Israeli Attacks Leave More than 225 Dead - Attacks Must Be Protested

There were national and people's protests around the world against the brutal attack by Israel on the Palestinian people in Gaza. 5000 people protested in Istanbul, Beyoglu, Turkey. Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations condemned the Israeli attacks.

Israeli military officials said the airstrikes, which went on into the night, were the start of what could be days or even months of an effort to force Hamas to end its rocket barrages into southern Israel. The operation could include ground forces, a senior Israeli security official said.

Palestinian officials said that most of the dead were security officers for Hamas, including two senior commanders, and that at least 600 people had been wounded in the attacks.

As reported by the New York Times,

The center of Gaza City was a scene of chaotic horror, with rubble everywhere, sirens wailing, and women shrieking as dozens of mutilated bodies were laid out on the pavement and in the lobby of Shifa Hospital so that family members could identify them. The dead included civilians, including several construction workers and at least two children in school uniforms.

Palestinian officials said that most of the dead were security officers for Hamas, including two senior commanders, and that at least 600 people had been wounded in the attacks.

Opening the routes to commerce was Hamas’s main goal in its cease-fire with Israel, just as ending the rocket fire was Israel’s central aim. But while rocket fire did go down drastically in the fall to 15 to 20 a month from hundreds a month, Israel said it would not permit trade to begin again because the rocket fire had not completely stopped and because Hamas continued to smuggle weapons from Egypt through desert tunnels. Hamas said this was a violation of the agreement, a sign of Israel’s real intentions and cause for further rocket fire.

The Bush administration refuses to call for an end to the attacks.

But in strong terms, the Bush administration blamed Hamas for the violence and demanded that it stop firing rockets.

The Israeli attacks are heinous crimes against humanity and need to be protested. The Bush administration's one-sided support for the Israeli in the face of this and so many other attacks on the humanity of the Palestinian people demands the staunchest protest. The Bush administration must demand the Israelis end their attacks on the Palestinians immediately. The Palestinians must be treated with humanity and respect, all blockades and economic impediments to self-determination must be removed, and a negotiated peace based on the rights of the Palestinians as guaranteed under various UN resolutions must be implemented. All US economic and military support for Israel must be halted immediately.