Israel Begins Ground Invasion

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Reuters reports: “Israel stepped up its land offensive in Gaza with artillery, tanks and gunboats on Friday and declared it could ‘significantly widen’ an operation Palestinian officials said was killing ever greater numbers of civilians.”

JOE CATRON, [in Gaza], joecatron at gmail.com, @jncatron
Catron was recently profiled in “Inside a Gaza Hospital Under Israeli Rocket Fire.” He was at the El-Wafa geriatric Hospital in Gaza City when it was bombed by the Israeli military. He is a freelance writer, English teacher and activist living in Gaza. Catron and others in Gaza — including human rights workers, teachers, doctors and bloggers can be reached via GazaDigital at gmail.com. See also: voicesofgaza.com

LAILA EL-HADDAD, laila.elhaddad at gmail.com
El-Haddad is author of the book Gaza Mom. She was profiled last year in Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” program.

MAX BLUMENTHAL, [in NYC], maxjblumenthal at gmail.com, @MaxBlumenthal
Available for a limited number of interviews, Blumenthal is author of the book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel. His recent pieces include “Netanyahu government knew teens were dead as it whipped up racist frenzy.”

YOUSEF AL-HELOU, al-helou.y at hotmail.com, @YousefAlhelou
Yousef Al-Helou is the Gaza-based correspondent for The Real News and a freelance reporter. He reported last week: “Israeli Press Continues to Coordinate with Military.” He just completed his masters in journalism at Oxford University.

ELIZABETH MURRAY, emurray404 at aol.com, @elizabethmurra
Murray is available for a limited number of interviews. She served as deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East in the National Intelligence Council before retiring after a 27-year career in the U.S. government, where she specialized in Middle Eastern political and media analysis. She is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

LIA TARACHANSKY, [in Israel] lia at therealnews.com, @liatarachansky
Tarachansky is a Jaffa-based filmmaker and the Israel-Palestine correspondent for The Real News. Her films include “On the Side of the Road” about the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 1948. Her most recent reports include “Report from Israel’s Border with Gaza.”

EHAB LOTAYEF, [in Montreal] lotayef at gmail.com, @lotayef58
MAHFOUZ KABARITI, [in Gaza] kabariti80 at hotmail.com
ROBERT NAIMAN, naiman at justforeignpolicy.org, @naiman
Lotayef and Naiman are spokespersons for Gaza Ark, whose ship was attacked very early Friday morning. Gaza Ark is “part of the ongoing international Freedom Flotilla Coalition challenging the illegal and inhumane Israeli blockade of Gaza” imposed by Israel. Naiman is also policy director of Just Foreign Policy.