(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-03 09:58

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Palestinian president suspended peace talks Sunday as Israel brushed off international criticism and vowed to press ahead with its Gaza offensive until militants halt rocket attacks.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said an even broader Gaza operation was possible, aimed at crushing militant rocket squads but also to "weaken the Hamas rule, in the right circumstances, even to bring it down."

A Palestinian carries the body of 21-month-old baby girl Salsabeel Abu Jalhoum, killed in an Israeli airstrike, for burial during her funeral in Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, March 2, 2008. [Agencies]

The Palestinian death toll rose by 21, bringing the number killed to 109 since the latest bout of fighting erupted on Wednesday, according to Palestinian medical officials and militant groups. At least 54 Palestinians and two Israelis were killed on Saturday, the single deadliest day in more than seven years of fighting.

The Gaza onslaught has failed to protect southern Israel, where residents have faced repeated rocket attacks since 2001. Gaza militants fired more than 25 rockets at southern Israel Sunday, the military said, scoring direct hits on houses in the city of Ashkelon and the town of Sderot. Nine Israelis were injured, rescue services said.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said peace talks with Israel had been halted.

Related readings:  UN chief urges end to Israel, Palestine attacks  Civilians killed in Palestine, Israel fire exchange  Bush sees Palestine state treaty within year  Israel presses ahead with offensive  Could Israel and Palestine share one umbrella?

"For the time being, the negotiations are suspended because we have so many funerals," he said. It was unclear when the talks, relaunched last November at a US-hosted summit, would resume.

The violence clouded an upcoming visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have set a December target for concluding a final peace deal. But instead of promoting peace, Rice will likely spend her visit this week trying to put out the latest fire.

The Bush administration demanded a halt to the fighting.

"The violence needs to stop and the talks need to resume," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in Texas.

Before dawn Sunday when Israeli aircraft sent missiles slamming into the empty offices of Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. No one was hurt, but the attack was seen as a tough message to the Hamas leadership, which has refused to halt rocket barrages at a growing swath of southern Israel.

After nightfall, Israeli aircraft struck targets around Gaza City's Shati refugee camp and at Jebaliya, further north, where a militant was killed and four were wounded, Palestinian security officials said.

The Israeli military said it fired at gunmen in Jebaliya, hitting one person. It had no immediate comment on any attack on Shati.

Before midnight, Israel moved additional ground forces and armored vehicles into northern Gaza, widening its area of operation to about a mile, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said. Also, aircraft attacked two metal workshops in northern Gaza, wounding 10, they said.

The military said two weapons caches were hit and that the troop rotations were routine.

Eleven Palestinians, including a 21-month-old girl, were killed Sunday, and 10 others died of earlier wounds or were found dead, Palestinian medical officials said.

   1 2 3   

   1 2 3