Shuja’iya massacre will stain the hands of all who are silent and complicit

Photo,The Zionist enemy carried out a horrific massacre today against the civilians of Shuja’iya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, targeting homes with mortars, tanks, missiles and aircraft, killing dozens of martyrs and wounding hundreds, where many remain under the rubble of their destroyed homes amid a barrage of shells and rockets.

Shuja’iya massacre will stain the hands of all who are silent and complicit
Jul 20 2014

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine pledged that the blood of the martyrs of the Shuja’iya massacre, of the war crimes and genocide committed by land, air and sea in every inch of Gaza against civilians in their homes, children, women, and the elderly, will not be wasted, and that the enemy will never be able to break the will and steadfastness of our people and their valiant resistance which will fight and resist this cowardly and criminal enemy until the last breath.

The Front noted that the Zionist criminal occupation has brought death, destruction and devastation to our neighborhoods, camps and cities, saying that the occupation forces were incapable of stopping the resistance or its qualitative strikes against occupation forces, and have expressed their cowardice by targeting innocent civilians in their homes.

The Front saluted the brave resisters in all the Palestinian military organizations who are willing to sacrifice in order to block the progress of the occupation forces, for our people to survive and confront the war machine, and praised its ongoing painful strikes to the enemy.

Furthermore, the Front emphasized that the international community is responsible for the crimes against our people in Gaza with its ongoing military, financial, and political support to the occupation entity, providing it with political cover to commit crimes against our people.

The Front demanded that Palestinian Authority officials and spokespeople stop engaging in the language of defeatism and to instead respect the Palestinian popular mood, which shouts that no voice is louder than the voice of the resistance. Our legitimate resistance is a point of pride for all of our people; we are convinced that we will win, and we will mend our wounds, we will rise from the rubble and the ruins to rebuild our homes again.

The Front saluted with pride the steadfast people in Gaza from Rafah to Beit Hanoun who have suffered so much pain and yet refuse to concede to the threats of the occupation. People with such steadfastness will inevitably triumph and no war machine will be able to defeat them or to force them to abandon their embrace of the resistance.

The Front saluted the inspiring sacrifices and commitment of medical personnel, ambulance workers and civil defense, who faced extreme danger and came under fire in order to evacuate the dead and wounded, as well as the journalists who lost their lives in order to deliver the tragic images in the streets of Gaza to the world.

The Front called upon the Palestinian people throughout Palestine, in the West Bank, Jerusalem and ’48 and everywhere in diaspora and exile, saying that the land of the West Bank must burn under the feet of the occupiers, in their settlements and everywhere the occupation is. It is time that the earth is turned to flame beneath the feet of the criminal enemy. There can be no more waiting as the horrific massacres continue in Bureij, Rafah, Khan Younis, Beit Hanoun, Shuja’iya, Gaza.

It also demanded the Arab people and the democratic and progressive forces of the world to remain in the streets and squares, to occupy, surround and storm the Zionist and U.S. embassies and consulates in response to the crimes of the occupation forces, and to condemn the international and Arab official silence and complicity, demanding an immediate end to the siege on Gaza and the unconditional opening of Rafah crossing and in particular to facilitate the entry of medical personnel and aid.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine confirm that the crimes of the occupation will not go unpunished and resistance to the Zionist genocide against our people is our path. The banner of resistance and confrontation will be raised high by the Palestinian people.

The PFLP demanded that the PLO leadership immediately act to join the International Criminal Court and act to prosecute the fascist occupation war criminals for their massacres against the Palestinian people. The Front expressed its highest honor and salute and deepest mourning for the blood of the martyrs whose blood was shed on the land of Gaza, pledging to march on the path of freedom, self-determination, return and liberation, for which they were killed.

Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades continue confronting the occupier on the battlefield

Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades continue confronting the occupier on the battlefield
Jul 20 2014 PFLP

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is fighting alongside its fellow resistance factions in response to the Zionist aggression on Gaza from land, air and sea, and has engaged in many clashes dealing serious blows to the occupation army.

AAMB announced that it ambushed occupation soldiers east of Khan Younis and engaged with them directly, saying there were serious injuries in the ranks of the soldiers. It also announced that in a joint operation with the Brigades of the Martyr Abdelqader Husseini it confronted the enemy near the airport in Rafah, engaging them with a variety of weapons.

On Sunday, AAMB reported:

AAMB fighters clashed directly with occupation forces behind Kafarneh Street near the Agricultural College north of Beit Hanoun at 2:50 AM.

AAMB and Abdelqader Husseini Brigades infiltrated and engaged occupation forces at the Rafah airport area and confronted them with a variety of weapons including 4 “107″ type missiles.

Targeting enemy artillery east of Shuja’iya at 12:45 AM.

On Saturday, July 19:

* AAMB bombarded Eshkol settlement with three missiles at 11:00 PM.

* Ambushing ememy soldiers and clashing with them with confirmed casualties in their ranks

* Clashes with enemy forces in joint action with other resistance forces

* Targeting the enemy at Kerem Abu Salem at 10:15 pm with missiles

* Fighting with Israeli special forces in northern Beit Hanoun, causing confirmed enemy casualties

* Firing three rockets toward Bir Saba at 9:15 pm.

* The thirteenth day of the attack Saturday, 19/07/2014 AD

* In a joint operation with the Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, targeting occupation military northwest of Beit    Lahiya with anti-tank missiles, hitting their equipment directly at 7:25 pm

* Clashing with the occupation forces in one of the houses destroyed by their attacks in northern Beit Hanoun at 6:30 pm.

* Bombarding Eshkol settlement with missiles at 3:00 PM

* Confronting Zionist special forces that attempted to infiltrate Gaza

* Bombarding Asqelan with a Grad rocket at 3:00 AM

Israeli shells hit Gaza’s only power plant

A Palestinian man takes a picture of a fire raging in Gaza's main power plant following an overnight Israeli airstrike, south of Gaza City©EPA

July 29, 2014 12:00 pm
Israeli shells hit Gaza’s only power plant
By Joel Greenberg in Jerusalem FT

Israeli shells hit the fuel depot of the Gaza Strip’s only power plant on Tuesday, cutting electricity to Gaza City and wide areas of the coastal enclave as Israel intensified its bombardments of the territory after losing 10 soldiers in militant attacks.

Towering flames and plumes of smoke rose from the power station, as Israel’s offensive against the Islamist group Hamas entered its fourth week, with no signs of a breakthrough in US and regional efforts to broker a ceasefire.

Air strikes overnight targeted symbols of Hamas control in Gaza, hitting the studios of the group’s Al-Aqsa television and radio stations in a media complex in the centre of Gaza City that also contains offices of several Arab satellite television news channels. Al Aqsa television broadcasts continued from another location, according to local reports.

The vacated home of Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, was bombed, as well as the financial department of group’s administration in the territory, along with four mosques that the army said were used to store weapons.

“My house is not more valuable than the house of any other Gazan and destroying stones will not break our determination and resistance,” Mr Haniyeh said in a statement. “We will resist until freedom.”

The Palestinian death toll climbed beyond 1,100, according to health officials, as fresh strikes were reported on homes, some of which the army asserted had been used as “command and control centers” by Hamas militants.

A total of 53 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting, along with three civilians who died in rocket and mortar strikes in Israel

Multiple members of extended families were reported to have been killed in strikes on houses in the al-Bureij refugee camp, where the home of the mayor was struck, in Khan Yunis and in Rafah, where seven members of the Abu Zeid family, including four women and a child, were reported to have died in a strike on their home.

The Israeli strikes followed the killing of 10 Israeli soldiers on Monday. Four died when mortars hit an army staging area in southern Israel near the Gaza border. Another five were killed when militants who had tunnelled into Israel attacked their position with an anti-tank rocket.

One of the infiltrators was killed in a subsequent exchange of fire as the rest fled back to the Gaza Strip, the army said. A bulldozer driver from the army’s corps of engineers was killed in Gaza when an anti-tank rocket hit his vehicle, the army said.

A total of 53 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting, along with three civilians who died in rocket and mortar strikes in Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday to press on with the offensive, telling Israelis to “prepare for a prolonged campaign”.

Israel’s Netanyahu defiant despite pressure

July 28, 2014 5:11 pm
Israel’s Netanyahu defiant despite pressure
By Joel Greenberg in Jerusalem FT

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced increased international pressure on Monday to wind down Israel’s military offensive against the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but he has strong support at home to continue the campaign.

“We have to be prepared for a protracted battle,” Mr Netanyahu told Israelis on Monday, pledging to continue the offensive until a network of Hamas attack tunnels was destroyed.

After US president Barack Obama and the UN Security Council called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, Mr Netanyahu lashed out at the council’s non-binding “presidential statement” calling for a halt to hostilities to allow for delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance, calling it one-sided.

In a conversation with Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, Mr Netanyahu charged that the statement dealt with “the needs of a murderous terrorist organisation that attacks Israeli civilians, and does not address Israel’s security needs”, according to an account by the prime minister’s office.

A key reason for Mr Netanyahu’s defiant tone has been the popularity of the Gaza campaign at home, where Israelis have rallied behind the government and the army in the war against Hamas.

Absorbing daily rocket strikes directed at big cities and towns, Israelis have accepted Mr Netanyahu’s depiction of the campaign as an effort to degrade Hamas’s military capabilities in Gaza, including its missile stocks and attack tunnels, while bringing a long-term halt to the rocket attacks.

Polls have shown overwhelming opposition to a ceasefire. One survey published by Israel’s Channel 10 television on Sunday showed that 87 per cent of Israelis were in favour of continuing the Gaza operation and just 7 per cent wanted a full ceasefire. Another poll showed similar figures, with only 9.7 per cent agreeing with the statement: “Israel had enough achievements, soldiers have died, and it is time to stop”.

“What most Israelis perceive is the fact that the Palestinians are sending rockets into Israel, to very central places, and this is something they expect the government to prevent, so they will not support leaving Gaza without getting the job done,” said Tom Segev, a historian and author. “There is no opposition, except for a few thousand people who demonstrated against the war.”

Contributing to this public perception is the sympathetic Israeli media coverage of the military campaign, which has largely shielded Israelis from the graphic scenes of death and destruction viewers are seeing around the world.

Israeli news broadcasts focus on military operations against the tunnels and the damage and disruption caused by the rocket strikes in Israel, with relatively few images of the civilian casualties and devastation in Gaza.

With Israeli journalists barred from the coastal territory, except when embedded with army units, the bulk of Israeli reporting on the war is being done by military correspondents, with studio commentary provided by an array of ex-generals.

Mr Netanyahu has also taken pains to limit public scrutiny of his conduct of the war. In televised statements to the nation, flanked by the defence minister and army chief of staff, he usually takes no questions from reporters. With parliament in summer recess and support for the campaign reaching across the political spectrum, the prime minister has not been summoned to explain his policies before the Knesset.

While the 47 soldiers killed so far is a relatively high death toll in Israel for a campaign in its third week, the military’s dead and wounded are widely seen as a painful but necessary price for halting years of rocket attacks on civilians.

Mr Netanyahu has praised the Israeli public for its resilience, asserting that it has enabled the government to prosecute the war. “Your steadfast fortitude gives us the ability and the time to take strong action against our enemies, and we are all proud of you,” he said in one national broadcast.

Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, which has intercepted scores of rockets headed for significant population centres, along with an early warning system that has sent millions of Israelis to shelters before rocket impacts, have kept the civilian casualty toll low. Two Israeli civilians and a Thai labourer have been killed in rocket strikes.

Many of the nearly 2,000 rockets and mortars that have hit Israel have landed in open areas.
After an ebb in fighting early on Monday at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, rocket fire at Israel and Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip resumed, with fresh deaths reported on both sides.

Four Israeli soldiers were killed in a mortar strike near the Gaza border, and 10 Palestinians, most of them children, were reported killed in an explosion in a park that local officials said was caused by an Israeli airstrike. Another strike hit an outpatient clinic at Gaza City’s main hospital, Al-Shifa, but there were no casualties. The Israeli army said both blasts were caused by impacts of misfired rockets launched by militants.

As the offensive has moved from land, air and sea bombardments to a ground invasion by infantry and tanks, the war aims have expanded. Initial government statements that “quiet will be met with quiet” have given way to demands by Mr Netanyahu that the Gaza Strip be demilitarised, ridding it of Hamas’s stocks of missiles and tunnel networks, some dug toward Israel for cross-border attacks.

Mr Obama acknowledged that demand in a phone conversation with Mr Netanyahu urging a ceasefire, though he appeared to defer any resolution of the issue to a final political settlement with the Palestinians.

“Ultimately, any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarisation of Gaza,” Mr Obama said, according to a White House statement.

Many Israelis, meanwhile, seem to be in no mood for a truce until the declared aims of the Gaza campaign are achieved. A woman from a rocket-stricken city in the south of the country captured the public mood in comments broadcast on Israel Radio. “We’ve been suffering here for 14 years,” she said. “We’re ready to suffer more now, but until they finish it off. I’m not willing to even hear the word ceasefire, not even for a minute.”

Source: FT

Gaza Baby Delivered from Dying Mother

Gaza Baby Delivered from Dying Mother

By Adam Justice , July 28, 2014 13:16 PM BST

Doctors have delivered a Palestinian baby girl, Shayma Hussien, from the womb of her Mother, whom medics said was killed in an Israeli air strike on their house.

Israel is using shrapnel bombs in Gaza

Gaza July 2014 Mother and Child

Israel is using « DIME » shrapnel bombs in Gaza, against Geneva rules
PUBLISHED: 14 JULY 2014 HITS: 800

The information comes from the French newspaper l'Humanité. According to the testimony of a Norwegian surgeon, Israel is using Dense Inert Metal Explosive bombs in Gaza, violating the Protocol 1 of the Geneva Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, to which Israel is party. Dr. Erik Fosse, who has come for humanitarian purposes, testifies that Israel is using in Gaza these bombs, which have a shrapnel effect on civilians. He knows them because he was already intervening in Gaza in 2008 – 2009, and already had to denounce the use of this weapon, together with Palestinian doctors. The way Israel is using DIME bombs in Gaza may amount to a war crime.

Dense Inert Metal Explosive are a mix of explosive material and small particles of chemically inert material, for instance tungsten. The metal is mixed in very small particles (1 – 2 mm) or in powder, and thus the micro-shrapnel can slice through soft tissue and bone. The mix, in a carbon fibre casing, has a very potent shrapnel effect in a small radius : the probability of killing people within a small radius is increased, and survivors may have to be amputated (esp. of the lower limbs), because the shrapnel cannot be detected through x-ray in the bodies of the victims and the injury cannot be cured. The tungsten powder « dissolves » in the body, and any minor injury interferes with the clotting process, leading to profuse bleeding.

DIME weapons have been developed among other things as a replacement for depleted uranium bombs. In theory, the long-range damage of the explosion is reduced (allowing for the use of the weapon in urban, asymmetric battles). Indeed, the effect of the explosion is dissipated at a range of 5 – 10 meters. DIME bombs are usually carried by drones ; they are the dreamed « smart bomb » for a « clean war ». But tungsten is also a known carcinogenic material : in addition to their amputations, survivors must therefore be followed for cancer risks. The destruction of the carbon case adds to the effect of the weapon, as it explodes into small fibre sharps, of 3 to 10 microns. The risk for respiratory diseases, and for lung cancer, is very important.

Actually, according to Israel's Manual on the Rules of Warfare on the Battlefield (2006 edition), shrapnel invisible to x-rays are forbidden. The manual, which is referred to on the ICRC's website ( http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule79 ), acknowledges that the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons bans these weapons, that cause « damage over and above what is necessary and [are] therefore forbidden ». Why is Israel using them notwithstandingly ?

Source: < The European Institute for International Law and International Relations >  http://www.eiilir.eu/

RSS link with the Bodu Bala Sena - Swapan Dasgupta

For West, Rajapaksa is Sri Lanka’s Modi
Jul 25, 2014

Swapan Dasgupta

''The belief is that India will endorse Sri Lanka’s growing impatience with NGOs and multilateral bodies that use the cover of human rights and reconciliation to carry out a political agenda''

It is a measure of Sri Lanka’s return to “normal” democratic politics that conspiracy theories are once again resonating in Colombo.

Compared to the situation just three years ago when “politics” continued to centre on the 30-year-long bloody civil war that mercifully came to an end in May 2009, the sub-text of political discussions today is the presidential election, due some time in early-2015.

It is not that the unending tensions between the Central government in Colombo and the Provincial Council in Jaffna have become so drearily routine that they cease to excite the public imagination. The Tamil National Alliance-controlled local administration in the Northern Province has reverted to the constitutional brinkmanship that marked Jaffna politics in the days before the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s conquest of the province. The loquacious Tamil politicians now in charge of the provincial administration know that they owe their return to the centrestage to the total decimation of the Tigers by the Sri Lankan Army five years ago. Yet, such are the charms of posturing that it is obligatory for them to pretend that the three lost decades were just a footnote.

When I was in Sri Lanka exactly 13 months ago, the conspiracy theory centred on President Mahindra Rajapaksa’s “secret” plan to either avoid provincial council elections in the Northern Province altogether or rig the results in favour of the pro-government Tamil parties. At that time TNA leaders were quite vocal in insisting that the so-called hardliners in the Rajapaksa government would never allow democracy in the Tamil areas.

Predictably, the conspiracy theory turned out to be spurious. Elections were held in the Northern Province as per the President’s commitment; there was a high turnout of voters and no suggestion of electoral malpractice; and the TNA won a resounding victory.

Since then, there is an ongoing cold war between the TNA and the government in Colombo over Jaffna’s claim for unhindered powers over land and police — the 13th Amendment controversy. Colombo is adamant that it cannot afford to relax its guard and allow any possible revival of terrorism in the province. The TNA feels that this is tantamount to reneging on a sovereign commitment given by President J.R. Jayawardene to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and enshrined in the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987. It believes that India must use its muscle power to secure something akin to the “special status” of Article 370 for the Lankan Tamils. New Delhi, which is understandably wary of over-involvement in Sri Lanka after the Indian Peace Keeping Force experience of the late 1980s, isn’t too keen to meddle beyond a point and would rather that the matter be resolved within Sri Lanka. The TNA, however, loves to play the India card to replenish its bargaining clout with Colombo. The progress has been zero but the use of a foreign power to resolve domestic disputes has created complications for the larger relationship between New Delhi and Colombo. It has also created the conditions for China to cosy up to a country that is anxious for deepening economic engagements without strings attached.

The election of the Narendra Modi government has created a mood of anticipation in Colombo.

First, there is satisfaction that a BJP government with a majority of its own will not have to accommodate every unreasonable demand from Tamil Nadu on the course of bilateral relations. There is an expectation that the unfortunate situation of India voting against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Commission and Manmohan Singh’s boycott of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo won’t be repeated.

Secondly, given Mr Modi’s own unfortunate experiences with the global human rights industry, it is expected that India will be more understanding of Sri Lanka’s position on the collateral damage of the civil war. The belief is that India will endorse Sri Lanka’s growing impatience with NGOs and multilateral bodies that use the cover of human rights and reconciliation to carry out a political agenda. Certainly, India will have reason to be concerned about the precedents being set by the UN office in Colombo. Last month, for example, the UN attempted to conduct “voter education” workshops in a country that had universal adult franchise even before India and where voter turnout has always been extremely high. My own interaction with UN staffers leave me in little doubt that the local outfit sees itself as a facilitator for a type of politics that in Lanka’s context is decisively anti-Rajapaksa.

Thirdly, the BJP has had a more rounded view of India’s civilisational links with Sri Lanka than some of those who saw the relationship through an exclusively Tamil prism. Since the time Syama Prasad Mookerjee took an active role in the Mahabodhi Society and the return of Bodh Gaya to Buddhist control, the (Rashtriya Swayamsevak)Sangh fraternity has cherished both the Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna and the Buddha tooth shrine in Kandy. These ties have been supplemented in recent years by exchanges with the Madhya Pradesh government and Colombo’s support for the preservation of the “Ram setu” linking the two countries.

Maybe it is because of an expected shift away from big-brotherly condescension to a more civilisational-cum-economic relationship that the conspiracy theories are certain to multiply in Colombo. There are certain to be suggestions of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh link with the extremist Bodu Bala Sena that many people feel was responsible for the recent attacks on Muslims in Sri Lanka. More fanciful suggestion will hold that defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is behind a sinister plot to ensure a Hindu-Buddhist alliance in Colombo and the Central Provinces to counter an exaggerated Muslim cultural separatism.

There will be many more theories that will be lapped up by an impressionable media for whom President Rajapaksa is just another version of the dreaded Mr Modi in India. Like in India, the foreign media and NGOs in Sri Lanka believe that it is their responsibility to ensure natives vote according to the high moral standards set by the West.

The writer is a senior journalist
http://www.asianage.com/

Children killed in Gaza playground shelling

"It's believed that because it's been relatively calm, many of these children went outside to enjoy themselves on this Eid holiday but tragically they've been killed," Tyab said.

Children killed in Gaza playground shelling
Israel denies hitting Gaza's main hospital and a playground, where seven children were killed.

Last updated: 28 Jul 2014 18:03

Eight people including seven children died following a missile strike on a park inside the Shati refugee camp [AFP]

Missiles have struck several sites in Gaza, including a park inside a refugee camp and an outpatient building of the strip's largest hospital, disrupting a relative lull at the start of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Eight people, including seven children, died following missile fire on a park inside the Shati refugee camp on the edge of Gaza City, medics said.

The children were playing on a swing when the strike hit the park, Ayman Sahabani, the head of the emergency room at Shifa hospital, told reporters.

 The Israeli army swiftly denied it was behind the strike, tweeting that a misfired rocket from Gaza had hit the playground.

"We had no activity in the area. We know it was launched from within Gaza and landed short," Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said.

However Hamas denied it had fired any rockets in the area and said it was "categorically an airstrike by Israel". It said it had collected schrapnel from the scene that it could prove was from an Israeli munition.

Medics said that an Israeli missile also hit a building, believed to be an outpatient clinic, close to the main gate of Shifa hospital, the same hospital where the victims of the playground strike were taken.

Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from the hospital, said there were chaotic scenes as "a number of small bodies were brought into this hospital".

"It's believed that because it's been relatively calm, many of these children went outside to enjoy themselves on this Eid holiday but tragically they've been killed," Tyab said.

Israelis killed

Also on Monday, four Israelis were killed in a mortar attack at Eshkol in southern Israel near the Gaza border.

The Israeli army hasn't commented on whether the four were soldiers or civilians, but the army has been deployed heavily in that area.

Monday’s violence followed an almost 12-hour pause in fighting and came as international efforts intensified to end the three-week war between Israel and Hamas.

The United Nations on Monday called for an "immediate" ceasefire in the fighting that has already killed more than 1,040 Palestinians, 43 Israeli soldiers and three civilians on the Israeli side.

At least two more Palestinians were killed in other attacks on Monday. A four-year-old boy died when tank shells hit his family's house in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Gaza health officials said. Another person was killed by tank shelling in a separate incident, also in Jabaliya.

The military said at least a dozen rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel since midnight.

Eid of mourning

As Muslims began celebrating Eid al-Fitr, there was fear and mourning on Monday instead of holiday cheer in large parts of Gaza.

Palestinian families huddled inside their homes, fearing more airstrikes, while those who came to a cemetery in Gaza City's Sheik Radwan neighbourhood to pay traditional respects at their ancestors' graves gathered around a large crater from an airstrike a week ago that had broken up several graves.

Amid an eerie calm, the call to Eid prayer echoed in the southern town of Rafah on Monday morning. Dozens of worshippers lined the rows of a severely destroyed mosque, with a collapsed roof and missing walls. Many of the faithful looked sombre during the traditional holiday sermon.

In Gaza City, dozens of men prayed in the courtyard of a UN school surrounded by school desks. Children and women stood on a higher level overlooking the worshippers.

"We are suffering and will suffer but we need our rights, our houses, our lands and our farms to return to us and we will not accept living a miserable life," said Abu Saber Jalees, who fled fighting to seek shelter at the school.

Amid a slowdown in the fighting, rescue teams uncovered five bodies in a village east of Khan Younis, said Saed al-Saoudi, the commander of the Civil Defence in Gaza.

UN unsuccessful truce bid

In New York, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called for "an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire".

And while it was the council's strongest statement yet on the Gaza war, it was not a resolution and therefore not binding.

The council's presidential statement also called on the parties "to engage in efforts to achieve a durable and fully respected ceasefire, based on the Egyptian initiative."

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, spoke with UN chief Ban Ki-moon, according to a statement from his office, in which he voiced his dismay with the announcement.

"It does not include a response to Israel's security needs and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip," he said.

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour also did not hide his disappointment.

He said the council should have adopted a strong and legally binding resolution a long time ago demanding an immediate halt to Israel's "aggression," providing the Palestinian people with protection and lifting the siege in the Gaza Strip so goods and people could move freely.

"You cannot keep 1.8 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in this huge prison," Mansour told reporters. "That is a recipe for disaster. It is inhumane, and it has to be stopped and it has to be lifted."

Shujayea: Massacre at Dawn - Special series - Al Jazeera English

Shujayea: Massacre at Dawn - Special series - Al Jazeera English

ஒரு அயோக்கியனின் அர்த்தமற்ற வாக்குறுதி!- டேவிட் கமெரன்

''We should shine a light on Sri lanka'' David Cameron England PM