kenmoresp
12-31-2008, 08:10 AM
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel on Wednesday rebuffed French calls for a 48-hour humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip and stepped up preparations for a possible ground offensive after Hamas's long-range rockets hit a major population center.
Diplomats said the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades appeared close to a tipping point after four days of cross-border fire killed 385 Palestinians and four Israelis.
Foreign powers have increased pressure on both sides to halt hostilities, but public anger in Israel over the widening of the rocket attacks to include Beersheba, 40 km (24 miles) from the Gaza Strip, could move the government to hit Hamas even harder.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert huddled with his security cabinet to review their options, both military and diplomatic, including Paris's proposal for a 48-hour truce that would allow in more humanitarian aid for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Along the heavily-fortified border fence, Israeli tank crews prepared for battle while Islamists militants, hiding as little as a few hundred yards (meters) away, laid land mines and other booby traps should a ground war break out.
Inside Gaza, for the first time since the fighting began, many residents ventured outside their homes to stock up supplies, taking advantage of a lull in Israeli air strikes.
But Israeli officials made clear there would be no respite for Hamas. "There is no intention of stopping the military activity," said security cabinet member Meir Sheetrit, adding that a ground operation was still "on the table."
Israel's Foreign Ministry said the French proposal, as currently crafted, was not realistic because it lacked explicit guarantees to ensure that Hamas would stop firing rockets and would be unable to smuggle in more arms.
"A band-aid solution that is neither sustainable nor real will have us back to where we are today in a month or two. We must strive for a real solution," said Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev.
But Israeli officials made clear that they had not rejected the French plan outright and were open to amendments and alternatives being put forward by other international parties.
LONGER-RANGE ROCKETS
At least four of Hamas's longer-range rockets hit Beersheba, the city Israel calls the capital of the Negev, its southern region. One struck a school that was empty. Municipal authorities had canceled classes after rockets landed in Beersheba on Tuesday evening for the first time.
Israeli aircraft carried out only two strikes in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday, targeting smuggling tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt frontier and Hamas government offices in Gaza City, an Israeli military spokesman said.
Palestinian medical officials said one person, a paramedic, was killed.
Rain over the past few days and fresh showers on Wednesday could delay any push soon by Israeli tanks into the territory and also limit air operations.
Gaza City taxi driver Mazen Ahmen called the rain "a truce imposed by God."
Medical officials in Gaza put Palestinian casualties at 385 dead and more than 800 wounded since the Israeli offensive began on Saturday.
A United Nations agency said at least 25 percent of those killed were civilians.
One of the four Israelis killed by rocket fire was a soldier deployed near the Gaza border.
Olmert's centrist government launched the operation six weeks before a February 10 election that opinion polls predict the opposition right-wing Likud party will win, with the goal of halting rocket attacks by militants in Gaza.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner repeated his call for an immediate end to the fighting and said a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access "has to be permanent and it has to be respected" because previous truces had failed.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo to seek a common position in response to the Israeli attacks.
The current violence erupted after a six-month ceasefire brokered by Egypt expired on December 19 and Hamas intensified rocket attacks from the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.
Cabinet ministers approved the mobilization of 2,500 army reservists, expanding on an earlier call-up of 6,500 soldiers for the garrison on the Gaza border, officials said.
France said it would host Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday and an Israeli official said French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to visit Jerusalem next Monday.
In Gaza, basic food supplies were running low and power cuts were affecting much of the territory. Hospitals were struggling to cope with the high number of casualties from the offensive.
Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007 from rival Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas. It has balked at demands by Western powers that it recognize Israel and renounce violence. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ari Rabinovitch and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, James Mackenzie in Paris and Alaa Shahine in Cairo; Writing by Adam Entous and Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel on Wednesday rebuffed French calls for a 48-hour humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip and stepped up preparations for a possible ground offensive after Hamas's long-range rockets hit a major population center.
Diplomats said the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades appeared close to a tipping point after four days of cross-border fire killed 385 Palestinians and four Israelis.
Foreign powers have increased pressure on both sides to halt hostilities, but public anger in Israel over the widening of the rocket attacks to include Beersheba, 40 km (24 miles) from the Gaza Strip, could move the government to hit Hamas even harder.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert huddled with his security cabinet to review their options, both military and diplomatic, including Paris's proposal for a 48-hour truce that would allow in more humanitarian aid for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Along the heavily-fortified border fence, Israeli tank crews prepared for battle while Islamists militants, hiding as little as a few hundred yards (meters) away, laid land mines and other booby traps should a ground war break out.
Inside Gaza, for the first time since the fighting began, many residents ventured outside their homes to stock up supplies, taking advantage of a lull in Israeli air strikes.
But Israeli officials made clear there would be no respite for Hamas. "There is no intention of stopping the military activity," said security cabinet member Meir Sheetrit, adding that a ground operation was still "on the table."
Israel's Foreign Ministry said the French proposal, as currently crafted, was not realistic because it lacked explicit guarantees to ensure that Hamas would stop firing rockets and would be unable to smuggle in more arms.
"A band-aid solution that is neither sustainable nor real will have us back to where we are today in a month or two. We must strive for a real solution," said Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev.
But Israeli officials made clear that they had not rejected the French plan outright and were open to amendments and alternatives being put forward by other international parties.
LONGER-RANGE ROCKETS
At least four of Hamas's longer-range rockets hit Beersheba, the city Israel calls the capital of the Negev, its southern region. One struck a school that was empty. Municipal authorities had canceled classes after rockets landed in Beersheba on Tuesday evening for the first time.
Israeli aircraft carried out only two strikes in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday, targeting smuggling tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt frontier and Hamas government offices in Gaza City, an Israeli military spokesman said.
Palestinian medical officials said one person, a paramedic, was killed.
Rain over the past few days and fresh showers on Wednesday could delay any push soon by Israeli tanks into the territory and also limit air operations.
Gaza City taxi driver Mazen Ahmen called the rain "a truce imposed by God."
Medical officials in Gaza put Palestinian casualties at 385 dead and more than 800 wounded since the Israeli offensive began on Saturday.
A United Nations agency said at least 25 percent of those killed were civilians.
One of the four Israelis killed by rocket fire was a soldier deployed near the Gaza border.
Olmert's centrist government launched the operation six weeks before a February 10 election that opinion polls predict the opposition right-wing Likud party will win, with the goal of halting rocket attacks by militants in Gaza.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner repeated his call for an immediate end to the fighting and said a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access "has to be permanent and it has to be respected" because previous truces had failed.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo to seek a common position in response to the Israeli attacks.
The current violence erupted after a six-month ceasefire brokered by Egypt expired on December 19 and Hamas intensified rocket attacks from the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.
Cabinet ministers approved the mobilization of 2,500 army reservists, expanding on an earlier call-up of 6,500 soldiers for the garrison on the Gaza border, officials said.
France said it would host Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday and an Israeli official said French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to visit Jerusalem next Monday.
In Gaza, basic food supplies were running low and power cuts were affecting much of the territory. Hospitals were struggling to cope with the high number of casualties from the offensive.
Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007 from rival Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas. It has balked at demands by Western powers that it recognize Israel and renounce violence. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ari Rabinovitch and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, James Mackenzie in Paris and Alaa Shahine in Cairo; Writing by Adam Entous and Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Matthew Tostevin)