 Battle rages as Israel invades Gaza
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-05 07:37
GAZA CITY: Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters battled in the Gaza Strip yesterday after Israeli troops and tanks invaded the coastal enclave leading to the most serious fighting in decades. More than 30 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed as Israeli shells slammed into houses and Gaza's main shopping district, witnesses and Palestinian medical sources said. Israel said 30 of its soldiers had been wounded. Despite the worsening situation, the UN Security Council could not agree on terms of a ceasefire call for an immediate end to violence. The Saturday night invasion of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip followed eight days of Israeli bombardments from land, sea and air, which failed to halt militant Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel. The Israeli offensive's stated aim is to destroy the militants' rocket-launching infrastructure. But about 25 rockets were fired at Israel yesterday, one hitting a house in Sderot and wounding a woman, the Israeli army said. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed in the nine days of "Operation Cast Lead", and Israeli officials said the offensive could last many days. Hamas rockets have killed 4 Israelis. Israeli President Shimon Peres rejected the possibility of a ceasefire. "We shall not accept the idea that Hamas continues to fire and we declare a ceasefire," Peres said. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: "The government did everything before deciding to launch the operation." Territory cut in half Israeli tanks and troops virtually cut Gaza in half in a night-time advance on Saturday. Yesterday, they were ringing Gaza City itself, Palestinian witnesses said. Israeli shells and firing killed 32 Palestinians, five of them fighters and the rest civilians, as fighting intensified in the territory, which is home to 1.5 million people, hospital staff said. Tank shells killed at least five civilians and wounded 40 when they slammed into Gaza City's main shopping area. A foreign Red Crescent doctor in a northern Gaza hospital described the situation as a nightmare. "Civilians are being killed ... shells are severing people's legs, shrapnel is going into people's bodies and into people's homes, a lot of people are being cut down. Everyone is terrified," she said. Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters clashed east of the Hamas stronghold of Zeitoun, witnesses said. "I would say that most of the resistances that we faced were from mortar shells and other things but not from serious Hamas fighters face-to-face," a senior Israeli officer told reporters. Israeli aircraft struck scores of targets, including arms smuggling tunnels, weapons depots and mortar squads. Dozens of Hamas fighters were hit, the Israeli military said. Heavy civilian casualties are likely to increase international pressure on Israel to halt its biggest operation in the Gaza Strip in four decades. But the fighting also holds significant political risks for Israeli leaders before a Feb 10 national election, especially if its forces take heavy casualties in street fighting. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the ground push was to protect southern Israel from Hamas rocket attacks. "It won't be easy. It won't be short," said Barak, leader of the center-left Labour Party and a candidate for prime minister in the election. A spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade, said Israeli troops faced death or capture. "The Zionist enemy must know its battle in Gaza is a losing one," spokesman Abu Ubaida said. Hamas said it had captured two Israeli soldiers but the Israeli army denied the claim. The plight of Palestinian civilians is growing more desperate. People have not left their homes for days and humanitarian agencies warned that water, food and medical supplies were running out. Hamas called off a six-month truce with Israel last month and stepped up its rocket attacks, complaining at Israeli raids into Gaza and a continuing blockade of the enclave. Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 Middle East War and formally ended its military rule in 2005 after a series of Palestinian uprisings, but it still controls the borders. Diplomatic moves A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli attack as "a vicious aggression". In New York, the UN Security Council met but diplomats said the US' refusal to back a Libyan-drafted demand for an immediate truce had killed the initiative. The US said a ceasefire should take place as soon as possible but must guarantee an end to Hamas rocket strikes. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, envoy for the countries sponsoring Middle East peace talks, was to meet Barak yesterday. France, whose president Nicolas Sarkozy is due in Jerusalem today, condemned the Israeli invasion and Hamas rocket fire. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate end to the ground operation. In a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Olmert, Ban conveyed his "extreme concerns and disappointment", a UN statement said. Egypt, too, called for an end to Israel's "savage aggression" against Gaza. Agencies (China Daily 01/05/2009 page1) |
