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Israel rejects UN truce call and continues Gaza attacks
Source: Agencies |
January 10, 2009, Saturday
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ISRAEL rejected a UN resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza yesterday and, as jets and tanks again pounded the Palestinian enclave, ministers debated whether to step up their two-week-old campaign against Hamas.
With the civilian death toll in the hundreds and rising amid outraged denunciations of Israel from the Red Cross, United Nations agencies and Arab and European governments, diplomats also sounded an alarm that Egyptian-brokered truce talks launched this week might also be foundering.
Israel's air force said it hit more than 50 targets. Palestinian medics counted at least 18 dead, including civilians.
By afternoon, 23 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to 776 in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the Security Council resolution calling for an "immediate and durable" cease-fire as "unworkable." He issued his statement while a meeting with his security cabinet continued, looking at whether to send in reservists for a push into the main urban centers.
Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the outskirts of Gaza City, residents said. Elsewhere, Palestinian medics said tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing six Palestinians from the same family.
A UN agency said in a report that 30 Palestinians were killed earlier this week when the Israeli army sheltered dozens of civilians in a house that was later hit by shells.
Noting Palestinians fired rockets at Israel yesterday, Olmert said the army would go on with its mission.
"The firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the UN decision is unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian organizations," he said.
"The IDF (Israeli army) will continue to act in order to protect the citizens of Israel and will achieve the goals that were set for the operation."
Israel says it wants to stop rockets landing on its towns. At least 14 were fired yesterday, fewer than the dozens Hamas was able to launch in the early days of the war.
Hamas officials said they were looking at the UN resolution.
Israeli key ally the United States abstained in the UN vote, easing the pressure on the Jewish state, while noting that talks on a truce were still under way under Egyptian mediation.
But the Egyptian initiative, brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier in the week, may be in trouble.
"The truce talks are going nowhere at the moment," a senior European diplomat told Reuters. "There is a growing sense that the Egyptian-French plan is not going to work."
With the civilian death toll in the hundreds and rising amid outraged denunciations of Israel from the Red Cross, United Nations agencies and Arab and European governments, diplomats also sounded an alarm that Egyptian-brokered truce talks launched this week might also be foundering.
Israel's air force said it hit more than 50 targets. Palestinian medics counted at least 18 dead, including civilians.
By afternoon, 23 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to 776 in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the Security Council resolution calling for an "immediate and durable" cease-fire as "unworkable." He issued his statement while a meeting with his security cabinet continued, looking at whether to send in reservists for a push into the main urban centers.
Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the outskirts of Gaza City, residents said. Elsewhere, Palestinian medics said tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing six Palestinians from the same family.
A UN agency said in a report that 30 Palestinians were killed earlier this week when the Israeli army sheltered dozens of civilians in a house that was later hit by shells.
Noting Palestinians fired rockets at Israel yesterday, Olmert said the army would go on with its mission.
"The firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the UN decision is unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian organizations," he said.
"The IDF (Israeli army) will continue to act in order to protect the citizens of Israel and will achieve the goals that were set for the operation."
Israel says it wants to stop rockets landing on its towns. At least 14 were fired yesterday, fewer than the dozens Hamas was able to launch in the early days of the war.
Hamas officials said they were looking at the UN resolution.
Israeli key ally the United States abstained in the UN vote, easing the pressure on the Jewish state, while noting that talks on a truce were still under way under Egyptian mediation.
But the Egyptian initiative, brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier in the week, may be in trouble.
"The truce talks are going nowhere at the moment," a senior European diplomat told Reuters. "There is a growing sense that the Egyptian-French plan is not going to work."
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