'Israel killed 180 Palestinians in 2011'

According to reports, more than 120 people including children and women have been killed and over 600 injured in the Gaza strip during air raids and ground incursions in 2011.

“2011 was the bloodiest year since the end of Israel's war on Gaza. We still continue to suffer from a huge shortage of some types of medicines,” Ashraf al-Qedra of Gaza Health Ministry said.

Israel has been imposing a land and sea blockade on the tiny coastal strip since 2007. It controls Gaza's airspace and territorial waters and restricts the movement of people or goods in or out of Gaza.

The Israeli regime waged a 22-day Christmas war on the densely populated coastal sliver in 2008 which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead including at least 300 children.

The offensive also destroyed 4,000 houses and devastated a large portion of infrastructures in the blockaded strip. Israeli military forces also targeted UN-run schools and centers.

More than 50,000 people were also displaced as a result of the three-week war.
Tel Aviv also used internationally-banned weapons, including white phosphorus bombs, against the Gazans during the three-week war.

On December 27, the Israeli military's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz warned that Tel Aviv would launch another war on the coastal enclave.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, frequently bombs the besieged sliver, claiming that the acts of aggression are conducted for defensive purposes.