Gaza City: Israeli warplanes renewed pounding Hamas targets as tanks massed at the Gaza border where raids have killed more than 280 people in less than 48 hours.
Hamas responded by firing rockets the farthest yet into Israel, with one striking not far from Ashdod, Israel's second-largest port, some 30 kilometres north of Gaza.
In the latest plea, Pope Benedict XVI urged the international community to do "all it can to help the Israelis and Palestinians on this dead-end road... and not to give in to the perverse logic of confrontation and violence."
But Israeli Defence Minster Ehud Barak vowed to "expand and deepen" the bombing blitz, unleashed in retaliation for persistent rocket fire by militant groups.
The cabinet gave the green light to call up 6,500 reserve soldiers, a senior official told reporters after the meeting.
Warplanes continued to pound the impoverished and overcrowded territory of 1.5 million people, where many streets were deserted and schools and shops stayed shut as hundreds of funerals were held.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday said Hamas could have avoided the attacks on Gaza, as the death grew to 271.
"We talked to them and we told them 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop' so that we could have avoided what happened," he said in Cairo.
Abbas earlier condemned Israel's “criminal'' action, and urged powers to intervene.
Speaking after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas said the priority was to end the bloodshed and restore the truce.
Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Ghait of Egypt said the Israeli ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Sunday for the second day in a row to receive a complaint about Israeli military operations.
"We object to this and we demand a stop and that the Israeli army does not carry out a new invasion," he said.
Egypt said it would keep trying to restore the truce.
United Nations Security Council called for an immediate halt to all violence.
Envoys of the 15-nation Council held closed-doors meetings late on Saturday evening to discuss the situation in Gaza.
"The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern at the escalation of the situation in Gaza and called for an immediate halt to all violence," said a statement read to reporters by Croatian Ambassador Neven Jurica, president of the council.
"The members called on the parties to stop immediately all military activities."
Earlier, diplomats said the council was discussing a Russian-drafted statement calling for a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza and as well as to rocket attacks upon Israel.
The meeting had been convened at the request of Libya, the only Arab country on the council.
Meanwhile, the Arab League has delayed until Wednesday a meeting of Arab foreign ministers called to take a common position on Israeli raids, because many ministers were busy in separate meetings of two Arab regional groups - the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Maghreb Union.
"The time worries us very much because of the delay in holding the ministerial meeting but we will not remain silent and consultations are continuing," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa added.
"Palestine has never seen an uglier massacre," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah said, vowing to seek revenge and including suicide bombings in Israel's "cafes and streets".
Israel beefed up armoured and infantry forces along the Gaza border. A military spokesman said on Sunday: "The (Gaza) operation is continuous. It is still taking place."
The Jewish state launched about 100 strikes on the Gaza Strip on Saturday, in response to "intolerable" rocket attacks by Gaza militants that had intensified after Hamas ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.
The rocket attacks caused few injuries and little damage, but Israeli leaders were under pressure to halt them before the February election.
Israel said Palestinian militants had fired some 70 rockets on Saturday, killing one Israeli man.
"There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight," Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on television. He later ruled out any new truce with Hamas.
Smoke billowed over the Strip after Israel pounded more than 40 security compounds that Israel described as "terrorist infrastructure".
Some Palestinians were warned that their homes would be targeted and were urged to leave.
An attack on a mosque that Israel said was used for “terrorist activities'' killed two Palestinians.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called for international support against "an extremist Islamist organisation ... that is being supported by Iran", Israel's arch-foe.
The United States called on Hamas to prevent more violence. In a statement, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "The United States ... holds Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza. The ceasefire should be restored immediately."
Saturday's death toll was the highest for a single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, when the Jewish state was established.
At least 100 of the dead belonged to Hamas security forces.
More than 700 Palestinians were wounded in Saturday's massacre, medical staff said.
Hospitals were struggling to cope with the influx and were running out of medical supplies because of an Israeli-led blockade.
Aid groups said they feared the operation could fuel a humanitarian crisis in the area.
Your comments
I am shocked by the cold reaction from the Muslim world and Condoleezza Rice blaming Palestine for this? Even if they are responsible where are all the table talks? They call all Muslims activity as terrorist activities, I wonder what they are doing in countering? Mass killing?
Adnan
Dubai,UAE
Posted: December 28, 2008, 14:35
I believe that this form of punishment is a "Holocaust" against the Palestinian population from former victims of the same.
Rouad
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: December 28, 2008, 14:29
Whether you like it not, when it comes to international politics, especially in the middle east, we are still in the iron age. You see on a daily basis, how easily the might wins and the lies dominate. A world where the occupier dictates and sets terms on the life of the oppressed and humiliated ones...and the so called civilized ones shamelessly close their eyes towards the truth... May God help the oppressed bring down the aggressors to their knees and bring back the long awaited justice to prevail in the Holy land. I am not optimistic that anything other than the Divine intervention will bring peace to this crisis.
Haris
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: December 28, 2008, 13:27
What kind of justice is this that you take lives of about 300 innocent people and permanently disable about 800 people to take revenge of just one israeli man. Where are these muslim coutries and what are they doing, if you cant help at least speak your mind, that is the most weakest sign of Imaan.
Anwar
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: December 28, 2008, 13:07
Forget about it, the Arab world and the whole world would conveniently forget these atrocities, since they have been carried out by the very powerful Israelis. While we see Arab leaders shake hands with the enemy and the antics of the Arab league. What a waste of time!
Mohamed
Colombo,Sri Lanka
Posted: December 28, 2008, 13:04
This is a shocking injustice - injustice against the territorial and
political aspirations of Gazans and Israel will pay both politically
and diplomatically for this.
No state has a right to block another peoples' access to the out-
side world , including access to essential markets, to vital food
supplies and fuel, essential parts and raw material, and attack
and kill those people with 21st century air power when they com-
plain with primitive rockets and remain a credible state.
Israel has stepped over the red line of acceptability with its airstrikes on Gaza and it will pay for this as a member state.
The airstrikes are absolutely criminal and I urge Palestinians to
file charges against Israel at the UN and International Court of
Justice in the Hague.
Israel's airstrikes can't be shrugged off, dismissed or excused.
Doris
Massachusetts,UAE
Posted: December 28, 2008, 12:59
