Three boys look at the remnant shells used in the Israeli military operation on the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, Dec. 28, 2009. Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip marked the first anniversary of Israel's three-week-long offensive in Gaza started from Dec. 27, 2008. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar) Photo Gallery>>>
by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly
GAZA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The 1.5 million Palestinians in the impoverished enclave of the Gaza Strip on Sunday marked one year anniversary of the 22-day Israeli air, sea and ground military offensive on the territory.
The Gazans marked the anniversary as Israel keeps a tight blockade imposed on the enclave for more than three years. The ongoing Israeli blockade had badly harmed the Palestinian economy in the Hamas-ruled enclave and hindered the reconstruction of what had been destroyed after the war.
A member of Hamas security forces walks over the rubble of their main compound destroyed during the Israel's military operation one year ago, in Gaza city, Dec. 28, 2009. Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip marked the first anniversary of Israel's three-week-long offensive in Gaza started from Dec. 27, 2008. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar) Photo Gallery>>>
In Gaza City, hundreds of children aged between 6 and 12 years old marched the main street of the city and headed towards the square of the unknown soldier in the city's downtown.
A pro-Hamas organization called al-Rahma or the mercy organized the children's rally to mark the one-year anniversary, where most of the children had either lost their fathers during the war or their houses completely destroyed.
"I can't forget when the Israeli F-16 warplane destroyed our house and killed my father. I came here to join the rally and to tell the world that Israel committed awful crimes against us," said Ahmed Abu Halima, a 10-year-old child from northern Gaza Strip.
Also on Sunday, members of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) as well as Hamas ministers and representatives of several factions gathered at the yard of the parliament which was bombarded and destroyed during the war.
During the gathering, warning sirens whistled while PLC members stood one minute of grief over the people killed during the war.
The deposed government of Hamas in Gaza announced that it has arranged a series of four-day activities all over the Gaza Strip. The activities include rallies and visits of destroyed areas.
The goal of the toughest war on the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli political and security establishment, was to rein on Gaza Strip militants, mainly Hamas movement, to halt firing homemade rockets at southern Israeli towns and communities.
However, Islamic Hamas movement leaders in Gaza insisted that the war, which aimed at destroying the movement's infrastructure, hasn't affected the movement's power and its popularity among the Palestinians, and Hamas military abilities were not broken.
Deposed Prime Minister of Hamas government Ismail Haneya said in a statement on the occasion of the anniversary that "Gaza Strip is still strong and Israel was not able to defeat Gaza which has been weakened by a tight blockade and more restrictions that mounted suffering among the population."
"Gaza has become so hard to be defeated. Gaza has won by its incredible steadfastness where the Zionist enemy failed to achieve its goals and our fighters forced the occupation forces to pull out as they continued their armed resistance against it," said Haneya.
According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights(PCHR), Israel had killed 1,420 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the war, more than two-thirds of whom were civilians, adding that more than 5,500 people were injured.
Palestinian observers and officials described the Israeli offensive as "the bloodiest" during the last four decades of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, they believe that both Hamas and Israel had failed to achieve their goals. In the operation, 10 Israelis were killed.
"Israel had really failed to achieve its goals during the war, while Hamas militants are still acting and say they are ready to fight Israel if it launches another war on the Gaza Strip," said As'ad Abu Sharkh, a Gaza-based academic and political analyst at Gaza al-Azhar University.
A report prepared by a UN mission, led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, found evidence of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by both Israel and Hamas.
As the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted the report's recommendations that both sides must probe their violations, the Israeli army opened investigations into 23 cases of violations committed in the three-week operation.
The 23 cases had been part of tens of other serious violations highlighted by local and international human rights groups, who accuse the Israeli soldiers of using Gaza civilians as human shields during the soldiers' raids on houses in Gaza towns and villages.
According to UN reports published at the end of the war on Jan.18, some 3,530 houses were completely destroyed, 2,850 houses were badly damaged and 52,900 houses were partially damaged, in addition to governmental and security buildings run by Hamas movement.
In March, donor countries held a special conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, where they pledged around 5 billion dollars for the reconstruction of what had been destroyed during the war.
However, and after one year, the process of reconstruction in Gaza, mainly buildings, houses and infrastructure hadn't started yet because Israel still imposes a tight blockade on Gaza and closes all crossing points, where raw materials for construction were prohibited.
JERUSALEM, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel and Palestinian Hamas movement are still far from reaching an agreement on a prisoner swap deal.
"If a deal does come to fruition, I will bring it to the government for a debate and approval. However, at this stage we are not close to a deal," local daily Ha'aretz quoted Netanyahu assaying ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting. Full story
GAZA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Sunday marks the first anniversary of Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip which Israel code-named Operation Cast Lead.
The 22-day Israeli offensive left behind bloody memories for the 1.5 million people living in the coastal strip as rebuilding takes time due to continued blockade. Full story
