GAZA CITY – Israel pounded Gaza for a
fifth day Saturday as it vowed no let-
up in its air campaign to halt rocket
attacks by militants which has killed
more than 120 Palestinians. A defiant Hamas fired five more
rockets into Israel as the Islamist
movement rejected growing
international calls for a halt to
hostilities, insisting Israel must act first. Diplomatic efforts to stop the violence
saw US President Barack Obama
telephoning Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Washington
offering to use its relationships in the
Middle East to bring about a return to calm. But speaking at a news conference in
Tel Aviv on Friday, Netanyahu said he
would not end the military campaign
until he achieved his goal of stopping
the Hamas fire and preparations
gathered pace for a possible ground assault. “No international pressure will prevent
us from striking, with all force, against
the terrorist organisation which calls
for our destruction,” he said. “No terrorist target in Gaza is immune.” Despite international concern, truce
efforts have been unsuccessful,
according to Egypt, which has been
key in mediating previous ceasefires
between Hamas and Israel. “Egypt has communicated with all
sides to halt violence against civilians
and called on them to continue with
the truce agreement signed in
November 2012,” the foreign ministry
said. “Unfortunately, these efforts… have
met with stubbornness.” After weeks of rocket fire into its
southern flank, Israel appeared bent
on dealing a fatal blow to Hamas. Ismail Haniya, Gaza’s former premier
and the most senior Hamas official in
the coastal enclave, ruled out any halt
to hostilities. “(Israel) is the one that started this
aggression and it must stop, because
we are (simply) defending ourselves,”
he said. - Ground attack decision soon - Israel says preparations are under
way for a possible ground attack, with
tanks and artillery massed along the
border and some 33,000 reservists
mobilised out of 40,000 approved by
the cabinet. More armour was seen heading south
on Saturday morning. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
said he expected a political decision
on a possible ground operation by
Sunday. “At the moment we are dealing with
the first phase… air attacks,” he told
Channel One television. “I imagine we shall decide tomorrow
(Saturday) or the day after on the next
stage.” Early Saturday, 16 Palestinians died in
a wave of Israeli air strikes as
Operation Protective Edge entered its
fifth day, taking the overall death toll
to 121, medics said. The Israeli military said it had struck
“several terrorists conspiring to launch
rockets at Israel” and “a weapons
cache concealed within a mosque in
the central Gaza Strip.” So far, no one in Israel has been killed.
Two have been seriously wounded,
including a man at a petrol station hit
by a rocket. In northern Israel, at least one rocket
fired from Lebanon struck an open
area near the town of Metula on
Friday, prompting troops to respond
with shelling, the army said. The military believed a Palestinian
group fired it in solidarity with Hamas,
public radio reported. - ‘Military actions must stop’ - The escalating violence brought more
offers of truce negotiations from the
White House Friday. “There are a number of relationships
the United States has that we are
willing to leverage in the region to try
to bring about an end to the rocket
fire that’s originating in Gaza and, as
we saw this morning, in Lebanon,” said White House spokesman Josh
Earnest on Friday. He referred to taking steps as the US
and Egypt did in November 2012 to
broker a truce between Israel and
Hamas. Kuwait requested an emergency Arab
foreign ministers meeting to discuss
“the deteriorating situation”, which a
diplomat at the Arab League said will
be held on Monday. Israeli strikes on residential buildings
in Gaza brought a rebuke from the
UN’s human rights office over the
number of civilian casualties. “Even when a home is identified as
being used for military purposes, any
attack must be proportionate… and
precautions must be taken to protect
civilians,” said spokeswoman Ravina
Shamdasani. A group of 34 charities and NGOs also
called for an end to the fighting. “Military actions by all parties must
stop,” said a statement signed by
groups including ActionAid, CARE,
Oxfam and Save the Children. Amnesty International called for the
United Nations “to immediately impose
a comprehensive arms embargo on
Israel, Hamas and Palestinian armed
groups” and launch an enquiry into
“violations committed on all sides”. Since the start of Israel’s operation on
Tuesday, about 525 rockets have
struck the Jewish state, and Iron Dome
has shot down around 138, an army
spokeswoman told AFP on Saturday. The army Twitter account said that
overnight strikes “hit over 60 terror
targets, making a total of 1,160 since
the beginning of Operation Protective
Edge.” source:www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/israel-vows-let-hamas-defiant-gaza-toll-tops-120/

Both sides are guilty. Ceasefire is needed urgently