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Israel launches Gaza offensive
28/06/2006 08:41 - (SA)
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| Israeli soldiers prepare to move into the Gaza Strip from an army base near the border early on Wednesday morning. (Oded Balilty AP) |
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Gaza City - Israel sent troops and tanks into the Gaza Strip before dawn on Wednesday and attacked key targets from the air in a major offensive aimed at freeing a teenage soldier captured by Palestinian fighters.
Much of the Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness after Israeli war planes knocked out a power station and hit three bridges in a series of night-time raids aimed at blocking movement across the territory by militants.
Flames poured into the night sky from the power plant and the sound of shelling and gunfire from combat helicopters could be heard as ground forces moved into southern Gaza where the missing serviceman was believed to be held.
"Our main objective is to bring this soldier home safe and sound," senior defence ministry official Amos Gilad told army radio, referring to the captive 19-year-old Gilad Shalit.
First major offensive since pullout
It was the first major ground offensive against Gaza since Israel pulled settlers and troops from the impoverished coastal strip last year in a highly controversial operation that ended a 38-year occupation.
No casualties were reported in the incursion, which followed intensive mediation efforts to free Shalit after his abduction in an attack on Sunday that also killed two Israeli soldiers and two militants.
Israel massed thousands of troops on the Gaza border as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ruled out any negotiation with the kidnappers, holding the Hamas-led government and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas responsible.
Palestinians recognise Israel's right to exist
The raids followed a landmark agreement on Tuesday between Palestinian factions on an political initiative that implicitly recognises Israel's right to exist, a historic policy shift by Hamas which has long advocated the destruction of the Jewish state.
Israel dismissed the deal however as an "internal matter".
Settler kidnapped
The situation on the ground was further complicated when an armed Palestinian group claiming to hold the soldier also threatened to kill a Jewish settler it said it had abducted in the occupied West Bank.
"Unless the aggression stops, we will kill the settler," said a representative of the Popular Resistance Committees, which claimed Sunday's attack along with the armed wing of Hamas and another group.
Although there has been no official Israeli confirmation of the settler kidnapping, one couple reported their son missing after he failed to return home on Monday.
No plans to move deeper into Gaza Strip
Israel said it concentrated its forces a few kilometres into southern Gaza where it believed Shalit was being held, including the area of Dahaniyeh near the destroyed airport.
"We have no immediate plans to go deeper in. That could change but that's the situation right now," an army spokesperson said.
At one point troops were attacked by light arms fire and possibly an anti-tank missile, but there were no reports of any casualties, he said.
Palestinians flee
Bracing for the onslaught, Palestinian militants had erected earthen mounds across roads and sealed off entrances to refugee camps in parts of Gaza, one of the most densely populated regions on earth.
Men, women and children packed into at least a dozen cars and a horse-drawn cart fled into Rafah from areas to the east as Israeli troops entered the territory while armed gunmen prowled the streets.
"All the people are leaving. They're heading west because we're afraid of the sweep, we're escaping the invasion," said Auda Adwan, 20.
- AFP
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