Israeli aircraft fire message into Haniyeh's office
Israeli aircraft sent missiles slamming into the office of the prime minister of Hamas-ruled Gaza before dawn yesterday, pressing forward with an offensive that has killed nearly 70 Palestinians in two days of fighting. A 21-month-old baby was among the dead.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's office was empty at the time of yesterday's airstrike, but the raid was seen as a tough message to the Hamas leadership, which Israel holds responsible for the repeated rocket barrages launched from Gaza.
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A Hamas policeman walks past the damaged office of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader dismissed as prime minister by President Mahmoud Abbas, after witnesses said it was hit by an Israeli missile in Gaza yesterday. Reuters |
The violence also threatened to spread to the more peaceful West Bank, where Israeli troops shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy during a demonstration. Other anti-Israel protests were held in other Palestinian towns. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
A total of 54 Palestinians, roughly half of them civilians, were killed in fighting on Saturday, the highest single-day death toll in more than seven years of violence. Two Israeli soldiers also were killed.
Responding to the bloodletting, the moderate Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank suspended US-sponsored peace talks with Israel. The bloodshed also drew condemnations from the international community, including UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, who accused Israel of the "disproportionate and excessive use of force."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday rejected the international criticism and vowed to continue the Gaza offensive. "With all due respect, nothing will prevent us from continuing operations to protect our citizens," he told his Cabinet.
Olmert's defense minister, Ehud Barak, said an even broader Gaza operation was in the cards, aimed at crushing militant rocket squads but also to "weaken the Hamas rule, in the right circumstances, even to bring it down."
Israel regularly clashes with Gaza rocket squads, but intensified its operations after militants fired salvos last week into Ashkelon, a city of 120,000.
Peace talks stalled
Haniyeh's office was just one of about a dozen targets Israeli aircraft and ground troops struck before dawn.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive this week, but instead of promoting peace talks, she likely will try to put out the latest fire.
The moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, which is locked in a fierce rivalry with Hamas, called Israel's deadly assault on Saturday a "holocaust" and "genocide" and announced they were suspending peace talks. It was unclear when the talks, relaunched last November at a US-hosted summit, would resume.
In a symbolic move, the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, donated blood to Gaza residents at his West Bank office. "We are following the aggression against our people in Gaza," Abbas told reporters.
Agencies
(China Daily 03/03/2008 page6)
