Israel Continues Gaza Offensive as World Leaders Urge Restraint

Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks, aircraft and navy ships continued what appears to be a limited advance into the Gaza Strip on Friday, the second day of a ground invasion into the Palestinian territory. The Israeli army said early Friday that a soldier was killed in action during the operation the previous evening, the military's first fatality since the ground offensive began. It did not specify how the death occurred. Palestinian officials say at least 11 Gaza residents were killed Friday as the Palestinian death toll from Israel's 11-day operation passed 260. Most of the Palestinians who have died were civilians. In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reaffirmed "Israel's right to defend itself against terrorist threats." But in a phone call, he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the U.S. hopes Israel carries out a "precise operation to target tunnels," as Israeli has described the mission. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he is "alarmed at the serious escalation" in Gaza. He called for "an immediate end to the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas into Israel and Israeli retaliatory action." He also called on Israel to do "far more to stop civilian casualties." For now, it appears that Israel's incursion into Gaza is more limited than its 2008 and 2009 operation, known as Operation Cast Lead, when about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. Yonah Jeremy Bob, a legal affairs correspondent at The Jerusalem Post, told VOA the ground invasion seems to be restricted to targeted strikes by special forces in some urban neighborhoods. He says most of the Israeli troops are either massed in open spaces on the edge of Gaza or are starting to surround urban areas. "The Israeli government is hoping that with this initial operation and by destroying a lot of the tunnels in open areas, destroying more targets in some of the urban settings, that if they bloody Hamas' nose up enough, they'll be willing to settle for cease fire terms closer to what Israel wants," said Bob. Hamas in recent days has proposed a multi-year truce that includes demands such as the lifting of the long-standing Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, the opening of air, sea and land entries into Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners arrested by Israel last month in the West Bank. Israel has instead been pushing for an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that calls for a "cessation of hostilities" in exchange for an increased movement of people and goods between Gaza and Israel. Hamas has rejected the plan, saying the offer amounts to a surrender. Thousands of Israeli soldiers had massed along the border with Gaza in recent days in anticipation of a ground invasion. On Thursday, the Israeli military said 18,000 reserve soldiers would be mobilized to join the tens of thousands already called up. Since last week, Israel has carried out airstrikes on more than 2,000 targets in Gaza, and Hamas has launched more than 1,000 rockets at Israel.



from Voice of America http://ift.tt/1yA4r50