Region | Palestinian Territories

Israel in all-out war on Hamas

Israel is moving thousands of soldiers to Gaza border as tanks stood by to join Israel's ''all-out" war on Hamas.

  • Gulf News Report
  • Published: 09:20 December 29, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: AP
  • Israeli soldiers are seen at a staging area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel.
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Dubai: Israel military is moving thousands of soldiers to Gaza border as tanks stood by to join Israel's ''all-out" war on Hamas that has killed more than 360 people and prompted deadly rocket fire from Hamas in return.

Palestinian officials say 10 people died in the latest attacks. Four Israelis have died in rocket fire.

The UN says at least 62 of the Palestinians killed so far have been women and children, and it is calling for an investigation into attacks which causing heavy civilian casualties.

Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit rejected any ceasefire until the threat of rockets was removed completely.

Arab and Western diplomats were busy phoning each other over the escalating crisis, while hospitals were described as "chaotic" by the International Red Cross trying to accommodate the more than 1,500 injured.

"The goal of the operation is to topple Hamas," Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon said on Monday in televised comments.

As it massed troops along the territory's border, Israel got a strong boost from Washington, which blamed the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers.

"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

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Israel declared areas around the Gaza Strip a "closed military zone", citing the risk from Palestinian rockets, and ordering out journalists observing a build-up of armoured forces preparing for a possible ground invasion of the territory.

Meanwhile, international and regional protests drew thousands of people in a show of solidarity with the Gazan people calling for an immediate halt in aggression by Israel.

In Cairo, protests outside the Journalists Union building included Islamists, leftists and Arab nationalists, who all shouted slogans in support of Gazans and condemning Arab governments, including Egypt's.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed possible ways to end the Gaza crisis in a phone call ahead of an emergency Arab summit meeting planned for Friday.

Israel made it clear the offensive was just beginning, even as UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders to work urgently to end the "unacceptable" violence.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has threatened to launch ground incursions alongside the aerial blitz, said Israel is in "an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was "working for a ceasefire that will be fully respected, durable and sustainable," and spoke to several world leaders including the UN secretary general, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Lebanese counterpart Fouad Siniora, her spokesman said.

There was also 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 2007.

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