Israel pounds Gaza, vows to continue massacring
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Israeli forces pounded Gaza Strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on Monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against Palestinian fighters.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the campaign would continue until Israel achieved “peace and tranquility” for residents of southern Israel, who continued to be bombarded by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire. Gaza’s Hamas strongman urged Palestinians to “crush” the invading Israeli forces and target Israeli civilians.
A stream of diplomats and world leaders hoping to end the violence headed for the region to meet with Israeli leaders as world outrage over ballooning Palestinian casualties mounted. Gaza health officials nearly 530 dead and over 2,500 wounded since Israel embarked upon its military campaign against Gaza’s Hamas rulers on Dec. 27. Some 200 civilians were among the dead, they said.
Israeli forces seized sparsely populated areas in northern Gaza on Sunday and circled Gaza City, the territory’s biggest town. Further movement into built-up areas would mean even-deadlier urban warfare, replete with house-to-house fighting, sniper fire and booby traps, in crowded streets and alleyways familiar to Hamas’ 20,000 fighters.
Israeli forces have been training in a mock Arab city for more than two years to prepare them for the type of urban warfare they would encounter in Gaza, military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said.
“They are prepared, if necessary,” to enter Gaza’s cities, Leibovich said. She wouldn’t disclose whether troops would definitely enter Gaza’s cities.
A total of 13 civilians died in the various attacks across Gaza on Monday morning, said Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain.
Four young siblings were killed in a missile strike on a house east of Gaza City. Three other children died in a naval shelling of a Gaza City beach camp, and three adults died when a missile struck near a house of mourning in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, he said. Three other adults died in attacks elsewhere.
Israeli troops seized three six-floor buildings on the outskirts of Gaza City, taking up rooftop positions after locking residents in rooms and confiscating their cell phones, a neighbor said. He said he spoke to a relative who lives in one of the buildings and updated him on developments before his phone was taken away.
“The army is there, firing in all directions,” said Mohammed Salmai, a 29-year-old truck driver who lives nearby. “All we can do is take clothes to each other to keep ourselves warm and pray to God that if we die, someone will find our bodies under the rubble.”
Civilian casualties have spiked since Israel launched a ground offensive Saturday, following a week of punishing air strikes. Of about 80 Palestinians killed during the ground operation, at least 70 were civilians, Hassanain said.
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