Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Israeli military pressed ahead with its offensive against Hamas, moving into Gaza City, and its intelligence chiefs said the capacity of the militant Islamic group to fire rockets into Israel had been degraded.
“Israel is nearing the goals it set for itself, but more effort, determination and patience is needed,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday in remarks to the Cabinet published by his office. “We must not, at the last minute, lose what has been achieved.”
Israeli troops, who had been holding positions outside Gaza City, pushed into its southern neighborhoods yesterday. Israel started bombing Gaza on Dec. 27 and sent in ground troops a week later with the declared purpose of stopping the barrage of rockets being fired from Gaza.
Israel’s intelligence agencies said the 16-day assault had left Hamas leaders in Gaza anxious for a cease-fire. Khaled Mashaal, the Damascus, Syria-based Hamas leader, said the group will keep fighting.
“Hamas is in deep distress” and its leaders are “eager to reach a cease-fire because of the harsh blow they have sustained,” Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel said at a Jerusalem press conference, citing an intelligence briefing.
The number of rockets fired has been cut to about 20 a day from more than 70 before the war, Yehezkel said. About 500 rockets and 200 mortar shells have been fired since the start of the operation, he said. Israel says more than 3,200 rockets and mortar shells were fired at its territory from Gaza between the beginning of 2008 and the start of the hostilities.
Urban Areas
Hamas militants “prefer not to confront our forces and are hiding deep in the urban areas,” Yehezkel said, citing Major General Amos Yadlin, the head of military intelligence, adding that the group is “unlikely to raise a white flag.”
Israeli troops killed several gunmen early yesterday and the air force hit more than 60 targets, including a mosque used to store weapons, the army said in an e-mailed statement. At least 12 gunmen were killed as the troops entered the southwestern Gaza City neighborhoods of Tal al Hawa and Sheikh Ejlein, said Mu’awia Hassanein, chief of Palestinian emergency medical services.
The Israeli offensive has killed 887 Palestinians and wounded at least 3,600, about half of them civilians, according to Gaza hospital officials. Thirteen Israelis have died, nine in the fighting in Gaza and four in rocket attacks.
Reserve Soldiers
Israeli reserve soldiers are increasingly being integrated into combat operations in Gaza, army spokesman Avi Benayahu said last night.
For now, the main job of the reservists will likely be to replace regular soldiers “who need a rest after operating in Gaza for more than a week,” Ephraim Kam, military analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said in a telephone interview.
Hamas “will not accept any negotiations for a cease-fire while we are under fire,” Mashaal said in Damascus. “Let Israel withdraw first and our people live rightfully without a siege and with open crossings.”
Hamas seeks the lifting of the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza after the group seized control of the seaside strip in June 2007 and ended a partnership government with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
Hamas Weapons
Mashaal said Hamas won’t accept “any discussion” about restricting its possession of weapons. “No one has the right to limit the right of our people to look for a rifle to defend ourselves,” he said. Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and the European Union, refuses to recognize Israel or any peace agreements with it.
A French-Egyptian proposal calls for an “immediate cease- fire with the opening of safe corridors for relief into Gaza” and invites both sides to discuss steps including securing the borders and lifting an economic blockade.
Amos Gilad, the Israeli official involved in truce talks, yesterday played down Mashaal’s rejection of the truce proposal. “The extremist declarations from Damascus come from those who feel safe and immune to attack,” he said. “I am not sure that the leadership in Gaza feels the same way.”
As the fighting continues, international aid groups are warning of a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food, water and medicines in the impoverished Gaza Strip, where about 1.5 million people live in an area of 360 square kilometers.
The UN resumed aid distribution after working out a security arrangement with Israel to assure the safety of its drivers. One driver working for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees was killed and two were injured on Jan. 8. The UN said that Israeli gunfire killed the driver. Israel says it’s still investigating the incident.
Since Israel began bombing Gaza Dec. 27, its benchmark stock index, the TA-25 Index, has gained 9 percent. Government bonds have dropped 1.1 percent, while the shekel fell 0.3 percent against the dollar.
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Topic: Israeli Troops Move Into Gaza City as Olmert Vows to Press On (Read 449 times)