Israel pounds Gaza on Day 2 of ground assault, 35 killed
GROUND ASSAULT Gazans fear increased bombings, Hamas says ready to fight; 30,000 flee while others say nowhere is safe
GAZA CITY: At least 35 Gazans were killed on Friday as Israel pressed a major ground offensive in the coastal enclave, medics said.
An Israeli soldier was also killed as troops began an attack on the Gaza periphery aimed at destroying Hamas’ network of cross-border tunnels, said the army.
In a night of sustained bombardment as well as combating on the ground, Israel suffered its first military casualty of the 11-day war. The soldier –Eitan Barak, 20 – was possibly killed by ‘friendly fire’ in the north of Gaza, according to media reports. Israel’s chief military spokesman Brig Gen Moti Almoz said the military was investigating the circumstances behind his death.
Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to “prepare for the possibility of widening, significantly,” the ground operation, but acknowledged “there is no guarantee of 100% success”. Hamas has warned Israel of “dreadful consequences” of the conflict’s escalation.
GAZA: Gaza’s Palestinians hunkered down in fear for their lives while Hamas militants urged defiance after Israel sent forces into the densely populated territory on Thursday after 10 days of cross-border fire.
Residents l arg ely abandoned the usually teeming streets after a fevered night of bombardment. Ships spitting machinegun fire drifted closer to the desert enclave’s Mediterranean shore, artillery shells lit the skyline orange every few seconds and buildings shook from the air attacks.
Small groups of drowsy men trudged to Friday prayers in Gaza City despite the frequent boom of Israeli artillery.
“We’re terrified. My whole family hears the bombs fall around us and we could be hit any time. We feel like there’s nothing we can do to protect ourselves,” said Yousef al-Hayek, 60, wearing a white robe and clasping prayer beads.
“Everything’s in God’s hands. The invasion was expected, but how it will end is not yet clear. We hope for a truce.”
Among the 35 Palestinians killed in the night darkness after Israeli announced ground operations to destroy underground tunnels used by militants were three young cousins — Mohammed, Mohammed and Ali Nutaiz, aged between 4 and 26. They fled with their fami- lies from Israeli tank fire in an eastern border town, only to be killed when the house to which they fled was shelled, a relative told Reuters at their funeral.
Palestinian medics say 222 of the 260 Gazans killed in the hostilities have been civilians, including 40 children.
Hamas said it welcomed Israel’s ground thrust and looked forward to killing and capturing soldiers after many of its some 1,400 rockets — according to the Israeli military — so far were
deflected by missile defences. Just one Israeli civilian has been killed, as well as one soldier in the incursion.
“Are you promising us what we are waiting for? Gaza is waiting for you to suffer bitter death,” Abu Ubeida, the masked and camouflaged spokesman of Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam brigades, boasted last week.
“The world will see the skulls of your soldiers stepped on by the bare feet of our children. We will turn it into the promised hope of freedom dawning soon for our prisoners,” he said, referring to the militants’ hope of abducting Israeli troops and exchanging them for Palestinian prisoners.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said on Friday it was stepping up emergency aid to Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive has made water shortages worse and stoked fears of more sewage contamination and water-borne diseases.
On Tuesday, UN aid agencies and the Inter national Committee of the Red Cross war ned that after years of Gaza’s water system deteriorating, damage from the attacks meant the whole coastal strip was facing a water crisis within days. Some 1,600 homes in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged, displacing nearly 10,000 people, Pitt said. More than 22,000 people have sought refuge in 24 facilities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), a spokesperson said.