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Gaza incursion kills 18
06/07/2006 20:01 - (SA)
Gaza City - Seventeen Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed on Thursday as Israel thrust deep into Gaza in its largest and deadliest operation in months, reoccupying areas evacuated 10 months ago.
Israeli troops effectively created a buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip as it widened its offensive, upping the pressure on the beleagured Hamas-led government in a bid to free a captured soldier and stop rocket attacks.
One Israeli soldier was shot dead in fighting in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, a killing claimed by one of the Palestinian militant group behind last week's abduction.
Over the day, 17 Palestinian militants and civilians were killed and 46 wounded, local medics and security officials said.
Troops also entered the Palestinian territory deeper in the south, in a two-pronged attack that marked a further escalation in the spiralling crisis that erupted after the June 25 abduction of 19-year-old corporal Gilad Shalit. 'Collective punishment'
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, whose Hamas-led government has been directly targeted in the offensive, slammed the assault as "collective punishment" on his people and demanded international intervention.
The massive pre-dawn land and air assault on Gaza sent terrified residents scurrying from their homes with babies and belongings.
"There were fighters in our garden. We had to flee to protect the children," said one father, rushing away from a Beit Lahiya neighbourhood with his wife and four children.
In northern Gaza, ground forces, armoured vehicles and sappers advanced about 5km into the territory in a bid to expand a unilaterally declared security zone aimed at preventing rocket attacks.
Further troops massed around the towns of Beit Hanun and moved into two neighbourhoods of Beit Lahiya in the deepest Israeli ground operation since Shalit was seized 11 days ago, sparking the worst Middle East crisis in months.
Cross-faction units of Palestinian fighters put up stiff resistance in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, calling in intense Israeli aerial firepower, as the army reported eight rocket attacks launched at the Jewish state. Families flee
Dozens of Palestinian families in northern Gaza, fearing for their lives when confronted with the ominous sight of approaching Israeli armour, fled their homes. Women clutching babies and a few belongings scurried away on foot toward a line of waiting taxis amid the boom of gunfire.
The offensive has sparked concerns of a humanitarian fall-out with the 1.4 million residents of the largely impoverished Gaza already grappling with food shortages, fuel and power cuts.
Palestinian officials and residents believe Israel is using the soldier's capture as an excuse to try to topple the government led by Hamas, which has not formally recognised Israel or renounced violence.
"If you return Gilad Shalit home safe and sound and if you stop your rocket attacks, we will withdraw our forces," defence minister Amir Peretz said in comments addressed to the Palestinians on army radio.
- AFP
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