Gaza Assault Continues as Israel Rejects Cease-fire With Hamas
Israel's top leaders rejected a proposal for a cease-fire with Hamas today, rebuffing global pressure and continuing to pound Gaza for the fifth straight day.
The proposal called for a 48-hour halt on attacks, with a goal of implementing a more durable cease-fire. But after discussing the truce overnight, Israeli officials decided to reject the plan. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the assault's goal was to change the situation with Hamas permanently and that the cease-fire would not do that. A halt in operations would allow Hamas to rearm and reorganize, he said.
Officials have said privately that they want Hamas to agree to stop its rocket fire before Israel begins the process of calling a cease-fire. And an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman told the Washington Post that the proposal didn't come with a way to enforce the truce. "It does not contain any guarantees," he said.
In the absence of any agreement, the air and sea assault continued. Palestinian officials say that about 391 Palestinians have died in the airstrikes, and the United Nations says that number includes at least 62 civilians. More than 1,700 people have been injured.
Four Israelis also have been killed by rocket fire. Rockets from Gaza are reaching more deeply into Israeli territory than ever, putting 860,000 Israelis in range.
Although it rejected the cease-fire, Israel did say that it remained open to the possibility of a truce at some point. It also said that it would allow 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies to go into Gaza. That's on top of the 4,000 tons allowed in since the campaign began. U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes had called those supplies from Israel "wholly inadequate," saying that the medical supplies were just enough to cope and that fuel stocks had been depleted. Other countries, including the United States, Britain, China, Norway, and Iran, have pledged humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In a separate move, Israel's Supreme Court ordered its government today to allow international media into Gaza. Israel had increasingly restricted journalists from entering the strip over the past two months, and it closed the border completely when it began bombing on Saturday. The court said the government must allow up to 12 journalists to enter any time it opens the Erez crossing into Gaza.
The cease-fire proposal came from the French foreign minister, following calls by the Quartet—the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia—to implement an immediate truce.
For Washington, the conflict has necessitated particularly careful diplomacy. American officials publicly have been strongly supportive of Israel and say a cease-fire will work only if Hamas first proves that it won't restart its rocket attacks. But they're wary that this conflict could turn out like the 2006 war with Lebanon. Most observers believe that the Israeli assault on Hezbollah there strengthened enemies of the United States while undermining international support for both the United States and Israel. Still, U.S. pressure on Israel to agree to a cease-fire in Gaza has so far been unsuccessful.
- Read more about why the war on Gaza broke out now.
- See an interactive map of the Gaza Strip.
- Read today's Hot Docs on the war in Gaza.
Reader Comments
Settlements are not the problem - merely a red herring
Jonathan of PA would like to blame "extremists on both sides," equating "settler types in Israel" with terrorists (not just "militants") in Hamas. This is an entirely false equation. Terrorists intentionally kill as many non-combatant civilians as possible and implicitly threaten entire populations with genocidal murder. Settlers merely live in proximity with others. The two are very different, Jonathan, morally and in every other way. Why can't the Palestinians endure having Jews in their midst? Why cannot they live agreeably with Jews in their own projected "Palestine," extending protection and citizenship to them as Israel extends protection and citizenship to Israeli Arabs? Why is actual ethnic cleansing of Jews shamelessly made a central Palestinian Fatah condition of "peace" with Israel, when it so clearly betrays hatred, rejectionism and racism? What kind of peace does that promise?
Actually, in the real world your suggestion if acted on would create more, not less violence. Israel withdrew from Gaza, and thus inadvertently created Hamastan, just as it enormously strengthened Hezbollah when it precipitously withdrew from Lebanon. Withdrawal in the present conditions would extend Hamastan to the West Bank - not a good idea. Also: Palestinian and Arab genocidal violence and rejectionism preceded even the 1967 war, causing that war, when Israel had not taken over the West Bank & Gaza or put any settlements there. So settlements are neither the problem in Gaza, where there are none, nor in the West Bank.
A further error is your presumption that the West Bank is occupied territory that belongs to the Palestinian state. No, it is merely "Disputed Territory" whose final ownership is yet to be determined. There never has been a Palestinian state, so it cannot be "occupied Palestine." Israel conquered the West Bank from Jordan, so if it is "occupied" at all it is occupied Jordan. But Jordan has renounced its claim, so it is no longer occupied in that sense. According to Resolution 242 of the U.N., back in 1967, the parties in conflict (unnamed) should negotiate a peace treaty, in the context of which there would be adjustments to borders to accommodate Israel's legitimate security concerns. The Resolution does not say all the territory belongs to anyone, least of all the Palestinians, and must be returned. It calls for adjustments. Israel has sought to meet those requirements first through the Oslo Accords, and then at Camp David in 2000; it was Arafat who turned that down and started the Intifada as his response, along with a demand that 5 million Palestinians be accepted inside Israel in a "Right of Return." Rejectionism is the problem, and hate incitement, and a love of violence, not by the settlers, not by Israel, but by the Palestinians who are, in truth, merely the near face of an aggressive anti-West jihadi Islam that cannot stand any non-Muslim state in the Middle East and sees Israel as the West.
diane canada
isreal supplies their food and medication/has withheld any missiles admirably for well over a year while hamas and the palistinian people repeatedly assault the ppl of gaza and of isreal/as for arabs and damascus-you terrorized the united states and canada and you expect us to feel sorry for your ongoing deceits? my apologies to the jewish people for the warmongers that surround you
Let them meet their Allah
Since these Hamas cowards want to hide there weapons behind womens skirts and children, it only makes them more despicable. How stupid the offspring of these people to remain in the same area as a missile or rocket launcher. You not only have to question their sanity but their capacity to reason. If you tell a child the fire is hot and they still put their hand in the flame, who do you blame? Yes you have sympathy and repeat the warning and reassure them that you are only trying to look out for their best interests but come on. Eventually you take away the privileges that accompany maturity when you don't have the capacity to handle those responsibilities. Seriously! How else can you explain this behavior and irrational hatred of there half brothers who are the sons of Abraham and their mother Sarah.
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