Friday January 16, 2009 18:05
Gaza City - Israeli troops again pounded Gaza on Friday after killing a top Hamas leader, as the Islamists offered a conditional truce amid a diplomatic push to end the war that has killed more than 1,100 people.
Israel
sent envoys to Egypt for more talks on Cairo's plan for a ceasefire and
to Washington to sign an agreement on preventing arms smuggling into
Gaza, its key demand for ending the offensive which is now in its 21st
day.
The army locked down the occupied West Bank for 48 hours
after Hamas called for a day of "wrath" against the offensive in Gaza
that on Thursday saw one of its top leaders, interior minister Said
Siam, killed in an air strike.
Siam
is the most senior leader killed in the war, a Hamas hardliner who
oversaw the creation of the movement's police force and was a key
figure in the 2007 ouster from Gaza of forces loyal to Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas.
A day after Israeli raids set landmark
buildings ablaze in Gaza's main city, the military pummelled the
territory with some 40 air strikes against fighters, tunnels and a
mosque suspected of being used as a weapons store, the army said.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
In the pre-dawn hours, Israeli tanks withdrew from the Gaza City
neighbourhood of Tal Al-Hawa, where clashes the previous day levelled
parts of the residential area and set a hospital ablaze.
Medics rushed into the area, the site of furious clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters that sent hundreds of terrified civilians fleeing for safety.
Many sought shelter at the Al-Quds Hospital
in the neighbourhood, but the building was engulfed in flames after
Hamas and Israeli troops fought pitched battles for 12 hours a few
hundred metres (yards) from the medical facility.
In scenes of
utter panic, patients who had been wounded could be seen struggling to
get out of their beds to head outside into a cold night where clashes
raged.
At least three babies in incubators and three people on
life support were wheeled out of the Al-Quds hospital into the
flame-lit streets.
Since
Israel unleashed Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 1,105
Palestinians have been killed and another 5,130 wounded, according to
Gaza medics. Some 600 of the victims have been civilians, including 355
children, they say.
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians have been killed as a result of combat or rocket fire.
Israel
says its offensive is intended to stop the rockets but Gaza militants
have continued the fire and have now launched more than 700 rockets or
mortar rounds during the assault.
On the diplomatic front, Egypt
pressed on with its Western-backed efforts to broker a truce in
Israel's deadliest ever offensive on Gaza.
Israeli
negotiator Amos Gilad was due to return to Egypt on Friday to discuss
the details of a possible ceasefire, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's
office said.
Gilad held four hours of talks in Cairo on Thursday.
And
in what was seen as a key breakthrough, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
was to travel to Washington on Friday to sign a memorandum on joint
efforts to halt smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Securing international guarantees on stemming arms smuggling into Gaza has been one of Israel's key demands.
The
deputy head of Hamas's Damascus-based leadership in exile, Mussa Abu
Marzuk, told AFP the Islamists were ready to accept a one-year
renewable truce if Israel pulls its troops out of Gaza.
Hamas is
awaiting Israel's response, Abu Marzuk said, adding that the offer is
also conditional on Israel's lifting of the crippling blockade it has
imposed on Gaza since the Islamists seized power.
UN
chief Ban Ki-moon was due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in
the West Bank town of Ramallah before continuing to Turkey on a
regional tour aimed at securing a truce.
Israel's offensive has
sparked widespread outrage across the globe and on Thursday the Jewish
state was roasted during an emergency meeting of the UN General
Assembly.
The offensive has sparked widespread concern about a
humanitarian crisis breaking out in one of the world's most densely
populated places where the vast majority of the 1.5 million population
depends on foreign aid.
Tonnes of aid went up in flames on Thursday after an Israeli strike hit a UN compound, setting alight a warehouse.
Gaza City - Israeli troops again pounded Gaza on Friday after killing a top Hamas leader, as the Islamists offered a conditional truce amid a diplomatic push to end the war that has killed more than 1,100 people.
Israel
sent envoys to Egypt for more talks on Cairo's plan for a ceasefire and
to Washington to sign an agreement on preventing arms smuggling into
Gaza, its key demand for ending the offensive which is now in its 21st
day.
The army locked down the occupied West Bank for 48 hours
after Hamas called for a day of "wrath" against the offensive in Gaza
that on Thursday saw one of its top leaders, interior minister Said
Siam, killed in an air strike.
Siam
is the most senior leader killed in the war, a Hamas hardliner who
oversaw the creation of the movement's police force and was a key
figure in the 2007 ouster from Gaza of forces loyal to Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas.
A day after Israeli raids set landmark
buildings ablaze in Gaza's main city, the military pummelled the
territory with some 40 air strikes against fighters, tunnels and a
mosque suspected of being used as a weapons store, the army said.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
In the pre-dawn hours, Israeli tanks withdrew from the Gaza City
neighbourhood of Tal Al-Hawa, where clashes the previous day levelled
parts of the residential area and set a hospital ablaze.
Medics rushed into the area, the site of furious clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters that sent hundreds of terrified civilians fleeing for safety.
Many sought shelter at the Al-Quds Hospital
in the neighbourhood, but the building was engulfed in flames after
Hamas and Israeli troops fought pitched battles for 12 hours a few
hundred metres (yards) from the medical facility.
In scenes of
utter panic, patients who had been wounded could be seen struggling to
get out of their beds to head outside into a cold night where clashes
raged.
At least three babies in incubators and three people on
life support were wheeled out of the Al-Quds hospital into the
flame-lit streets.
Since
Israel unleashed Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 1,105
Palestinians have been killed and another 5,130 wounded, according to
Gaza medics. Some 600 of the victims have been civilians, including 355
children, they say.
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians have been killed as a result of combat or rocket fire.
Israel
says its offensive is intended to stop the rockets but Gaza militants
have continued the fire and have now launched more than 700 rockets or
mortar rounds during the assault.
On the diplomatic front, Egypt
pressed on with its Western-backed efforts to broker a truce in
Israel's deadliest ever offensive on Gaza.
Israeli
negotiator Amos Gilad was due to return to Egypt on Friday to discuss
the details of a possible ceasefire, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's
office said.
Gilad held four hours of talks in Cairo on Thursday.
And
in what was seen as a key breakthrough, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
was to travel to Washington on Friday to sign a memorandum on joint
efforts to halt smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Securing international guarantees on stemming arms smuggling into Gaza has been one of Israel's key demands.
The
deputy head of Hamas's Damascus-based leadership in exile, Mussa Abu
Marzuk, told AFP the Islamists were ready to accept a one-year
renewable truce if Israel pulls its troops out of Gaza.
Hamas is
awaiting Israel's response, Abu Marzuk said, adding that the offer is
also conditional on Israel's lifting of the crippling blockade it has
imposed on Gaza since the Islamists seized power.
UN
chief Ban Ki-moon was due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in
the West Bank town of Ramallah before continuing to Turkey on a
regional tour aimed at securing a truce.
Israel's offensive has
sparked widespread outrage across the globe and on Thursday the Jewish
state was roasted during an emergency meeting of the UN General
Assembly.
The offensive has sparked widespread concern about a
humanitarian crisis breaking out in one of the world's most densely
populated places where the vast majority of the 1.5 million population
depends on foreign aid.
Tonnes of aid went up in flames on Thursday after an Israeli strike hit a UN compound, setting alight a warehouse.
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