Israel holds off ground assault as world urges Gaza ceasefire
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ISRAEL slowed the pace of its raids on Gaza yesterday and held off a threatened ground incursion as the world intensified efforts to broker a truce around the Palestinian territory.
With Israel’s campaign to halt cross-border rocket fire entering its seventh day, Arab ministers were holding an emergency meeting to discuss moves to end the bloodshed.
And Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned of the dangers the crisis could pose for the wider region, demanding Israel “stop targeting civilians” as the death toll hit 175.
But as diplomatic efforts gained momentum, the pace of both Israel’s raids on Gaza and the militant rocket fire slowed noticeably, with commentators drawing a link with behind-the-scenes cease-fire efforts.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged Israel to scrap plans for a ground offensive, saying “too many” Palestinian civilians have lost their lives.
Human rights groups have said more than 75 percent of the dead were non-combatants. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has said more than a quarter of them were children.
However, Hamas said yesterday it would not end hostilities with Israel without concessions by the Jewish state and that no serious efforts towards a truce had been made.
“Talk of a ceasefire requires real and serious efforts, which we haven’t seen so far,” Hamas MP Mushir al-Masri said.
Masri said Hamas would only negotiate on the basis of a set of concessions it wants to see Israel agree to.
Those include the lifting of Israel’s eight-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and the release of Palestinian prisoners Israel has rearrested after freeing them in exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. “Any ceasefire must be based on the conditions we have outlined, nothing less than that will be accepted,” Masri said in Gaza City.
The Rafah border crossing with Egypt is Gaza’s only access to the outside world not controlled by Israel.
But, despite preparations for a possible ground attack, Israel appeared to be holding off with ministers at a Sunday night security cabinet meeting reportedly deciding against putting boots on the ground — for the time being.
Following a night in which Israel struck 40 targets, the pace of the air strikes appeared to slow noticeably — and with it the death toll.
Four people were killed yesterday. A fifth died of injuries from an earlier strike, Gaza emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.
An army spokeswoman said that although 42 rockets had struck Israel during the day, all were short range and there were “far fewer targeted strikes” on the south.
“The military steps being taken by both sides in the last 24 hours were a function, among other things, of the developments in the dialogue,” Alex Fishman wrote in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper, saying the state of negotiations should become clear “in the next 24 hours.”
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