Israel expands Gaza offensive

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli tanks swept into the central Gaza
Strip and an air raid targeting Hamas militants killed five
Palestinians, three of them children, on Wednesday as Israel
expanded a two-week-old offensive.

Israel has vowed to continue the operation, which has
already cost the lives of over 65 Palestinians, until Corporal
Gilad Shalit is freed and militants stop launching makeshift
rockets over the border.

To the sound of gunfire, dozens of armored vehicles
trundled into central Gaza down the same road from which troops
pulled out less than a year ago, when Israel abandoned the
territory after 38 years of occupation.

Israel has rejected calls from the governing Hamas Islamist
movement for negotiations on a prisoner swap to the end the
crisis over the abduction of the 19-year-old tank gunner on
June 25. He was seized by Hamas’s armed wing and two other
factions.

Israeli forces had already pushed into the edge of southern
Gaza, where Shalit was taken immediately after his capture.
They had also entered the north of the territory, source of
much of the rocket fire into Israel.

The latest thrust, to the main road linking north and south
Gaza, severely restricts movement within the territory of 1.4
million. One Palestinian policeman was killed in clashes.

“Our main target is the terrorist infrastructure — the
rocket crews, the gunmen, the arms caches,” said Israeli
commander Colonel Yoel, who could not give his last name.

“But of course we are here to show that if, God forbid, any
of us is captured by the enemy, the army will do everything to
secure his return.”

AIR RAID

At the northern edge of Gaza City, five people were killed
in air strikes that the army said had targeted at senior Hamas
commanders. Three of the dead were children when the
three-storey building they were in collapsed.

Among 18 wounded was the Abu Anas al-Ghandour, commander of
Hamas’s armed wing in northern Gaza. A military spokeswoman
said the building was being used for plotting attacks.

Hamas, already struggling with a U.S.-led aid embargo,
accuses Israel of trying to topple its elected government.

Western countries cut aid in the hope of forcing Hamas to
recognize Israel — instead of advocating its destruction —
renounce violence and accept peace accords.

The European Union and United Nations, though not
Washington, have also been heavily critical of Israel’s
offensive. At least 23 Palestinian civilians are among the 66
dead.

U.N. agencies told Israel on Tuesday that it was not doing
enough to ease a threatened humanitarian crisis.

Suffering has grown in Gaza since Israel bombed its main
power plant early in the offensive, causing widespread
blackouts and also hampering water supplies. Bridges and roads
have also been attacked in almost nightly air raids.

The Israeli army says that it has continued to permit
tonnes of food, fuel and medical supplies into Gaza despite the
closure, and rejects the idea that there are any shortages.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams at Kissufim)