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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Israel hammers Gaza as truce efforts build up | |
| 2009-01-17 | |
| Israel again pounded Gaza yesterday, seeking to ratchet up pressure on Hamas to bow to truce efforts gathering pace in Egypt to end the deadliest assault the Jewish state has ever launched on the enclave. Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal told an Arab meeting in Doha that it would not accept any ceasefire that did not provide for a full Israeli pullout and the opening of Gaza's borders, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
Israeli envoy Amos Gilad returned from Cairo after further discussions of Egypt's truce plan as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni headed to the United States to sign an agreement on preventing arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza. Clamping down on the porous Gaza-Egypt border, where hundreds of underground tunnels form Hamas's main rear supply route, has been a key Israeli demand for ending the offensive that has killed more than 1,100 people in 21 days. "We hope we're heading toward the end," government spokesman Mark Regev told AFP. "There is a lot of diplomatic activity and at the same time the military pressure on Hamas continues." Visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon said that a deal on a truce appeared "very close" and that he hoped it could be sealed within a couple of days. Calling Israel's offensive an "unprecedented catastrophe," Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad appealed for an immediate halt to the fighting. "Each passing hour means more people die," he said. But a senior Israeli official told AFP that the government did not intend to lessen its military strikes in the impoverished territory. "The prime minister believes that the army should continue pressing Hamas in order to consolidate the gains made so far and guarantee that any ceasefire reached will be long-lasting," he said. A day after Israeli raids set landmark buildings ablaze in Gaza's main city, the military hammered the territory with some 40 airstrikes against fighters, tunnels and a mosque suspected of being used as a weapons store, the army said. Israeli tanks meanwhile withdrew at dawn from the Gaza City neighbourhood of Tal Al-Hawa, where heavy fighting the previous day levelled parts of the residential area and set a hospital ablaze. At least 23 bodies were pulled from the rubble in Tal Al-Hawa and elsewhere after medics rushed to the neighbourhood, the site of furious clashes that sent hundreds of terrified civilians fleeing for safety. Israel says its offensive is intended to stop the rockets but Gaza militants have continued the fire on southern Israel, launching more than 700 rockets and mortar rounds during the assault. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #20 Land Of The Pure Loser? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 22:11 |
| #19 No! You could knock me over with a feather. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-01-17 22:09 |
| #18 #6 was posted from Islamabad. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-01-17 21:23 |
| #17 Dot was for @2 DeaconMan. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-17 19:08 |
| #16 Is that your other dog immitation, .5MT? |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-01-17 17:12 |
| #15 woof, woof |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-17 16:32 |
| #14 evaporated for good. Is that a description of Saudi Arabia? |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2009-01-17 15:17 |
| #13 "Needs to be evaporated for good" I think Bertie meant to say vaporized for good. Evaporated has multiple definitions i.e. remove moisture and leave a dry solid, which is what Israel is currently doing. Vaporized only has one meaning. Ahhhh...too bad. In years past, the Yale scholarship used to be pretty credible. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2009-01-17 15:01 |
| #12 that explains the coathanger embedded in Bertie's head, huh? Mom was a failure too |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 14:53 |
| #11 Bertie - does your mommie know what you're doing with her computer down in her basement? Better question: Did your mommie have any children who lived? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-01-17 14:33 |
| #10 Hamass seems to think they're winning, and can dictate terms. Israel should NEVER give in. Conditions MUST be forced on Hamass, or there can be no peace - just another hudna. As for civilians - the "civilians" in Gaza gave power to Hamass - that makes them co-conspirators, and they should also be forced to plead for the right to continue to live. Israel should quit trying to be "nice", and go mongol on Gaza. They may be hated afterwards, but they're hated now, so what's the difference? At least if they pound Gaza into sand, the gazans will fear them and their wrath, and won't be quite so ready to try for round two. It's nice to be respected and loved. Some people, however, are incapable of that. In that case, it's better to be feared than treated with hatred and contempt. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-01-17 13:41 |
| #9 well, it's not like they have jobs or anything. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 11:17 |
| #8 They seem to be working overtime lately, these hatey-trolls, aren't they, Frank? |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2009-01-17 11:15 |
| #7 ahhh.... the subtle smell of stupid hate. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 11:09 |
| #6 Israel is an illegitimate entity. Needs to be evaporated for good. |
| Posted by: Bertie Sleretch3142 2009-01-17 11:06 |
| #5 "I assure you: despite all the destruction in Gaza, we will not accept Israel's conditions for a ceasefire," Must be awful disappointing for the guys in Gaza who are actually doing the fighting. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2009-01-17 08:51 |
| #4 Ooops^2 Must drink some coffee! |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-01-17 06:48 |
| #3 Ooops Did you notice that amazing thing that Hizbullah the dogs did in the night? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-01-17 06:46 |
| #2 But they could be dead wrong about that. Did you notice that amazing thing that |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-01-17 06:45 |
| #1 That agreement with the US is toilet paper if they agree to open the border with Egypt and its all for nothing if they agree to a ceasefire before Hamas stops launching rockets at Israel. That will be seen as a loss. I doubt Israel wants to be seen as losing 2 in a row, but I could be dead wrong about that. If they're as close to a ceasefire as this article makes it seem, then the Israeli leadership has already decided that they can accomplish what needs to be accomplished without being seen as winning. But they could be dead wrong about that. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2009-01-17 00:52 |