Greetings World:
TIMELINE FOR 18 NOVEMBER 2012
Israel-Hamas 'Open War': LIVE UPDATES — RT
Nov. 18. 14:06 GMT: The head of the Hamas rocket program in Gaza has been killed in a precise targeted operation by the IDF.
Nov. 18. 13:50 GMT: Egyptian security officials say a senior Israeli official has arrived in Cairo for talks on reaching a cease-fire to end an
Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. (AP)
Nov. 18, 13:06 GMT: The recent deaths in the Sheikh Radjwan area of Gaza City bring the death toll to 55.
Nov. 18, 13:05 GMT: Two women are among the three killed in a new strike on the Sheikh Radjwan area of Gaza City. Several have been injured, Al
Arabiya reports.
Nov. 18, 13:00 GMT: President Obama says "We are fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself'", discussing Gaza crisis during his Thailand
visit. The US President also says will know in the next 36 to 48 hours whether progress can be made in halting Gaza crisis.
Nov. 18, 12:44 GMT: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is expected in Israel on Monday to attempt to advance a cease fire, RT Paula Slier
reports.
Nov. 18, 12:34 GMT: Palestinian roving ambassador Afif Safieh tells Sky News channel Gaza conflict is about 'territory not terrorism'; calls
Netanyahu a 'pyromaniac'.
Nov. 18, 12:05 GMT: IDF takes over Hamas radio waves, warns Gaza residents, Israeli media reports.
Nov. 18, 12:04 GMT: A barrage of at least 15 rockets has been fired at Ashdod, Haaretz reports.
Nov. 18, 11:20 GMT: Israeli Culture and Sport Minster Limor Livnat told Ynet that Israel cannot agree to a ceasefire as "only this morning we saw
that Grad rockets are still landing on the southern residents."
Nov. 18, 11:17 GMT: One man was killed, and four wounded in Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza, Ynet reported, citing sources in Al-Shifa
Hospital.
Nov. 18, 10:41 GMT: Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh has gone into hiding due to concerns that Israel wants to assassinate him, a spokesman for the militant
group said according to Ynet news. This comes after the Israeli Air Forces bombed his Gaza headquarters on Saturday.
Nov. 18, 09:51 GMT: The crew of RT’s Arabic-language sister channel Rusiya Al-Yaum are moving to a new office following an Israeli attack on two
media center buildings overnight. Staff members were not at the facility when it was bombed.
Nov. 18, 09:40 GMT: The IDF targeted the site in Gaza from where the rocket was fired at Tel Aviv.
Nov. 18, 09:30 GMT: The Middle East Foreign Press Association demands explanation from the IDF over why its air force targeted media buildings
overnight. It said journalists in areas of conflict are considered civilians and must be respected and protected as such under the international
law.
Nov. 18, 09:09 GMT: A four-storey building in Ashkelon, Israel, was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza. Two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel in
the assault. Another rocket landed near a different residential building and damaged parked cars. Two additional missiles that were launched toward
the city were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
Nov. 18, 08:47 GMT: The Iron Dome intercepted the rocket fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv, IDF reported.
Nov. 18, 08:45 GMT: Rocket alerts heard in Tel Aviv, IDF reported.
Nov. 18, 08:44 GMT: Siren is heard in Ashdod and Ashkelon beach, Israel, according to Haaretz.
Nov. 18, 08:22 GMT: Hamas’ Qassam Brigades fired a ‘107 Rocket’ at an Israeli warship, Al Arabiya reported .
Nov. 18, 08:06 GMT: An 18-month-old Palestinian boy has been killed in new Israeli airstrike on Gaza, AFP quotes Palestinian medics as saying.
Earlier, it was reported that a total of three children have been killed since midnight in Gaza by Israeli shelling, according to the Twitter feed of
Reuters correspondent Noah Browning in Palestine/Israel.
Palestinians inspect a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip.(Reuters / Mohammed Salem)
Even journalists are not safe:
Nov. 18, 07:03 GMT:An Israeli airstrike on a media compound has injured at least six journalists, Palestinian medical authorities say. Among the
outlets damaged are local, Italian, German, Lebanese and Kuwaiti channels.
An IDF report of the strike described the target as “a communications antenna used by Hamas to carry out terror activity against the State of
Israel.” Israel sees al-Quds TV as a Hamas propaganda branch.
To be continued...