Gaza marks year of deadly Israeli war

ADEL ZAANOUN

December 27, 2009

AFP

Sirens wailed across the Gaza Strip on Sunday as the still-devastated Hamas-ruled enclave marked one year since the start of Israel's deadliest offensive ever launched on the territory.

Events marking the anniversary began with sirens sounding at 11.20am (2020 AEDT), when the first bombs of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, launched in a bid to halt years of rocket fire from the enclave, slammed into the coastal strip.

Senior Hamas leader Ahmed Bahar struck a defiant tone, saying the "will of the steadfast and the resistance was victorious" at a ceremony unveiling a war memorial with the names of hundreds of Palestinians killed in the fighting.

"Gaza was steadfast and did not fall in this ugly, destructive war ... And the resistance, which defended its land with honour, was not broken," he said.

"We call on all the sons of our people to unite and to take to the trenches of the resistance to face the criminal Zionist occupation."

Several demonstrations were to be held during the day and Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya was to make a television address in the evening, with Hamas planning to stage events for 22 days, the length of the war.

On Saturday, December 27, 2008, Israeli warplanes launched simultaneous strikes on numerous Hamas targets throughout the territory of 1.5 million people, raids that killed at least 225 people in what was one of the bloodiest single days in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The war ended 22 days later with mutual ceasefires by Israel and Hamas, with some 1400 Palestinians, including more than 400 minors, and 13 Israelis left dead.

Entire neighbourhoods of Gaza were flattened in the onslaught, which wounded more than 5500 people.

"Those were dark days. There was killing in every street and alley," said Dr Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, who had 16 paramedics killed as they struggled to collect the wounded.

"The time has come now for unity and peace and justice and an end to the blockade," he said, referring to Israeli and Egyptian border closures that have sealed Gaza off from all but basic goods since Hamas seized power in June 2007.

The end of the war ushered in the calmest period in years along Gaza's borders as the ceasefires have held despite occasional violations by both sides.

The number of Palestinian rocket attacks in the year since the war has been 90 percent less than the one preceding it, according to Israeli figures.

But Israel has come under intense criticism from the international community and human rights groups who have accused it of disproportionate force during the operation, including the use of white phosphorous in residential areas.

A UN Human Rights Council report released several months ago accused both Israel and Palestinian militants of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the offensive.

And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday warned that "neither the issues that led to this conflict nor its worrying aftermath are being addressed."

"There is a sense of hopelessness in Gaza today for 1.5 million Palestinians, half of whom are under eighteen (years old). Their fate and the well-being of Israelis are intimately connected," he added.