Israel bombed Gaza for a fourth day on Tuesday, warning that the blitz that has killed at least 360 people could last for weeks, as Hamas fired back with deadly rockets landing deep inside the Jewish state.
As anger over the devastating offensive spiralled in the Muslim world and elsewhere, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon again implored world leaders to work urgently to end the “unacceptable” violence.
Children again fell victim to Israel’s “all-out war” on the Islamist Hamas movement, with two sisters dying when a missile slammed into their donkey cart in the northern town of Beit Hanun.
In Gaza City, residents picked through rubble and broken glass after a night in which Israel hammered the overcrowded territory with about 40 strikes targeting Hamas buildings.
With tanks and personnel massed on the Gaza border, Israel said infantry was ready to join what it warned would be a prolonged offensive.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the bombardment so far was “the first of several stages approved by the security Cabinet”, while Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai warned the offensive — one of Israel’s deadliest ever against Gaza — could take weeks.
“We are ready for a prolonged conflict and for weeks of combat,” Vilnai said.
An army spokesperson said that “the ground forces are ready. The option [of a ground operation] exists. It is possible that we will apply it but for the moment we are only hitting from the air and the sea.”
Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has described the bombardment as an “all-out war” against Hamas, has repeatedly warned that he is ready to send ground troops into Gaza.
The four days of intensive bombardment, which has killed several senior Hamas officials and reduced many of the group’s structures in Gaza to rubble, has failed to stop rocket fire from the territory.
Three Israelis — two civilians and one soldier — were killed on Monday by rockets fired from Gaza, with one reaching the deepest yet inside Israel and slamming into the southern port city of Ashdod, more than 30km from the border.
Hamas has also warned it could launch suicide attacks against Israel for the first time since January 2005.
Strong support
Since Israel unleashed its massive aerial attack on Saturday following persistent rocket fire from Gaza, at least 360 Palestinians, including 39 children, have been killed and 1 690 wounded, according to Gaza medics.
Palestinian militants have fired more than 250 rockets, killing four people inside Israel and wounding about two dozen more.
Israel’s main ally, Washington, has signalled strong support for the operation.
“The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself,” said White House spokesperson Gordon Johndroe. “They are taking the steps that they feel are necessary to deal with the terrorist threat.”
At the UN, Ban said he was “deeply alarmed by the current escalation of violence in and around Gaza. This is unacceptable. Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and … a ceasefire must be declared immediately.”
European Union foreign ministers were set to meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss how they can work to help ease the Gaza crisis, the French Foreign Ministry said.
There was growing concern about the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent territory of 1,5-million, which Israel has virtually sealed off since Hamas seized power in June last year.
The Israeli military opened the Kerem Shalom crossing to allow more than 100 trucks filled with humanitarian aid to enter Gaza on Tuesday, a military spokesperson said. On Monday, about 80 trucks were allowed to pass through.
Off the Gaza coast, an Israeli naval vessel collided with a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and medical supplies. Passengers aboard the boat said the Israeli patrol vessel rammed them, while the army said the two collided as the navy was trying to contact the captain.
Israel’s offensive followed days of rising violence after a tenuous six-month truce in and around Gaza ended on December 19. It also comes ahead of early parliamentary elections in Israel called for February 10. — AFP