Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault

    GAZA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas-led Palestinian government Saturday called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel, a day after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution deploring the recent Israeli offensive into Gaza.

    "The General Assembly's stance was only condemnation and denunciation," said the cabinet's spokesman Ghazi Hamad, demanding a resolution that was expected to be "more serious by imposing sanctions on Israel."

    The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution deploring the Israeli military offensive in Gaza Strip and calling for its immediate withdrawal from the area.

    Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siam of Hamas had slammed the Friday resolution, describing it as an "unjust resolution that equalizes between the victim and the executioner."

    Meanwhile, Israeli military raids in Gaza Strip continued. Helicopter gunships fired missiles at two houses and a charity in Gaza city overnight Saturday. There were no casualties in the assaults as the Israeli army warned the owners of the houses in advance.

    "The latest military escalation targeting civilian houses and charities are war crimes in violation of the international law," Hamad told reporters in Gaza.

    Israel resumed shelling houses in Gaza after the death of an Israeli woman in home-made rocket attack that targeted its southern town of Sderot last Wednesday. The missile attack came a week after the killing of 19 Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza by Israeli artillery shelling.

    The UN and international community should have taken binding resolutions to stop Israel from striking at Gaza houses, concluded Hamad.

Related:

    Aides to Abbas, Olmert to meet in Washington

    GAZA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are to meet in Washington to pave the way for a summit meeting between the two leaders, Palestinian media reported Saturday. >>>

    Israeli aircraft resume airstrikes on Gaza

    GAZA, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israeli army aircraft resumed its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Friday night in the third consecutive day, hitting by rockets the homes of Palestinian militants, said local security sources and eyewitnesses. >>>

    UN ponders draft resolution condemning Israel's Gaza offensive

    UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly (GA) held an emergency special session on Friday to debate a draft resolution sponsored by Qatar that seeks to condemn Israel's recent military operations in the Gaza Strip, particularly the deadly attack on Palestinian homes in Beit Hanoun. Full Story