Israel Hits Hamas

Israel and Hamas this time. And what’s changed with Egypt reshaped. And Syria at war.

Nearly a hundred Palestinians dead now in Gaza, as Israeli air strikes grind into a sixth day.  Nine in a single family.  Three generations.  And nearly a hundred Hamas rockets flying out of Gaza into Israel on Sunday.  One crashing into an empty school.  Two, with their new, long range, toward crowded Tel Aviv.

The fight looks terribly familiar.  But the frame has changed.  Hamas grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood.  The Muslim Brotherhood now has its man as president of Egypt.

This hour, On Point:  Israel and Hamas this time, in a region being remade.
-Tom Ashbrook

Nancy Youssef, Middle East bureau chief for McClatchy newspapers.

Natan Sachs, fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Robert Malley, program director for the Middle East and North Africa for the International Crisis Group.

Foreign Policy "The current spasm of violence in Gaza had not yet begun — his concern was not due to current events, but a general disapproval of ever venturing into the West Bank. I tried to explain the poverty rampant in Palestinian society and especially the dismal conditions in the refugee camps, one of which my students and I had visited the previous day. Yes, there are some wealthy Palestinians, but most do not live all that well under occupation. Settlements are a particular problem. We rode the rest of the blessedly short trip in silence."

al Jazeera "Twitter also became a vital outlet for Gazans to spread information even after the power was cut off. The hacker collective Anonymous is reportedly fighting to keep Gaza online after fears spread that the Internet might be cut."

Haaretz "After a relatively quiet night on the Israeli side of the border, Friday morning saw the renewal of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel's south. Several rockets hit residential areas in Ashdod; a woman sustained light injuries and a few residents suffered an anxiety attack following the rocket fire. The Israel Defense Forces struck some 150 targets overnight in Gaza."

Here is video posted on YouTube by the Israeli government showing an attack on a suspected Hamas militant.