Thesun 2009-01-05 Page01 Israel Invades Gaza

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No. 4671 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Monday January 5, 2009

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AZA: Israeli troops and tanks split the Gaza Strip and ringed its main city yesterday in an offensive against Hamas militants launched after eight days of deadly air strikes failed to halt the group’s rocket attacks on Israel. Israeli tanks poured shells and machinegun-fire into suspected militant positions and war planes struck from the skies as Hamas fighters fought back with mortars and rockets. Hamas rocket salvoes also hit southern Israel, strengthening Israel’s resolve to stamp out the threat which the Jewish state says made its offensive necessary. The Saturday night invasion of Hamas-ruled Gaza followed a week of Israeli bombardments from land, sea and air - the most serious fighting in decades in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. At least 34 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed yesterday as Israeli shells slammed into houses and Gaza’s main shopping district, medical sources said. That brought the death toll to more than 500 in Gaza in the nine days of “Operation Cast Lead”. One Israeli soldier was killed and 32 wounded in the ground offensive, Israel said. Four Israelis have been killed by the Hamas rocket strikes since Dec 27. Israeli officials said the offensive, whose stated aim is to wreck the militants’ rocket-launching infrastructure, could last many days. “The government did everything before deciding to launch the operation. This is an unavoidable operation,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said. Calls for a ceasefire from the United States, Israel’s main backer, other foreign governments and the United Nations failed to gain traction over disagreements about who should stop shooting first. Israel has barred foreign correspondents from entering Gaza. But Palestinian witnesses said the Israeli thrust cut Gaza in half from the border fence to the Mediterranean shore. Troops and armour had taken up siege positions around Gaza City itself. Yesterday morning saw gunbattles between Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers but later the action was mostly Israeli tank shelling and Hamas rocket and mortar-fire. Israeli aircraft struck dozens of targets, including arms-smuggling tunnels, weapons caches and mortar squads. Dozens of Hamas fighters were hit, the Israeli military said. Among the Palestinian casualties were five civilians killed and 40 wounded when tank shells slammed into Gaza City’s main shopping area. Two children were dismembered by another blast from a tank, medical workers said. Heavy civilian casualties in the territory packed with 1.5 million people could increase international pressure on Israel to halt its biggest operation in Gaza in four decades.

Israel invades Gaza

News Without Borders Smoke rises during an Israeli air strike on the northern Gaza Strip yesterday.

TANKS AND INFANTRY IN GROUND OFFENSIVE AFTER 8 DAYS OF AIR STRIKES REUTERSPIX

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But the fighting also holds political risks for Israeli leaders before a Feb 10 national election, especially if its forces take heavy casualties in street fighting. A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said Israeli troops faced death or capture. Israel has not disclosed how many troops are involved in the operation but thousands of reservist have been put on stand-by in an indication of the scale of the mobilisation. About 25 rockets were fired on Israel yesterday, one hitting a house in Sderot and wounding a woman, the army said. The United States said a ceasefire should take place as soon as possible but must guarantee an end to Hamas rocket strikes. Former British prime minister Tony Blair, envoy for powers sponsoring Middle East peace talks, was to meet Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak late yesterday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due in Jerusalem today. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate end to the ground operation.

Israel’s action drew cries of alarm across Asia yesterday, with Pakistan and China calling for it to end and angry Indonesians urging war against the Jewish state. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called for an immediate end to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso warned that Israel’s ground offensive would only worsen the situation. China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, for the third time called for the conflict to end. “China is seriously concerned with the escalating situation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. Singapore’s foreign ministry said that Israel’s invasion was “extremely disturbing” and “can only exacerbate the already grave humanitarian situation”, reiterating a call for restraint on all sides. Israel was roundly condemned across the Middle East, with Egypt also accusing the UN Security Council of failing to act quickly to resolve the crisis (US thwarts Libyan effort: page 13). – Agencies