The Frame
A photo blog of world events by Sacbee.com Assistant Director of Multimedia Tim Reese.
Subscribe to feed Subscribe to this blog's feed
November 15, 2012
Israel moves troops toward Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Palestinian militants barraged Israel with more than 200 rockets on Thursday, killing three people as Israel pressed a punishing campaign of airstrikes on militant targets across the Gaza Strip. Three rockets targeted the densely populated Tel Aviv area, setting off air raid sirens in brazen attacks that threatened to trigger an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

Late in the day, Israel signaled a ground operation may be imminent as forces moved toward the border area with Gaza. At least 12 trucks were seen transporting tanks and armored personnel carriers, and a number of buses carrying soldiers arrived. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he had authorized the army to call-up additional reservists for possible action. The army said it was prepared to draft up to 30,000 additional troops.

Israel TV stations said a ground offensive was expected Friday.

The fighting, the heaviest in four years, has killed 15 Palestinians in two days and brought life to a standstill on both sides of the border. School has been canceled and many were huddling indoors.

Israel and Hamas have largely observed an informal truce for the past four years. But in recent weeks, the calm unraveled in a bout of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

(28 images)




mideast_fighting_111512_01.jpg
Jihad Masharawi weeps while he holds the body of his 11-month old son Ahmad, at Shifa hospital following an Israeli air strike on their family house, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. AP / Majed Hamdan
mideast_fighting_111512_02.jpg
Israeli soldiers take cover as an air raid siren warns of incoming rockets before the funeral of Aaron Smadja, one of the three Israelis killed by a rocket fired from Gaza, at a cemetery in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Tsafrir Abayov
mideast_fighting_111512_03.jpg
Israeli security personnel take cover in Kiryat Malachi, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Tsafrir Abayov
mideast_fighting_111512_04.jpg
Ultra Orthodox Jewish men gather around the body of Mirah Sharf that was killed in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi by a rocket thought to have been fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, during her funeral in Jerusalem, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Sebastian Scheiner
mideast_fighting_111512_05.jpg
A woman photographs Israeli soldiers on top an armored personal carrier close to the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel,Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Ariel Schalit
mideast_fighting_111512_06.jpg
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves the room after delivering a statement to the media in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Dan Balilty
mideast_fighting_111512_07.jpg
An Israeli soldier throws a blood-stained table from an apartment building hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, killing three people in Kiryat Malachi, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Tsafrir Abayov
mideast_fighting_111512_08.jpg
A Zaka volunteers clean blood stains from a children's room in an apartment in a building that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, where three people were killed in Kiryat Malachi, southern Israel, Kiryat Malachi, southern Israel,Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Ariel Schalit
mideast_fighting_111512_09.jpg
Nov. 15, 2012 -- Sderot, Israel - Israeli resident Yafa sits in her sister's yard after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit her wall. ZUMA24.com / Yin Dongxun
mideast_fighting_111512_10.jpg
Hand prints and shrapnel holes on a wall in apartment in building that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, where three people were killed in Kiryat Malachi, southern Israel, Kiryat Malachi, southern Israel,Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Ariel Schalit
mideast_fighting_111512_11.jpg
Israeli soldiers and civilians run to a rocket shelter as a siren sounds signaling an attack coming from the nearby Gaza Strip in Neva settlement, near the Israel-Egypt border, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. AP / Tsafrir Abayov
mideast_fighting_111512_12.jpg
The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Tsafrir Abayov
mideast_fighting_111512_13.jpg
A rocket launched by Palestinian militants towards Israel makes its way from the northern Gaza Strip, seen from the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Ariel Schalit
mideast_fighting_111512_14.jpg
Nov. 15, 2012 - Jerusalem, Palestinian Territory - An Israeli security force soldier shoots a tear gas canister toward Palestinian demonstrators during clashes in protest to Israel's military operation in Gaza, in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. ZUMA24.com / Mahfouz Abu Turk
mideast_fighting_111512_15.jpg
A Palestinian demonstrator runs through a cloud of tear gas during clashes against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Majdi Mohammed
mideast_fighting_111512_16.jpg
An Israel war plane drops a bomb over the northern Gaza Strip, seen from the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Ariel Schalit
mideast_fighting_111512_17.jpg
Explosion and smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, seen from the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Ariel Schalit
mideast_fighting_111512_18.jpg
Explosion and smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, seen from the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Ariel Schalit
mideast_fighting_111512_19.jpg
Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on Gaza City, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Hatem Moussa
mideast_fighting_111512_20.jpg
A Palestinian relative carries a wounded girl into the treatment room of Shifa hospital following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. AP / Majed Hamdan
mideast_fighting_111512_21.jpg
People gather around a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. AP / Adel Hana
mideast_fighting_111512_22.jpg
Nov. 15, 2012 - Khan Yunis, West Bank - A Palestinian man holds his wounded child after an Israeli airstrike. ZUMA24.com / Emad Drimly
mideast_fighting_111512_23.jpg
Nov. 15, 2012 - Gaza - Palestinians try to pull out a man trapped in a car after an Israeli air raid on the area of Twaam. ZUMA24.com / Yasser Qudih
mideast_fighting_111512_24.jpg
Palestinian men react at hospital after the body of Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing, was brought, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. The Israeli military said its assassination of the Hamas military commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) AP / Hatem Moussa
mideast_fighting_111512_25.jpg
Nov. 15, 2012 - Gaza City, West Bank - Palestinians carry the body of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, chief of Hamas' military wing, during his funeral. Thirteen Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, among them was Ahmed al-Jaabari, head of Ezz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. (Credit Image: © Emad Drimly/Xinhua/ZUMA24.com) ZUMA24.com / Emad Drimly
mideast_fighting_111512_26.jpg
Nov. 15, 2012 - Gaza City, Gaza Strip - Mourners carry the body of a girl of during her funeral. ZUMA24.com / Ashraf Amra
mideast_fighting_111512_27.jpg
The parents of 11 month-old Palestinian baby Ahmed Masharawi, killed in an Israeli strike, hold his body during his funeral in Gaza City, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Adel Hana
mideast_fighting_111512_28.jpg
A Palestinian boy holds a window pane taken from a damaged house hit in an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AP / Hatem Moussa
Posted by
4:29 PM 4:37 PM | Comments

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.

hide comments
blog comments powered by Disqus