Israel shuns truce calls on Day Four of Gaza blitz

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-31 00:16

An Israeli soldier searches a Palestinian youth detained during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron against the Israeli offensive in Gaza December 30, 2008. [Agencies]

In Brussels, the European Union's executive arm sounded the alarm about the "plight of civilians" in the battered territory, and called "for an immediate halt to military hostilities... (and) to the rocket attacks."

Concern is growing about the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent enclave of 1.5 million which Israel has virtually sealed off since Hamas seized power in June last year.

The Israeli military opened the Kerem Shalom crossing to allow more than 100 trucks filled with humanitarian aid to enter Gaza on Tuesday, a military spokesman said. On Monday, dozens of trucks were allowed to pass through.

Israel's offensive followed days of rising violence after a tenuous six-month truce in and around Gaza ended on December 19. It also comes ahead of early parliamentary elections in Israel called for February 10.

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