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Region | Palestinian Territories

Israel bombards Gaza as US backs ceasefire

Israeli aircraft and tanks pounded the Gaza Strip on Thursday even as a proposed truce raised expectations.

Agencies
Published: 08:01 January 8, 2009

Israel's assault resumed fiercely after a brief pause on Wednesday to help Gaza's 1.5 million people stock up on supplies.
Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Gaza: Israeli warplanes bombed the Gaza Strip on Thursday and tanks pounded Palestinian guerrillas on the ground as US backing for a proposed truce raised expectations of an end to the offensive.

"We believe a cease-fire is necessary," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, adding she was pressing Israel to move forward with an Egyptian proposal backed by Europeans.

Israel's assault resumed fiercely after a brief pause on Wednesday to help Gaza's 1.5 million people stock up on supplies. It was the first break in a 13-day air-and-ground offensive that medics say has killed 658 Palestinians.

But with both George W. Bush's outgoing administration and President-elect Barack Obama speaking out on the need for peace, officials said Israel had agreed with the "principles" of Egypt's proposal and would send an envoy to Cairo to discuss how it might be implemented.

That may take several days. In the meantime, Israeli military commanders appear determined to keep up the pressure on the ground, even if a decision on whether to launch a new phase by targeting militants in Gaza's urban centres has been put off.

Rice echoed Israel's concerns that a deal achieve its goal of stopping the Hamas Islamists who rule Gaza from hitting Israel with rockets. "It has to be a cease-fire that will not allow a return to the status quo," she said.

Hamas said it was looking at the Egyptian plan, brokered by France, which addresses Israel's demand that Hamas be prevented from rearming through smuggling tunnels from Egypt and also addresses Hamas's call for an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Twenty people were killed on Wednesday, medics said, including three children in an air strike on a car. It was a lower toll than on other days but took the total of Palestinian deaths since December 27 to at least 658 - the bloodiest episode in decades in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

Meanwhile, an Israeli delegation will head to Cairo on Thursday to discuss a French-Egyptian proposal that would end military operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as the conflict entered its 13th day.