explosion strikes Gaza moments ago
"Huge explosion in central #Gaza just now but too dark to see where" - @pdanahar. LIVE: http://bbc.in/XRJSks
11:33 AM - 18 Nov 12 · Details
1643:
Air raid sirens heard in Tel Aviv, Reuters news agency reports, citing witnesses.
- 1640:Israel Radio reports on a meeting between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "First it's necessary to stop [the fighting], then we''ll be ready to talk about other matters," the Israeli PM says. Israel cannot continue to be in the line of fire, he adds. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says Israel will cease fire only when Hamas and other militant organisations halt rocket attacks completely, the station's website says.
- 1630:Israeli media report that Israel's Iron Dome missile shield has shot down two rockets over Ashkelon. Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak (L) visited a battery deployed near Tel Aviv on Friday with the US ambassador, Dan Shapiro.
1625: Jon Donnison BBC Newstweets: On its email updates for media IDF seems to be no longer putting figures for number of daily rockets fired out #Gaza as they used to- 1622:The Palestinian Ma'an news agency now reports that 11 people were killed in the Israeli air strike on Hamas man Mohamed Dalou's home. Four of the dead were children and four were women, it reports.
- 1619:Here is some of the damage in Gaza City, as seen by Associated Press photographer Adel Hana.
- 1609: Joshua Hersh Huffington Posttweets: Retired Israeli military officer tells me IDF has exhausted targets in open areas, now has to hit Hamas closer to homes. Casualties will rise.
- Welcome to the BBC's live coverage of the Israel-Gaza violence which has continued for five days. An air strike on the house of Hamas official Mohamed Dalou has left at least nine people dead - the highest single loss of life since the crisis erupted on Wednesday. Rockets have been targeted at several Israeli towns and cities, with a couple and their infant being wounded near Ofakim and at least people hurt in a direct hit on a house in Ashkelon. Meanwhile, ceasefire efforts are continuing in Cairo.
- 1559: Jon Donnisontweets: Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh calls deaths of at least 9 people in Dalou Family in #Gaza including 4 children an "ugly massacre"
- 1557:Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss the crisis with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Asean meeting in Phnom Penh, Russian Interfax news agency reports, as seen by BBC Monitoring. "I shall have a meeting with Hillary Clinton on the morning of 20 November," Lavrov told journalists before leaving for Cambodia, adding that they would talk about the situation in the Gaza Strip.
- 1555:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a cabinet meeting earlier on Sunday, emphasising the efforts being made to avoid hitting civilians. He said the "operation in the Gaza Strip is continuing and we are prepared to expand it". He would, he said, continue to speak to world leaders.
- 1552:Speaking earlier in Bangkok, President Barack Obama said that "Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory", but he said it was "preferable" for the people of Gaza and for Israelis that the crisis come to an end "without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza".
- Rachel Shabitweets: Obama can't be 'actively working' for ceasefire while 'fully supportive' of #Israel and claiming Hamas started it
- 1548: Adam Cartier in Tel Aviv/Herzliya, Israelemails: I am a student living in Israel, originally from Hampstead, UK. This is the first time that I have been in Israel at a time like this. The threat of rocket fire on southern cities and in the Tel Aviv area has put the country on edge. At times such as these I can truly appreciate how Israel is a nation and despite being under fire, Israelis are sticking together and trying to live life normally.
