WORLD> Middle East
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WORLD> Middle East
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Israel tells Gazans to brace for war escalation
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-10 21:46 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Israeli air force has dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip warning residents that it plans to escalate its two-week-old offensive. The notice says Israel is about to begin a "new phase in the war on terror." It says Israel will "escalate" an operation that already has killed more than 800 Palestinians.
The army said Saturday that it has dropped the fliers throughout Gaza. It says the notices are meant as a "general warning."
Israeli forces pounded dozens of targets and edged closer to Gaza City on Saturday while southern Israel came under renewed rocket fire after one of its quietest nights in the two-week offensive against Hamas. In the day's bloodiest incident, an Israeli tank shell landed outside a home in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya, killing nine people as they sat outside in their garden. Separately, a woman was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Rafah. The Israeli military said more than 15 militants were killed in heavy fighting Saturday with its ground forces inside Gaza. Its aircraft attacked more than 40 targets throughout Gaza, striking 10 rocket-launching sites, weapons-storage facilities, smuggling tunnels, an anti-aircraft missile launcher and gunmen. Flames and smoke could be seen rising into the sky over Gaza City. Israel has come under international criticism for the rising number of civilians killed in the fighting. Paramedics said the nine casualties were from the same clan and included two children and two women. "Residents brought them to the hospital in a civilian car, they put them all in the trunk because their bodies were mangled," said hospital administrator Adham Hakim. "We identified them a little after separating their bodies in the morgue." The Israeli army had no immediate comment, but has repeatedly accused Hamas militants of using residential areas for cover. Earlier this week, an Israeli attack outside a UN school killed nearly 40 people. Both Israel and Palestinian witnesses said militants carried out an attack from the area moments earlier. Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. A week later, ground troops moved in, with artillery and tank fire that has contributed to a surge in civilian casualties. Palestinian medical officials say more than 800 Palestinians have been killed, roughly half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed -- four of them by militant rockets, the rest in battle in Gaza. Five soldiers were lightly wounded in Saturday's fighting. The fighting raged after both Israel and Hamas ignored a UN resolution calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire that would lead to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel has dismissed the Security Council resolution passed Thursday as impractical, while Hamas, whose government in Gaza is not recognized internationally, is angry it was not consulted about the diplomatic efforts. |
