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An Israeli soldier takes a break for prayer in front of an Armored Personnel Carrier at a staging area near Gaza. (AP/Oded Balilty)
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Palestinians swarm around the wreckage of a car where Israel eliminated three Hamas militants Saturday (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners October 3, 2004 |
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged Sunday to maintain a broad Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, saying troops will remain until Palestinian rocket attacks are halted. Israeli officials said the offensive -- in which 60 Palestinians and five Israelis have been killed since Wednesday -- will help clear the way for an Israeli withdrawal.
Israel poured 2,000 troops into northern Gaza after a Palestinian rocket attack on Wednesday killed two pre-schoolers in the Israeli town of Sderot.
Sunday seven Palestinians were killed, and three more died of wounds sustained earlier.
Speaking on Israel Radio, Sharon said he was determined to halt rocket fire on towns inside Israel and shelling of Jewish settlements in Gaza.
"The current situation cannot continue," Sharon said. "We have to expand ... the areas of operation in order to get the rocket launchers out of the range of Israeli towns," he added.
Israel is operating in a 5-mile swath of northern Gaza, forging a buffer zone aimed at keeping its cities and towns out of rocket range.
"The forces will need to remain there as long as this danger exists," Sharon told Israel's Army Radio.
Israeli officials said the military had no intention of setting up a long-term presence in northern Gaza, but they gave no time limit for the operation.
"Altogether, this operation is successful," Israeli chief of staf Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon told reporters in Gaza. "But we will continue this operation as long as we need. The troops are ready to continue, not in terms of days, but weeks."
Ya'alon also said that the IDF has already hit seven terror cells responsible for firing the rockets. The army says that of the sixty Palestinians killed, about fifty have been combatants, most of them Hamas militants, who have played the leading role in the firing of Kassam rockets.
In Sunday's fighting, four militants were killed in Israeli air strikes, including two men riding on a donkey cart just after firing a rocket at an Israeli town.
Later Sunday, militants fired two more rockets into southern Israel. The army said the rockets landed in open fields and caused no injuries.
The army said another militant was shot and killed in nearby Beit Hanoun as he planted a bomb with other militants.
Hospital officials said a 13-year-old boy was killed after being shot in the chest in eastern Jebaliya. Relatives said the boy had been playing outside his home. The army had no immediate comment.
In Jabaliya, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Raed Abu Wadi, 36, a deaf and mute man, as he stood on his balcony, hospital officials and witnesses said. The army said the man was armed and had run at soldiers.
Early Sunday, Israeli forces pulled back a few dozen meters from Jabaliya, leaving a swath of destruction. Bulldozers destroyed rows of homes, uprooted orchards and tore up roads. U.N. officials said dozens of people were made homeless.
Lt. Col. Ofer, an Israeli battalion commander, said troops were doing their best to avoid civilian casualties and inconvenience, but conceded that "accidents happen sometimes." He said gunmen were using groups of stone-throwing children for cover. "That's why we don't wait anymore. When we see a group of children gathering, we fire warning shots to disperse them."
About 15,000 people living in the area of the raid have been without water and electricity for days. Many ill people have been unable to reach hospitals or get their medicine, which health officials normally distribute at the beginning of each month.
The rocket attacks could complicate Sharon's plan to pull all troops and Israeli settlements from Gaza next year. Sharon insisted Sunday that the pullout would take place on schedule.
Hard-line opponents, including members of Sharon's own party, accuse the prime minister of caving in to terrorism and warn that a pullback will only increase further violence.
Against the backdrop of criticism, last week's fatal rocket attack left Sharon with little choice but to act, said Gerald Steinberg, a Middle East expert at Bar-Ilan University. "Not doing anything ... was not an option the government could accept," he said.
Raanan Gissin, a top adviser to Sharon, said the offensive would pave the way for the withdrawal by striking a tough blow against the militants.
"When we leave, it won't be under the threat of fire," Gissin said. "We have seized the initiative."
Palestinian say "uncle" -- well, sort of
After an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis, Palestinian legislators issued a statement Sunday implying that militants should stop firing rockets at Israel.
"The Palestinian Legislative Council, while asserting our people's right to resist Israel's ugly occupation, calls on all factions to put this resistance in a strategic frame that is consistent with the Palestinian higher interests," the lawmakers said.
Palestinian analysts said that this could be understood as a call to stop rocket attacks. They did not explain.
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