The munitions were located inside Israel as part of a program managed by the US military and called War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel (WRSA-I), which stores munitions locally for US use that Israel can also access in emergency situations.
Israel, however, did not cite an emergency when it made its latest request about 10 days ago, the defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States allowed Israel to access the strategic stockpile anyway to resupply itself with 40mm grenades and 120mm mortar rounds to deplete older stocks that would eventually need to be refreshed.
31/7/14
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Israel calls up 16,000 reserve soldiers...
ReplyDeleteIsrael is calling up 16,000 extra reservists to bolster its military as the conflict in Gaza continues.
The deployment brings the total called up by Israel to 86,000. Officials told Israeli media the call-up gave the military "room to breathe".
The move comes as Israel pledged to investigate a strike on a UN-run school that killed at least 16 people.
In all, more than 100 people in Gaza were killed on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.
Spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC Israel would apologise if it discovered that its fire was responsible for the strike on the school.
"We have a policy - we don't target civilians," he said.
The US and UN condemned the attack, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling it "unjustifiable"..................http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28579278
31/7/14
Harper blames Hamas after Israeli shells hit UN shelter in Gaza....
ReplyDeleteOTTAWA -- An unflinching Prime Minister Stephen Harper reiterated his government's hard line on Wednesday on Hamas, Russia and Chinese cyberattacks.
Harper said Hamas is solely responsible for the death and destruction in Gaza following almost a month of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.
His remarks, made following a job training announcement in northern Saskatchewan, came as the United States and the United Nations condemned the shelling of a UN school that was sheltering displaced Palestinians on the Gaza Strip. At least 17 people were killed.
"Obviously no one likes to see the suffering and loss of life that has occurred," Harper told reporters in Air Ronge.
"That said, we hold the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for this. They have initiated and continue this conflict and continue to seek the destruction of the state of Israel."
Some 3,300 Palestinians, including many women and children, were taking refuge in the school building in the Jabalya refugee camp when it came under fire around dawn on Wednesday, said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
The attack prompted the U.S. to condemn the shelling, though it did not single out Israel by name.
"We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN designated shelters in Gaza," the White House added in a statement.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called the attack "shameful" and said all available evidence points to Israeli artillery as the cause. The Israeli military said it fired back after its soldiers were targeted by mortar rounds launched from the vicinity of the school.
Harper, meantime, suggested Israel has been justified in its actions throughout the conflict, saying that if a terrorist organization were attacking Canadians, there would be a similar response from Canada.
Unprompted, Harper also had harsh words for Russia over the continuing conflict in Ukraine.
"There is zero doubt that those people who are responsible for violence and destabilization in Ukraine are acting as agents of the government of Russia," he said. "Russia's conduct in this is unacceptable.".........Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/harper-blames-hamas-after-israeli-shells-hit-un-shelter-in-gaza-1.1939368#ixzz391s6kE3Y
30/7/14
Hamas demands Israel pulls back to 1967 borders ....
ReplyDeleteThe Palestinian resistance movement Hamas searches for a new ceasefire formula in the Gaza Strip as well as an end to Israeli aggressions against Gaza, a senior Hamas leader said Wednesday.
"Any international resolution for stopping the aggression must include the deployment of international troops along the 1967 borders," Osama Hamdan, Hamas' foreign relations chief, told Anadolu Agency in an interview that will be published in full on Thursday.
He added that his movement had already rejected the Egyptian ceasefire initiative for important reasons.............................http://www.worldbulletin.net/haberler/141649/hamas-demands-israel-pulls-back-to-1967-borders
31/7/14