By IINA,
Gaza City : Heavy fighting is reported in Gaza between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters after Israel launched its ground offensive on the territory. Israeli ground forces are battling Hamas fighters. Clashes have intensified in the north, with the territory cut in two and Gaza City surrounded. Both sides have reported casualties in the fighting. Hamas said it had killed “a group of Israeli soldiers” and vowed to make Gaza the graveyard for the troops of the Jewish state. The group warned it would capture more Israeli soldiers.
Thousands of Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip overnight with tanks and helicopters, accompanied by naval support and air strikes. While the UN secretary general called for an immediate end to the operations, the Security Council failed to agree on a resolution calling for a ceasefire after an emergency meeting. In the Gaza Strip, heavy artillery, tracer fire and rockets could be heard while reports said Israeli troops had reached the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland, reporting from the Israeli side of the border said the authorities there have been extremely tight-lipped about the operation. All that they’re willing to confirm is that the ground offensive is continuing,” she said. Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza City, said that the scene in Gaza was one of “fear and terror”.
Palestinian medical sources say at least 464 Palestinians have died and more than 2,000 had been injured since Israel began aerial bombardment of Gaza more than a week ago. Four Israelis have also been killed by Palestinian rockets fired into southern Israel during the past week. Israel, meanwhile, extended its naval blockade of Gaza early on Sunday, from six nautical miles to 20 nautical miles, preventing humanitarian aid and protest vessels from trying to break the siege. Around 9,000 military reservists have also been called up to assist in the ground assault.
News of the ground offensive came as the Security Council was meeting on Saturday night in New York to discuss the crisis. Despite urgings from Libya, the only Arab nation currently on the council, to issue a statement expressing “serious concern” over the offensive, the meeting adjourned without reaching any agreement. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian permanent observer to the UN, condemned the result, saying that “just, as they say, Israel has the right to defend itself, we the Palestinians have the right to end occupation”. “We are demanding from Israel, the occupying power and agressor, to stop this agression immediately,” Mansour said.
A UN spokesman said that Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, was “deeply concerned” by the latest events. Ban had spoken to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and conveyed his “extreme concern and disappointment”, the UN said in a statement. France added its voice to the discussion, condemning Israel’s ground offensive on Saturday. The foreign ministry said in a statement that the “dangerous military escalation” complicated efforts to end the fighting, bring aid to civilians and reach a permanent ceasefire. The US state department said that a Gaza ceasefire should take place as soon as possible and that it had told the Israeli government that any military action should be “mindful of the potential consequences to civilians”. It also condemned Hamas, saying it was holding the people of Gaza “hostage” and contributed to a “very bad daily life” for the coastal territory’s residents.
White House officials also said that George Bush, the US president, had been briefed on the situation in Gaza and that US officials were in contact with authorities “in the region” and in Europe. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and several Arab foreign ministers were flying to New York over the weekend to urge the Security Council to again try to adopt an Arab draft resolution that would condemn Israel and urge a halt to the Gaza offensive. The ground attacks followed a salvo of air raids in Gaza yesterday. An Israeli strike on a northern Gaza town killed at least 11 people, including one child, when a mosque was bombed. There has been no official confirmation from either side of deaths from the ground assault so far, although Zeina Awad, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Jerusalem, said Israeli media was reporting that several Hamas fighters had been killed at the start of the ground offensive. The Reuters news agency also quoted a senior Hamas official as saying that Palestinian fighters had killed a number of Israeli soldiers.