MIDDLE EAST: Israel bombs Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip from air and sea for a fifth straight day, preparing for a possible ground invasion

Record ID: 340996

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israel bombs Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip from air and sea for a fifth straight day, preparing for a possible ground invasion
  • Date: 18th November 2012
  • Summary: JABALIYA, GAZA (NOVEMBER 18, 2012) (REUTERS) PEOPLE APPROACHING DAMAGED VEHICLE SAID TO BE DISTRIBUTING WATER TO RESIDENTS PEOPLE LOOKING AT DAMAGED VEHICLE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SURROUNDING VEHICLE
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVACMJSJ5DPV48FH0XOSCO6RI7Z8
  • Story Text: Israel bombed Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip from air and sea for a fifth straight day on Sunday (November 18), preparing for a possible ground invasion while also spelling out its conditions for a truce.
    One of the strikes targeted a vehicle which Palestinians said was distributing water to local residents.
    Palestinians launched dozens of rockets into Israel and targeted its commercial capital, Tel Aviv, for a fourth day. The "Iron Dome" missile shield shot down two of the rockets fired toward Israel's biggest city but falling debris from the interception hit a car, which caught fire. Its driver was not hurt.
    In scenes recalling Israel's 2008-2009 winter invasion of the Gaza Strip, tanks, artillery and infantry massed in field encampments along the sandy border. Military convoys moved on roads in the area newly closed to civilian traffic.
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was ready to widen its offensive.
    Palestinian officials said 56 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including 16 children, have been killed in small, densely populated Gaza since the Israeli offensive began, with hundreds wounded. More than 500 rockets fired from Gaza have hit Israel, killing three civilians and wounding dozens.
    Israel unleashed intensive air strikes on Wednesday, killing the military commander of the Islamist Hamas movement that governs Gaza and spurns peace with the Jewish state.
    Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and press Hamas into stopping cross-border rocket fire that has bedevilled Israeli border towns for years and is now displaying greater range, putting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the crosshairs.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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