Israeli troops in Gaza dig in, kill 2 Palestinians

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces dug in across a swathe of
the northern Gaza Strip and killed two Palestinians on Friday
following the bloodiest day of fighting with gunmen since 2004.

Witnesses said tank fire killed one man near the northern
town of Beit Lahiya, scene of the worst violence on Thursday,
when 19 Palestinians and a soldier were killed. An Israeli air
strike also killed a Hamas militant early on Friday.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard around Beit Lahiya. Some
residents said they wanted to leave but were too scared and
called on international organizations to get them out.

The army pushed deep into northern Gaza on Thursday, taking
over ruined settlements that Israel abandoned last year, in an
offensive launched with the aim of bringing home a captured
soldier and halting rocket fire into the Jewish state.

The incursion has piled more pressure on the Palestinian
government of the Hamas Islamist militant group, already
reeling from a Western aid embargo. Any lingering hope that
peace talks could be revived has been dashed by the violence.

“What is happening on Palestinian land is a crime against
humanity,” said Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, a group
sworn to destroy Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered tanks deep into
Gaza after Hamas militants fired rockets into a major Israeli
city for the first time. The offensive began last week with the
main goal of winning the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit,
captured in a raid from Gaza on June 25.

“The terrorists have paid a heavy price so far,” Israeli
military chief Lieutenant General Dan Halutz said.

Despite taking over what amounts to a buffer zone inside
Gaza, Israeli officials say there is no plan for long term
re-occupation of territory given up last year after 38 years of
military rule.

Hamas accuses Israel of using Shalit’s abduction as a
pretext to topple its elected administration. Israel has
detained more than a third of Haniyeh’s cabinet and hinted it
could assassinate Hamas leaders if Shalit is killed.

A poll in the Maariv daily on Friday showed 82 percent of
Israelis believe the Jewish state should kill Hamas leaders in
response to the crisis in Gaza.

Senior Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri said such sentiments
would backfire.

“The Israeli people will be sacrificing themselves if they
push their leaders toward escalation because whoever shares in
the crime against our people will one day pay for it,” he said.

An Israeli helicopter gunship wrecked Haniyeh’s empty Gaza
office before dawn on Sunday.

FORMER SETTLEMENTS

The former Jewish settlements have been used as sites to
launch rockets into Israel. Militants fired several overnight.

A Palestinian security source said over 100 tanks had
crossed into Gaza and more were massing outside.

The longer an offensive goes on, the more likely Israel
will come under international pressure to pull back.

The immediate trigger for expanding the offensive was
Tuesday’s rocket strike on Ashkelon, 12 km (7 miles) from Gaza,
The city is the furthest point reached by one of the makeshift
missiles, which spread panic but have caused few casualties.

At least 29 Palestinians, the majority of them militants,
have been killed since the Israeli offensive began, according
to Palestinian medics and officials.

Military chief Halutz said nearly 40 “people of terror” had
been killed. Hamas lawmaker Masri said most fatalities were
“children, civilians and innocent people.”

Israeli leaders would be happy if the operation resulted in
the fall of Hamas, but there is little idea what might take the
place of the Islamist group.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in Jerusalem)