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Israeli forces intensify Gaza offensive
Source: Agencies |
January 13, 2009, Tuesday
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Online Edition
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ISRAELI forces tightened their hold on the outskirts of the city of Gaza today as United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon pressed for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants.
In clashes on the edges of the city, Israeli forces killed 12 gunmen, some of them Hamas members, medical workers said.
"We are tightening the encirclement of the city," Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg told reporters touring Israeli positions.
UN Secretary-General Ban was heading to the region for a week of talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria aimed at ending the bloodshed.
"My message is simple, direct, and to the point: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now," Ban told reporters before his departure.
Hamas said its forces detonated explosives beneath Israeli armor and fought with Israeli forces backed by helicopter gunships and naval fire in what seemed the most ferocious fighting since Israel sent in ground troops 10 days ago.
Explosions set off by bombs and the sounds of heavy machine gun fire echoed continuously through the city of Gaza.
Israel aircraft attacked 60 targets, including tunnels used by Gaza militants to smuggle arms across the border from Egypt, weapons-making facilities and Hamas command posts, the military said. Two rockets hit the Israeli city of Beersheba, causing no casualites.
Palestinian medical officials said at least 925 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed since Israel began its offensive on Dec. 27. The health minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government said close to 400 of those were women and children.
Thirteen Israelis -- 10 Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by mortar bombs and rockets from the Gaza Strip -- have been killed.
Egypt pursued efforts to broker a ceasefire, 18 days after Israel began its attack in the Gaza Strip saying it aimed to halt cross-border rocket fire, salvoes that have caused few casualties but disrupt life in southern Israeli communities.
Lebanese political sources said Hamas negotiators would today reject Cairo's proposals.
A Lebanese source close to Hamas said the group wanted a truce for a limited time only and objected to the presence of any foreign observers at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on television yesterday it was ready to negotiate a ceasefire but only if Israel pulled back all its forces and ended a blockade.
Speaking from a secret location, he said "victory is at hand".
Israel has rejected a U.N. Security Council call for a truce but said it was ready to discuss proposals, insisting a ceasefire include measures to stop Hamas from rearming through tunnels in a Gaza-Egypt frontier area known as the Philadelphi corridor.
As diplomats worked with Egypt on a truce, Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Avi Benayahu said Israeli forces were "deeper in the territory" but had yet to launch a "Phase 3" of the war following its air and ground offensive.
An all-out push into densely populated areas could lead to heavy casualties on both sides, a politically risky outcome for Israel's government less than a month before a national election.
Israeli cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel was "very, very close" to achieving the goals of the campaign, the deadliest it has waged against Palestinians in decades.
Human rights groups report shortages of vital supplies including water, in the Gaza Strip, due to the fighting. A fuel shortage has brought frequent power blackouts. Israel has permitted almost daily truck shipments of food and medicine.
"I assume that in the coming week, the situation will be assessed and a decision made at a cabinet meeting on whether and how to continue the operations," Mofaz told Army Radio.
The bloodshed has opened faultlines in the map of Middle East diplomacy, with the Bush administration in its final week standing behind Israel, Europe pressing Israel to call off its attacks and Arab leaders speaking out against the Jewish state.
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia, an oil power and one of several Arab governments whose pro-American stance is far from popular with its people, accused Israel of "racist extermination".
It said it hoped Bush's successor Barack Obama would work swiftly to resolve the 60-year-old Palestinian issue.
Bush said yesterday it was up to Hamas, which won a 2006 parliamentary election and seized control of Gaza 18 months ago, to end the misery of the enclave's 1.5 million people.
"I'm for a sustainable ceasefire, and a definition of sustainable ceasefire is Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel ...I happen to believe the choice is Hamas's to make," Bush said.
In clashes on the edges of the city, Israeli forces killed 12 gunmen, some of them Hamas members, medical workers said.
"We are tightening the encirclement of the city," Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg told reporters touring Israeli positions.
UN Secretary-General Ban was heading to the region for a week of talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria aimed at ending the bloodshed.
"My message is simple, direct, and to the point: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now," Ban told reporters before his departure.
Hamas said its forces detonated explosives beneath Israeli armor and fought with Israeli forces backed by helicopter gunships and naval fire in what seemed the most ferocious fighting since Israel sent in ground troops 10 days ago.
Explosions set off by bombs and the sounds of heavy machine gun fire echoed continuously through the city of Gaza.
Israel aircraft attacked 60 targets, including tunnels used by Gaza militants to smuggle arms across the border from Egypt, weapons-making facilities and Hamas command posts, the military said. Two rockets hit the Israeli city of Beersheba, causing no casualites.
Palestinian medical officials said at least 925 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed since Israel began its offensive on Dec. 27. The health minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government said close to 400 of those were women and children.
Thirteen Israelis -- 10 Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by mortar bombs and rockets from the Gaza Strip -- have been killed.
Egypt pursued efforts to broker a ceasefire, 18 days after Israel began its attack in the Gaza Strip saying it aimed to halt cross-border rocket fire, salvoes that have caused few casualties but disrupt life in southern Israeli communities.
Lebanese political sources said Hamas negotiators would today reject Cairo's proposals.
A Lebanese source close to Hamas said the group wanted a truce for a limited time only and objected to the presence of any foreign observers at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on television yesterday it was ready to negotiate a ceasefire but only if Israel pulled back all its forces and ended a blockade.
Speaking from a secret location, he said "victory is at hand".
Israel has rejected a U.N. Security Council call for a truce but said it was ready to discuss proposals, insisting a ceasefire include measures to stop Hamas from rearming through tunnels in a Gaza-Egypt frontier area known as the Philadelphi corridor.
As diplomats worked with Egypt on a truce, Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Avi Benayahu said Israeli forces were "deeper in the territory" but had yet to launch a "Phase 3" of the war following its air and ground offensive.
An all-out push into densely populated areas could lead to heavy casualties on both sides, a politically risky outcome for Israel's government less than a month before a national election.
Israeli cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel was "very, very close" to achieving the goals of the campaign, the deadliest it has waged against Palestinians in decades.
Human rights groups report shortages of vital supplies including water, in the Gaza Strip, due to the fighting. A fuel shortage has brought frequent power blackouts. Israel has permitted almost daily truck shipments of food and medicine.
"I assume that in the coming week, the situation will be assessed and a decision made at a cabinet meeting on whether and how to continue the operations," Mofaz told Army Radio.
The bloodshed has opened faultlines in the map of Middle East diplomacy, with the Bush administration in its final week standing behind Israel, Europe pressing Israel to call off its attacks and Arab leaders speaking out against the Jewish state.
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia, an oil power and one of several Arab governments whose pro-American stance is far from popular with its people, accused Israel of "racist extermination".
It said it hoped Bush's successor Barack Obama would work swiftly to resolve the 60-year-old Palestinian issue.
Bush said yesterday it was up to Hamas, which won a 2006 parliamentary election and seized control of Gaza 18 months ago, to end the misery of the enclave's 1.5 million people.
"I'm for a sustainable ceasefire, and a definition of sustainable ceasefire is Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel ...I happen to believe the choice is Hamas's to make," Bush said.
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