Casualties:

Israeli military forces have killed 83 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since beginning its military offensive on Wednesday, November 1. On November 8, Israel's 12-missle shelling of five homes in Beit Hanoun left 18 civilians dead, including 7 children, 6 women and 11 members of the same family.

On November 14, the US vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution condemning Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

These attacks are being carried out with US weapons provided as military aid to Israel, in violation of the US Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts. The US Arms Export Control Acts limits the use of US-supplied weapons to self-defense and internal policing and forbids their use against civilians. The Foreign Assistance Act bans all US assistance to countries that engage in a systematic pattern of human rights violations.

Since November 1, Israel has killed 83 Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza. Among those killed were:

• 2 women participating in a non-violent march to release their male kin trapped inside of a mosque in Beit Hanoun, Radwa Ibrahim Jaber (48) from Jabalia Refugee Camp & Ibtisam Yousef Mas'oud (44) from Jabalia Refugee Camp;

• 2 paramedics assisting wounded Palestinian civilians in Beit Lahiya, Sami Abdullah Abu Sal'a (28) from the town of Jabalia & Mohammad Samir Mahmoud (17) from the town of Jabalia

• A 4-year old child, Bara Riyad Mohammad Fayyad from Beith Hanoun, who was wounded during the shelling of his home

Between 2000 and 2006, Israel has killed 2,300 Gazans, including 300 in the past 4 months since Palestinian fighters kidnapped an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.

The Israeli government vows that the incursions will move forward until Hamas stops launching Qassam rockets across the Gazan border, and smuggling weapons from Egypt. During the past four years, 8 Israeli settlers have been killed as a result of rockets fired from Gaza -- there have been no Israeli casualties within the current escalation of violence.

Humanitarian Crisis:

Israel's military offensive on Gaza compounds the humanitarian crisis crippling Gazan livelihoods. According to the World Bank, "Palestinians are currently experiencing the worst economic depression in modern history." At present, unemployment is approaching an unprecedented level of 40% and as of April 2006, 79% of Gazan households were living in poverty. The humanitarian crisis is a result of the economic boycott called by the European Union and the United States in response to the democratic election of Hamas to leadership of the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006. The boycott effectively suspends $1.3 billion in aid annually. Additionally, Israel has withheld $55 million per month in tax revenue, totaling close to half a billion dollars to date.

In addition to an economic boycott, Gazan residents must also contend with virtual closure. Palestinian workers from Gaza have not been allowed entry to Israel--Gaza's major employment market--since March 12, 2006. All major entry and exit points have been sealed since June 25, 2006. On June 28, 2006 Israel shelled Gaza's major electric power generator that provided 45% of Gaza's electricity, imperiling Palestinian access to vaccines, dairy products, fresh foods and clean water. Hamas has repeatedly called for cease-fire this year, April 7, 2006, and June 16, 2006, and July 8, 2006.

The most recent call for a cease-fire came from Hamas spokesperson, Ahmed Yousef in a New York Times op-ed on November 1st.

In response to Hamas' repeated calls for calm, Israel has rejected calls for a mutual cease-fire that would agree to end Israeli incursions and missile attacks into Gaza and Palestinian rocket attacks on settlements. Instead Israel has chosen to continue its indiscriminate military attacks.