Israeli army kills 10 more Palestinians

An Israeli tank maneuvers just outside the southern Gaza Strip (file photo).

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173802.html

Ten more Palestinians have lost their lives and dozens of others, including children, have been injured in separate Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, reports say.

On the deadliest day of the shelling of the strip on Friday since the end of the Gaza war two years ago, Israeli tanks and warplanes struck heavily on the northern Gaza territory, AFP reported.

The devastating 22-day assault, code-named Operation Cast Lead, on the impoverished enclave in December 2008 and January 2009, killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and inflicted a damage of $1.6 billion on the region's already-stagnant economy.

In the latest Israeli shelling of Khan Younis, two people were killed and ten others, including children, were left injured. In Rafah, Israeli tank shelling claimed the lives of four people.

Another missile strike, near the northern town of Beit Lahiya, killed one Palestinian on the spot, while another one died of his wounds in a hospital, witnesses said.

As dusk fell, a shell slammed into a cemetery in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, killing two people, one of them a 10-year-old boy, and wounding 10 others, some of them also children, according to Palestinian medics.

The total death toll over the past 24 hours has risen to 15 Palestinians, and at least 57 others were wounded, 12 of them seriously, medics said.

Israel in recent days has intensified its air and ground attacks against Gaza. The attacks are often launched under the usual pretext of responding to the purported firing of projectiles.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Meanwhile, in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, up to 2,000 protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy to protest the strikes.

The mostly youthful crowd waved Palestinian and Egyptian flags and chanted, “The people demand the liberation of Palestine.”

Iran starts mass-producing 2 new missiles

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118011&sectionid=351020101

Iran has launched production lines for two new missiles as a part of its plans to boost defensive capabilities against any possible attack.

Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Saturday inaugurated the production line for an anti-armor missile Toofan-5 and an anti-helicopter missile Qaem.

"By the mass production and delivery of these modern weapons to the armed forces, the country's defense capabilities will increase both in ground and aerial war," the minister said.

The Toofan-5, which is among the most advanced of anti-armor missiles, is equipped with two warheads and can destroy armored vehicles, tanks and personnel carriers, Vahidi said.

The Qaem missile is also of a class of semi-heavy guided missiles and can destroy low-altitude aerial targets that fly at low speed. Being laser guided, the Qaem missile is also resistant to electronic warfare, Vahidi pointed out.