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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Israelis and militants fight on, defying truce efforts - ABC Online


Updated August 10, 2014 07:04:22


Israel launched more than 30 aerial attacks in Gaza on Saturday, killing seven Palestinians, and militants fired rockets at Israel as the conflict entered a second month, defying international efforts to negotiate an agreement for an extended ceasefire.


Medical officials in Gaza said two Palestinians were killed when their motorcycle was bombed and the bodies of three others were found beneath the rubble of one of three bombed mosques.


The air strikes which lasted through the night also bombed three houses, and fighter planes also strafed open areas, medical officials said.


The Israeli military said that since midnight it had attacked more than 30 sites in the coastal enclave where Hamas Islamists are dominant, without specifying the targets.


Gaza militants fired 28 rockets at towns in Israel's south on Saturday, setting off alarm sirens and causing no damage or injuries, a military spokeswoman said.


Violence also picked up in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian territory where president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement holds sway, where a Palestinian man, 43, died of a gunshot wound to the chest from a confrontation with Israeli soldiers in the city of Hebron, medical officials said.


Israeli troops shot and killed another Palestinian man, 20, on Friday at a protest near a Jewish settlement outside Ramallah, Israeli military officials said.


Egypt, helped by American and European mediators, has made no visible progress toward resuming a 72-hour ceasefire that halted the fighting between Israel and Gaza militants that began on July 8.


Israel had no plans to send negotiators back to Cairo "as long as the shooting goes on", an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.


The ceasefire expired on Friday with the sides still far apart on the terms for renewing the deal and each side blaming the other for refusing to extend it.


Israel accused Hamas of firing several rockets about four hours before the deal expired at 8:00am (local time). In all, Gaza militants fired 57 rockets at Israel throughout Friday.


Israel also launched airstrikes in Gaza on Friday, killing five Palestinians, among them a 10-year-old boy near a mosque in Gaza City. An Islamic Jihad militant and three other Palestinians were killed in the southern Gaza Strip.


Police said two people in Israel were injured by mortar fire from Gaza on Friday.


US, Britain call for end to fighting, ceasefire deal


By resuming attacks against Israel, Gaza militants appeared to be trying to ramp up pressure and making it clear they were ready to fight on to fulfil a goal of ending a blockade of the territory that both Israel and neighbouring Egypt have imposed.


Heavy civilian casualties and destruction during Israel's campaign against militants in packed residential areas of the Gaza Strip have raised international alarm over the past month, but efforts to prolong a ceasefire at talks in Cairo failed.


Gaza officials say the war has killed 1,886 Palestinians, most of them civilians.


Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have died in the fighting that began on July 8, after a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes into Israel.


It expanded its air and naval bombardment of the Gaza Strip into a ground offensive on July 17, and pulled its infantry and armour out of the enclave on Tuesday after saying it had destroyed more than 30 infiltration tunnels dug by militants.


US president Barack Obama and British prime minister David Cameron have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza and pressed for action that would lead to a permanent ceasefire.


"On Gaza, they condemned the resumption of rocket fire and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities leading to a sustainable ceasefire," the White House said in a statement.


"President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron reiterated support for Israel's right to self-defence while emphasising the need for all sides to minimise civilian casualties."


UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has urged the parties "not to resort to further military action that can only exacerbate the already appalling humanitarian situation in Gaza".








Gallery: Conflict flares on Gaza Strip

Reuters


Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, israel, palestinian-territory-occupied


First posted August 09, 2014 19:39:29



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