Israeli airstrikes recommence as Cairo truce proposal fails
Print Edition
HUNDREDS of Palestinian families, their children crying, fled yesterday, as Israel intensified airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, including homes of the movement’s leaders, following failed Egyptian cease-fire efforts. Before the renewed bombardment, Israel had told tens of thousands of residents of border areas to evacuate their neighborhoods.
The Palestinian death toll in nine days of fighting rose to 204, with about 1,450 wounded, Palestinian health officials said. On the Israeli side, one man has been killed and several people wounded since the fighting began on July 8.
The renewed bombings came a day after Israel initially accepted an Egyptian truce proposal that called for a halt of hostilities. That was to be followed by talks on the terms of a longer-term cease-fire, including easing Gaza’s seven-year-old border blockade by Israel and Egypt.
Hamas rejected the plan and instead launched more rockets at Israel. The militant group views a significant easing of the blockade as key to its survival, but does not believe Egypt’s current rulers — who deposed a Hamas-friendly government in Cairo last year — can be fair brokers.
As Cairo’s effort collapsed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hamas will pay a high price for rejecting the truce offer.
The website of the Gaza Interior Ministry said Israel warplanes carried out dozens of strikes before dawn yesterday, targeting 30 houses, including those of Hamas leaders Mahmoud Zahar, Jamila Shanti, Fathi Hamas and Ismail Ashkar.
Zahar was a key figure in Hamas’ violent takeover of Gaza in 2007, while the other three were members of the Palestinian parliament elected in 2006. Many Hamas leaders have gone into hiding since the beginning of the Israeli offensive.
Alongside the air strikes, Israel also told tens of thousands of residents of the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the Zeitoun and Shijaiyah neighborhoods of Gaza City, all near the border with Israel, to evacuate their homes by 8am yesterday. The warnings were delivered in automated phone calls, text messages and leaflets dropped from planes.
The Israeli military said in its message that large numbers of rockets were launched from these areas and that Israel plans to bomb these locations.
“Whoever disregards these instructions and fails to evacuate endangers their own lives, as well as those of their families,” the message said.
Yesterday morning, hundreds of residents of Zeitoun and Shijaiyah were seen walking in the streets, carrying small bags with belongings.
The Wafa Rehabilitation Center in Shijaiyah, which cares for 15 disabled and elderly patients, received several calls demanding the patients evacuate, said its director, Basman Ashi.
He said an Israel shell hit near the building, causing damage but no injuries. Ashi said he won’t evacuate because his patients have nowhere to go.
When asked about the rehabilitation center, the office of the Israeli military spokesman said its residents “have been asked repeatedly to leave.”
“There is a rocket launching site in the area,” he said, adding that Gaza militants use the center to hide “behind civilians.”
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