Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault
 

Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya examines the damage to a Palestinian house after Israel forces withdrew from the area, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip , Saturday, July 8, 2006. Haneya urged both Palestinian militants and Israel on Saturday to halt armed operations in Gaza and restore calm.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya holds a child as he visits a Palestinian house after Israel forces withdrew from the area, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 8, 2006.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    GAZA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya urged both Palestinian militants and Israel on Saturday to halt armed operations in Gaza and restore calm.

    "To get out of the current crisis, all concerned parties must restore calm on the basis of a mutual ceasefire," he said in a statement.

    Haneya also called for negotiations to put an end to the Gaza crisis triggered by the abduction of the 19-year-old Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants during a cross-border raid on June 25.

    The Hamas-led Palestinian government was "keen to settle that issue in a calm and diplomatic way without any pressure or military escalation," said the statement.

    The Palestinian prime minister also condemned the ongoing Israeli massive offensive in Gaza in order to free Shalit as "collective punishment."

    "Israeli troops are deliberately targeting Palestinian children, women and civilians. What is happening in the Gaza Strip is a conclusive proof that Israel conducts random killings and collective punishment against the Palestinian people," said Haneya. Nearly 40 Palestinians including civilians and one Israeli soldier have been killed since Israel launched the Gaza offensive on June 28.

    Haneya, meanwhile, urged Israel to release eight Hamas government ministers and dozens of Hamas lawmakers who were arrested by Israel in the West Bank following the start of the Gaza operation.

    In addition, Haneya called on the international community to pressurize Israel to stop the military moves in Gaza. "The international community must open its eyes to the catastrophe of the Palestinian prisoners (held in Israeli jails) and pressurize Israel to stop brutal acts against our people," he said.

    Israeli troops have expanded their offensive in Gaza, intruding toward Gaza City on early Saturday. At least two Palestinians including a policeman were killed by Israeli tank fire during the incursion.

    The ongoing Gaza operation, aimed to free the abducted soldier and halt Palestinian militant rocket firing, is the first major Israeli military move in Gaza since Israel quit the coastal strip last summer after 38 years of military rule.

    Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, took part in the June 25 raid on an Israeli army post, during which Shalit was kidnapped and two other Israeli soldiers were also killed. But the Hamas-led Palestinian government said that it did not order the attack and had no foreknowledge of the abduction, accusing Israel of using the kidnapping as a pretext to topple its rule.

    Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is sworn to Israel's destruct.

    The group took power in late March following a January election victory. Enditem

Related: Palestinian militant groups claim firing rockets onto Israel

    GAZA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Three Palestinian militant groups claimed on Saturday that their militants launched two homemade rockets at Israel's southern town of Sderot.

    Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, and the National Resistance Brigades, which is an armed splinter group of the Democratic Front for the liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks in a joint statement.

    "The rocket firing is a response to the continuing Israeli assassinations and massacres against the Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip," said the statement.

    "Israeli Apache helicopters flew over the area where the rockets were fired, but our fighters return unharmed," it added. There was no immediate report of any casualties in the attacks. The rocket firing came as Israeli troops intruded toward Gaza City on early Saturday, killing at least two Palestinians including a policeman.

    Over 30 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed since the Israeli army launched the massive ground offensive on June 28 in a bid to rescue an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants and thwart Palestinian rocket firing. But Israeli army officials have said that the ongoing offensive might diminish rocket attacks but will not halt them altogether. Enditem

    2 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in Gaza

A Palestinian boy runs past smoke to avoid Israeli sniper fire during an Israeli army incursion in Beit Lahiya, in the northen Gaza Strip, Friday July 7, 2006. Israeli air and ground operations against the Palestinians continued on Friday. So far, over 30 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed and over 100 Palestinians have been injured since the start of the Israeli military operation on June 28, according to medics and witnesses. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

A Palestinian carries a boy to the hospital, who was injured  in an Israeli army incursion in Beit Lahiya, in the northen Gaza Strip, Friday July 7, 2006. Israeli air and ground operations against the Palestinians continued on Friday. So far, over 30 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed and over 100 Palestinians have been injured since the start of the Israeli military operation on June 28, according to medics and witnesses. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    GAZA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were killed and eight others wounded by Israeli troops near Gaza City on Saturday, Palestinian security sources said.

    Dozens of Israeli army tanks pushed through the Karni commercial crossing on the eastern Gaza border with Israel on early Saturday morning and intruded toward Gaza City, said the sources.

    Palestinian security forces, monitoring the border, have evacuated from their posts, the sources added. Two Palestinians including a policeman were killed by the Israeli army tank fire in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, according to the sources. Meanwhile, Palestinian medics said that eight other Palestinians sustained moderate or serious injuries during the Israeli incursion. Full story>>

    Israeli military operation goes on, 6 Palestinians killed

    GAZA/RAMALLAH, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Israeli air and ground operations against the Palestinians continued on Friday, and six Palestinians were killed and 10 injured, medics and witnesses said.

    Two militants were killed and three injured Friday afternoon in a fresh Israeli air strike on the northern town of Beit Lahya. On Friday morning, another two militants were killed and two injured in two separate air strikes on Beit Lahya and Jabalya in northern Gaza Strip, security sources said.

    Medics said that a fifth Palestinian who was critically wounded in an air raid Thursday night died in hospital on Friday of his wounds.

    Meanwhile, an Israeli army force stormed on Friday morning a Palestinian refugee camp in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, killing a Palestinian militant, member of the al-Aqsa Brigades, the Fatah's armed wing.

    Khaled Radi, spokesman of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, said that the death toll of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army since Thursday predawn reached 28, adding that 92 people were also injured, many of them women and children.

    On Thursday predawn, the Israeli army expanded its "Summer Rains" operation against the Gaza Strip and sent more tanks and armored personnel carriers into former Jewish settlements in northern Gaza Strip.

    Israeli army officials said that the aim of the operation was to free an abducted Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip and prevent Palestinian rocket firing. Enditem