Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor in Gaza, tells CBS News that the number of civilians injured and killed in Gaza proves that Israel is deliberately attacking the population.

Strong circumstantial evidence is slowly emerging into the mainstream media that confirms that, far from Hamas provoking Israel, it has been Israel that has been deliberately provoking Hamas into rocketing and mortaring southern Israel specifically in order to provide a casus belli for Israel to attack the Gaza. In doing so, this makes Israel guilty of using its own people as ‘victims’ for political purposes.

Cold wintery evening in Tel Aviv, the evening of the ground invasion, a new step in the escalation of what may become a new big war. There were hundreds of demonstrators – many young people, a lot of families with children, all sorts of Israelis and Palestinians, under red banners calling to end the warfare in Gaza. In Jerusalem, deep fog all but covered the walls of the Old City.

But even deeper is the fog of war. It is too early to predict the future developments. We still do not know what the goals of the Israeli invasion are, and we do not know the strength of Palestinian resistance. Fighters decide the future now, not the pundits. The war may go on to confrontation with Iran; it may bring too long rule of Hosni Mubarak to an abrupt end, it may cause a new intifada, it may re-shape the Middle East.

The Israeli military is reportedly using napalm-like white phosphorus shells in its all-out attack on Gaza, according to the conservative Times of London. The phosphorus in the smoke-emitting shells causes agonizing, unquenchable burns, sometimes searing flesh right down to the bone.

These savage tools of terror are "legal" when used as smokescreens to mask military operations, although their use as an offensive weapon is war crime. This is a rather ludicrous distinction when the shells are fired into heavily populated civilian areas, exploding and spraying phosphorus in all directions. Anyone who orders their use on cities and refugee camps knows with iron certainty that civilians will be burned, maimed and killed by this chemical weapon. That is to say, they know they will be murdering and mutilating innocent people in the most gruesome manner -- and they give the order anyway.

They create robots to justify mass murder! Qassamcount is a Facebook and Twitter robot that will update your status with the latest numbers on Hamas rocket firings. Megaphone is a desktop application Zionists can install to be notified of opportunities to comment on news articles and vote in opinion polls on major international news websites.

They weren't kidding about that propaganda war!

AS ISRAELI forces attacked Gaza by land, sea and air, residents living in the congested coastal strip faced a fateful question: should they flee the shelling and shooting, or hole up inside their homes and hope for the best?

The five-member al-Jarou family decided to make a break for it around midday on Sunday. They abandoned their home in the Shaaf neighbourhood east of Gaza City and dashed by car to a relative's house about two kilometres away, thinking it would be safer.

For a while, it was.

INTERNATIONAL efforts to impose a ceasefire in Gaza were underway last night as Israeli forces advanced deeper into Gaza City and the Palestinian death toll from the offensive soared towards 550.

Hopes for a ceasefire rose after Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, announced it had accepted an invitation from Egypt to send a delegation to Cairo for negotiations.

Thousands of Palestinian supporters took to the streets of Canadian cities Saturday to protest Israel's attack on Gaza and to urge the Canadian government to speak up against the increasing violence in the region.

In Toronto, about 2,000 people gathered in the city's downtown center and marched on the Israeli and the U.S. consulates.

"We're calling on the Canadian government to ask for an immediate ceasefire and resume humanitarian aid," Diana Ralph, one of the organizers from the Independent Jewish Voices, told reporters.

This is "a war-crime attack on sovereign people," she said.

To those that want to help the besieged people of Gaza…. The following are some ways you can….

Israeli troops engaged in heavy gunbattles late Monday with Hamas militants in Gaza City for the first time since the start of the army's ground offensive, military sources and witnesses said.

Large explosions and heavy exchanges of fire rocked Shejaiya neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City.

Ambulances and medical workers in Gaza are facing increasing difficulty in reaching the wounded, some are being killed in doing so, and a “humanitarian breathing space” is vital to ensure that food and medical supplies reach those in need as Israel’s offensive entered its 10th day, the top United Nations relief official in the area said today.

Early 2006, Palestinians in the West Bank and especially in the Gaza Strip voted overwhelmingly for Hamas in a transparent and a fair election that was monitored by the former US President Carter. In response, all Western Powers (European Union and the United States), the “Moderate” Arab Regimes, and the Israelis conspired to topple the newly elected government (see related articles section for details). As a first response, the Israeli government jailed all the elected Hamas’ representatives in the West Bank and Western Powers started all sorts of blockade against the freely elected government. I’m not a fan of Hamas or its agenda, however, I believe it’s critical to understand why these Arab leader joined the Western Powers & Israel in a conspiracy to oust the freely elected Palestinian Government. To simply say they are puppets in hands of Israel and Western powers is not good enough, there must be more to it than that.

Twenty hours later, the wounded were still bleeding in a shed in the courtyard of the house. There was no electricity, no heat, no water. Their relatives were with them, but every time they tried to leave the courtyard to fetch water, the army shot at them.

Speculation: Israel has been accused of using phosphorous which is banned under the Geneva Treaty of 1980 during its strikes on Hamas

Five civilians die when shells hit a market, while most residents stay indoors to avoid Israeli shelling. 'Anyone who survives this wave, it will be like they were born again,' said one man.

...

Reporting from Gaza City and Jerusalem -- As Israeli forces closed in on Gaza City, Mohammed Barbari joined the scramble by its most intrepid residents Sunday for dwindling supplies of food they would need while hunkering down at home.

The first explosion tore through the central Firas Market at 11:30 a.m. as he approached from adjacent Palestine Square. Unable to turn his yellow Volkswagen Golf around in traffic, he kept driving toward the hail of shrapnel and the screams of scattering shoppers.

Israel is believed to be using controversial white phosphorus shells to screen its assault on the heavily populated Gaza Strip yesterday. The weapon, used by British and US forces in Iraq, can cause horrific burns but is not illegal if used as a smokescreen.

Haaretz reports that, as Israeli ground forces entered Gaza yesterday, “hundreds of shells were fired, including cluster bombs aimed at open areas.” FireDogLake’s Siun writes, “The use of cluster bombs — which have a large footprint when initially dropped and then remain a threat for decades — in a location like the Gaza Strip which is so packed with people is horrifying.” (FDL notes that video footage seems to confirm the use of cluster bombs.) Last summer, a former Israeli defense official said that “the Israeli military used cluster bombs for two weeks during the 2006 Lebanon war without telling the Israeli government.” At the time, the UN decried the use of the bombs as “completely immoral.”

At least 13,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes in Gaza as the bombardment continues into its seventh day, Save the Children said today.

More than half of those displaced people are children.

The aerial bombings and the ongoing ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli ground forces must be analysed in a historical context. Operation "Cast Lead" is a carefully planned undertaking, which is part of a broader military-intelligence agenda first formulated by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001:

"Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)

It was Israel which broke the truce on the day of the US presidential elections, November 4:

Pacifici explains that the Italian Jewish community agreed with the Israeli ambassador on keeping a "low profile"at this time. "I can assure you - writes Pacifici - that the decision to send medicine to Palestinian and Israeli children was taken only for media purposes, and was only used for our struggle which will start on Monday in the media to support Israel". Pacifici announces that on January 10th there will be a "mega-event" with 1,500 personalities chosen together with the Israeli ambassador in order to "explain Israel's reasons and its right to make this war".

Pacifici explains that the Roman Jewish community did not spend "even one Euro" for the medicine, which was donated by "an international Jewish organization" and guarantees that "in any case not one piece of medicine will get to Gaza unless it has been authorized by the Government of Israel".

Bill Kristol thinks that President-elect Barack Obama should be thankful for Israel's attack on Gaza.

"If you care about the peace process you should want Israel to embarrass and humiliate Hamas. That's the only chance -- there would be no peace process if Hamas were governing Gaza. That would be the worst thing for Obama. This is a favor for Obama if it de legitimizes and weakens Hamas," Kristol said.

Israel was reported to be using white phosphorous shells to cover the advance of its troops: the munitions are not illegal, but their use has been heavily criticised for causing terrible burns.

Israel consolidated its hold on parts of the Gaza Strip on Monday, seizing high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the territory's biggest city as a stream of world leaders headed for the region to press for a truce.

At least seven Palestinian children were killed, adding to the growing toll of civilian deaths that has caused international outrage.

let's revisit – and reverse – the Israeli argument, putting all the known facts in their proper context. If Mexico – in an attempt to regain its lost territory, the promised land of California – invaded California, drove the residents of San Diego from their city, cooped them up in, say, Death Valley, and wouldn't let anything but a basic minimum of consumer goods and medical supplies either in or out, well, we all know what would happen.

Above is a picture of a Catholic child from Gaza, 14 year old Christine Turok, lying in a coffin after being killed in Israel's latest fit of Talmudic hatred - one of many innocent children, women and men, Christian and Muslim, slaughtered by the drive to consolidate Eretz Yisrael.

I know that in the United States, from where we attract many readers, there are white, European Christians and Catholics who wholly support Israel in the belief that they are God's "Chosen People" - a theological fallacy which has crept even into the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council.

Theology and the Crucifixion aside, let's reason for one second: would "God's Chosen People" perpetrate, or collectively support the perpetration of, such an orgy of genocide and destruction as we are witnessing in Gaza? Would "God's Chosen People" hinder a Catholic Archbishop from celebrating pre-Christmas Masses in Gaza, before murdering members of his congregation from the air with impunity?

MORE than 100 Australian Jews, including two award-winning novelists and a former federal cabinet minister, have signed a statement condemning Israel's siege of Gaza, heightening tensions within the local Jewish community over the violence.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, meanwhile called yesterday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza but refused to criticise the Israeli offensive.

The first attempt at trying to end the war came a few days into the conflict, when Israeli and American sources floated the idea, with French backing, that Israel was considering suspending its attacks for 48-hours. However, the truth behind that proposal was that Israel was concerned that the Gaza Strip was scheduled to be under heavy cloud cover for those 48 hours, restricting Israeli warplanes' visibility while simultaneously providing Hamas rocket teams with cover.

Israel had hoped that Hamas would fall for the bait, keeping Israel safe from Hamas rockets for 48 hours, after which Israel (perhaps with help from the Fatah group) would “engineer” a few rockets designed to ‘break the truce’, allowing them to re-launch its offensive in clearer weather.

Nonetheless, Hamas refused to take the bait, and Israeli officials distanced themselves from the proposal.

About 200 demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted for peace in front of the Dauphin County Courthouse on Sunday as Israeli troops launched a ground offensive strike on Gaza, continuing a weeklong military strike they say is aimed at stopping Hamas attacks on southern Israel.

For a second day running, Israeli authorities have barred a Red Cross medical team from entering Gaza to help treat residents injured in bombings.

"The number of martyrs has reached at least 500, including 87 children, and more than 2,450 have been wounded,'' Moawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza medical emergency services, said.

In talking to sister-in-law, she constantly heard explosions in the background, but so far her in-laws are living in a relatively safe area and have taken in some families with children. The children have been told that what they are hearing are great big balloons bursting, which at first lightened the mood, even though the kids know these are really the sounds of explosion. Now the kids, when they say their prayers, are asking God for smaller balloons.

An unexpected energy windfall on Israel's doorstep promises to resolve Israel's energy security concerns for years to come. Unfortunately for Israek, it is the Palestinian Authority that controls the licensing of these reserves. So, as Operation Summer Rains washes away the administrative and political structures in the occupied territories, has Israel decided to use Hamas as an excuse to dismantle the PA and seize its energy assets?

A: revealed "Brigades of the Martyr Izz el-Deen al-Qassam," the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas", some details of the families of two soldiers of the Zionist occupation, did not disclose the ranks yet.

The sources said the movement "Hamas" and "Qassam", as the transfer of the Palestinian Information Center, the Mujahedeen "Qassam" have captured two Israeli soldiers in the area of Jabal Al-Rais east of Gaza City, were transferred to a safe place away from the scene Battle.

Medicine students are being called to the local hospitals to deal with the number of victims which is dramatically going up. In opposition of Israeli key target of thing hamas militants, most of victims are civilians and this is so obvious in Gaza hospitals. Around 10 militant killed today and all the rest are normal people who have nothing to do with firing rockets and militants.

The Israeli army spent 18 months training for its ground attack against Gaza on a model of the main city built at a desert army base, a military spokesman said.

Thousands of people have turned out in Australian capital cities for protests against the violence in Gaza.

Parts of Sydney's city centre were blocked off as protesters burned Israeli flags and carried coffins during a march to the Sydney Town Hall.

As if putting 1.5 million people at risk of starvation was not enough, Israel weighed a brutal attack on Gaza today, killing more than 200 people, with 750 injured, including women and children. Once again I beg you reader, my brothers and sisters-in-arts, to spread these cartoons. Reproduce them in posters, newspapers, magazines, zines, blogs, everywhere. Let's make the voice of the Gaza people to be heard all around the world. Thank you, in the name of the Palestinians of Gaza.

A paramedic working for an Oxfam-funded organisation was killed today after an ambulance was hit by an Israeli-fired shell, the charity said.

The Palestinian, working for the Union of Health Work Committees, was killed in Gaza.

Resistance factions announced they had destroyed seven tanks Zionism a "Merkava" fortified, using improvised explosive devices and anti-missile missiles.

The Palestinian resistance factions devices to the insurgents inflicted casualties among Israeli soldiers, and stressed its resistance to the destruction of Israeli tanks in Gaza entirely.

He said "Abu Ahmed said" the spokesperson of the "Jerusalem Brigades" armed wing of Islamic Jihad: "resistance factions managed only in the Zeitoun neighborhood destroyed seven tanks Zionism, and there are dozens of deaths and injuries among occupation, the occupying forces have occurred in several ambushes."

Earlier, US Vice-President Dick Cheney defended the Israeli ground offensive, saying air attacks were not enough to destroy rocket sites. He also said Israel had not sought US approval launching it.

At least seven killed in Gaza mosque attack as Hamas cabinet insists on dialogue.

Meanwhile, Israeli artillery shelled the Gaza Strip, stepping up the offensive against Hamas as tanks and troops waited on the border for a possible ground offensive. Just before nightfall Israel launched artillery fire on Gaza for the first time in the offensive. The barrage caused a large blast in Gaza City as well as a series of blasts along the frontier.

It started out as a week of pounding and killing of innocents from the air and sea, now the land offensive against the inhabitants of Gaza has commenced. Israel has demonstrated that it has overwhelming military power to bring about chaos, to destroy the infrastructure of a tiny impoverished land, and sow terrifying fear. Israel has also shown that it is completely indifferent to any sense of humanity toward the people of Gaza.