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Israel mulls truce offer on Day 4 of Gaza assault
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-31 11:25 Hamas also said it would take more to cripple it. A spokesman for Hamas' military wing, Abu Obeida, said the group remained strong, and he vowed to fight on as long as Israel continues its airstrikes. He noted that even while under heavy airstrikes, militants had fired rockets that reached Israeli towns farther from Gaza than ever. "Rockets will be on your daily agenda," he said in a message to Israelis. And if there's a ground invasion, he promised worse: "If you enter Gaza, the children will collect your flesh and the remains of your tanks which will be spread out through the streets." The offensive came shortly after a rocky, six-month truce expired. Emad Falluji, a former Hamas leader working at a Gaza-based think tank, said he believes Hamas had wanted to renew the truce but felt humiliated by Israel's decision to maintain a tight blockade on Gaza. "Israel didn't want to give Hamas anything in return for the cease-fire, which was effectively free," he said. Egypt, which has been blockading Gaza from its southern end, has come under pressure from the rest of the Arab world to reopen its border with the territory because of the Israeli campaign. Egypt has pried open the border to let in some of Gaza's wounded and to allow some humanitarian supplies into the territory. But it quickly sealed the border when Gazans tried to push through forcefully.
In a televised speech Tuesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded to critics, including the leader of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, who have accused him of collaborating with Israel. "We tell anybody who seeks political profits on the account of the Palestinian people: The Palestinian blood is not cheap," he said, describing such comments as "exploiting the blood of the Palestinians." Mubarak said his country would not throw open the border crossing unless Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - a Hamas rival - regains control of the border post. Mubarak has been rattled by the presence of a neighboring Islamic ministate in Gaza, fearing it would fuel more Islamic dissidence in Egypt. Most of the Palestinians killed since Saturday were members of Hamas security forces but the number included at least 64 civilians, according to U.N. figures. Among those killed were two sisters, Haya and Lama Hamdan, ages 4 and 12, who died in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Throughout the offensive, Israel's military has released video taken by hovering drone aircraft showing its missiles and bombs hurtling into Gaza targets, including one on Tuesday that sent about a half-dozen bombs simultaneously into a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border. During brief lulls between airstrikes, Gazans tentatively ventured into the streets to buy goods and collect belongings from homes they had abandoned after Israel's aerial onslaught began Saturday. The campaign has brought a new reality to southern Israel, too, where one-tenth of the country's population of 7 million has suddenly found itself within rocket range. "It's very scary," said Yaacov Pardida, a 55-year-old resident of Ashdod, southern Israel's largest city, which was hit Monday. "I never imagined that this could happen, that they could reach us here." Barzak reported from Gaza City, Keyser from Jerusalem. |
