Zionist war planes destroyed a house completely,7 civilians were martyred

Palestinian local sources reported that the Zionist war planes shelled a Palestinian house full of children and women.

Palestinian medical sources reported that seven Palestinians were martyred, at least more 40 wounded in the large explosion in northern Gaza on Thursday afternoon.

The incident occurred in the home of Ahmed Hamouda, a member of the Ezzedeen al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Palestinian witnesses confirmed that the explosion was caused by a Zionist airstrike. (Source:alqassam.ps/english/?action=showdetail&fid=1038)

As often happens, "Palestinian witnesses confirmed" deaths of "civilians" in an Israeli airstrike that was completely imaginary, and the foreign press lapped it up. The above served as the pretext for the Hamas rocket and mortar attacks. International media generally "played it straight" - reporting the Palestinian claim and "balancing it" with the Israeli denial that any Israeli attack was involved. Just one more "incident" in which the perfidious Zionists deny they are killing poor Palestinian babies. But the Hamas may well have known the truth even while they were ordering the rocket and mortar attack, because they knew who was in that house and what they were doing. This announcement appeared on their English Web site on June 14, but it was dated June 12, the date of the events:

2008-06-14
Military Communique
Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades
Information Office
June 12th,2008
alqassam.ps/english/?action=showsta&sid=1252

Al Qassam Brigades mourns martyrs of Beit Lahiya

As Al Aqsa Intifada against the occupation assault on the Gaza Strip continues, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades has its best men to be in the playground of death to defend their people from any attack by the enemy..Today , Al-Qassam Brigades mourns the death of the Mujahideen :

Ashraf Naim Moshtaha 32-year-old
At-Toffah neighborhood/ Gaza
Hassan Mohammed AbuShaqfa 28-year-old
Beit Lahiya/ northern Gaza
Mohammed Sabri Abu Naja 25-year-old
Ash-Sharbora area/ Rafah
Ahmed Monir Sbeih 20-year-old
Gaza city

The Mujahideen were martyred in an explosion took place in a Palestinian house in Beit Lahiya region to the north of Gaza Strip on Thursday 12th of June,20008. Al Qassam Brigades mourns the death of the Mujahideen, reaffirms the commitment and determination to continue the resistance against the
belligerent occupation forces.

. The explosion evidently took place while the murderers, not innocent civilians at all, were putting the final touches on a "quality attack" - a big bomb of some sort. But wait - Hamas is supposedly discussing a truce with Israel. The Israeli cabinet had just voted to postpone a military operation in Gaza. If this bombing had actually taken place, it would have created tremendous pressure for Israel to attack. Since it failed, the Hamas did "the next best thing" - they launched a massive rocket barrage in retaliation for an Israeli attack that they themselves invented. The conclusion must be that the Hamas want Israel to attack or that the Hamas want to create as much provocation as possible and demonstrate that Israel is afraid to attack.

All this was lost on the innocent lambs of international media. The little Reuters story, carried in the New York Times was this:

Gaza: Fatal Blast Is Called Accident
By REUTERS

The military wing of Hamas said that an explosion that killed eight Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday was an accident that occurred while militants were preparing to carry out a bomb attack. Hamas initially blamed an Israeli airstrike for the explosion, but the Israeli military denied involvement. The blast flattened a two-story house belonging to Ahmed Hamouda, a Hamas bombmaker, in Beit Lahiya, killing six Hamas militants, a 4-month-old girl and another civilian. Mr. Hamouda was not killed, Hamas said.

No mention of the fact that the bomb attack was timed to occur just after Israel had put off a military operation, and while Hamas was negotiating a truce. And of course, the next time the same media will again give "balanced" accounts of the Israeli and Hamas "claims" about Israel murdering civilians.

Ami Isseroff