GAZA CITY — The Israeli tanks backed by drones rolled into southern Gaza Strip yesterday amid intensive use of machine gunfire. Witnesses said that the Palestinian resistance confronted the invading troops but no casualties were reported. They added that several Israeli military vehicles, bulldozers and tanks moved into Al-Shuwka village near the Gaza International Airport southeast of Rafah city in the southern of the Gaza Strip but the troops were confronted by stiff resistance, forcing it to retreat and to centralize around the Gaza airport.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas movement, said in a statement sent to the press that its fighters targeted the Israeli tanks in the area with five mortar shells. During the military operation, Al-Shuwka children’s school was exposed to the Israeli gunfire but no casualties have been reported.
Five Palestinians, including two civilians, were killed and 14 others were wounded in a similar invasion by Israeli troops at the same area on Monday. The Rafah city has been recently exposed to a series of attacks by Israeli Army attacks, with the Gaza International Airport, having been further devastated and vast areas of arable Palestinian lands having been razed.
Israeli military has recently threatened to wage a large-scale offensive on the Gaza Strip, within what Israel says “an attempt to stop Palestinian homemade shells-fire” onto nearby Israeli towns.
Separately, the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility yesterday for launching two rocket-propelled grenades at two Israeli military jeeps in Al-Maghazi refuge camp in the central Gaza Strip. They said the shelling came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
Also in Gaza, witnesses and local sources said that Israeli tanks entered Joher Al-Deek town eastern Gaza city and destroyed vast agricultural area in the town.
Meanwhile, the European Union is increasing pressure on Israel to end its nine-month-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to prevent a humanitarian crisis there, an official said in Jerusalem yesterday. “EU ministers are expressing growing concern over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the lack of progress in the peace talks” with the Palestinians, he told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Our embassies in Europe report increasing pressure to try to end the blockade.”
But Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a meeting with her Romanian counterpart Adrian Cioroianu that any talk about ending the blockade only weakens Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with whom Israel renewed peace talks in November. “Any indirect support of Hamas, even if it is done through discussions on the crossings or the humanitarian situation, weakens those interested in reaching an agreement,” Livni’s office quoted her as saying. “The Palestinian people has no future with Hamas and we will continue to fight its terrorism,” she added.
Brussels does not recognize Hamas’ government in Gaza and considers the Islamist group a terror organization, but it has repeatedly opposed Israel’s blockade, urging it to allow supply shipments into the impoverished territory. “We’re in favor of opening up crossing into Gaza, particularly Rafah (with Egypt) and Karni,” an EU official told AFP.
“We’ve expressed our concern about the limitation of fuel and electricity supplies, which we don’t think is helpful and could compound the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” Israel closed vital border crossings and restricted supplies to Gaza after Hamas seized control of the strip in June.
Israeli soldiers take up their position during a military operation in the West Bank village of Beita near Nablus on Thursday. (Reuters)
