Gaza war rages on

2009-01-10 09:52

Gaza - Israel pressed on with a punishing Gaza offensive and Hamas fired more rockets into the Jewish state on Saturday in a two-week-old war that continued to defy international efforts to stop it.

Medical officials in the Gaza Strip said the Palestinian death toll had risen to 784. Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers said more than a third were children. Ten Israeli soldiers have been killed, as well as three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire.

The Israeli military said 15 Hamas militants were killed in a series of 40 air strikes early on Saturday that targeted rocket launch sites, tunnels used to smuggle weapons, weapons caches and production facilities.

Hamas fired at least 30 rockets across the border at Israel on Friday and another two on Saturday. No casualties or damage were caused by Saturday's rocket attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed as "unworkable" a UN Security Council resolution demanding an "immediate and durable" ceasefire.

Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip said they were weighing the resolution but objected they had not been consulted. The group said it had sent three of its leaders from Gaza to Cairo to discuss a separate Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

Diplomats said Israel and Egypt were far apart on the plan.

In a telephone call to Olmert, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "expressed disappointment that the violence is continuing on the ground in disregard" of the Security Council resolution, UN spokesperson Michele Montas said.

UN officials have no direct contacts with Hamas but Montas said the same message would be conveyed to the group indirectly.

On Friday, Israel's security cabinet debated for the second time in three days whether to send in reservists for a push into Gaza's towns and cities. There was no word on the outcome.

"I can't go into operational details. The military pressure on Hamas will continue," said Mark Regev, a spokesperson for Olmert.

- Reuters