- Title: MIDEAST: Continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza kill at least two more
- Date: 29th December 2008
- Summary: MEN LOOKING OVER BURNT CAR MAN HOLDING UP A JACKET
- Embargoed: 13th January 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA4N0F2Y3P4ZHWTNWZSS5S974TU
- Story Text: Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip kills two more Palestinians on Sunday (December 28) after Israel destroyed Hamas' main Gaza security complex in an earlier air strike killing more than 280 Palestinians in the first 24 hours of a powerful offensive.
Israeli leaders said the campaign was a response to almost daily cross-border rocket and mortar fire that intensified after Hamas ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.
Despite the air assaults, militants fired some 80 rockets into Israel, emergency services said. In one of the deepest attacks, two rockets struck near Ashdod, a main port some 30 km (18 miles) from Gaza, causing no casualties, police said.
Israeli tanks deployed on the edge of the Gaza Strip, poised to enter the impoverished enclave where 1.5 million Palestinians live. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet approved a call-up of 6,500 reservists, a government official said.
Keeping pressure on Hamas after one of the bloodiest days for Palestinians in 60 years of conflict, Israeli aircraft flattened the group's main security compound in Gaza, killing at least four security men, a health official said.
The deaths raised to 286 the number of Palestinians killed since Saturday. More than 700 Palestinians have been wounded.
One Israeli was killed on Saturday (December 27) by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military affairs commentators said the Israeli offensive did not appear to be aimed at retaking the Gaza Strip or destroying the territory's Hamas government -- ambitious goals that could prove difficult and politically risky to achieve ahead of Israel's Feb. 10 parliamentary election.
Instead, they said, Israel -- after an air bombardment on Saturday -- wanted to strengthen its deterrence power and force Hamas into a new truce that would lead to a long-term halt to cross-border rocket salvoes.
Hamas, which won a parliamentary election in 2006 but was shunned by Western powers over its refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel, estimated at least 180 members of its security forces had been killed with at least 15 women and some children.
Among the civilian dead were seven teenagers, students at an UNRWA school, who were killed in an Israeli air strike while waiting for a bus to take them home, said Christopher Gunness, an UNRWA spokesman. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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