By IINA,
Gaza City : U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon headed to the Gaza Strip today to inspect the devastation wrought by Israel’s three-week onslaught as the territory’s militant Hamas rulers, triumphant at having survived the assault, geared up for victory rallies amid the ruins. Both sides ceased fire on Sunday, ending a war that claimed the lives of some 1,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and 13 Israelis. No violations have been reported since, and the last of Israel’s ground troops were expected to pull out of Gaza on Tuesday, defense officials said. The Palestinian death toll of Israel’s three-week offensive Gaza Strip has exceeded the 1,400, health officials said on today. Two Palestinian children were killed when they found an explosive device or shell, probably left behind by the Israeli army, in eastern Gaza City, which detonated when they touched it, the officials said.
Twelve more bodies were also found under the rubble of destroyed homes, and a number of the injured died of their wounds in hospital. The Palestinian toll of the offensive now stands at 1,414 killed and some 5,500 injured, Mo’aweya Hassanein, the chief of emergency services at the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, told reporters. Israel mounted an air and ground offensive against Hamas on Dec. 27 in an effort to force Gaza fighters to halt their rocket fire on southern Israel and to cripple arms-smuggling operations. The fighting stopped before Israel achieved those aims.
Ban was due to visit three U.N. facilities that became battlegrounds during the war, including a school where nearly 40 Palestinians who had sought refuge from the fighting were killed in an Israeli shelling. He also planned a stop at the U.N.’s Gaza headquarters, which were heavily damaged by Israeli fire. The U.N. chief personally intervened during the war to try to stop the violence, and said over the weekend that he was sending a team to assess the humanitarian needs so the United Nations could issue an emergency appeal for funds.