Israeli warplanes strike mosque, school; 20 die
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 20 people yesterday, including two Hamas military commanders, as they targeted a mosque, school and the city's port, Palestinian sources said.
Israeli ground forces crossed the Gaza border in an escalation of Israel's week-old offensive against the territory's militant Hamas rulers, reported AP.
"Large numbers of forces are taking part in this stage of the operation including infantry, tanks, engineering forces, artillery and intelligence," a military spokesman said.
Tanks opened fire before entering the northern Gaza Strip and Hamas forces replied with mortar fire, witnesses told AFP.
At least 16 Palestinians were killed on Saturday when an Israeli air raid struck a mosque during prayers in the northern town of Jabaliya, medics and witnesses said.
The bodies were pulled from the rubble of the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque after it was struck by a missile, they said.
More than 200 people were inside the mosque praying when it was struck, witnesses said.
The Israeli military has destroyed several mosques during its week-long offensive on Hamas targets in its Gaza stronghold, saying the Islamists used the houses of worship to store weapons.
An overnight raid killed Mohammad al-Jammal, 40, who sources in Gaza said was a local commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.
The Israeli military said Jammal was responsible "for the entire rocket launching enterprise in all of Gaza City."
A raid on a car near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed two men, including Mohammed Ma'aruf, senior Hamas military commander in southern Gaza, according to medics and security sources.
The army confirmed it had targeted Ma'aruf, and said a second Hamas operative was in the car with him.
East of Khan Yunis, a missile narrowly missed a car carrying militants who escaped unharmed, witnesses said.
A guard was killed when a missile struck and demolished a school in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, medics said.
The Israeli military said it had targeted "a college used as a base for firing a large number of rockets."
The establishment, called the American School, has no links to the United States and all of the staff and students were Palestinian.
Air strikes also hit Gaza's port without causing casualties, and warplanes and naval vessels targeted areas around Gaza City and in the north, witnesses said.
Israel unleashed "Operation Cast Lead" against Hamas on December 27 in response to rocket fire from its Gaza Strip stronghold.
At least 452 people have been killed, including 75 children, and another 2,290 wounded, according to Gaza medics.
Earlier Israeli warplanes and gunboats blasted more than two dozen Hamas targets yesterday, including weapons storage facilities, training centres and leaders' homes as Israel's offensive against Gaza's Islamic militant rulers entered a second week.
There were tentative signs that the current phase of fighting may be nearing an end. Most of the airstrikes targeted empty buildings and abandoned sites, suggesting Israel may be running out of targets.
Ground troops massed on the border, waiting for a signal to invade Gaza, but international ceasefire efforts were also gaining momentum.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is visiting the region next week, and President George W Bush and UN chief Ban Ki-moon both spoke in favour of an internationally monitored truce.
Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 in response to intensifying rocket fire by Hamas militants in Gaza. The operation has killed more than 430 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, according to Palestinian and UN counts. Four Israelis have also been killed, and rocket attacks on southern Israel persist.
In the latest attacks, the Israeli army struck the homes of two Hamas operatives, saying the buildings were used to store weapons and plan attacks. Hamas outposts, training camps and rocket launching sites also were targeted, it said.
Early Saturday, it dropped leaflets in downtown Gaza City ordering people off the streets.
Later in the day, several airstrikes struck the city, killing a night watchman at a Gaza City school. Four people, including a midlevel Hamas commander, died of wounds sustained earlier, Gaza health officials said.
Palestinian militants fired three rockets into southern Israel, causing no injuries.
The Israeli airstrikes have badly damaged Gaza's infrastructure, knocking out power and water in many areas and raising concerns of a looming humanitarian disaster.
Israel briefly opened its border Friday to allow nearly 300 Palestinians with foreign passports to flee the besieged area. The evacuees told of crippling shortages of water, electricity and medicine.
Maxwell Gaylard, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinians Territories, said some 2,000 people have been wounded in the past week and a "significant number" of the dead were women and children. "There is a critical emergency right now in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Israel denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and has increased its shipments of goods into Gaza. It says it has confined its attacks to militants while trying to prevent civilian casualties.
While ground troops remained poised to enter Gaza, Israel also has left the door open to a diplomatic solution, saying it would accept a cease-fire if it is enforced by international monitors.
This latest round of violence erupted after the expiration of a six-month ceasefire that was repeatedly marred by sporadic rocket attacks on Israel.
A call for international monitors appeared to be gaining steam.
At the United Nations, Ban urged world leaders to intensify efforts to achieve an immediate ceasefire that includes monitors to enforce the truce and possibly protect Palestinian civilians.
In Washington, Bush on Friday branded the rocket fire an "act of terror" and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.
"The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
But with time running out on the Bush presidency, the crisis in Gaza is likely to carry over to President-elect Barack Obama. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continued telephone diplomacy to arrange a truce, but said she had no plans to make an emergency visit to the region.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and several Arab foreign ministers were flying to New York over the weekend to urge the UN Security Council to adopt an Arab draft resolution that would condemn Israel and demand a halt to its bombing campaign in Gaza.
Abbas, whose forces in Gaza were ousted by Hamas in June 2007, still claims authority over the area.
The council is expected to discuss the draft resolution on Monday. But the United States said the draft is "unacceptable" and "unbalanced" because it makes no mention of halting the Hamas rocket attacks.
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