Israel, New Zealand latest countries hit by swine flu

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – New Zealand and Israel confirmed cases of swine flu on Tuesday, the latest countries hit by a new strain that has killed up to 149 people in Mexico and which threatens to become a pandemic.

The World Health Organization has raised its alert level to phase 4, indicating a significantly increased risk of pandemic.

Global markets slumped for a second day on Tuesday on fears the outbreak could snuff out fragile signs of economic recovery.

No one has died outside Mexico but more than 50 infected people have been found in the United States, six in Canada and two each across the Atlantic in Spain and Scotland. Possible cases were being tested in South Korea and Australia.

New Zealand said three of 11 people in a school group that visited Mexico had tested positive and it expected the others would also turn out to be positive when tests were completed.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said all those affected appeared to have only mild symptoms and had been responding to treatment.

The Israeli carrier, a 26-year-old man, had also recently returned from Mexico.

“His condition is good but he is being kept hospitalized for observation,” health ministry spokeswoman Einav Shimron said.

A honeymooning Scottish couple who recently returned from Cancun, one of Mexico’s biggest beach resorts, were the first people in Britain to test positive for swine flu.

One of the mysteries of the current outbreak is why all cases outside Mexico have so far been relatively mild.

The WHO said the flu was being spread by human-to-human transmission but it did not advise any travel restrictions or border closures.

European and Asian stock markets retreated, with airline stocks taking another hit and drug makers posting gains. Investors cut their exposure to riskier currencies.

Oil dropped 2 percent, sinking below $50 a barrel.

“Markets are doing what they tend to do, taking fright,” said Howard Wheeldon, strategist at BGC Partners in London. “But in my view, it’s totally unnecessary.”

Airlines braced for significant falls in traffic due to the outbreak.

“Anything that shakes the confidence of passengers has a negative impact on the business. And the timing could not be worse given all of the other economic problems airlines are facing,” international airlines lobby IATA said in a statement.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States issued travel alerts for Mexico, which relies on tourism as a main source of foreign currency. Japan advised its citizens in Mexico to consider returning home soon.

U.K. travel firms Thomson Holidays and First Choice said they had decided to repatriate their customers from Mexico and to cancel flights bound for Cancun on Tuesday. British Airways said it will continue to operate its services.

MEXICO HUNKERS DOWN

China promised to disclose any cases promptly. State-run newspapers urged officials to be open and avoid the kind of cover-up that brought panic during the SARS epidemic in 2003.

Asian companies stepped up precautions, restricting travel and advising staff on how to protect themselves.

Experts say that while it is impossible to stop the spread of the disease, efforts to slow its progress around the world could buy crucial time for countries to procure essential drugs.

The last flu pandemic, a Hong Kong flu outbreak in 1968, killed about one million people around the world.

In Mexico, epicenter of the latest outbreak, people from company directors to couriers wore face masks while airlines checked passengers for flu symptoms.

“We will defeat this threat,” Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said as several hundred people suspected to be suffering from the flu were treated in hospitals and life in the normally hectic capital took on an eerie hush.

Mexico City shut restaurants, bars, cinemas, stadiums and some government offices to stop the infection from spreading.

Unsure how worried they should be, people stocked up on food, drinking water, rental movies and surgical masks. Some opted to work from home. Schools were closed until May 6.

Facing damage to tourism and trade — motors of an economy that is already tipping into recession from the global downturn — Mexico said it would not order a mass closure of businesses to try to contain the infection.

“Economic activity must continue,” Labor Minister Javier Lozano told a news conference.

Danske Research said global markets were worried but not panicking. The outbreak could be used as an excuse to reduce risk after a period of increased appetite, it said. But if the WHO raised its alert level, it could hit harder.

“The impact would obviously be biggest for countries involved and for emerging markets with weak medical infrastructure and lack of contingency plans for fighting pandemics,” Danske said in a research note.

Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year. The new strain is worrying as it spreads rapidly between humans and there is no vaccine for it.

Most of the fatalities have been people aged between 20 and 50, an ominous sign because a hallmark of past pandemics has been the high rate of fatalities among young adults.

Mexican media have speculated the flu may have originated at a pig farm in the southeastern state of Veracruz.

But Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the first case that alerted authorities to a possible rogue flu strain was in the southern state of Oaxaca. It was too early to identify the cause or geographical source of the virus.

The WHO said the first victims may not have known they were infected with a new type of flu requiring different treatment than normal, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva.

They may not have received the medicines until late or may have been infected with other diseases reducing their immunity to the virus, he added.

Officials say the virus is not caught from eating pig meat products but several countries banned U.S. pork imports.

Israel fires on Lebanon after rockets hit

BEIRUT: Israel fired three rockets on south Lebanon on Saturday, the army said, in a tit-for-tat exchange after a rocket landed on Israeli territory.

Rocket fired from Lebanon to Israel: radio

JERUSALEM: A woman was lightly injured on Saturday when a rocket fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel, public radio reported.

Israel launches covert war to disrupt Iran’s nuke program

TEL AVIV: Israel has launched a covert war in an effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program, a British daily ph quoted US intelligence sources as saying.

According to the article published on Tuesday, sabotage, front companies and double agents, as well as the assassination of top figures involved in Iran’s atomic operations, were being used to interrupt the program.

“Disruption is designed to slow progress on the program, done in such a way that they don’t realize what’s happening. You are never going to stop it,” a former CIA officer on Iran told the newspaper.

“The goal is delay, delay, and delay until you can come up with some other solution or approach. We certainly don’t want the current Iranian government to have those weapons.

“It’s a good policy, short of taking them out militarily, which probably carries unacceptable risks.”

“With cooperation from the United States, Israeli covert operations have focused both on eliminating key human assets involved in the nuclear program and in sabotaging the Iranian nuclear supply chain,” she said. “As US-Israeli relations are bound to come under strain over the Obama administration’s outreach to Iran, and as the political atmosphere grows in complexity, an intensification of Israeli covert activity against Iran is likely to result.”

The paper went on to cite a report that the Mossad was responsible for the death of Ardeshire Hassanpour, a top nuclear scientist at Iran’s Isfahan uranium plant, who reportedly died from gas poisoning in 2007. It also mentioned other recent deaths of figures connected to Iran’s nuclear program that have reportedly been the result of Israeli hits.

“Israel has shown no hesitation in assassinating weapons scientists for hostile regimes in the past,” the paper quoted an anonymous European intelligence official as saying. “They did it with Iraq and they will do it with Iran when they can.”

Mossad and Western intelligence operations have also infiltrated the Iranian nuclear program, “bought” information from prominent atomic scientists and leaked details to its allies, the media and United Nations atomic agency inspectors, the paper went on to say.

source : jang.com.pk

Rockets, airstrikes rock Gaza cease-fire

GAZA CITY: Palestinian rockets exploded in -Israel and Israeli jets bombed the Egypt-Gaza border Monday, as talks dragged on over a long-term truce that would bring quiet to the coastal territory.

Two rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel, the Israeli military said, a near-daily occurrence even after the devastating three-week Israeli offensive that was meant to bring a halt to the fire. No one was injured, the military said.

Several hours later, Israeli jets bombed an area of smuggling tunnels in the frontier town of Rafah, according residents and Hamas security officials. Israel’s military said the strike targeted a tunnel used to smuggle weapons in from Egypt and was retaliation for the rocket fire.

source : jang.com.pk

Egypt hopes for Gaza truce deal ‘in few days’

CAIRO: Egypt is hopeful that a Gaza truce accord between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas can be reached in the next few days, foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told a foreign news agency on Sunday.

“There are positive signs that in the next few days we will reach an understanding on a truce and and a partial reopening of crossing points (into Gaza),” Zaki said.

Egypt has been mediating indirect talks for a lasting truce since the end of Israel’s massive 22-day onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which killed at least 1,330 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

The fighting ended when both Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers called separate ceasefires on January 18.

However, the fragile calm has been tested by Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and retaliatory air strikes.

On Saturday, a spokesman for Hamas said it expected an agreement with Israel on the the reopening of border crossings into the Gaza Strip “within the next few days.”

Israeli and Palestinian officials have been shuttling to Cairo for talks with Egypt’s intelligence chief and Middle East mediator Omar Suleiman, hoping for a truce deal with just two days until Israel’s election.

A Hamas delegation from Gaza led by firebrand Mahmud Zahar was in Syria on Sunday for consultations on the truce negotiations with Damascus-based members of the group’s powerful politburo, Hamas official Mohammed Nasr said.

The delegation is due to return to the Egyptian capital on Monday, the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said.

Israel, which controls all border crossings except Rafah, which is managed by Egypt, has kept the densely populated strip closed to all but essential supplies since June 2007 when Hamas violently seized power, ousting forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Egypt closed Rafah on Thursday, after opening it to aid and to Palestinians who were wounded during the war. Egypt has refused to permanently open the crossing in the absence of EU monitors and Abbas’s representatives.

Hamas officials have said they are seeking clarifications on an Israeli offer to allow between 70 and 80 percent of goods through its crossings into Gaza, barring those it says could be used to make weapons.

source : jang.com.pk

Gaza farmers hit hard by war with Israel: UN

ROME: Palestinian farmers were severely affected by the Gaza war, posing a threat to food security, the UN food agency said Friday, appealing for 6.5 million dollars (five million euros) in immediate assistance.

“Almost all of Gaza’s 13,000 families who depend on farming, herding and fishing have suffered damage to their assets during the recent conflict, and many farms have been completely destroyed,” the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a news release.

Israel’s 22-day war on Gaza to stop rocket attacks by Palestinian militants caused widespread destruction in the Palestinian territory and killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, a third of them children.

“Farmers already struggling to make a profit before the outbreak of the conflict are now facing the possible irreversible loss of their livelihoods,” said Luigi Damiani, senior project coordinator for the FAO in Jerusalem.

“Destruction caused to the agricultural sector has worsened ongoing problems of food production caused by 18 months of border closure,” the Rome-based agency said, predicting increased food insecurity.

Pre-existing problems include costly or unavailable agricultural inputs, restricted access to land and sea, and “severely curtailed” movement of goods, the FAO said.

“People in Gaza are facing an acute shortage of nutritious, locally produced and affordable food,” the agency said, adding that more and more Gazans are relying on food aid or turning to cheaper and less nutritious food.

“For many women whose husbands were killed or injured during the conflict it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide food for their families,” Damiani said.

The UN Relief and Works Agency has estimated financial needs of nearly 270 million euros to rebuild their own infrastructure and keep providing essential services to the Palestinians in Gaza.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that the United Nations was appealing for 470 million euros to provide food, water, shelter, health care and other assistance after the conflict.

source : jang.com.pk

Mitchell arrives in Israel: official

JERUSALEM: New US Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel on Wednesday on the second leg of his maiden regional tour, a senior US official said.

Protest rally against massacre of Palestinians by Israel

MIRPUR: A large number of people representing various sections of the civil society staged a protest demonstration here Tuesday against the genocide of innocent people of Palestine.

The recent terrible attacks on Ghaza belt by the Israeli forces killing
hundreds of Palestinians including men, women, children and infants.
The demo was held on the call of Jammu & Kashmir Human Rights
Commission to express indignation against the continued brutal killing of innocent civilians in Gaza city by the brutal Israeli troops.

MIRPUR: A large number of people representing various sections of the civil society staged a protest demonstration here Tuesday against the genocide of innocent people of Palestine.

The recent terrible attacks on Ghaza belt by the Israeli forces killing
hundreds of Palestinians including men, women, children and infants.
The demo was held on the call of Jammu & Kashmir Human Rights
Commission to express indignation against the continued brutal killing of innocent civilians in Gaza city by the brutal Israeli troops.

source : jang.com.pk

Egypt, Hamas discuss ‘lasting’ truce with Israel

CAIRO: A Hamas team met Egypt’s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in a bid to clinch a lasting truce in the war-battered Gaza Strip, days after an Israeli negotiator held similar talks in Cairo.

But even as Egypt pushed on with its diplomatic drive, Hamas vowed to keep arming Gaza militants and an Israeli official warned that a Hamas leader will be unable to move freely if an Israeli soldier is not freed.

Egypt closed its Rafah crossing point with Gaza for fear that Israel might renew its attacks on the smuggling tunnels, security officials said.

Egyptian media reported that Suleiman and the Hamas officials discussed “Egyptian efforts to consolidate the ceasefire, reach a (permanent) truce, reopen Gaza crossings and resume Palestinian national dialogue.”

Hamas and Egyptian officials were tight-lipped about the talks, held behind closed doors and attended by members of the group’s powerful Syria-based politburo and a delegation from Gaza. Suleiman, Egypt’s point man for Palestinian-Israeli affairs, met separately with Hamas and Israeli officials during the 22-day assault to push for acceptance of an Egyptian plan to end the onslaught.

Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to halt rocket attacks from Gaza and stop arms trafficking from Egypt, and has warned it will strike again if Hamas is allowed to rearm.

Hamas has also threatened to resume fighting if Israel does not reopen the crossings into Gaza, where 1,330 Palestinians were killed during the onslaught, almost a third of them children. Thirteen Israelis were also killed.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel to allow journalists into Gaza

JERUSALEM: Israel will allow journalists free access to the war-battered Gaza Strip beginning on Friday, according to a statement from the defence ministry released on the fifth day of a ceasefire.

“From 23rd January, 2009, Erez crossing will resume to facilitate normal passage of journalists from Israel to the Gaza Strip,” said the statement, referring to a border crossing in the north of the Palestinian territory.

The crossing will be open all days except Saturday, it said.

Israel had barred journalists from Gaza during its 22-day war on the Hamas rulers of the enclave.

source : jang.com.pk

Two mortar rounds fired from Gaza into Israel: army

JERUSALEM: Two mortar rounds were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday amid a fragile ceasefire between the Jewish state and Palestinian militant groups, an army spokeswoman told.

source : jang.com.pk

Obama feels our ‘distress’: Israel’s Netanyahu

JERUSALEM: Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, tipped in the polls to become the next prime minister, said Tuesday that US President-elect Barack Obama understands the “distress” of Israelis.

“I took away the impression that Barack Obama understood our distress very well as well as the cruelty of the enemies we face,” the former Israeli prime minister said army radio just hours before Obama’s inauguration. Netanyahu was referring to Hamas Islamists after Israel’s 22-day offensive on their Gaza Strip stronghold, which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians before a ceasefire took effect on Sunday. “He (Obama) also understands the dangers that Iranian nuclear armaments would represent,” said the Likud Party leader who met Obama in Israel last July.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel unilaterally halts fire, rockets persist

JERUSALEM – Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday meant to end three devastating weeks of war against Hamas militants, but just hours later militants fired a volley of rockets into southern Israel, officials said, threatening to reignite the violence.

No one was injured in the assault in which five rockets were fired and four landed. But shortly afterward, security sources in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun reported an airstrike that wounded a woman and her child. The Israeli military had no comment.

In another incident after the truce took hold, militants fired small arms at an infantry patrol, which directed artillery and aircraft to strike back, the military said.

“Israel will only act in response to attacks by Hamas, either rockets into Israel or firing upon our forces,” government spokesman Mark Regev said. “If Hamas does deliberately torpedo this cease-fire, they are exposing themselves before the entire international community as a group of cynical extremists that have absolutely no interest in the well-being of the people of Gaza.”

Regev would not say what level of violence would provoke Israel to call off the truce.

The cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. Sunday local time after three weeks of fighting that killed some 1,200 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. At least 13 Israelis also died, according to the government.

Israel stopped its offensive before reaching a long-term solution to the problem of arms smuggling into Gaza, one of the war’s declared aims. And Israel’s insistence on keeping soldiers in Gaza raised the prospect of a stalemate with the territory’s Hamas rulers, who have said they would not respect any truce until Israel pulls out.

The military warned in a statement early Sunday that Israeli forces would retaliate for attacks against soldiers or civilians and that “any such attack will be met with a harsh response.”

The cease-fire went into effect just days ahead of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration Tuesday. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration welcomed Israel’s decision and a summit set for later Sunday in Egypt is meant to give international backing to the truce.

Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic — which holds the rotating European Union presidency — are expected to attend along with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

Ban welcomed the Israeli move and called on Hamas to stop its rocket fire. “Urgent humanitarian access for the people of Gaza is the immediate priority,” he said, declaring that “the United Nations is ready to act.”

It was not immediately clear whether Israel would send a representative to the meeting in Egypt, and Hamas, shunned widely as a terrorist organization, has not been invited.

In announcing the truce late Saturday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would withhold fire after achieving its goals and more.

“Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions. Its leaders are in hiding and many of its men have been killed,” Olmert said.

If Hamas holds its fire, the military “will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us,” Olmert said. If not, Israel “will continue to act to defend our residents.”

Israel apparently reasons that the two-phase truce would give it ammunition against its international critics: Should Hamas continue to attack, then Israel would be able to resume its offensive after having tried to end it. It was not immediately clear how many rockets would have to fall to provoke an Israeli military response.

Hamas, which rejects Israel’s existence, violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007, provoking a harsh Israeli blockade that has deepened the destitution in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians. The Israeli war did not loosen Hamas’ grip on Gaza, and the group vowed that a unilateral cease-fire was not enough to end the Islamic movement’s resistance.

“The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

Israel kept its schools in southern Israel closed in anticipation of possible rocket barrages.

More moderate Palestinians also reacted with skepticism to Israel’s two-phase truce and called on world leaders attending the Egypt summit to press Israel to pull out its troops immediately.

“We had hoped that the Israeli announcement would be matched by total cessation of hostilities and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza,” said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas is Hamas’ bitter rival and the top leader in the West Bank, the larger of the two Palestinian territories.

“I am afraid that the presence of the Israeli forces in Gaza means that the cease-fire will not stand,” he said.

____

Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza. Associated Press reporter Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip, and Edith M. Lederer from the United Nations

source : news.yahoo.com

Gaza militants fire first rockets into Israel since truce: army

JERUSALEM: Militants in the Gaza Strip fired five rockets into Israel on Sunday, in the first such attack since the Jewish state began a unilateral ceasefire to its war on Hamas, the army said.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel unilaterally halts fire, troops stay in Gaza

JERUSALEM: Israel unilaterally ceased fire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday but kept its troops there, after a 22-day war meant to halt years of rocket fire on southern Israel, but whose vast scale of death and destruction provoked international outrage.

Israel stopped its offensive before reaching a long-term solution to the problem of arms smuggling into Gaza, one of the war’s declared aims. And Israel’s insistence on keeping soldiers in Gaza raised the prospect of a stalemate with the territory’s Hamas rulers, who have said they would not respect any truce until Israel pulls out.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel begins Gaza ceasefire: army

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military began observing a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after a 22-day offensive against the Hamas rulers of the Palestinian territory, an army spokesman said.

“Starting at 2:00 am (0000 GMT) we are holding our fire,” an Israeli army spokesman told media.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had earlier declared that Israel would call a halt to an offensive that has killed more than 1,200 Palestinians, although he ordered troops to remain in the enclave and return fire if they came under attack.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel ceasefire will cause ‘huge relief’: Britain

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Saturday that Israel’s ceasefire in the Gaza conflict would cause “huge relief”.

“There will be huge relief at the announcement by Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert of the end of Israeli military operations in Gaza,” Miliband said in a statement released by the Foreign Office.

“As the Prime Minister (Gordon Brown) said today, too many lives have already been lost.”

Miliband went on to call for an immediate end to Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.

“The deaths of over 1,000 people stand testament to the scale and duration of the conflict,” he said. “It is now imperative that Hamas stops the rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.”

He added that the UN and aid agencies should be allowed immediate access to Gaza and their safety guaranteed “so they may do their vital work unhindered.”

Olmert said earlier that a ceasefire would come into effect at 0000 GMT Sunday after a 22-day onslaught against Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas which left more than 1,200 Palestinians dead.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will co-chair a summit on Gaza in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday.

France says Brown will be among the European leaders attending although his Downing Street office has declined to confirm this.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel’s Olmert says Gaza war achieved all its goals

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that Israel’s war in Gaza had achieved all its goals, after the country’s powerful security cabinet approved a unilateral ceasefire.

“We have reached all the goals of the war, and beyond,” Olmert said in a speech after the vote, which could bring an end to a three-week-long war that has killed more than 1,200 Palestinians and devastated the Hamas-ruled enclave.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel bombards Hamas hours before cease-fire vote

JERUSALEM – Israel’s top leadership met Saturday to approve a unilateral cease-fire that would halt the devastating 22-day offensive against the Hamas rulers of Gaza.

The 12-member Security Cabinet is expected to back an Egyptian-brokered proposal for a 10-day cease-fire with no sign of a commitment by Hamas to stop the rocket fire on southern Israel that sparked the conflict.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated Israel’s readiness for a cease-fire, saying the country “was very close to achieving its goals and securing them through diplomatic agreements.” He spoke during a trip to southern Israel, which has been the target of militant rocket fire.

In the hours leading up to the vote, Israel kept up its bombardment of dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza.

Gaza’s Hamas rulers have sent mixed signals on whether the group would reciprocate.

Hamas’ exiled leadership vowed to continue the fight against Israel. Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official based in Lebanon, said the group would not halt its attacks until Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza and ends its blockade of the seaside strip.

“If any vision does not achieve these things, then we will continue in the battle on the ground,” he said.

But after weeks of heavy losses, leaders inside Gaza have signaled they are ready for a deal. A Hamas delegation was in Cairo for more truce negotiations.

Palestinian medics say the fighting has killed at least 1,140 Palestinians — roughly half of them civilians — and Israel’s bombing campaign caused massive destruction in the Gaza Strip. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, according to the government.

If the truce is approved, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza during that time and the territory’s border crossing with Israel and Egypt would remain closed until security arrangements are made to prevent Hamas arms smuggling.

If the cease-fire is approved, it was not clear how Israel would respond to violations of a cease-fire.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni indicated that Israel would renew its offensive if Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel after Israel declared a truce.

“This campaign is not a one-time event,” she said in an interview with the Israeli YNet news Web site. “The test will be the day after. That is the test of deterrence.”

Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to try to halt near-daily Hamas rocket attacks against southern Israel. Its key demand is for guarantees that Hamas halt the smuggling of rockets, explosives and other weapons through the porous Egyptian border.

Under the deal, Egypt would shut down weapons smuggling routes with international help and discussions on opening Gaza’s blockaded border crossings — Hamas’ key demand — would take place at a later date.

Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, who will attend Saturday night’s Security Cabinet meeting, said any deal would also require a mechanism for negotiating the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit who was captured by Hamas more than two years ago.

The Israeli vote was set after Israel and the U.S. signed on Friday a “memorandum of understanding” in Washington that calls for expanded intelligence cooperation to prevent Hamas from rearming.

The agreement outlines a framework under which the United States commits detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations to be used in monitoring Gaza’s land and sea borders.

Livni, who signed the deal, called it “a vital complement for a cessation of hostility.”

The vote comes just days ahead of Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on Tuesday.

Egypt has been a key interlocutor in weeks of negotiations to end the assault on Gaza sparked by years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel.

“I demand Israel today stop its military operations immediately,” Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said. “I demand from its leaders an immediate and unconditional cease-fire and I demand from them a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit dismissed the U.S.-Israel agreement Saturday, saying his country would not be bound by its terms.

The U.S. and Israel can “do what they wish with regard to the sea or any other country in Africa, but when it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the safety and national security of the Egyptian people and Egypt’s ability to protect its borders,” Aboul Gheit told reporters.

The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. They could also be intended to tell the domestic audience that Egypt’s role will not be dictated by outside powers. Egypt’s cooperation will be critical to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas.

The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. Egypt’s cooperation will be critical in efforts to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas.

Israel Radio reported that a truce summit could be held in Egypt as early as Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli leaders in attendance.

Speaking to Lebanon’s parliament Saturday, Ban said Hamas must stop rocket attacks on Israel and the Jewish state must immediately end its offensive and withdraw its troops from Gaza.

“We cannot wait for all the details, the mechanisms, to be conclusively negotiated and agreed, while civilians continue to be traumatized, injured or killed,” he said. “We have no more time to lose. We demand an immediate cease-fire,” said Ban.

In the meantime, there was no slowdown in the offensive. A total of 13 Palestinians were killed in battles throughout Gaza Saturday, Palestinian medics said.

Israeli warplanes dropped bombs during the night on suspected smuggling tunnels in the southern border town of Rafah. The bombs could be heard whistling through the air, shook the ground upon impact and left a dusty haze in the air.

In the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Israeli shells struck a U.N. school where 1,600 people had sought shelter to flee the fighting. One shell scored a direct hit on the top floor of the three-story building, killing two boys, U.N. officials said. An adjacent room was turned into a blackened mess of charred concrete and twisted metal bed frames.

John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, condemned the attack — the latest in a series of Israeli shellings that have struck U.N. installations.

“The question that has to be asked is for all those children and all those innocent people who have been killed in this conflict. Were they war crimes? Were they war crimes that resulted in the deaths of the innocents during this conflict? That question has to be answered,” he said.

The Israeli army said it was launching a high-level investigation into the shelling, as well as four other attacks that hit civilian targets, including the U.N. headquarters in Gaza. The army investigation also includes the shelling of a hospital, a media center and the home of a well-known doctor.

An Israeli military spokesman said the investigations would be handled at the command level. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.

Previously, Israel has accused Hamas of using schools, mosques, hospitals and residential areas to stage attacks.

The military said its planes struck 50 Hamas locations overnight, including rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels, weapons storehouses, bunkers and minefields. Some five rockets were fired into Israel, causing minor damage but no injuries, the army said.

Israeli troops entered a small central Gaza town and nearby housing project, taking over houses and positioning on rooftops. Hamas militants fired assault rifles, mortars and rockets at the Israeli forces in tanks and military vehicles, the sound of clashes audible from Gaza City. Warplanes fired missiles at buildings and nearby farms, witnesses said.

“A shell landed in my bedroom and we are now sitting in the kitchen. We are 17 people here,” Jihan Sarsawi, a resident of the housing project, said by telephone. She said residents were trapped in their homes.

___

Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza. Associated Press reporter Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip.

source : news.yahoo.com

How the Gaza War Could End: Three Scenarios

Pressure is mounting on Israel and Hamas to find a way of ending the war in Gaza. Both sides have responded positively, if tentatively, to Egyptian proposals for a phased truce that would begin with a lull in fighting for a defined period (10 days by some accounts). That interlude would then allow for the brokering of a more comprehensive cease-fire. But each side’s goals from any truce remain antagonistic to those of the other, and reaching an agreement that bridges the vast gap between them remains a Herculean diplomatic challenge.

Even before the Israeli invasion began late December, Hamas had offered to renew its six-month cease-fire with Israel on condition that the border crossings from Egypt and Israel into Gaza be opened. Those crossings have been closed as part of a strategy of imposing economic deprivation on the people of Gaza in the hope that they would turn on Hamas; Israel remains reluctant to agree to reopen them as part of a cease-fire deal, since that would be claimed as a victory by Hamas. Hamas also insists on a full and immediate withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza. Israel is reluctant to comply until mechanisms are in place to prevent Hamas rearming.

Israel’s declared purpose in launching Operation Cast Lead was to halt Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, and prevent Hamas from being able to rearm through smuggling weapons from Egypt. Israel remains committed, however, to a long-term goal of ending Hamas control of Gaza, and it insists that the movement should gain no “recognition” or “legitimacy” as part of any truce – a tough call since Hamas is the key combatant on the Palestinian side. (See pictures of the Gaza ground war)

So how will the Gaza conflict be resolved? Israel’s dominant military position puts its leaders in a position to decide how the hostilities will. But those leaders remain locked in debate among themselve over the best way to do that. Here are the three most likely scenarios, each with different political consequences for the main players and the future of the conflict:

Scenario 1: Regime Change
Given Israel’s long-term goal of ousting Hamas in Gaza, some key military and political leaders have urged that it expand the goals of its current operation, and use its momentum to take control of Gaza City and decapitate Hamas. Most vocal in advocating this option is Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the hawkish front-runner in the race for prime minister, who will portray any outcome that leaves Hamas intact in Gaza as a failure – bad news for his chief rivals, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

But the “regime-change” option is even reported to have support from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who sees it as a way to restore the control over all Palestinian territories of his peace partner, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Skeptics, including Barak and Livni, warn that pursuing regime-change would require the Israeli military operation to continue for months, risking diplomatic isolation and dramatic increases in casualties. And the Israeli security establishment is justifiably skeptical of the prospects for re-imposing the already enfeebled Abbas on a hostile Gaza. Rather than boost his power, the latest confrontation has seen Abbas further marginalized. Even his future control over the West Bank has come into question.

Even if forced out of power, Hamas would maintain a resistance role that would prevent anyone else from governing the territory. (The organization is estimated to have close to 20,000 men under arms in Gaza, of which Israel claims, so far, to have killed no more than 2.5%.) That would force Israel to reoccupy a territory from which it sought to separate in 2005. Still, Israeli leaders hope that the military operation can deal a powerful enough blow to hobble Hamas. They still hope to see the Abbas’ authority re-imposed as part of any truce. More realistically, perhaps, Arab mediators and the U.N. Security Council have urged that cease-fire plans restore reconciliation between Abbas and Hamas. Arab countries previously brokered a national unity government between the two, and Hamas remains the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority’s legislature. But Israel has long insisted it will not deal with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas. (See pictures of life under Hamas in Gaza.)

Scenario 2: Long-term Cease-fire
Israel has insisted that a cease-fire be “sustainable,” by ensuring that Hamas is unable to rearm itself. An actual disarming of Hamas’ current militias is unlikely without a full-scale reoccupation of Gaza, which would involve tens of thousands more Israeli troops over many months. Anything less will see Hamas continue to be the dominant security presence inside Gaza. So, Israel’s priority will be to choke off the supply of rockets and mortar shells, which have been smuggled through tunnels from Gaza and fired at Israel. The Israelis want Egypt to police those tunnels, under U.S. supervision. Egypt has been reluctant to take on the potential domestic political headache of having foreign troops policing the Gaza border on its soil, and fears that Israel will seek to force Cairo to accept increasing responsibility for the territory – a role Cairo steadfastly refuses to play.

Egypt is reportedly proposing that an immediate truce, in which Israeli forces retain their current positions but advance no further, be followed by negotiations on a full withdrawal and reopening the crossings. Egypt will likely agree to enhanced mechanisms for policing the smugglers’ tunnels, but those tunnels were also Gaza’s economic lifeline, and Egypt will insist they can be closed only if the legitimate crossings into Gaza are reopened to allow the flow of normal humanitarian and commercial traffic. That, of course, is what Hamas has been demanding, which will make Israel – and Egypt – uncomfortable. Neither wants to see the radical movement emerge from this confrontation with an enhanced status, but the scale of the humanitarian disaster wrought by Operation Cast Lead renders maintaining the economic blockade untenable. Hamas may claim vindication, but it will not be allowed to directly control the crossings itself, as it had demanded, and will be forced to swallow many other compromises.

Policing the crossings on the Palestinian side will likely be the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority, although that will require new agreements between Hamas and President Abbas. Any cease-fire is likely to implicitly recognize Hamas’ dominance as an inescapable reality in Gaza. Hamas will claim victory from any truce that results in the crossings being reopened, and its claim may well be echoed by Netanyahu on the campaign trail. After all, ending the current operation on the basis of a formal long-term truce in Gaza will codify Israeli-Hamas coexistence. That’s why Israeli journalist Aluf Benn dubbed the conflict “Gaza’s War of Independence,” an allusion to the conflict 60 years ago in which Israel established its existence as an intractable political-military fact. (See pictures of 60 years of Israel.)

Scenario 3: The Guns Go Silent Without a Formal Truce
If the offensive cannot deal Hamas a death blow, Israel may see benefit in holding its fire, in line with the first phase of the Egyptian plan but not necessarily concluding a comprehensive cease-fire. It would simply maintain the halt to hostilities and even withdraw its forces on an open-ended basis. Israeli leaders saw Operation Cast Lead as an opportunity to restore Israel’s “deterrent” power, which it believed had been damaged when it was fought to a draw by Hizballah in Lebanon in 2006. But the Gaza operation, with its almost 100-to-1 ratio of Palestinian to Israeli casualties, has issued a painful reminder of Israel’s capacity and willingness to abandon restraints and rain devastation on the heads of all challengers.

By simply stopping its operation without a formal truce, Israel can claim to have reestablished its “deterrent” on future rocket fire without “recognizing” Hamas’ authority in Gaza. This option would also allow Israel to avoid accepting any new restraints on its actions in Gaza. It would also bypass the need to deploy international forces, a move that would complicate any future offensive. Israel ended its 2002 offensive against militants in Jenin and other West Bank cities on its own terms, choosing where to remain deployed and continuing to raid those cities as deemed necessary. The six-month truce that maintained calm in Gaza from June until November last year was never formally codified – each side had its own interpretation of understandings reached with the Egyptian mediator, and there was no publicly agreed text or mechanism for monitoring or arbitrating disputes.

Some Israeli reports suggest that halting the offensive without an agreement is the option favored by Livni. And its prospects may be enhanced by the fact that negotiations over a formal cease-fire may take more than 10 days and may, in fact, not be resolved before Israel has elected a new government – possibly, one with little interest in a truce with Hamas. But even an unspoken truce would have to involve the opening of crossings to relieve the humanitarian catastrophe, and would require mechanisms for monitoring the flow of goods into Gaza, and tunnel smuggling. In other words, even an unspoken cease-fire will require many of the features of a formal one. Hamas has also insisted that it won’t accept another vague or open-ended ceasefire without defined timetables and verifiable goals, although its ability to hold out for its terms will be determined by the resilience of its forces on the ground. But Egypt and other regional players will press Israel to formalize the truce terms in order to prevent a recurrence of the horrors seen in Gaza over the past three weeks. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East.)

Whichever of these three permutations defines the Gaza outcome, the likelihood is that Operation Cast Lead will not have ended the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but will instead have propelled it into a new phase.

source : news.yahoo.com

Lebanese government condemns rocket attack

BEIRUT: The Lebanese government on Wednesday denounced the firing of three rockets from Lebanon into Israel, saying the incident undermined national unity and gave Israel an excuse to attack the country.

“Whoever is behind this attack is targeting the national consensus and all parties represented within the government,” Lebanese Information Minister Tarek Mitri told reporters after discussing the situation with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.

“There is a consensus between the political forces in the country and Hezbollah is part of this consensus,” he added. “This gives Israel an excuse to attack Lebanon.

“Someone is trying to drag Lebanon into a conflict and is moving rockets from one area to another,” Mitri said.
source : jang.com.pk

Israel stops Iran’s aid ship to Gaza

TEHRAN: An Iranian ship carrying aid to Gaza was stopped by Israel’s navy on its way towards the Palestinian territory, Iran’s state radio reported on Tuesday.

“An Iranian ship that was carrying foodstuff and medicine was stopped by the Zionist regime’s navy 20 miles off the coast of Gaza,” radio reported, adding that the ship had left the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas 13 days earlier.
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Israel pounds new Hamas targets, enlists reserves

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes pounded the homes of Hamas leaders and ground troops edged closer to the Gaza Strip’s densely-populated urban center Monday, as Israel stepped up the pressure ahead of deciding whether to escalate its devastating two-week offensive.

From downtown Gaza City black smoke could be seen rising over the eastern suburbs, where the two sides skirmished throughout the night. At least six Palestinians were killed in the new airstrikes or died from their wounds on Monday, Gaza health officials said. One of the dead was a militant killed in a northern Gaza battle.

Despite the tightening Israeli cordon, however, militants still managed to fire off at least four rockets Monday morning. There were no reports of injuries, though one rocket scored a direct hit on a house in the southern city of Ashkelon.

The army announced Sunday that it had begun sending reserve units into Gaza to assist thousands of ground forces already in the territory. The use of reserves is a strong signal that Israel is planning to move the offensive, which already has killed some 870 Palestinians, into a new, more punishing phase.

Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27, bombarding Gaza with dozens of airstrikes before sending in ground forces a week later. The operation is meant to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Fighting has persisted despite international calls for a cease-fire. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died.

With Israeli troops already surrounding Gaza’s main population centers, Israeli leaders have given mixed signals on how much further the army is ready to push, saying the operation is close to achieving its goals but vowing to press forward with overwhelming force.

“Israel is a country that reacts vigorously when its citizens are fired upon, which is a good thing,” Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Israel Radio on Monday. “That is something that Hamas now understands and that is how we are going to react in the future, if they so much as dare fire one missile at Israel.”

Israeli security officials believe they have struck a tough blow against Hamas, killing hundreds of the Islamic militant group’s fighters, including top commanders. The director of the Shin Bet security agency told the Cabinet on Sunday that Hamas leaders in Gaza are ready to surrender.

The army also says Hamas has been avoiding pitched battles against the advancing Israelis, resorting instead to guerrilla tactics as its fighters melt into crowded residential areas.

Maj. Avital Leibovich, an army spokeswoman, said residential neighborhoods in Gaza are riddled with booby traps and explosives, and in some cases dummies are placed at apartment entrances to simulate militants and rigged to explode if soldiers approach.

Hamas, at least publicly, has vowed to continue fighting.

Israeli ground forces made their deepest foray yet into Gaza City on Sunday, with tanks rolling into residential neighborhoods and infantry fighting urban warfare in streets in buildings with Hamas militants, Palestinian residents said.

The army “is advancing more into urban areas,” Leibovich said. “Since the majority of the Hamas militants are pretty much in hiding in those places, mainly urban places, then we operate in those areas.”

Israeli leaders are expected to decide in the next day or two on whether to push the offensive into a third phase — in which the army takes over larger areas of Gaza. This move would require the use of thousands of reserve units massed on the border with Gaza.

A push into densely crowded urban areas would threaten the lives of many more civilians. More than 20,000 Palestinians have already fled Gaza’s rural border areas and crowded into nearby towns, staying with relatives and at U.N. schools turned into makeshift shelters.

International aid groups have repeatedly said Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians, who are believed to make up about half of the dead.

Defense officials said several thousand reservists were already in Gaza as part of preparations for the new phase.

Israeli President Shimon Peres thanked hundreds of reservists and wished them luck while visiting a base in southern Israel on Monday.

“I don’t think Israel has ever had an army better trained, organized and sophisticated than you,” he said, according to a statement released by his office.

For the time being, the units have been taking over areas cleared out by the regular troops, allowing those forces to push forward toward new targets. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified operational strategy.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel is “very close” to achieving its three key goals: destroying Hamas‘ military capabilities, ending the rocket fire and preventing it from rearming.

He would not say whether the next phase of the offensive would take place, saying in any case that the reserve units could be used against “quality targets” such as bunkers and command posts.

Early Monday, Israeli navy gunboats fired more than 25 shells at Gaza City, setting fires and shaking office buildings, including the local bureau of The Associated Press. The military said that in general, the targets are Hamas installations but had no immediate information about the shelling that began just after midnight.

German and British envoys pressed efforts to negotiate an end to the war even though Israel and Hamas have ignored a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire.

Israel is demanding an end to years of rocket attacks, as well as international guarantees to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into Gaza through the porous Egyptian border. This complex goal would require Egyptian or international help in shutting off the smuggling routes.

Israel has been bombing tunnels that run under the Egypt-Gaza border.

In an e-mail message early Monday, Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said his group would not consider a cease-fire before Israel stops its attacks and pulls back from Gaza. He also demanded opening of all border crossings, emphasizing the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

That would relieve economic pressure on the destitute territory but also strengthen Hamas control of Gaza, an odious prospect for Israelis who fear a halt to the fighting will just give Hamas another opportunity to re-arm.

In Cairo, Egypt’s state-owned news agency reported progress in truce talks with Hamas but provided no specifics. The Middle East News Agency quoted an unnamed Egyptian official as saying talks between the nation’s intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, and Hamas envoys were “positive.”

International Mideast envoy Tony Blair was in Cairo on Monday, telling reporters that “the elements of an agreement” for a cease-fire are in place.

In Paris, the French foreign minister said Monday that European military observers should be sent to Gaza to monitor any eventual cease-fire.

“There need to be European observers,” Bernard Kouchner said on Europe-1 radio, adding that the group could be expanded to include monitors from other regions. He said they should include military observers, “to testify to the maintained cease-fire.”

Germany’s foreign minister suggested Sunday that Egypt and Israel were favorable to having international experts deployed at the Gaza-Egyptian frontier to stop arms smuggling. Kouchner, however, said Monday that “neither the Egyptians nor the Israelis want international observers on their territory for the moment.”

___

Barzak reported from Gaza City and Federman from Jerusalem.

source : news.yahoo.com

MPs, doctors to sail to Gaza in defiance of Israel siege

LARNACA, Cyprus: A group of 30 pro-Palestinian activists including EU MPs and doctors plan to brave Israeli forces in a bid to deliver desperately-needed medical aid to Gaza by sea from Cyprus on Monday.

The Free Gaza Movement’s last attempt to break the blockade on the embattled territory resulted in its boat colliding with an Israeli navy vessel and being turned back on December 30.

The activists insist their boat, which was in danger of sinking, was repeatedly rammed by the Israeli vessel.

A Greek-registered 22-metre (70-foot) pleasure craft is expected to sail from the southern port of Larnaca on Monday with four MPs from Greece, Spain and Belgium on board and seven doctors.

Also packed on the “Spirit of humanity” will be tonnes of basic medical supplies such as bandages, IV bags and other medicines for hospitals in Gaza.

The boat is to be loaded with supplies and provisions when it docks at Larnaca port from Crete on Sunday.

Israel has sealed off Gaza from all but limited humanitarian aid since its offensive against the Islamist Hamas — which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state — was launched on December 27.

More than 800 Palestinians and 13 Israelis have since been killed.

source : jang.com.pk

Hamas: No peace until Israel ends Gaza assault

CAIRO: A top Hamas leader said on Saturday that the Gaza war has ended chances of a negotiated peace with Israel and called on Arabs to pressure the Jewish State to end its attacks on Gaza Strip.

Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s fiery speech to the Arab news channel Al-Jazeera, however, still left open negotiating a cease-fire to end Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have killed over 800 Palestinians, and were launched to stop Hamas from firing rockets at it.

“You have finished off the last chance and breath for settlement and negotiations,” he said, calling on Arabs to continue their protests to pressure their leaders and the international community.

“We are living the hardest moments of the resistance now, we want another intifada in Palestine and on the Arab street,” he said, calling on the Arabs to continue protesting

He told Arab countries with relations with Israel to “use that card and say to the enemy, stop the attacks or we will end our relationship with you.”

Mashaal’s comments came as a Hamas delegation is in Egypt, together with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to discuss an Egyptian cease-fire proposal and possible international monitoring force to enforce an agreement.

source : jang.com.pk

India rules out Israel-like action

NEW DELHI: India on Saturday ruled out any Israel-like action against Pakistan, saying the situation was not comparable.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, maintained that they would decide how India would deal with Pakistan if it did not meet its demands for ending terrorism. “I do not agree to it, because it is totally wrong. The situation is not at all comparable,” he said when asked whether an Israeli-type offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip could be an option for the Indian government against Pakistan.

“I have not gone and occupied any (of) Pakistan’s land which Israel has done (in Palestine). So, how the situation can be comparable,” he asked during an interview to a news channel. Maintaining that all options were still open, he said India expected Pakistan to act on the evidence linking elements in the neighbouring country to the Mumbai attacks.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel warns of further escalation as Gaza death toll tops 850

GAZA CITY: Israel vowed to escalate its war in Gaza on Saturday as it pounded the impoverished territory with air strikes and troops battled Hamas fighters into a third week and the death toll rose past 850.

Israeli planes sent a cloud of white leaflets fluttering across the Gaza City skyline warning residents it would soon step up its war on Hamas and other militant groups despite mounting international calls for a ceasefire.

Ground troops clashed with militants while the airforce said it carried out 60 air strikes targeting arms manufacturing sites, weapons depots and smuggling tunnels, the army said.

The Israeli military said it had killed Amir Mansi, a senior Hamas rocket launcher responsible for many of the long-range rockets fired in recent days. Hamas refused to say where he ranked in the movement’s armed wing.

In a separate incident, eight members of the same Palestinian family, including a 12-year-old, were killed during the shelling of the northern town of Jabaliya.

“We were at home when the bombing started,” one of the attack’s survivors Umm Mohammed told media inside a nearby hospital.

“We fled towards another house and the tanks started firing. Several of us were hit.”
An Israeli army spokesman denied the incident took place, and Israel has said from the start of the conflict that it is not targeting civilians.

Israeli forces killed at least 28 people on Saturday including 17 in heavy fighting in the north and around Gaza City, according to Dr Muawiya Hassanein, head of Gaza emergency services.

source : jang.com.pk

Israel should accept truce: Mehmoud Abbas

CAIRO: Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas wants Israel to halt its military operation in Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority Chief says Israel must halt its military campaign in Gaza after a UN resolution urged a ceasefire in the strip.

Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that Israel should accept an Egyptian proposal for truce or “face the responsibility over the conflict.”

The Egyptian proposal calls for an immediate ceasefire for a limited period to allow safe passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza and give Egypt time to continue its efforts to help reach a lasting truce.

Abbas, who was speaking at a press conference following a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, also called for an international force to be deployed in the Gaza Strip to oversee ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues to pound Gaza despite earlier calls by the UN Security Council for an immediate halt in the operation which has killed at least 812 Palestinians and wounded thousands of others.

source : news.yahoo.com

Israel tells Gazans to brace for war escalation

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli forces pounded dozens of targets in Gaza Saturday and planes dropped leaflets warning residents of an escalation in attacks, as southern Israel came under more Palestinian rocket fire.

Egypt hosted talks aimed at ending the violence.

Flames and smoke rose over Gaza City amid heavy fighting. The Israeli threat to launch a “new phase” in its two-week-old offensive that has already killed more than 800 Palestinians came in defiance of international calls for a cease-fire.

“The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will escalate the operation in the Gaza Strip,” the leaflets said in Arabic. “The IDF is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only. Stay safe by following our orders.”

The leaflets urged Gaza residents not to help Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, and to stay away from its members.

The Israeli military said more than 15 militants were killed in overnight fighting. It said aircraft attacked more than 40 targets including 10 rocket-launching sites, weapons-storage facilities, smuggling tunnels, an anti-aircraft missile launcher and gunmen.

In the day’s bloodiest incident, an Israeli tank shell killed nine people in a garden outside a home in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya. Separately, a woman was killed by an airstrike in the southern town of Rafah.

Israel has come under international criticism for the rising number of civilian casualties. Paramedics said the nine people killed in the garden were from the same clan and included two children and two women.

“Residents brought them to the hospital in a civilian car. They put them all in the trunk because their bodies were mangled,” said hospital administrator Adham Hakim.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment, but has repeatedly accused Hamas of using residential areas for cover. Earlier this week, an Israeli attack outside a U.N. school killed nearly 40 people. Both Israel and Palestinian witnesses said militants carried out an attack from the area moments earlier.

Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. A week later, ground troops moved in.

Palestinian medical officials say more than 800 Palestinians have been killed, roughly half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed — four of them by militant rockets, the rest in battle in Gaza. Five soldiers were lightly wounded in Saturday’s fighting.

Israel and Hamas ignored a U.N. resolution passed Thursday calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire that would lead to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Israel has dismissed the Security Council resolution as impractical, while Hamas, whose government in Gaza is not recognized internationally, is angry it was not consulted in the diplomatic efforts.

source : news.yahoo.com

UN truck comes under deadly fire in Gaza

JERUSALEM – The U.N. suspended aid shipments in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and the Red Cross restricted its convoys after their trucks came under Israeli fire. The threat of a wider conflict arose when militants in Lebanon fired two rockets into northern Israel.

One rocket crashed into a retirement home, but there were no serious injuries. Israel responded with mortar shells.

The driver of the U.N. truck died immediately; another worker in the truck died later of his wounds. The truck, which came under fire in northern Gaza, was marked with the U.N. flag and insignia.

During a three-hour pause in the fighting to allow in food and fuel and let medics collect the dead, nearly three dozen bodies were found beneath the rubble of bombed out buildings in Gaza City.

Many of the dead were in the same neighborhood where the international Red Cross said rescuers discovered young children too weak to stand who had stayed by their dead mothers. The aid group accused Israel of an “unacceptable” delay in allowing workers to reach the area.

Relations between Israel and humanitarian organizations have grown increasingly tense as civilian casualties have mounted.

The United Nations demanded an inquiry this week after Israeli shells killed nearly 40 Palestinians near a U.N. school filled with Gazans. Israel said militants had launched an attack from the area, then ran into a crowd of civilians for cover.

The 13-day Israeli offensive has killed about 750 Palestinians, according to Palestinian hospital officials and human rights workers. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in combat Thursday, raising the number of soldiers killed in Gaza to eight since the assault began Dec. 27. Four Israelis, including one soldier, also have been killed by rockets fired at Israeli cities.

“We’ve been coordinating with them (Israeli forces) and yet our staff continue to be hit and killed,” said a U.N. spokesman, Chris Gunness, announcing the suspension. The U.N. is the largest aid provider in Gaza.

Israeli police, meanwhile, said militants in the Gaza Strip fired 24 rockets into Israel on Thursday, injuring four people, one of them seriously. Militants fired larger numbers of rockets in the early days of the conflict.

The Israeli assault is intended to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. But with roughly half the Palestinian dead believed to be civilians, international efforts to broker a cease-fire have been gaining steam.

Israeli envoys traveled to Egypt on Thursday to discuss the proposal being brokered by France and Egypt.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said any time lost will play into the hands of those who want war.

“The weapons must go quiet, the escalation must stop, Israel must obtain security guarantees and leave Gaza,” he said in Paris.

The U.N. provides food aid to around 750,000 Gaza residents — about half of Gaza’s population — and runs dozens of schools and clinics throughout the territory. They have some 9,000 local staffers in Gaza as well as a small team of international staffers.

Elena Mancusi Materi, UNRWA’s spokeswoman in Geneva, said the suspension concerned all truck movement in Gaza.

“If someone comes to one of our food distribution centers, we will give that person food,” she said. “If people come to our clinics with injuries, we will treat them.”

For a second straight day, Israel suspended its Gaza military operation for three hours to allow in humanitarian supplies. Shortly before the pause took effect, the U.N. said one of its aid trucks came under fire from a gunner on an Israeli tank, killing the driver.

U.N. spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said the U.N. coordinated the delivery in northern Gaza with Israel, and the vehicle was marked with a U.N. flag and insignia. The Israeli army said it was investigating.

Hasna said the truck driver died immediately and another man in the truck died later of his wounds. A third man was also injured.

In Geneva, the international Red Cross said it would restrict its aid operations to Gaza City for at least one day after one of its convoys came under Israeli fire at the Netzarim crossing during the pause in fighting Thursday. One driver was lightly injured.

Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry said 35 bodies were discovered Thursday during the three-hour lull in several areas around Gaza City that have seen fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.

He said it was unclear how many militants were killed because the remains were in poor condition, but that women and children were among the dead. Hassanain said 746 Palestinians have died in the Israeli offensive.

Many of the dead found Thursday were in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, where the international Red Cross said it found four small children alive next to their mothers’ bodies in the rubble of a home hit by Israeli shelling. The aid group says 15 dead were recovered from two houses in Zeitoun on Wednesday.

A Red Cross spokesman says rescuers had been refused permission by Israeli forces to reach the site for four days. It said the delay was “unacceptable.”

The Red Cross statement was a rare public criticism from the aid group, which normally conducts confidential negotiations with warring parties.

The Israeli military said in a statement that Hamas militants used Palestinian civilians as human shields, and that Israeli forces work closely with aid groups to help civilians in Gaza.

In other Gaza violence, Israel attacks killed at least 24 Palestinians Thursday, including the U.N. driver, according to Hassanain.

The rockets from Lebanon raised the specter of renewed hostilities on Israel’s northern frontier, 2 1/2 years after Israel battled the Hezbollah guerrilla group to a 34-day stalemate. War broke out between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 as Israel battled Palestinian militants in Gaza, on Israel’s southern borders.

No group claimed responsibility. Lebanon’s government condemned the attack, and Hezbollah — which is now part of Lebanon’s government — denied any responsibility for the rocket fire, which lightly injured two Israelis at a retirement home.

“The rocket entered through the roof, hurling the water heaters into the air. It went through bedrooms upstairs and then into the kitchen,” said Henry Carmelli, the home’s manager.

Israel has repeatedly said it was prepared for a possible attack on the north since it launched its campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza. Israel has mobilized thousands of reserve troops for such a scenario, and leaders have warned Hezbollah of dire consequences if it enters the fighting.

“We are prepared and will respond as necessary,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

The Israeli offensive has reduced Palestinian rocket fire, but not stopped it. Several barrages were reported Thursday, including one strike that damaged a school and sports center in the southern city of Ashkelon, police said. Both buildings were empty.

For Israel to accept a proposed cease-fire deal, “there has to be a total and complete cessation of all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, and … we have to see an arms embargo on Hamas that will receive international support,” said government spokesman Mark Regev.

Hamas said it would not accept a truce deal unless it includes an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza — something Israel says it is not willing to do. Israel and Egypt have maintained a stiff economic embargo on Gaza since the Hamas takeover in June 2007.

The Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank while Hamas rules Gaza — territories on opposite sides of Israel that are supposed to make up a future Palestinian state.

___

Weizman reported from Jerusalem and Barzak from Gaza City. Associated Press writer Sam F. Ghattas contributed to this report from Beirut, Lebanon.

source : news.yahoo.com

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Hundreds of foreigners flee Gaza fighting

EREZ CROSSING: About 250 foreigners on Thursday took the risky ride from Gaza City to safety across the border, but hundreds are believed still left in the war-stricken territory, diplomats said.

Some of those trapped, like Maria Velasco, a Spanish woman, have made three attempts to get to the border but say they have been forced back by the fighting between Israel and Hamas or by bureaucratic obstacles.

The International Committee of the Red Cross organised the convoy of six buses that took 48 Canadians along with nationals from the Philippines, Sweden, Norway, Romania and Austria, officials said.

“It was risky,” said Palestinian-Canadian Marwan Diad who was on holiday with his family when he became trapped in the war. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

At the Erez border crossing with Israel, the foreigners were greeted by diplomats from their countries and most were guided away to be taken to Jordan where they were to take flights home.

Few spoke about their ordeal in the Hamas-controlled territory where aid agencies say tens of thousands of families are trapped in their homes with precious little food, water or fuel.

Israel let a first group of more than 200 foreigners leave Gaza on January 2, the day before it sent in thousands of troops to back up a week of air raids. More than 700 people have been killed in the raids and fighting.

Several attempts since then to get foreigners out have been cancelled because fighting strayed close to the route they were meant to take.

Diplomats in Jerusalem estimate there are another 400 foreigners of 22 nationalities left in Gaza. Most are Palestinians of duel nationality or the spouses of Palestinians.

A Swedish diplomat said the consulate general in Jerusalem had been unable to contact two people on a list of 14 Swedish passport holders still in Gaza.

“The others we have managed to stay in contact with though even the mobile phone network is becoming very difficult now.”

She had hoped to leave with the other foreigners on Thursday but the Spanish consulate had not been able to get authorisation.

Spanish diplomatic sources blamed “circumstances beyond our control” and said the consulate general still hoped to get Velasco her husband and two year old son out as soon as possible.

Velasco said she hoped to make a new attempt to leave Friday but was worried as “nowhere is safe”. She criticised what she called a “lack of coordination” by the Spanish government, Israel and the United Nations which had stopped her being on the buses Thursday.

She said she has been asking the Spanish consulate to get her out for more than a month.

source : jang.com.pk

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UN: Israel kills driver on aid mission to Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A U.N. official in the Gaza Strip says Israeli forces have fired on a truck on a U.N. aid mission and killed the driver. U.N. spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna says the incident took place during a lull declared by Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory. He says the U.N. coordinated the delivery with Israel, and the vehicle and was marked with a U.N. flag and insignia when it was shot in northern Gaza. The Israeli army said it was investigating. Earlier this week, an Israeli attack near a U.N. school killed more than 30 people. At the time, Israel said it opened fire after militants hiding in the crowd shot mortar shells at Israeli troops. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below. JERUSALEM (AP) — Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into Israel early Thursday, threatening to open a new front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with a bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 700 people. Two people were lightly injured, and the rockets that exploded in Israel’s north raised the specter of renewed hostilities with Hezbollah, just 2 1/2 years after Israel battled the guerrilla group to a 34-day stalemate. Hezbollah started the 2006 war as Israel was battling Palestinian militants in Gaza. No group claimed responsibility and Lebanon’s government, wary of conflict, quickly condemned the rocket fire. Israel fired mortar shells into southern Lebanon in response. For a second straight day, Israel said it suspended is Gaza military operation for three hours to allow in humanitarian supplies. Before the lull on Thursday, Israel killed at least 11 people in Gaza, including five militants, raising the death toll from its 13-day offensive to 699 people, according to Palestinian medical officials. The offensive is meant to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, but with roughly half the dead believed to be civilians, international efforts to broker a cease-fire have been gaining steam. One of the Lebanese rockets went through the roof of a retirement home in Nahariya, about five miles from the border, and exploded in the kitchen as some 25 residents were eating breakfast in the adjacent dining hall. One resident suffered a broken leg, another bruises, apparently from slipping on the floor after emergency sprinklers came on. “The rocket entered through the roof, hurling the water heaters into the air. It went through bedrooms upstairs and then into the kitchen. There was a serious blast,” said Henry Carmelli, the home’s manager. About three hours later, air-raid sirens went off again. But authorities said it was a false alarm. Israel has repeatedly said it was prepared for a possible attack on the north since it launched its bruising campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza on Dec. 27. Israel has mobilized thousands of reserve troops for such a scenario, and leaders have warned Hezbollah of dire consequences if it enters the fighting. “We are following what is happening in the north. We are prepared and will respond as necessary,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora condemned both the attacks and Israel’s retaliatory fire. The attacks are “the work of parties who stand to lose from the continued stability in Lebanon,” Saniora said. Hezbollah, which did not comment, has said it does not want to draw Lebanon into a new war. Small Palestinian groups, who have rocketed Israel twice since the end of the 2006 war, have recently threatened to open a new front against Israel if the fighting in Gaza continued. An Israeli Cabinet minister, Meir Sheetrit, suggested that Lebanese splinter groups, not Hezbollah, were responsible. He said the government had no interest in renewing hostilities. “Even though we have the ability to respond with great force, the response needs to be carefully considered and responsible,” Sheetrit told Army Radio. “We don’t need to play into their hands.” Shortly after the first rockets fell around the town of Nahariya, five miles south of the Lebanese border, Lebanese TV stations reported Israeli mortar fire on open areas in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military confirmed it carried out “pinpoint fire” in response without elaborating. Israeli defense commentators said they expected the rocket fire to be a one-time show of solidarity with the Palestinians, not a declaration of war. Still, police said public bomb shelters throughout the north were opened. Palestinians reported some two dozen airstrikes in Gaza on Thursday. One militant was killed and 10 wounded in Gaza City, while an airstrike in northern Gaza killed three members of a rocket-launching cell, Palestinian medical officials said. The attack took place about 150 yards from a hospital and wounded 12 bystanders. The Israeli army has repeatedly said militants use civilian areas for cover. Nine other Palestinians were killed in separate incidents, including three civilians — en elderly man and two women — who were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza, officials said. In Geneva, the international Red Cross said it found four small children alive next to their mothers’ bodies in the rubble of a Gaza home hit by Israeli shelling. The neutral aid group says a total of 15 dead were recovered from two houses in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday. A Red Cross spokesman says rescuers had been refused permission by Israeli forces to reach the site for four days. It said the delay in allowing rescue services access was”unacceptable.” The Israeli offensive has reduced Palestinian rocket fire, but not stopped it altogether. Several barrages were reported Thursday, including one strike that damaged a school and sports center in the southern city of Ashkelon, police said. Both buildings were empty. For a second day, Israel’s Defense Ministry said the offensive was halted for three hours to allow Gaza residents to stock up on supplies and to allow aid shipments into the besieged area. Ministry spokesman Peter Lerner also said some 300 Palestinian holders of foreign passports would be allowed to leave. The lull appears to be in response to international pressure on Israel to try relieve civilian suffering in Gaza. U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness said three hours was “wholly inadequate” and would not be enough to relieve widespread food and water shortages. After Wednesday’s lull, Israel quickly resumed its offensive, bombing suspected smuggling tunnels near the border with Egypt after Hamas responded with a rocket barrage. Israeli planes destroyed at least 16 empty houses. The tunnels are Hamas’ lifeline, used to bring in arms, money and basic goods. Israel says local homes are used to conceal the tunnels. Of the Palestinians killed since Dec. 27, some 350 were civilians, among them 130 children, according to Palestinian medical officials. Eleven Israelis have been killed, including three civilians, since the offensive began. The army said Thursday that an infantry officer was killed by an anti-tank missile. Growing international outrage over the human toll of Israel’s offensive, which includes 3,000 Palestinians wounded — could work against continued fighting. So could President Bush’s departure from office this month and a Feb. 10 election in Israel. But Israel has a big interest in inflicting as much damage as possible on Hamas, both to stop militant rocket fire on southern Israeli towns and to diminish the group’s ability to play a spoiler role in peace talks with Palestinian moderates. Despite the heavy fighting, strides appeared to be made on the diplomatic front with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying the U.S. supported a deal being brokered by France and Egypt. While the U.N. Security Council failed to reach agreement on a cease-fire resolution, Egypt’s U.N. Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said representatives of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority agreed to meet separately with Egyptian officials in Cairo. Israeli envoys arrived in Egypt on Thursday to discuss the proposal. For Israel to accept a proposed cease-fire deal, “there has to be a total and complete cessation of all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, and … we have to see an arms embargo on Hamas that will receive international support,” said government spokesman Mark Regev. For its part, Hamas said it would not accept a truce deal unless it includes an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza — something Israel says it is not willing to do. Israel and Egypt have maintained a stiff economic embargo on Gaza since the Hamas takeover. The Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank while Hamas rules Gaza — two territories on opposite sides of Israel that are supposed to make up a future Palestinian state. Hamas took control of Gaza from forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007. The Israeli Cabinet formally decided on Wednesday to push ahead with the offensive while at the same time pursuing the cease-fire. The military has called up thousands of reserve troops that it could use to expand the Gaza offensive. Defense officials said the troops could be ready for action by Friday. In Geneva, the international Red Cross said it found four small children alive next to their mothers’ bodies in the rubble of a Gaza home hit by Israeli shelling. The neutral aid group says a total of 15 dead were recovered from two houses in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday. A Red Cross spokesman said rescuers had been refused permission by Israeli forces to reach the site for four days. It said the delay in allowing rescue services access was “unacceptable.”

___ Weizman reported from Jerusalem and Barzak from Gaza City. Associated Press writer Sam F. Ghattas contributed to this report from Beirut, Lebanon.

source : news.yahoo.com

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Israel bombs Gaza tunnels as peace moves gather pace

GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes bombed suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza early Thursday, as diplomats worked to secure a ceasefire in an offensive that has killed 700 Palestinians.

After a brief lull on Wednesday to allow Gaza’s beleaguered population to hunt for food and fuel, Defence Minister Ehud Barak was given by the security cabinet the green light for a deeper offensive into Gaza as part of the campaign to halt Hamas rocket attacks.

But a senior Barak aide was due in Cairo on Thursday to get details on an Egyptian ceasefire plan, which secured widespread international backing amid mounting concern about the scale of the civilian casualties.

Warplanes hit a house and a suspected tunnel in an open area of Rafah near the Egyptian border early on Thursday, witnesses said.

The army confirmed that strikes were taking place in Rafah, which has already been targeted repeatedly since an Israeli air offensive began on December 27 and was followed up by a ground operation on Saturday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

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Gaza fighting rages despite cease-fire proposal

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel resumed its Gaza offensive Wednesday, bombing heavily around suspected smuggling tunnels near the border with Egypt after a three-hour lull to allow in humanitarian aid. Hamas responded with a rocket barrage.

Despite the heavy fighting, strides were made on the diplomatic front with the U.S. throwing its weight behind a deal being brokered by France and Egypt.

While the Security Council failed to reach agreement on a cease-fire resolution, Egypt’s U.N. Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said representatives of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to meet separately with Egyptian officials in Cairo Thursday.

Israeli airstrikes killed 29 Palestinians on Wednesday after leaflets were dropped warning residents to leave the area “because Hamas uses your houses to hide and smuggle military weapons.”

The casualties brought the total Palestinian death toll during Israel’s 12-day assault to 688 and drove home the complexities of finding a diplomatic endgame for Israel’s Gaza invasion. Ten Israelis have been killed, including three civilians, since the offensive began Dec. 27.

More than 5,000 people have fled the border area, seeking refuge at two U.N. schools turned into temporary shelters.

The fury of the renewed fighting made it appear each side was scrambling to get in as many hits as possible before a truce could materialize.

“I feel like the ground is shaking when we hear the shelling. People are terrified,” said Fida Kishta, a resident of the Gaza-Egypt border area where Israeli planes destroyed 16 empty houses.

In Turkey, a Mideast diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly said that country would be asked to put together an international force that could help keep the peace. And diplomats in New York worked on a U.N. Security Council statement backing the cease-fire initiative but failed to reach agreement on action to end the violence.

“We are very much applauding the efforts of a number of states, particularly the effort that President (Hosni) Mubarak has undertaken on behalf of Egypt,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. “We’re supporting that initiative.”

The army, which has refused to allow journalists into Gaza, permitted two TV teams to accompany soldiers on patrol for the first time. The footage showed soldiers walking through a deserted street in an unidentified location in Gaza.

The Israeli military correspondent who accompanied the soldiers said they were concerned about Hamas booby-traps. He said they were shooting through walls, throwing grenades around corners, going from house to house looking for Hamas gunmen and using bomb sniffer dogs. Buildings showed bullet and shrapnel marks. “We used a lot of fire,” said an officer in the group, Lt. Col. Ofer.

Hamas, meanwhile, fired rockets, though at a slower pace than previous days, hitting the towns of Ashkelon and Beersheba with the sort of longer range missiles never seen before this war. Rockets were still hitting the cities after midnight, but there were no immediate reports of injury.

Despite the violence, a surprise announcement in Paris on Wednesday put a spotlight on diplomacy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority had accepted the cease-fire deal, but he made no mention of Hamas, without whom no truce could work. The Palestinian Authority controls only the West Bank while Hamas rules Gaza — two territories on opposite sides of Israel that are supposed to make up a future Palestinian state.

Later, Israeli officials made it clear Sarkozy’s statement was not exactly accurate.

“Israel welcomes the initiative of the French president and the Egyptian president to bring about a sustainable quiet in the south,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

But for Israel to accept the proposal, he said, “there has to be a total and complete cessation of all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, and … we have to see an arms embargo on Hamas that will receive international support.”

For its part, Hamas said it would not accept a truce deal unless it includes an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza — something Israel says it is not willing to do.

“There must be guarantees to ensure Israel will not breach this package, including halting the aggression, lifting the blockade and opening the crossings,” said Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas adviser.

Growing international outrage over the human toll of Israel’s offensive, which includes 3,000 Palestinians wounded — could work against continued fighting. So could President Bush’s departure from office this month and a Feb. 10 election in Israel.

But Israel has a big interest in inflicting as much damage as possible on Hamas, both to stop militant rocket fire on southern Israeli towns and to diminish the group’s ability to play a spoiler role in peace talks with Palestinian moderates.

The Israeli Cabinet formally decided on Wednesday to push ahead with the offensive while at the same time pursuing the cease-fire option. Israeli officials also rejected Hamas’ call to open the border crossings, which Israel has largely kept closed since the group seized the territory by force in June 2007.

The military has called up thousands of reserve troops that it could use to expand the Gaza offensive. Defense officials said the troops could be ready for action by Friday.

Still, Israel briefly suspended its offensive Wednesday to allow humanitarian supplies to reach Gaza, and Israeli officials said such lulls would be declared on a regular basis.

The announcement came among growing warnings by the World Bank and aid groups of a humanitarian crisis. The Word Bank pointed to a severe shortage of drinking water and said the sewage system is under growing strain.

Solafa Odeh, a resident of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, said around 100 people in her community were lining up for fresh water outside a local grocery store Wednesday. “We were only allowed half a gallon each, and I saw some people walk away with their jerry cans empty,” Odeh said.

Of the 688 Palestinians killed since Dec. 27, some 350 were civilians, among them 130 children, according to Palestinian officials.

During Wednesday’s lull, Israel allowed in 80 trucks of supplies as well as industrial fuel for Gaza’s power plant. Medics tried to retrieve bodies in areas that had previously been too dangerous to approach.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement that one of its ambulance drivers was shot by Israeli soldiers during the lull. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of the incident.

Medic Mohammed Azayzeh in central Gaza pulled out three people, killed by shrapnel fire Sunday, from the border town of Mughraqa, where Israeli tanks had settled nearby. The medic said he also found a dead family of three, including a father cradling a 1-year-old boy.

In the Jebaliya refugee camp, residents on Wednesday held a mass funeral for 40 people killed a day before by Israeli mortar fire toward a U.N. school. Israel says Hamas militants fired mortar shells from an area near the school, and that Israeli responded to this attack.

The bodies, wrapped in blankets, were laid out in a long row on the ground, with mourners kneeling in Muslim prayer before them. Among the mourners was Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas legislator.

Also Wednesday, Israel released footage of suspected Hamas militants captured by Israeli troops. Israel’s chief army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu, said 120 suspected militants have been captured. He also said soldiers conducting searches have uncovered many explosive devices and tunnels.

“We uncovered many tunnels for kidnapping soldiers, at least one car bomb, booby trapped dolls, tunnels — an underground city,” Benyahu said on Israel TV’s Channel 10.

The CARE aid organization said one of its workers was killed Monday in an Israeli airstrike.

source : news.yahoo.com

Israel warns residents to leave southern Gaza

GAZA CITY: The Israeli army on Wednesday dropped leaflets calling on residents around the southern Gaza town of Rafah to leave the area ahead of army bombings of tunnels in the area, witnesses said.

Israeli envoy to discuss Gaza truce in Cairo

JERUSALEM: A senior aide to Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak will go to Cairo on Thursday to dicuss an Egyptian proposal to end the war in Gaza, a senior Israeli defence official told a foreign news agency.

“Amos Gilad is going to Cairo on Thursday to discuss the details of the Egyptian proposal,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Barak’s political advisor is going “to study the details of the proposal” that Israel has not official received, he said.

“From what (Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak said yesterday, the arrangements for the border security sound good, but Israel at this stage is not ready to talk about opening the crossings.”

Gilad will meet Omar Suleiman, Egyptian intelligence chief and pointman for the Israeli-Palestinian dossier, and other officials, he said.

Gilad was in charge of negotiations for a six-month truce that Egypt brokered in June between Hamas and Israel.

Mubarak on Tuesday presented a three-point proposal for ending Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, the Jewish state’s largest military operation since the 2006 Lebanon war and one of its deadliest ever offensives in the enclave.

The plan included an “immediate ceasefire for a specific period” to allow humanitarian aid to pass; an invitation to Israel and the Palestinians to come to Egypt for talks on securing Gaza borders, reopening of its crossings and lifting an Israeli blockade; and a renewed call for Palestinian reconciliation talks under Egyptian mediation.

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Israel conditionally welcomes cease-fire proposal

JERUSALEM – A government spokesman says Israel “welcomes” a proposal from France and Egypt to end fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Mark Regev says Israel could accept the proposal if it halts “hostile fire” from Gaza and includes measures to prevent Hamas from rearming.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority accepted the proposal. Israeli officials will not confirm that.

The precise details of the proposal remain unclear.

Earlier today, Israel ordered a pause in its Gaza offensive for three hours to allow food and fuel to reach besieged Palestinians, and the country’s leaders debated whether to accept an international cease-fire plan or expand the assault against Hamas.

With criticism rising of the operation’s spiraling civilian death toll and Gazans increasingly suffering the effects of nonstop airstrikes and shelling, Israel’s military said opened “humanitarian corridors” to allow aid supplies to reach Palestinians.

Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said the “recess in offensive operations” was aimed at allowing in supplies and fuel and would last from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m local time (6 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST). He said similar lulls in the coming days would be considered.

However, Lerner said that even during the pause “for every attack against the army, there will be a response.” Gaza residents reported scattered gunfire and explosions even after it was supposed to have gone into effect, but the scale of fighting appeared to drop.

As Israel’s leadership met in the morning in Tel Aviv, sounds of heavy gunfire and thick plumes of smoke engulfed the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City. Israel said it struck 40 Hamas targets during the hours of darkness. Gaza health officials said new strikes Wednesday morning killed eight people.

Outrage over an Israeli strike Tuesday near a U.N. school continued, with the U.N. agency responsible for the building demanding an “impartial investigation” into the attack. Gaza health officials put the death toll from the strike at 39, while the U.N. said 40 were killed.

Israel said its forces fired at militants who launched mortars from that location.

About 300 of the more than 670 Palestinians killed so far are civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. figures. Of those killed, at least 130 are children age 16 and under, says the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which tracks casualties.

The number of armed fighters killed remains unclear. Gaza residents say Hamas fighters are known to have begun wearing civilian clothes and the organization is keeping its casualties secret and housing its wounded and dead in undisclosed locations.

Israel has lost six soldiers since launching a ground offensive on Saturday, and four other Israelis have been killed by rocket fire, three of them civilians.

Israel’s lull in operations could ease the plight of civilians in Gaza, where much of the territory has no power or running water, because pumps are dependent on electricity.

More than 500 aid trucks have been shipped into Gaza since operations began. But even when aid crosses into Gaza military operations have prevented officials from distributing it, leading to food shortages in some areas.

A World Bank statement Wednesday said there are growing signs of a severe public health crisis in Gaza because of a shortage of drinking water and an escalating failure of the sewage system.

Militants hit the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Wednesday with a medium-range rocket, causing no casualties. Rocket fire has fallen off as Israeli troops tighten their hold on Gaza, taking over open areas used to launch rockets, but Gaza residents say militants are still launching from heavily populated areas.

Israel’s leaders — including the top troika of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak — were to discuss whether to broaden the operation in Gaza or move to accept a plan being proposed by Egypt and France to end the fighting.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the initiative calls for an immediate cease-fire by Israel and Palestinian factions for a limited period to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and an urgent meeting of Israel and the Palestinian side on arrangements to prevent any repetition of military action and to deal with the causes.

International Mideast envoy Tony Blair said Tuesday the key to any cease-fire will be an arrangement to stop weapons smuggling over the Gaza-Egypt border.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he saw the proposal as a “small hope” for ending the Gaza violence.

Israeli officials have said any cease-fire agreement must prevent further rocket attacks by Gaza militants and put in place measures to prevent the smuggling of missile and other weapons into the small Palestinian territory. Hamas has demanded that Israel open Gaza’s blockaded crossings as part of any agreement.

In the meantime, Israel has been making preparations to continue fighting. The military has called up thousands of reserve troops that it could use to expand the Gaza offensive, supporting the three brigade-size formations of regular troops now inside. Defense officials said the troops could be ready for action by Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the army’s preparations are classified.

The Franco-Egyptian plan was given increasing urgency by the Israeli mortar strike near a U.N. school that stained the streets with blood.

The United Nations said the school was sheltering hundreds of people displaced by the onslaught on Hamas militants. Israel said its troops returned fire on a Hamas squad that fired mortars at them from nearby.

Israel’s military said its shelling — the deadliest single episode since Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza on Saturday following a weeklong air bombardment — was an attack on a military target and accused Hamas militants of using civilians as cover.

Christopher Gunness of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, responsible for the school, said the agency is “99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school.”

That would not necessarily contradict Israel’s claim that the militants were just outside.

Gunness demanded an investigation, and punishment for anyone found to have violated international law.

Two residents of the area who spoke with The Associated Press by telephone said they saw a small group of militants firing mortar rounds from a street near the school. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. Gunness said 1,300 people were taking shelter from the shelling at the school.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said there were no militants there at the time.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the presence of militants did not justify Israel’s response. “The presence of armed resistance does not justify in any way the use of excessive force that is disproportionate,” the center said in a statement.

The carnage, which included 55 wounded, added to a surging civilian toll and drew mounting international pressure for Israel to end the offensive against Hamas.

___

Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak reported this story from Gaza City and Matti Friedman from Jerusalem.

source : news.yahoo.com

Hezbollah chief warns Israel, Arab mediators

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader stepped up his anti-Israeli rhetoric on Wednesday, warning Israel that it can’t destroy the Palestinian Hamas and that it would be “crushed’” should it attack Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah’s speech, broadcast on Arab televisions, could stoke tension on Israel’s northern border. Nasrallah also chastised “Arab leaders” for trying to mediate a truce between Palestinian Hamas and Israel, instead of siding with the embattled Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

That was an apparent swipe at Egypt, which on Tuesday together with France made proposals to end the fighting. The plan calls for a cease-fire for a limited period of time designed to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, an urgent meeting between both Israel and the Palestinians to discuss ways to prevent further military action and reasons for the conflict, including lifting the blockade of Gaza.

Nasrallah accused Israel of seeking to liquidate the Palestinian cause and urged his supporters to be on alert. He said Hezbollah should be ready for anything and will not be cowered.

“We are here, ready for every possibility and prepared for any aggression,” he said. “We will not weaken, fear or surrender.” Hezbollah has thousands of rockets and trained fighters but has so far held back its fire.

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UN chief pushing for ending Gaza crisis

UNITED STATES: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sharply condemned the Israeli attacks on school buildings in the Gaza Strip. In a school in the northern town of Jabaliya, medics report 42 dead. Ban called the army attacks “completely unacceptable”.

Hundreds of Palestinians had taken cover in school buildings, many of them set up with UN funds. Israel said Hamas provoked the attacks by firing mortars from school complexes.

On the eleventh day of the Israeli offensive, the violence continues unabated. Palestinian sources reported 75 deaths in the Gaza Strip Thursday alone. Since Israeli attacks began on 27 December, more than 700 Palestinians have been killed.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has proposed a plan, which begins with an immediate cease-fire. After which long-term agreements have to be made. The agreements include an end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and a permanent watch over the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. President Mubarak presented his plan after talks with his French counterpart Nicola Sarkozy.

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