Gaza war rages on
2009-01-07 07:10
Gaza City - Israeli troops kept up their assault on Hamas fighters in Gaza on Wednesday as diplomats sought to persuade Israel to end an onslaught that has killed at least 660 Palestinians.
An air strike killed a Palestinian gunman and wounded three in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood, where some of the heaviest fighting has occurred since Israeli troops invaded the crowded coastal strip on Saturday, medics said.
Clashes were continuing in Zeitun, and there were reports of air strikes on the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah.
The latest fighting follows Israeli strikes on Tuesday on three UN-run schools that killed at least 48 people, taking the civilian death toll even higher and prompting growing calls for an immediate ceasefire.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply dismayed" by the strikes on the schools and called them "totally unacceptable".
While the UN Security Council discussed the crisis in New York, Egypt's president and veteran Middle East peace mediator, Hosni Mubarak, was pushing for an immediate ceasefire.
Late on Tuesday, he called on Israel and the Palestinians to discuss security on the Egypt-Gaza border, following talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Proposed an immediate ceasefire
Egypt "invites the Israelis and Palestinians for an urgent meeting to reach arrangements and guarantees that would not allow the repeat of the current escalation," Mubarak said.
Such guarantees would include "securing the borders and ... opening of the border crossings and lifting the siege", he said.
Mubarak also said he proposed an immediate ceasefire that would allow aid to enter the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian-Israeli talks.
Sarkozy, who began a whirlwind tour of the region on Monday, said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about Mubarak's initiative and that "he will react soon".
"I have very precise elements that allow me to say that an Israeli delegation will meet an Egyptian delegation to discuss the matter of security," Sarkozy said.
Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the UN Security Council presidency, said a resolution on Gaza would "complicate" the task of achieving peace.
France asks that "as long as discussions are taking place between the concerned parties we do not hurry to obtain a resolution that would complicate the task", he said.
Protests have spiralled worldwide
A Hamas delegation is already in Cairo to discuss a ceasefire.
Egypt brokered a six-month truce that ended on December 19. Hamas refused to renew the deal, accusing Israel of reneging on it by not relaxing the crippling blockade of Gaza it first imposed when the Islamists seized control of the territory in 2007.
Olmert earlier said the "terrorist" rocket attacks and weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza must end before Israel halts its offensive on the Palestinian territory.
"Let the terrorist acts stop, halt the arms smuggling from (Egyptian) Sinai into Gaza, and the Israeli combat will stop," Olmert said on a visit to Sderot, one of the towns in southern Israel that have been hit by Hamas rockets.
Ban said he would travel to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories next week.
However, he said "I do not believe we can wait until then to end the violence. We must achieve that now."
Protests against Israel have spiralled worldwide, and al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri called on Muslims to attack Israeli and Western targets in revenge for the offensive.
Situation 'extreme and traumatic'
Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27 with a massive air bombardment of Gaza, and sent in thousands of ground troops a week later.
Since then, 660 Palestinians have been killed, including about 200 children, with more than 2 950 wounded, Gaza medics say.
Israel has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but Olmert's office announced that the Jewish state would open a "humanitarian corridor" into the territory.
"This involves opening up geographical areas for limited periods of time during which the population will be able to receive the aid and stock up," his office said.
International Committee of the Red Cross operations director Pierre Kraehenbuehl said earlier that "there is no doubt in my mind that we are dealing with a full-blown and major crisis in humanitarian terms. The situation for the people in Gaza is extreme and traumatic".
The UN Security Council was meeting in New York to weigh an Arab call for a ceasefire and to protect Palestinian civilians, diplomats said.
Washington has strongly backed Israel, with President George W Bush saying any truce must ensure an end to militant rocket fire.
It rejected a previous Arab draft resolution presented to Security Council members.