282 dead in Gaza, Israel mobilized thousands of reservists

Israel continued its air attacks Sunday in Gaza, which have caused more than 280 dead in 24 hours, and mobilized thousands of reservists for a possible ground offensive. The so-called "hard lead" of violence ever since the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel in 1967, is designed according to the Hebrew state to put an end to rocket attacks from Gaza on towns in the south.

• Israeli attacks have killed 282, mostly Hamas policemen, and wounded 600, according to a new assessment of the Palestinian emergency services.
  Meanwhile, some twenty new rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip Sunday in southern Israel without causing casualties. One of them, such as Grad, reached for the first time Gan Yavne near the port of Ashdod, at more than thirty miles from Gaza, according to Israeli rescue.
  
  Leaving the specter of a ground offensive in Gaza, Israel has decided to mobilize more than 6.000 reservists, announced an official.
  ’The cabinet approved the mobilization of 6.500 reservists. This includes mobilization of combat units and units of the passive defense,’ said the official at the weekly meeting of the government.
  
  Several raids were reported Sunday morning in Gaza City, in the camp of Jabaliya in the north and in the south in Khan Yunes and Rafah, according to witnesses.
  
  One of the strikes destroyed the ‘Saraya’, a complex housing the main prison in Gaza and a headquarters of the security forces of Hamas, killing four people, according to medical sources.
  The building of the Council of Ministers of Hamas in Gaza were also hit.
  
  The Israeli warplanes also destroyed the headquarters of the governorate of Rafah in the south of Gaza Strip, according to witnesses.
  
  During the night, Israeli aircraft have hit the television studios of Hamas, Al-Aqsa, but it continued to broadcast Sunday.
  
  The streets of Gaza City were almost deserted. Shops and schools remained closed as a sign of mourning. Hamas police blocked access to certain areas.
  
  A commercial strike was also observed in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Arab towns in Israel. Demonstrations of solidarity with Gaza took place in the West Bank, one of which was dispersed by the Palestinian police in Hebron.
  
  Demonstrations were also held in Sanaa, Dubai and Damascus.
  ’Tsahal (the Israeli army: NITT) will expand and deepen its operations in Gaza as long as necessary,’ said Barak.
  ’We need to know that this will not be short-lived and will not be easy, but we must show determination,’ he added.
  
  The outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that the objective of the operation launched in Gaza was to ‘allow citizens of southern Israel to live a normal life after years of incessant rocket attacks and mortar.
  
  At the United Nations, the Security Council called - in a non-binding declaration - the ‘immediate cessation’ of all violence and military activities, following an urgent meeting.
  
  In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu El Gheit said at the end of a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Egypt was trying to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which could be followed a truce.
  
  ’We should not now talk of divisions among the Palestinian people, the most important is to end the bloodshed and to agree on a truce,’ said Abbas, dislodged from power in Gaza by Hamas in June 2007.
  
  A truce of six months in and around Gaza negotiated by Egypt expired on December 19, Hamas controls the Gaza Strip who have refused to renew it.
  
  According to the Israeli army, about 230 Hamas targets have been targeted over the last 24 hours in Gaza.
  
  ’We're only targeting infrastructures and Hamas members but all those who act from civilian areas, including mosques are our targets’, told AFP Avital Leibovitz, a spokesman for the army.
  
  Israel will also allow to enter Gaza, 160 tons of medicine, food and clothing, and four ambulances, according to the spokesman.
  
  Pope Benedict XVI condemned, on Sunday, the violence between Israel and Hamas, calling for a ‘burst of humanity and wisdom of all those who have any responsibility in this situation.’
  Arab countries and Iran have offered to send aid to Gaza or to treat the wounded would be evacuated via Egypt. But Cairo has accused Hamas of blocking the transfer of wounded at the border.
• In fact, the Arab leaders are the real responsible in all this situation.
  
      
  Ennahar/ M. O./ AFP