-
Israeli soldiers advance near the border with northern Gaza during a ground operation by the Israeli army late January 3, 2009 - Source: Reuters -
View Photos
-
Related
Israeli troops and tanks split the Gaza Strip and ringed its
main city in an offensive against Hamas that has killed 500
Palestinians, including a growing number of civilians.
Israeli tanks poured shells and machinegun-fire into suspected
militant positions and war planes struck as Hamas fighters fought
back with mortars and rockets.
Hamas kept up rocket attacks against southern Israel, defying
efforts by the Middle East's most powerful army to achieve Israeli
leaders' declared aim of removing the threat of cross-border
salvoes.
"It's a very very interesting, demanding, tough first 24 hours
right now, and we are committed to follow through to continue as
long as needed to achieve our objectives," Israeli Defence Minister
Ehud Barak said as he met Tony Blair, the envoy of powers
sponsoring Middle East peace talks.
European Union foreign policy chiefs launched a mission to seek a
ceasefire in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip but acknowledged they faced a
difficult task.
At least 42 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed on
Sunday as Israeli shells slammed into houses and Gaza's main
shopping district, medical sources said.
Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians in the Gaza Strip as
human shields, saying the Islamist group has been firing rockets at
Israeli towns from densely populated areas and storing weapons in
homes and mosques.
Among the Palestinian casualties were five civilians killed and 40
wounded when tank shells slammed into Gaza City's main shopping
area.
Two children were dismembered by another blast from a tank,
medical workers said.
A foreign Red Crescent doctor said: "Civilians are being killed ...
shells are severing people's legs, shrapnel is going into people's
bodies and into people's homes, a lot of people are being cut down.
Everyone is terrified."
The head of emergency services in the Gaza Strip told Al Jazeera
television that three Palestinian rescue workers were killed by
Israeli fire on Sunday, raising to seven the total number of
medical staff who have died in nine days of bloodshed.
The Saturday night invasion of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip followed
a week of Israeli bombardments from land, sea and air - the most
serious Israeli-Palestinian fighting in decades.
The total Palestinian death toll tallied by Gaza medical officials
in Israel's Operation Cast Lead rose to 512.
A UN agency said at least a quarter of the dead were civilians.
A Palestinian human rights group put the figure at 40%.
One Israeli soldier was killed and 32 were wounded in the ground
offensive, Israel said.
Four Israelis have been killed by the Hamas rocket strikes since
December 27.
Israeli thrust
Israeli officials said the operation could last many days.
Witnesses said the Israeli thrust cut the territory in half from
the border fence to the Mediterranean.
Troops and armour had taken up positions around Gaza City
itself.
Calls for a ceasefire from the United States, Israel's main backer,
other governments and the United Nations failed to gain traction
over disagreements about who should stop firing first.
Sunday morning saw gun battles between Hamas fighters and Israeli
soldiers but later the action was mostly Israeli tank shelling and
Hamas rocket and mortar-fire.
"The Zionist enemy must know his battle in Gaza is a losing one,"
Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, said.
An Israeli officer in Jerusalem said: "I would say that most of the
resistances that we faced were from mortar shells and other things
but not from serious Hamas fighters face-to-face."
The Israeli military said aircraft attacked dozens of targets,
including smuggling tunnels, weapons caches and mortar squads.
Dozens of Hamas fighters were hit, it added without being more
specific.
Heavy civilian casualties in the territory packed with 1.5 million
people could increase international pressure on Israel to halt its
biggest operation in Gaza in four decades.
But the fighting also holds political risks for Israeli leaders
before a February 10 election, especially if its forces take heavy
casualties in street fighting.
In southern Israeli towns, schools and malls remained closed and
many streets were eerily empty.
The plight of Gaza residents was desperate.
People have taken shelter in their homes for days and
humanitarian agencies said water, food and medical supplies were
running short.
Israeli government officials said Israel had set several goals,
including weakening Hamas by killing its fighters and destroying
its rocket arsenal and establishing deterrence so the group would
think twice before firing cross-border salvoes.
In addition, the officials said, Israel hoped to win international
backing for new security arrangements along the Egyptian-Gaza
border to prevent Hamas from rearming through tunnels, which have
been bombed in the current campaign.
In the occupied West Bank, the Executive Committee of the Palestine
Liberation Organisation called on Palestinians to confront what it
called the criminal slaughter in Gaza and reiterated that peace
talks with Israel could not continue as long as the assault went
on.
Iranian-backed Hamas is estimated to have about 25,000
fighters.
Israel has not disclosed how many troops are involved in the
operation but thousands of reservists were on stand-by.
The United States said a ceasefire should take place as soon as
possible but must guarantee an end to Hamas rocket strikes.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country's proposal for a
48-hour humanitarian truce was rejected by Israel last week, is due
in Jerusalem on Monday.
Hamas called off a six-month truce last month and stepped up its
rocket attacks, citing Israeli raids and a continuing blockade of
the enclave Israel quit in 2005.
International peace efforts aimed at creating an independent
Palestinian state foundered after Hamas won elections in 2006 and
drove Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
from Gaza a year later.
Are you a New Zealander currently visiting or living in Gaza? Get in touch with ONE News at news@tvnz.co.nz
What do you think about the rising tensions in Gaza? Share your view on the messageboard below.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentfarhatmirza said on 2009-01-21 @ 09:43 NZDT: Report abusive post
Dear Sir/Madam, If and when the information is declassified, it may come out that the connection between 'shoe-treatment' of G.Bush in Iraq and, the carnage if not the genocide that followed in Ghaza, was not, after all, the figment of ones imagination. Regards, fjm
sheildzee said on 2009-01-20 @ 19:34 NZDT: Report abusive post
Please report accurately. Hamas did not "seize control of Gaza from Abbas's Fatah forces in 2007 ...". You rightly state that Hamas won the general election so Hamas did not "seize" anything. Your point about Fatah is superfluous anyway so just stick to the facts - " Hamas was elected by the Palestinian people in democratic elections held in 2006." That is the truth. The power struggle that followed the democratic election of Hama is another issue entirely.
flyer said on 2009-01-19 @ 16:50 NZDT: Report abusive post
Whew, a ceasefire of sorts - obviously the protest of the southland cafe owner against Israeli women has brought everyone to the negotiating table - AS IF.....
farhatmirza said on 2009-01-19 @ 11:42 NZDT: Report abusive post
Dear Sir/Madam, To say that Israel funded Hamas looks improbable, if not ridiculous. However, I won't be surprised if Hamas took a cue of two from Hagana, Irgun, or Lehi. Regards, fjm
philipmcc said on 2009-01-19 @ 10:01 NZDT: Report abusive post
I feel sad enough about the Gaza protagonists each claiming that they are the 'good guys' and the others are the 'bad guys', and the suffering that creates. But as I read these comments I see the same human tendency being acted out. So many claim that their view is 'right' and the others are 'wrong'. This stance is a major factor in all conflict. While that fear-based tendency persists we will go on having wars like Gaza.