Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday called for international pressure on the Islamic group Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel.
"This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas -- a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction," Bush said in a statement released by the White House.
"I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace."
"The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected. Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable," Bush noted.
The Bush administration has been denouncing Hamas' rockets fire into Israel since Israel began one week ago its reprisal aerial strikes against Hamas, which is ruling Gaza.
"Israel has a right to defend itself from these rocket attacks," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters Friday.
Prior to the remarks by Johndroe, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also reiterated American call for cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
"It is obvious that that cease-fire should take place as soon as possible, but we need a cease-fire that is durable and sustainable."
It was reported that more than 400 Palestinians were killed while some 2,000 were wounded in the Israeli offensive.
Israel to entrench deeper into war with Hamas
JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Cast Lead operation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip entered the seventh day on Friday and IDF is getting prepared for a ground operation to put an end to rocket attacks on southern Israel, analysts said an all-out war between Israel and Hamas was increasingly inevitable.
Despite earlier speculations of a month-long confrontation before Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush leave office, analysts now believe the confrontation has reached a point of no return, which Israel will have to see through to the end.
Senior UN official: Gaza conflict threatens regional peace, stability UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The future of the Middle East peace process, the stability of the region and the safety of ordinary people in the Gaza Strip have been seriously jeopardized by Hamas rocket attacks and the "excessiveness of Israel's response," a senior United Nations envoy warned Friday.
"Much of Gaza's infrastructure has now been destroyed. The death and injury toll in Gaza continues to mount. Hamas rockets are now reaching 40 kilometers into Israel," Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told a press conference here via video-link from Jerusalem.
Senior official: UN has contacts with Hamas
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations does have contacts with Hamas and has warned the Hamas militants against firing rockets into southern Israel, a senior UN official said on Friday.
Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, made the statement while briefing reporters here on the situation in Gaza at a press conference via video link from Jerusalem.
Erekat: Abbas heads to New York soon
RAMALLAH, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat announced that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would leave later on Friday with other Arab leaders for New York to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.
"President Abbas will head to News York with other Arab leaders to achieve an Arab consensus to oblige Israel to achieve an unconditioned immediate stop of the offensive on Gaza," Erekat told reporters in Ramallah.
Two more killed in seventh day of airstrikes in Gaza
GAZA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war planes carried out four airstrikes on targets south of the Gaza City on Friday evening, killing two Palestinian civilians, doctors and witnesses said.
Previously, eight Palestinians were killed, including five children, in the ongoing Israeli intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah says Israel would be surprised by Hamas rockets
BEIRUT, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah's head of its Parliamentary block Mohammed Raad said Friday that Israel will be surprised by the range of the rockets fired by Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Local Naharnet website reported.
"The enemy will be surprised by the range of rockets which the resistance has in Gaza," Raad was quoted as saying in a rally in southern Lebanon.
Gaza needs political, weaponry, propagandistic support: Iranian cleric
TEHRAN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran's influential cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here on Friday that Gaza needs political, weaponry and propagandistic support today, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Addressing the crowd at the Friday prayer, he said that "There is no shortage of soldiers there in Gaza today but Muslim Ummah (community) must provide political, weaponry and propagandistic support for Gazans."
About 250 foreigners leave Gaza
JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Some 250 foreign nationals living in the Gaza Strip left the missiles-battered Palestinian enclave on Friday morning, local news service Ynet reported.
The group, mostly women married to Palestinian citizens, would be transported to Jordan via Israel before they head for their countries of origin, said the report, adding that some representatives of international organizations were also included.
First senior Hamas member killed in Israeli airstrike
GAZA, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nizar Rayan, one of the top Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday afternoon, the Palestinian Hamas movement said in a statement sent to reporters.
The statement said that the Israeli war planes carried out airstrikes against one of Rayan's house in northern Gaza Strip, killing the Hamas leader, his wife and eight of his children.
