In 1956, a crisis over the Suez Canal would pit the State of Israel against Egypt, which would not be defined on the battlefield but by international pressure on Israel, France and England. But the fighting would have the last word in 1967 in the Six Day War. What happened between June 5 and June 10 of that year had profound and lasting consequences at different levels. It was a landslide victory for Israel against an Arab coalition. Israel captured the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Half a million Palestinians fled.

The last Arab-Israeli conflict will be the Yom Kippur War in 1973, which pitted Egypt and Syria against Israel and allowed Cairo to take back Sinai (completely handed over by Israel in 1982), but not Gaza. Six years later, Egypt becomes the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, an example only followed by Jordan.

Why was Israel founded in the Middle East?

Image copyright AFP Image caption Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, under a portrait of Theodor Herzl, founder of Zionism, declares Israel’s independence. Jewish tradition indicates that the area in which Israel sits is the Land Promised by God to the first patriarch, Abraham, and his descendants.

The area was invaded in ancient times by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians and Romans. Rome was the empire that gave the region the name of Palestine and that, seven decades after Christ, expelled the Jews from their land after fighting nationalist movements that sought independence.

With the rise of Islam in century VII after Christ , Palestine was occupied by the Arabs and then conquered by European Crusaders. In 1516 the Turkish rule was established that would last until World War I, when the British mandate was imposed. The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) assured in its report to the General Assembly on September 3, 1947 that the reasons for a Jewish state to establish itself in the Middle East were centered on “arguments based on biblical and historical sources, “the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which the British government declares itself in favor of a “national home” for Jews in Palestine and in the British Mandate on Palestine.

There the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine was recognized and the bases to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in that region. Following the Nazi Holocaust against millions of Jews in Europe before and during World War II, international pressure for recognition of a Jewish state mounted. Failing to resolve the polarization between Arab nationalism and Zionism, the British government brought the issue to the UN. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly approved a plan for the partition of Palestine, which recommended the creation of an independent Arab and a Jewish state and a special regime for the city of Jerusalem .

The plan was accepted by the Israelis but not by the Arabs, who saw it as a loss of their territory. That is why it was never implemented. The day before the British Mandate of Palestine expired, on May 14, 1948, the Jewish Agency for Israel, representing the Jews during the Mandate, declared the independence of the State of Israel. The following day Israel applied to be a member of Nations. United, a status that he finally achieved a year later. 83% of current members recognize Israel (160 out of 192).

Why are there two Palestinian territories?

The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine ( UNSCOP ), in its report to the General Assembly in 1947, recommended that the Arab state include “Western Galilee, the mountainous region of Samaria and Judea, with the exclusion from the city of Jerusalem, and the coastal plain of Isdud to the Egyptian border.

But the division of the territory was defined by the Armistice Line of 1949, established after the creation of Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war. The two Palestinian territories are the West Bank (which includes East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which are about 45 km apart. They have an area of 5,970 km2 and 365 km2, respectively.

The West Bank lies between Jerusalem, claimed as the capital by both Palestinians and Israelis, and Jordan to the east, while Gaza is a strip 41 km long and 6 to 12 km wide. Gaza has a 51 km border with Israel, 7 km with Egypt and 40 km of coastline on the Mediterranean Sea .

Originally occupied by Israelis who still maintain control of its southern border, the Gaza Strip was captured by Israel in the 1967 war and only vacated it in 2005, although it maintains a blockade by air, sea and land that restricts the movement of goods. , services and people. Currently the Strip is controlled by Hamas, the main Palestinian Islamic group that has never recognized the agreements signed between other Palestinian factions and Israel. The West Bank, by contrast, is ruled by the Palestinian National Authority, the internationally recognized Palestinian government whose main faction, Fatah, is not Islamic but secular. == Have the Palestinians and Israelis never signed peace? == Yitzak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yaser Arafat shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.

Shortly before the 1967 war, Palestinian organizations like Fatah – led by Yasser Arafat – formed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and launched operations against Israel first from Jordan and then from Lebanon. But these attacks also included attacks on Israeli targets on European territory that did not discriminate between planes, embassies or athletes.

After years of Palestinian attacks and selective assassinations of the Israeli security forces, the PLO and Israel signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993, in which the Palestinian organization renounced “violence and terrorism” and recognized the “right” Israel “to exist in peace and security,” a recognition that the Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas never accepted.

After the agreements signed in the Norwegian capital, the Palestinian National Authority was created, which represents the Palestinians before international forums. Its president is elected by direct vote and he in turn chooses a prime minister and the members of his cabinet. Its civil and security authorities control urban areas (Area A according to Oslo), while only its civilian – and not security – representatives control rural areas (Area B). East Jerusalem, considered the historic capital by the Palestinians, is not included in this agreement.

What are the main points of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis?

A security barrier built by Israel separates its territory from the West Bank. The delay in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, the construction of settlements for Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the security barrier around that territory – condemned by the International Court of Justice in The Hague – have complicated the progress of a process of peace.

But these are not the only obstacles, as was made clear by the failure of the last serious peace talks between the two groups that took place in Camp David, USA, in 2000, when an outgoing Bill Clinton failed to reach an agreement between Arafat and the then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak. The differences that seem irreconcilable are the following:

Jerusalem : Israel claims sovereignty over the city (sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians) and ensures that it is its capital after taking East Jerusalem in 1967. This is not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be their capital.

Borders and terrain : Palestinians demand that their future state conform to pre-June 4, 1967 limits, before the start of the Six Day War, something that Israel rejects.

Settlements : These are houses, illegal according to international law, built by the Israeli government in the territories occupied by Israel after the 1967 war. In the West Bank and East Jerusalem there are more than half a million Jewish settlers. Palestinian Refugees : Palestinians argue that refugees (10.6 million according to the PLO, of whom almost half are registered with the UN) have the right to return to what is now Israel, but for Israel to open the door would destroy their identity as a Jewish state.

Is Palestine a country?

On November 29, 2012, the UN recognized Palestine as a “non-member observer state.” The UN recognized Palestine as a “non-member observer state” at the end of 2012 and it ceased to be an “observer entity”. The change allowed Palestinians to participate in General Assembly debates and improve the chances of membership in UN agencies and other bodies. But the vote did not create the Palestinian state. A year earlier, the Palestinians tried but did not get enough support in the Security Council. Almost 70% of the members of the UN General Assembly (134 out of 192) recognize Palestine as a state.

Why is the US the main ally of Israel? Who supports the Palestinians?

First you have to consider the existence of a significant and powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States and the fact that public opinion tends to be favorable to the Israeli position, making it virtually impossible for a president to withdraw support for Israel. According to a survey commissioned by the BBC last year of 22 countries, the US was the only Western country with a favorable opinion of Israel, and the only country in the survey with a majority of positive opinions (51%).

In addition, both nations are military allies: Israel is one of the largest recipients of US aid, with the majority coming in grants for the purchase of weapons. The Palestinians do not have the open support of a power. In the region, Egypt stopped supporting Hamas, following the deposition by the army of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood – historically associated with the Palestinian group – while Syria and Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah are its main supporters. And although its cause generates sympathy in many quarters, it generally does not translate into facts.

Why are they fighting now?

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8. Following the collapse of the US-sponsored peace talks and the announcement in early June of a unity government between the Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas, deemed unacceptable by Israel, an escalation of violence began.

On June 12, three young Israelis were kidnapped in the West Bank and days later they were found murdered. Israel blamed Hamas and arrested hundreds of the group’s members. This week Israel acknowledged that it could not claim that the perpetrator was Hamas or an independent cell. Following the arrests, Hamas fired rockets on Israeli territory and Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza.
On July 2 – the day after the Israeli burial – a 16-year-old Palestinian was kidnapped in East Jerusalem and killed. Three Israelis were charged and rocket fire towards Israel increased from Gaza.
On July 7, Hamas claimed responsibility for firing rockets for the first time in almost two years, following a series of Israeli airstrikes in which several members of its armed wing were killed. The following day the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Protective Edge against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

How does Israel justify violence and how do the Palestinians?

Hamas claims that it launches rockets at Israel as legitimate defense. The decision to give the green light to the military phase on the ground has, according to Israel, a limited objective: to disarm Palestinian militants and destroy tunnels built by Hamas and other groups with the aim of infiltrating Israel. Israel wants an end to Hamas rocket fire at Israeli territory, most of which do not hit because it has the Iron Dome, an advanced anti-missile system.

Israel says it has the right to defend itself and often says that any state that is faced with the reality of living with a neighbor who launches rockets at it would react as it is doing, and blames Hamas for using human shields and attacking from civilian areas. in Gaza, something the Palestinian group denies. Hamas claims that it launches rockets at Israel as legitimate defense, in retaliation against the deaths of Hamas supporters at the hands of Israelis and within the framework of their right to resist the occupation and the blockade. Israel says it has the right to defend itself.

What would have to happen for there to be a chance for lasting peace?

The Israelis would have to support a sovereign state for the Palestinians that includes Hamas, lift the blockade on Gaza and the restrictions on movement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinian groups should renounce violence and recognize the State of Israel. And reasonable agreements would have to be reached regarding borders, Jewish settlements and the return of refugees. However, since 1948, the year of the creation of the State of Israel, many things have changed, especially the configuration of the disputed territories after the wars between the Arabs and the Israelis. For Israel that is a fait accompli, for the Palestinians not, since they insist that the borders to be negotiated should be those that existed before the 1967 war.

Furthermore, while things are becoming increasingly uncontrollable in the warfare in the Gaza Strip, there is a kind of silent war in the West Bank with the continued construction of Jewish settlements, which in effect reduces the Palestinian territory in those autonomous areas. . But perhaps the most complicated subject because of its symbolism is Jerusalem, the capital for both Palestinians and Israelis. Both the Palestinian National Authority, which governs the West Bank, and the Hamas group, in Gaza, claim the eastern part as their capital even though Israel occupied it in 1967. A definitive pact will never be possible without resolving this point. Others could be negotiated with concessions, Jerusalem could not. The conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip adds one more tragic episode of escalation of violence. The exchange of missiles between both sides has already claimed more than 100 deaths in the last days of the conflict. In this article we present the main keys to understanding where the conflict comes from and what is its current situation.

New episode of violence: Israel vs Gaza

The media is echoing the escalation of violence that is taking place between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Last Friday, rockets launched by Hamas hit the Jerusalem area for the first time since 1970, causing anti-aircraft sirens to sound for the first time 21 years after the end of the Gulf War .

The conflict began with the firing of a hundred rockets from the southern strip of Israel and the subsequent bombardment of a dozen positions in Gaza by the Israeli army. The escalation, which culminated when an Israeli Air Force projectile killed Ahmed Yabari, the military leader of the Islamist group in Gaza. The clashes left at least 112 dead and hundreds injured. Among the dead were at least 28 children (as of November 20 of the same year, according to the country).

What is the Gaza Strip?

The Gaza Strip is a narrow strip of land located in the Middle East, southwest of Israel and northeast of the Sinai peninsula of Egypt, and that together with the West Bank forms the so-called Palestinian Territories. It has an 11 km border with Egypt, in the city of Rafah, and a 51 km border with Israel; it also has 40 km of coastline on the Mediterranean. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated regions on the planet with 4,118 people per km2. Covering an area of only 360 square kilometers, it is home to more than 1.52 million Palestinians.

What has been the historical evolution of the Gaza Strip?

The Gaza Strip was a province of what was known as Palestine during the British Mandate (1917-1948). After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the strip came under the military administration of Egypt. In 1967 it was occupied by Israel during the Six Day War and remained so until 1994, when the Oslo Accords were signed. As part of the treaty, the Palestinian National Authority received 80% of the territory and has since been in charge of the civil and security administration in the area. Since the beginning of the intifada or Palestinian uprising in 2000, the Israeli Army carried out numerous incursions into the Strip, installed checkpoints and restricted the movement of Palestinians.

In the area, 21 Jewish settlements were built where more than 8,000 people lived, although these were evacuated in September 2005 as a result of the Disengagement Plan. Following the evacuation of Israel in 2005, the Palestinian Authority seized control of Gaza and its rule has been disputed by the secular-minded Fatah party (who believed that a final deal with Israel was possible) with the Islamist organization Hamas (which did not recognize the State of Israel).

In January 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections and formed a government in Gaza and in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. A unity government between Hamas and Fatah was formed in March 2007, but then the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (a directly elected Fatah leader in an earlier vote) subsequently dissolved the government.

In June 2007, Hamas, claiming that Fatah forces were attempting to launch a coup, took control of Gaza by force, though not the West Bank territories, resulting in a de facto government in the realm of the government of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas refuses to recognize the State of Israel and does not renounce the use of violence. In the view of Israel, the United States, Canada, and the European Union, Hamas is a terrorist organization, so these entities impose restrictions on all funds previously intended for humanitarian aid provided to the region.

Today, Israel continues to control Gaza’s borders (except Egypt’s) and Gaza’s communication with the West Bank and with international markets, as well as air and maritime space and the supply of fuel and water, all of which come from Israel. because Gaza does not have its own resources. The Government of Egypt (with the Muslim Brotherhood at the fore) has eased the embargo with the partial reopening of the Rafah crossing, in the south of the Strip and the one that connects the narrow Palestinian territory with Egypt.

What is the latent conflict in the Gaza Strip?

From 2001 to the present day, Gaza has been the place from which missiles are constantly launched towards Israeli border towns, such as Sderot. In 2005 the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) approved a withdrawal plan from the Strip, which was carried out in 2005. Since then, the Strip has been the scene of numerous crises such as the so-called Gaza Crisis in 2008, and the 2008-2009 military conflict. 2012 saw an increase in the number of rocket attacks, up to 1,200 according to Israel Defense Forces, in part due to the existence of some groups smaller than Hamas (the Islamic organization that governs Gaza) that according to CNN Mexico “does not they can control, or they choose not to, and they operate with greater impunity ”.

Throughout the conflict between Israel and Gaza Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced the devastation caused by the conflict and claimed to have found evidence of war crimes and other serious violations of international law committed by all parties to the conflict, although making special allusion to Israel. Human Rights Watch did the same throughout the different episodes of violence in the area.

What is the position of the other countries in relation to the conflict?

The conflict prompted the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting, which ended without decisions about the conflict and with a simple call for an end to the violence. The United States, for its part, was quick to emphasize that Israel has a “right to defend itself.” The new Islamist president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, aspires to lead the Palestinian cause in the Arab world. Morsi is also the political leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological mother house of Hamas.

In Europe, France is the country that is leading the talks with Israel seeking a ceasefire to avoid a further escalation of violence and to seek a possible way to negotiate peace. Meanwhile, Catherine Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union “laments the loss of human lives of young people through an official statement.

The Arab Foreign Ministers agreed last Friday to review their position on the “paralyzed peace process” between Israelis and Palestinians as a result of Israel’s military offensive against the Gaza Strip. In an extraordinary meeting, the heads of Arab diplomacy asked the so-called Arab Peace Initiative Committee to reassess all the proposals that have been put forward so far to resolve the conflict with Israel. Jordan and Syria have openly denounced that Israel violates the rights of the civilian population in its attacks on Gaza.

Is it possible to reach a truce?

“I am ready for a truce if it is lasting. But if Hamas does not stop its attacks, I will order an incursion into Gaza, ”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Barack Obama, according to El Mundo newspaper. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laurent Fabius, traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demand a ceasefire before there is a land invasion of Israel in the Gaza Strip and that they sit down to negotiate before the elections to be held in Israel.

The United States openly supports the use of military force to guarantee Israel’s “legitimate right” to defend itself from Hamas government attacks in Gaza. Only the Arab League has tried to protect, with the leadership of Egypt and Syria, the Palestinians living in Gaza to guarantee the civilian population that they will be protected and receive food in the coming days.

Daniel Levy, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, believes that the conflict will not escalate much further since the objectives of both parties are not maximalist and are about to be achieved (Netanyahu will get his electoral revenue and the Palestinians will be weakened in the United Nations while Hamas will once make the Palestinians under its control appear as victims of an implacable Israel). The continued rain of missiles between the two sides does not help to make a decision on a possible truce but it does give it more urgency. In the coming days we will see how the conflict evolves and what pressure the international community exerts for it to come to an end quickly and as long as possible.

December 19, 2008: Palestinian militants fire three rockets after the six-month period of the truce agreed between Hamas and Israel in Gaza expires.
December 24, 2008: Palestinian armed groups launch a hundred rockets and projectiles at southern Israel.
December 25, 2008: Israel threatens a large-scale military operation in Gaza if Palestinian armed groups continue their attacks.
December 27, 2008: At around 11:30 a.m., Israeli planes and helicopters bombard more than 50 Hamas targets in Gaza. Operation ‘Cast Lead’ begins, the bloodiest since 1967, causing around 200 casualties on the first day of hostilities. In response, Palestinian militants fire rockets at Israel, one of which kills an Israeli woman in Netivot.
December 28, 2008: Israel bombs the Islamic University, an important symbol of the Islamic movement, as well as tunnels used to connect Gaza with Egypt. Palestinian activists respond by launching missiles.
December 29, 2008: The Israeli Air Force resumes its attacks in the early morning, hitting the Hamas Interior Ministry and other buildings linked to the Islamist movement. Palestinian militias continue to fire rockets, killing three Israelis in the cities of Ashkelon, Nahal Oz and Ashod. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) suspends peace negotiations with Israel.
December 30, 2008: Israel continues its bombardment with attacks on government buildings and other Hamas-related targets.
December 31, 2008: Israel destroys offices of Hamas head of government Ismail Haniya and formally rejects a French proposal to declare a 48-hour “humanitarian truce” in Gaza. The proposal is also rejected by the Islamists. The UN Security Council, meeting in an emergency to evaluate a resolution drawn up by the Arab countries and calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, ends the session without a vote on the text, rejected by the US.
January 1, 2009: A bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp kills the life of Nizar Rayan, one of Hamas’s top leaders. The Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, meets in Paris with Nicolas Sarkozy and informs him that the bombings will continue until the Hamas attacks cease.
January 2, 2009: While shelling continues, Israel allows the evacuation of foreigners through the Erez pass.
January 3, 2009: After bombing throughout the day, killing a prominent Hamas leader and using artillery fire for the first time, Israeli tanks supported by helicopter fire begin the ground incursion into Gaza.
January 4, 2009: The Israeli Army divides Gaza into two parts by penetrating its units from the Karni border post to the sea on the second day of the land invasion of the Palestinian Strip. The tactic of dividing the territory, -40 kilometers long by 15 kilometers wide and where a million and a half people live-, aims to close the communication and supply lines of Hamas and other armed groups.
January 5, 2009: On the third day of the ‘Operation Cast Lead’ ground offensive, the Gaza Strip is divided into three zones by Israeli forces. Twenty-eight civilians, thirteen of them children, are killed in an Israeli tank attack. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a tour of the Middle East, calls for a ceasefire in the area “as soon as possible.” Islamists accuse him of “bias” in favor of Israel and openly calling for “the continuation of the holocaust” in the Strip. The President of the Spanish Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, also pronounces on the “very serious” conflict, warning Israel: “This is not the path that will lead to peace.”
January 6, 2009: Israeli projectiles kill 42 Palestinians at a UN school in the Jabalya refugee camp, where civilians sought protection. Egypt, supported by France and other European powers, proposes an immediate ceasefire and negotiations that meet Israel’s demands to prevent Hamas from having access to weapons. More than 30 missiles fall on Israel during the day.
January 7, 2009:. Violence resumes after a three-hour ceasefire in Gaza. The total number of dead Palestinians rises to more than 700, according to the emergency services, which count more than 3,000 injured. The UN Rapporteur for Palestine accuses Israel of crimes against Humanity, and the head of European diplomacy, Javier Solana, makes a ceasefire agreement conditional on the return of the Palestinian National Authority to Gaza.
January 8, 2009: An unknown group fires several rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, in an isolated incident that nonetheless raised regional tension over the fighting in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Palestinian President Mahmud Abas, a newcomer from the United Nations, meets in Madrid with President Zapatero. They both support the Franco-Egyptian plan.
January 9, 2009: The UN Security Council adopts resolution 1860 calling for a ceasefire against Israel and Hamas, who reject the call. While Israel continues its attacks that in the last 24 hours kill 20 Palestinians and Hamas fires twenty rockets against Israeli territory. Term of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abas ends *
January 10, 2009: Israel and Hamas reject the UN ceasefire, which denounces that Israel may have committed war crimes and that a third of the dead are children. Israel intensifies its offensive one more day and kills eight members of the same family in Yebalia. 54 Spaniards are still trapped on the border of the strip and in the West Bank a massive demonstration is being held against the ‘Cast Lead’ operation.
January 11, 2009: Twelve dead militiamen are found in a suburban neighborhood of Gaza, bringing the number of militiamen killed to 24. Demonstration in Madrid against Israel’s attack on Gaza, as well as other protests in many western cities.
January 12, 2009: Israeli reservists are mobilized for the first time in the ground offensive. Seven Palestinians, including two women and two children, are killed in 25 air and ground attacks while Hamas fires a dozen rockets without causing injury. The launch of these rockets has decreased by 50% since the Israeli operation began.
January 13, 2009: The siege of the capital of Gaza is tightened. Israel intensifies its attacks (it has already hit more than 60 targets since midnight) and kills two civilians, bringing the Palestinians dead to 927 and wounded to 4,000. The Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, begins a three-day tour in Cairo to try to relaunch the Franco-Egyptian peace initiative. The US abstains from voting on UN Security Council resolution 1860 for an immediate truce following a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to President Bush.
January 14, 2009: Three rockets fired from southern Lebanon hit northern Israel as it struck 60 targets in Gaza and continued to tighten the siege of the Gaza Strip’s capital, where 50 people have died in the last 24 hours * lestinos.
January 15, 2009: The Israeli Army, entering the capital of Gaza for the first time, kills Hamas Interior Minister Said Siam in a bombing of a 3-story building. It also bombs UNWRA headquarters, a Red Crescent hospital and a press center in Gaza that is already on fire. With 26 today, the number of dead Palestinians rises to 1,063.
January 16, 2009: The ship ‘Spirit of Humanity’ that intended to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid returns to Cyprus after being surrounded on the high seas and threatened. A woman and her five children are shot dead by an Israeli tank. Thirteen other civilians are killed in another attack.
January 17, 2009: Fourth Israeli attack on UN targets: 9 Palestinians killed, 6 of them at a UN college. Israel studies declaring a ceasefire.
January 18, 2009: Spanish President José Luis Zapatero, Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Angela Merkel of Germany, and Jordanian King Abdullah meet in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik to support the peace plan designed by Cairo. Hamas also declares a ceasefire truce for one week.
January 19, 2009: 95 bodies found under the rubble of buildings in Gaza, bringing the death toll to more than 1,300. Israeli troops begin withdrawal.
January 20, 2009: Israel begins the withdrawal of its entire Army from the Gaza Strip coinciding with the day of the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States.
January 21, 2009: The withdrawal of the Israeli Army from Gaza ends in the morning, but the soldiers remain deployed on the border “in the event of any eventuality.”
Balance of 25 days of operation ‘Cast Lead’: 1,300 Palestinians dead, of which a third are children; 13 Israeli soldiers killed, five of them by friendly fire; and 4 Israeli civilians killed by the 778 rockets fired by Hamas.
45,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Gaza this day, where 4,000 buildings have been attacked and where the price of reconstruction is estimated at 1,220 million euros.

January 18, 2009- Israeli aggression. End of Operation Cast Lead

On this date culminates the criminal action of the Israeli defense forces, Operation Cast Lead, against the civilian population of Gaza. For 22 days (the operation began on December 27, 2008) relentless air and ground attacks were carried out against the inhabitants. This took place during the last days of the administration of the US president, George W. Bush, and ended two days before the current US president Barack Obama was inaugurated. The first military response of the Hamas organization was the launching of several artisan rockets against southern Israel, causing panic among the Jewish population that is on alert in the wake of the army’s air raid.