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Israeli army shells Gaza, ceasefire talk gathers steam
GAZA (Jan 15, 2009): (Reuters) – Israel unleashed its heaviest shelling of Gaza’s crowded neighbourhoods on Thursday, hitting a U.N. compound and a media building in what might be a final push against Hamas before a ceasefire deal.
Hamas official Ayman Taha called the street warfare, in which a hospital was also hit, an attempt to force the Islamist group to accept Israel’s terms for a truce. At least 15 Palestinians were killed, medical officials said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said its compound, where up to 700 Palestinians were sheltering, was struck twice by Israeli fire and three staff members were injured. Thick smoke rose from its food and fuel depot.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon called it an “outrage”.
Al-Quds hospital and a building housing the offices of Reuters and other media offices were also hit. A doctor was quoted as saying that the hospital was hit by Israeli fire. Abu Dhabi TV said an Israeli aircraft shot a missile at the media building.
Two journalists were wounded but no one was reported hurt at the hospital, where its administrative offices were set ablaze and patients moved in panic to the ground floor, seeking safety.
Dozens of terrified residents of neighbourhoods near the city centre were seen fleeing on foot. Thousands more huddled in homes that provided precarious shelter while explosions tore through rubble-strewn streets clouded by smoke.
“It is a catastrophe,” one woman said, walking quickly away from the area and carrying a child in her arms as two other children ran behind her to keep up.
“We took our money and passports. We have to carry some identification with us in case we get killed,” she said. “Hamas can claim victory if it wants but we just need this bloodshed to end.”
The Palestinian death toll from the air-and-ground offensive has risen to at least 1,073 and there were more than 5,000 wounded, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. A Palestinian rights group said at least 670 of the dead were civilians.
Thirteen Israelis have been killed — 10 soldiers and three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire since Israel launched on Dec. 27 a military campaign it said was aimed at ending such salvoes.
A senior Western diplomat said Israel appeared to be trying to make last-minute gains on the ground before a truce could be imposed.
“It’s a classic Israeli strategy,” the diplomat said.
An Israeli envoy met Egyptian mediators in Cairo after a Hamas delegation concluded talks on an Egyptian truce proposal by repeating their demand that Israel withdraw its troops and lift a long-standing blockade on coastal Gaza.
Israel, which wants an end to cross-border rocket salvoes and guarantees that Hamas cannot smuggle in more weapons from tunnels to neighbouring Egypt, has said it would not agree to a truce allowing the Palestinian Islamists to regroup and rearm.
Diplomats said Egypt’s proposals centred on a phased-in ceasefire, starting with a lull to let in aid, followed by the withdrawal of all Israeli forces and the reopening of border crossings.
But Western and U.N. diplomats close to the negotiations said Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, who do not talk to each other, remained at odds over the fine print.
About 14 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel on Thursday, causing some damage but no casualties, police said.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in broadcast remarks that Israel’s armed forces would “fight up to the last minute”.
Ban, who arrived in the region on Wednesday for several days of intense diplomacy on the conflict, said in Israel he had conveyed a strong protest to Barak over the shelling of the UNRWA compound.
“The defence minister said to me it was a grave mistake and he took it very seriously. He assured me that extra attention will be paid to U.N. facilities and staff and this will not be repeated,” Ban said.
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said after the incident the agency had put a hold on vehicle movements, but was not suspending aid operations.
Much of the Gaza city fighting was centred in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, where residents said Israeli soldiers commandeered rooftops.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, speaking at the news conference with Ban, accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
“And at the end of the day, even though we try to avoid civilian casualties, these things happen,” said Livni, who is running for prime minister as head of ruling Kadima party in Israel’s Feb. 10 election.
Political analysts see a possible deadline for the fighting in Tuesday’s inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president, after which Israel may be reluctant to test White House support for a campaign that has stirred international outrage.
Source (The Sun)
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