Israel pounded Gaza with bombs and shells on Friday, vowing to pursue its war on Hamas despite a truce order from the UN Security Council.
Israeli warplanes bombed suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza early on Thursday, as diplomats worked to secure a ceasefire.
Israeli troops battled Hamas fighters in major cities of overcrowded Gaza on Tuesday as Israel spurned appeals to halt the offensive.
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/ 30 December 2008
Israel bombed Gaza for a fourth day on Tuesday, warning that the blitz that has killed at least 360 people could last for weeks.
Three Israeli soldiers and 17 Palestinians, one a cameraman for an international news agency, were killed on Wednesday as troops backed by helicopters stormed into the Gaza Strip. Fadel Shana (23), a Reuters cameraman, was critically wounded when a missile hit his vehicle in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed into the Gaza Strip on Friday after the Jewish state warned it would retaliate against Hamas for a deadly explosion of violence earlier this week. Ten tanks and two armoured bulldozers entered 1km into Gaza, west of the Bureij refugee camp, drawing heavy fire from militants.
A tentative truce appeared to take hold in Gaza on Thursday after days of fierce fighting between rival factions that has killed dozens and sent the Palestinian unity Cabinet to the brink of collapse. Israel vowed it would hit militants firing rockets from Gaza, after becoming drawn into the fray by launching air strikes that left four gunmen dead on Wednesday.
Hamas gunmen raided the home of a top Fatah security official on Wednesday, killing five of his bodyguards, a spokesperson said, as violence spiralled in Gaza despite a new Palestinian truce deal. The attack on the house of Rashid Abu Shbak in Gaza City came hours after the rival factions announced they had agreed another truce.
Factional feuding raged on in the Gaza Strip on Monday with nine Palestinians killed in the deadliest three days of violence in months, posing a serious challenge to the unity government. Isolated pockets of shooting were reported across the densely populated and dangerous Palestinian territory.
The armed wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas declared a five-month truce with Israel over on Tuesday as it claimed to have fired dozens of rockets into the Jewish state on its Independence Day. Israel vowed to ”confront terrorists” who fired the barrage, which caused no injuries or damage, on the 59th anniversary of the state’s creation.