Israel attacks Gaza, massive destruction: Palestinians vow more bloodshed
RAFAH (Gaza Strip), June 28: Israel sent forces into Gaza on Wednesday and knocked out bridges and a power station from air in a pre-dawn assault to try to free a soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants.
But Palestinians warned the offensive would only trigger more bloodshed, with the Hamas-led government slamming it as “military madness” and Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas branding it “collective punishment”.
Much of the Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness after war planes waged night-time strikes on the electricity plant and three bridges as flames leapt into the sky and the rattle of gunfire from combat helicopters resounded.
No casualties were reported in the incursion, which followed intensive mediation efforts to free Shalit after his seizure in an attack Sunday that also killed two Israeli soldiers and was claimed by three groups including fighters loyal to Hamas.
It was the first major ground incursion into Gaza since Israel pulled settlers and troops from the impoverished coastal strip last year in a highly controversial operation that ended a 38-year occupation.
Troops in tanks, armoured cars and bulldozers with lights blazing rolled several kilometres into southern Gaza where the missing serviceman was believed to be held, pushing into the disused international airport near Rafah.
“Last night’s operation will continue. No one who is involved in terror will be immune. We have one central goal: to bring Gilad home.”
And Public Security Ministr Avi Dichter even issued a direct threat to kill Hamas chiefs in Syria, the base of the movement’s political supremo Khaled Meshaal who famously escaped a Mossad attempt on his life in Amman in 1997.
Armed groups have vowed not to release the soldier until all Palestinian women and children are freed from Israeli jails, a demand rejected by Olmert who then ordered columns of tanks and a force of about 5,000 troops to mass on the Gaza border.
The raids followed a landmark agreement Tuesday between Palestinian factions on an political initiative that implicitly recognises Israel’s right to exist, a historic policy shift by Hamas which has long advocated the destruction of the Jewish state.
Israel dismissed the deal however as an “internal matter”.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner urged restraint, calling for the release of the soldier and for Israel to act prudently to ensure an already dire situation for Palestinians does not deteriorate.
“Both sides need to step back from the brink before this becomes a crisis that neither can control,” she said in a statement.
The situation on the ground was further complicated when an armed Palestinian group claiming to hold the soldier also threatened to kill a Jewish settler it said it had abducted in the occupied West Bank.
“Unless the aggression stops, we will kill the settler,” said a representative of the Popular Resistance Committees, which claimed Sunday’s attack along with the armed wing of Hamas and another group.
Hamas was holding an urgent Palestinian cabinet meeting in a bid to find a way out of the standoff, with deputy prime minister Nasserdine al-Shaer calling on the kidnappers to “preserve his life.”
Men, women and children packed into cars fled into Rafah from areas to the east as Israeli troops entered the territory while armed gunmen prowled the streets.—AFP
RAFAH (Gaza Strip), June 28: Israel sent forces into Gaza on Wednesday and knocked out bridges and a power station from air in a pre-dawn assault to try to free a soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants.
