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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Gaza flooded after Israel opens dam gates |
| 2010-01-20 |
| Israel has opened the floodgates of one of its dams in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, flooding Palestinian houses and causing severe damage. The Israeli authorities opened the dam's floodgates without any prior warning or coordination with local authorities in Gaza, stunning the residents of the area, the Press TV correspondent in Gaza reported late on Monday. There has been heavy rain in the region over the past 24 hours. It seems the Israeli authorities could not handle the huge amount of rainwater and decided to open the floodgates without prior warning. Because Gaza is located in a low-lying area and the elevation decreases on the way to the Mediterranean Sea, water gushed into the area, flooding two Palestinian villages and displacing a hundred Gazan families. The locals say Israel intentionally caused the floods, the Press TV correspondent said. The waters from the dam, called the Valley of Gaza, flooded houses in Johr al-Deek village, which is southeast of Gaza City, and Nusirat in the eastern part of the territory, where the Al-Nusirat refugee camp is also located. The Valley of Gaza is about 8 kilometers long. It starts on the eastern Gaza border with Israel and ends in the Mediterranean. The houses of many Palestinians have been flooded and a number of people are trapped inside or on their roofs, while many have also gone missing, the Press TV correspondent said. Rescue teams are using small boats to evacuate the trapped people. Hamas has condemned the act as a war crime and has called on all concerned parties to intervene and offer assistance to the locals. The flooding has made life more difficult for the Gazans, especially for those still living in tents because their homes were destroyed in the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. In the war, more than 1,400 people were killed, mostly women and children, and over 10,000 houses were destroyed or damaged, forcing at least 500 families to live in tents. Very little progress is seen in reconstruction of the devastated areas in the Gaza Strip, mostly due to the Israeli blockade, which has prevented the delivery of building materials to the coastal enclave. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 The Bedouins on the Egyptian side are upset that their plight is being completely ignored by the authorities -- it seems there have been terrible rainstorms in the area resulting in washouts everywhere. The Jerusalem Post reports walls collapsed in Haifa due to the storm, and they're finally getting drinking water again to the southern communities, and also collected 10 million cubic meters of water of run-off from the floods. I wonder if the level of the Dead Sea rose a bit -- there have been concerns that it was on the way to drying out completely, just when they discovered things actually living in it. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-01-20 23:38 |
| #8 I grew up on the Mississippi River and as a very young lad learned the truth that smart people do NOT build their houses below the flood line. You can farm it if you want, but you live on the high ground. |
| Posted by: rwv 2010-01-20 23:04 |
| #7 "civic planning in the Hamas organization" "Civic planning" and "Hamas" don't belong in the same sentence, RsJ. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-01-20 18:30 |
| #6 Yeah. If they don't have any atrocities, they'll just make some up. This is where the USA has dropped the ball on the WoT by not having native language broadcasts to counteract al-jazeera and others. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-01-20 06:20 |
| #5 the english language Palestinian news agency Maan has a story on the flood that doesn't mention a flood gate at all in all likelihood, Press TV made up the floodgate aspect |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-01-20 05:57 |
| #4 Rhetorical inconsistencies run rampant in this idiotic report of flash flooding by the Iranian Press: The flooding has made life more difficult for the Gazans, especially for those still living in tents because their homes were destroyed in the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. I bet there's still 50,000 Gazans living in tents because of the skirmish, when the Israeli military wanted to stop the hundreds of rocket attacks on their citizens prior to 2009. But why were the thousands of tents erected in a flood zone? In the war, more than 1,400 people were killed, mostly women and children, and over 10,000 houses were destroyed or damaged, forcing at least 500 families to live in tents. Very little progress is seen in reconstruction of the devastated areas in the Gaza Strip, mostly due to the Israeli blockade, which has prevented the delivery of building materials to the coastal enclave. Well, actually, around 750 Hamas fighters were killed out of the total kill of about 1300 (58%), while many civilians were shot, "for effect," by Hamas fighters. OK, so it's just 500 families living in tents - but why were they in a flood zone? Who is responsible for civic planning in the Hamas organization? Who is responsible for peer review on Iranian Press articles? |
| Posted by: Ralphs son Johnnie 2010-01-20 03:45 |
| #3 So they are charging a "war crime" for opening the flood gates during a flood. If they had allowed the dam to breech, what would the charge be then? Even giving warning would not have prevented the villages from being flooded. I have a hard time believing, though, that there was no warning given. I have no problem believing the warning didn't reach the people. It would serve in the interests of Hamas to prevent the warning from being distributed in order to cause this very problem. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2010-01-20 02:19 |
| #2 Should have thrown in a few tons of super-heavy-duty detergent... Special Note - This is Press TV - Iran. Better add a couple tons of salt too... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-01-20 00:59 |
| #1 The brave honorable people of Gaza MUST rid themselves of the parasite known as hamas if they want to live peaceful and free. Plenty of notice was given. Even leaflet drops. The Palis chose to ignore the warnings Never bite on the propaganda tampon |
| Posted by: Mike Hunt 2010-01-20 00:09 |