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Israel bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip for a fourth day Tuesday in its deadliest assault on the Palestinian territory in decades, in response to repeated rocket fire by Hamas militants on southern Israeli towns. |
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| Israel is using air strikes to attack militants firing rockets from inside of the Gaza Strip, but the attacks on the Palestinian territory are killing civilians, also. |
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The Israeli airstrikes on Gaza had killed at least 360 Palestinians by Tuesday with some 1,400 reported wounded, according to the Associated Press. Two Israelis were killed and more than a dozen were wounded by more than 250 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza into Israel since Saturday, reported the Agence France-Presse.
Israel is fighting with Hamas, the Islamist group that governs Gaza. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, and has a militant wing that carries out attacks on Israel. Hamas has said it considers it a religious duty to eliminate Israel.
Israeli warplanes targeted compounds used by Hamas, as well as a television station and Gaza's Interior Ministry.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the attacks would continue until those living in southern Israel "no longer live in terror and in fear of constant rocket barrages." In the Israeli parliament, Defense Minister Ehud Barak referred to the situation as "all-out war." International Response
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President Bush said in a statement that the violence is Hamas' fault. |
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A spokesman for President George W. Bush placed the blame for the violence on Hamas.
"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable cease-fire," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said from the presidential retreat in Crawford, Tex. "That is the objective to which all parties need to be working. That is what the United States is working towards."
Many Arab leaders condemned the Israeli strikes and backed Hamas, saying Israel's restrictions on travel and trade in the Palestinian territory have created deplorable living conditions. Protests in response to the Israeli attacks have been held around the world, in countries including Great Britain, France, Egypt and Turkey.
In Iran, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims to defend the Palestinians.
"All true believers in the world of Islam and Palestinian fighters are duty-bound to defend the defenseless women and children in Gaza Strip, and those giving their lives in carrying out such a divine duty are martyrs," Khamenei said in a statement, according to Iran's official news agency.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel's use of force.
"The frightening nature of what is happening on the ground, in particular its effects on children — who are more than half of the population — troubles me greatly. I have continuously stressed the need for strict observance of international humanitarian law," he said.
The Creation of Israel
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The United Nations created a plan to establish Israel in 1947. |
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After World War I, the British government was put in charge of the region called Palestine, an area made up of what are now Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jordan.
Israel was created in 1948 after more than 50 years of intense efforts to establish an official homeland for Jewish people.
Following the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II, international support grew for a Jewish nation. In 1947 the United Nations formed a partition plan, which would have divided Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. But in 1948, after the state of Israel was proclaimed it was immediately invaded by armies from neighboring Arab states.
The war concluded in 1949 and resulted in a 50 percent increase in Israeli territory. Since the establishment of Israel, the country has had an ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of whom have been displaced, and surrounding Arab countries.
Territorial Conflicts
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Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles at the White House in 1993, but violence has continued. |
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In 1967, Israel expanded its territory by seizing Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank of the Jordan River and East Jerusalem from Jordan.
Israel has given back some of the land over the years and come to agreements over other regions in an attempt to diffuse conflict with Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian leaders.
On Sept. 13, 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles, also known as the Oslo accords. Israel committed to withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and agreed that a Palestinian Authority would be set up.
But many Israelis and Palestinians opposed the agreement and violence continued. In the winter of 2003-2004 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed a withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza as well as parts of the northern West Bank, marking the official end to Israeli occupation of the territory.
Hamas' Takeover
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Hamas gained control of the majority of the Palestinian Legislative Council from a democratic vote in 2006 and seized total control of Gaza in 2007. |
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In January 2006, Hamas took a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council. After Hamas' win and its refusal to change its hard-line policies, the United States and Europe cut funding to the Palestinian Authority and Israel refused to work with a government that included Hamas.
Hamas forcefully seized complete control of Gaza from other opposing Palestinian parties in 2007, further isolating the area. The Palestinian Authority depends on outside aid to pay its workers and provide services to its residents.
With the borders now closed, humanitarian groups are warning of a growing crisis in Gaza.
"There are hundreds of wounded in the hospitals in the Gaza Strip, and what we have received so far has only been a fraction of our need. Our supplies have been depleted, and we are in desperate need for supplies," said Iyad Nasr, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza.
"We ask the parties to avoid striking the civilian population on both sides." |
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| --Compiled by Talea Miller for NewsHour Extra |
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