Israel blasts Hamas targets as diplomacy gains steam

Israeli warplanes and gunboats blasted more than two dozen Hamas positions today, targeting weapons storage facilities, training centres and homes of leaders as its offensive against Gaza’s Islamic militant rulers entered a second week.

There were tentative signs that the current phase of fighting is nearing its end. Most of the air strikes targeted empty buildings and abandoned sites, suggesting Israel may be running out of targets.

Ground troops massed on the border, waiting for the signal to invade Gaza, but international cease-fire efforts were also gaining momentum.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is visiting the region next week, and US President George Bush and UN chief Ban Ki-moon both spoke in favour of an internationally monitored truce.

Israel launched the offensive on December 27 in response to intensifying rocket fire by Hamas militants in Gaza. The operation has killed more than 430 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, according to Palestinian and UN counts. Four Israelis have also been killed, and rocket attacks on southern Israel persist.

In the latest attacks, the army struck the homes of two Hamas operatives, saying the buildings were used to store weapons and plan attacks. Hamas outposts, training camps and rocket launching sites also were targeted, it said.

Early today, it dropped leaflets in downtown Gaza City ordering people off the streets.

Later in the day, several air strikes struck the city, killing a night watchman at a Gaza City school.

Four people, including a mid-level Hamas commander, died of wounds sustained earlier, Gaza health officials said.

Palestinian militants fired three rockets into southern Israel, causing no injuries.

The Israeli air strikes have badly damaged Gaza’s infrastructure, knocking out power and water in many areas and raising concerns of a looming humanitarian disaster.

Israel briefly opened its border yesterday to allow nearly 300 Palestinians with foreign passports to flee the besieged area. The evacuees told of crippling shortages of water, electricity and medicine.

Maxwell Gaylard, UN humanitarian co-ordinator for the Palestinian Territories, said some 2,000 people have been wounded in the past week and a “significant number” of the dead were women and children. “There is a critical emergency right now in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Israel denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and has increased its shipments of goods into Gaza. It says it has confined its attacks to militants while trying to prevent civilian casualties.

While ground troops remained poised to enter Gaza, Israel also has left the door open to a diplomatic solution, saying it would accept a cease-fire if it is enforced by international monitors.

This latest round of violence erupted after the expiration of a six-month cease-fire that was repeatedly marred by sporadic rocket attacks on Israel.

A call for international monitors appeared to be gaining steam.

At the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders to intensify efforts to achieve an immediate cease-fire that includes monitors to enforce the truce and possibly protect Palestinian civilians.

In Washington, President George Bush yesterday branded the rocket fire an “act of terror” and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.

“The US is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected,” Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address. “Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continued furious telephone diplomacy to arrange a truce, but said she had no plans to make an emergency visit to the region.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and several Arab foreign ministers were flying to New York over the weekend to urge the UN Security Council to adopt an Arab draft resolution that would condemn Israel and demand a halt to its bombing campaign in Gaza.

Abbas, whose forces in Gaza were ousted by Hamas in June 2007, still claims authority over the area.

The council is expected to discuss the draft resolution on Monday. But the US said the draft is “unacceptable” and “unbalanced” because it makes no mention of halting the Hamas rocket attacks.