Israel won’t sign up to a truce that curtails its ability to destroy tunnels Hamas dug to launch attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today, as the country called up an additional 16,000 reservists. “We are determined to complete this operation, with or without a cease-fire,” Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast by radio before a meeting of the cabinet. “We won’t agree to any proposal that doesn’t let the Israeli army complete this important job.”
Diplomatic efforts to end the third major conflict in Gaza in less than six years have come up short, defying appeals by President Barack Obama and United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon for an immediate cessation of hostilities. A bid by the U.S., UN and Egypt to broker a truce last week failed to win agreement on anything deeper than an hours-long humanitarian halt.
In one of the bloodiest days in more than three weeks of fighting, 119 people were killed in Gaza yesterday, Palestinian officials said, taking the death toll in the territory to at least 1,374 since July 8. The Israeli military said three soldiers were killed after a booby-trapped former UN clinic exploded, bringing the total to 56. Three civilians in Israel have been killed by rocket fire.
Shelter Deaths
The UN Relief and Works Agency accused Israel of violating international law yesterday with an attack on a school, which it said was sheltering 3,300 people who had sought refuge there. “Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children,” the UN’s Ban said, citing a death toll of at least 16 and demanding “accountability and justice,” in an e-mailed statement.The school may have been hit by Hamas fire, Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Moti Almoz said in comments broadcast on Army Radio. Troops were responding to fire launched at them from near the building, he said, accusing Hamas of using civilians as human shields for its attacks.
Israel’s army also said it was looking into the report of an air strike on a market in which Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said 20 people died.
Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, told a meeting of the UN Security Council today that the agency is now sheltering 220,000 displaced people in Gaza, four times more people than it served during a 2009 war between Hamas and Israel. Among the dead are 251 children, UNRWA official Valerie Amos said at the same briefing. More than 9,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, she said.
Rocket Barrage
Kraehenbuehl said his staff had found rockets stored at three of the agency’s schools in Gaza. Chris Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, yesterday condemned “the group or groups” responsible, saying it endangered civilians.Netanyahu spoke today after rockets fired from Gaza set off sirens in southern Israel, adding to the more than 146 launched in the past 24 hours. Israel carried out about 110 strikes in the same time, the army said.
One rocket hit an apartment in the southern city of Kiryat Gat, injuring one person, police said. A rocket fired at the Tel Aviv area was intercepted by Israeli defense systems. Some 2,830 rockets have been launched from Gaza at Israel since July 8, and armed militants have infiltrated through tunnels and by sea.
The army says its operation is intended to destroy the rockets fired by Hamas militants at Israel, and the tunnels used for smuggling and raids.
U.S. Munitions
Israel says a cease-fire would require Gaza to be disarmed, while Hamas, the militant group that rules the territory, seeks an end to an Israeli blockade in force since 2006 and joined by Egypt. Israel, like the U.S. and European Union, labels Hamas a terrorist organization.Foreign pressure “shouldn’t affect our activities,” Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said in an interview with Channel 2 television today. Israel is acting in accordance with international law, she said.
Any process to resolve the crisis in Gaza in a lasting and meaningful way must lead to the disarmament of Hamas and all terrorist groups, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a phone call with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, according to a press release posted on the Department of Defense website. He reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s security and its right to self defense.
The U.S. agreed to provide additional ammunition to Israel in response to a request from the country’s Ministry of Defense, the Pentagon said in a statement yesterday. The U.S. didn’t provide details of the request.
Ya’alon said yesterday the army is ready to broaden its incursion further. The most recent call-up brings the number of reservists drafted to 86,000. The move will “preserve flexibility,” Almoz told Army Radio today.
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