Israeli aircraft struck crowded areas in the Gaza Strip on Monday, driving up the civilian death toll and in one case devastating several homes belonging to one clan — the fallout from a new tactic in Israel's six-day-old offensive meant to quell Hamas rocket fire on Israel.
Escalating its bombing campaign, Israel on Sunday began attacking homes of activists in Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. These attacks have led to a sharp spike in civilian casualties, killing 24 civilians in less than 24 hours, a Gaza health official said.
"We've heard pretty loud detonations all through the night, especially the beginning of the evening," said Jean-Francois Belanger from the Gaza Strip, reporting for CBC's French-language network Radio-Canada. "It's been the fiercest and most intense shelling that we've heard since the beginning of this conflict."
Overall, the offensive that began Wednesday killed 91 Palestinians, including 50 civilians, according to Palestinian health officials. Some 720 Palestinians have also been wounded in the past six days, said Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
The rising civilian toll was likely to intensify pressure on Israel to end the fighting. Hundreds of civilian casualties in an Israeli offensive in Gaza four years ago led to fierce international condemnation of Israel.
Hamas fighters, meanwhile, have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in the current round of fighting, including 75 on Monday, among them one that hit an empty school. Twenty rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile battery, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Rockets landed in open areas of Beersheva, Ashdod, Asheklon. Schools in southern Israel have been closed since the start of the offensive Wednesday.
In the night from Sunday to Monday, Israeli aircraft targeted about 80 militant sites, including underground rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels and training bases, as well as Palestinian command posts and weapons storage facilities located in buildings owned by militant commanders, the Israeli military said in a release.
Aircraft and gunboats joined forces to attack Hamas police headquarters, and Palestinian rocket squads were struck as they prepared to fire, the release said.
In all, 1,350 targets in the Gaza Strip have been struck since the Israeli operation began.
The new airstrikes came as Egypt was trying to broker a ceasefire, with the help of Turkey and Qatar. The Turkish foreign minister and a delegation of Arab foreign ministers were expected in Gaza on Tuesday. However, Israel and Hamas appeared far apart in their demands, and a quick end to the fighting seemed unlikely.
Homes, former security compound hit in Gaza
In Monday's violence, a missile struck a three-storey home in the Gaza City's Zeitoun area, flattening the building and badly damaging several nearby homes. Shell-shocked residents searching for belongings climbed over debris of twisted metal and cement blocks in the street.
The strike killed two children and two adults, and injured 42 people, said al-Kidra.
Residents said Israel first sent a warning strike at around 2 a.m. Monday, prompting many residents in the area to flee their homes. A few minutes later, heavy bombardment followed.
Also Monday, Israel bombarded the remains of the former national security compound in Gaza City. Flying shrapnel killed one child and wounded others living nearby, al-Kidra said. Five farmers were killed in two separate strikes, al-Kidra said, including three who he said had been mistakenly identified earlier by Hamas security officials as Islamic Jihad fighters.
Other strikes killed two fighters on a motorcycle in southern Gaza and two passengers in a taxi that had put a press signs in the windshield, al-Kidra said.
And late Sunday, an Israeli missile killed a father and his eight-year-old son on the roof of their Gaza City home. The father, a Hamas policeman, was on the roof to repair a leaking water tank, his relatives said.
Rocket from Gaza strikes Israeli school
On the Israeli side, three civilians have died from Palestinian rocket fire and dozens have been wounded. An Israeli rocket-defence system has intercepted hundreds of rockets bound for populated areas.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 12 rockets had struck Israel by late Monday morning, including one that hit a school. Schools in southern Israel have been closed since the offensive started.
At least 75 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel on Sunday, a steep drop from the first days of the recent conflict, the CBC's Stoffel reported.
Israeli soldiers check ammunition at a staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip on Monday. (Nir Elias/Reuters) Military activity over the past two nights has dropped off as targets change and international efforts to wrest a ceasefire plod ahead.
Israel and Hamas have put forth widely divergent conditions for a truce. But failure to end the fighting threatens to touch off an Israeli ground invasion, for which thousands of soldiers, backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, have already been mobilized and dispatched to Gaza's border.
U.S. President Barack Obama said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting. While defending Israel's right to defend itself against the rocket fire, he also warned of the risks the Jewish state would take if it were to expand its air assault into a ground war.
"If we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future," Obama said.
With files from CBC NewsAnda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Palestinian death toll mounts as Israel targets leaders
Dengan url
http://topstorinfo.blogspot.com/2012/11/palestinian-death-toll-mounts-as-israel.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Palestinian death toll mounts as Israel targets leaders
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Palestinian death toll mounts as Israel targets leaders
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar