by Xu Gang
JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A day after the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved a resolution calling for cease-fire in
the Gaza Strip, Israel declared on Friday in a defiant gesture that its defense
forces IDF will continue its operation in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.
After Arab and Western foreign ministers agreed on an
amended version of a Britain-drafted resolution on Thursday, the UNSC adopted
the Resolution 1860 calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza "leading to the
full withdrawal of Israeli forces." It was approved by 14 votes in favor while
the United States abstained.
Despite the UNSC resolution, Israeli Ministerial
Committee on National Security Affairs declared on Friday that the IDF will
continue its operation in Gaza.
"Israel has the right to defend its citizens and, to
this end, the IDF will continue acting in order to attain the goals of the
operation -- changing the security reality in southern Israel -- in accordance
with the plans that were approved at the beginning of the operation," said a
statement released shortly after the Friday cabinet session.
Operations will also continue to prevent the
smuggling of war material into Gaza, according to the statement sent to Xinhua.
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Smoke caused by Israeli military
operations is seen over Gaza City, Jan. 9, 2009. (Xinhua
Photo)
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Gallery>>> |
"It was also decided that the humanitarian activity
being carried out by Israel for the benefit of the residents of Gaza would
continue," added the statement.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
said that despite the UNSC resolution, IDF will continue operation in Gaza in
order to defend Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions with which it
has been assigned in the operation.
"Israel has never agreed that any outside body would
determine its right to defend the security of its citizens," Olmert said in a
statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office following the security cabinet
discussion.
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An old man sits beside the remains of
the house of Abu Obieda al-Jarah, a senior Hamas leader and deputy police
chief in the Gaza Strip, after an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City, Jan.
9, 2009. (Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>> |
The UNSC resolution was "impracticable," said Olmert,
adding that Palestinian militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets into
southern Israel on Friday.
"The rocket attacks this morning against residents of
the south only prove that the UNSC resolution is not practical and will not be
honored in actual fact by the Palestinian murder organizations," said the prime
minister.
Also on Friday, hours after the UNSC passed the
ceasefire resolution, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that the country
will continue to act only in its own interest.
"Israel has acted, is acting, and will continue to
act only according to its calculations, in the interest of the security of its
citizens and its right to self defense," local news service Ynet quoted Livni as
saying.
Though Israel decided to ignore the UNSC resolution
and continue its operation in Gaza, it remains to be seen whether the Jewish
state will expand the operation, which means Israel will possibly send tens of
thousands of reserve soldiers into Gaza to deal a harsher blow to Hamas.
It is reported that the IDF has been prepared for
such an extensive deployment.
Local daily Ha'aretz reported Friday on its website
that Israeli diplomatic-security cabinet ordered the IDF to expand its ongoing
ground incursion against Hamas targets in Gaza.
Asked whether the IDF has received the order, an IDF
spokeswoman told Xinhua on the phone that "we are not commenting on that."
"We will follow plans and decisions made by the
government," she said, adding that "we do not elaborate on the operational
details."
For its side, the Islamic Hamas movement has vowed
that the only solution to the ongoing Gaza crisis would be Israeli retreat from
Gaza, ceasing aggression and lifting the blockade, Lebanon's Elnashra website
reported Friday.
"The enemy has started to realize that the military
operations will not achieve the goals it sought," Osama Hamdan, Hamas
representative in Lebanon, was quoted as saying.
He said that Israel's continuous aggression on Gaza
is due to the "incompetence of the Arab countries," stressing that some Arab
regimes have been "collaborating" with Israel and will be held "accountable" for
that.
The Israeli operation in Gaza, dubbed Cast Lead,
entered its 14th day on Friday, with IDF proceeding to strike Hamas targets and
Palestinian militants in Gaza continuing to fire rockets into Israel.
Since Jan. 3, the operation beginning on Dec. 27
entered its second phase, with the IDF launching a large-scale ground incursion
into Gaza.
At least 779 Palestinians have been killed and about
3,200 wounded since the operation. On the Israeli side, 13 people have died,
including four killed in rocket attacks. The other nine were soldiers killed in
ground battle in Gaza.
Hamas team from Gaza arrives in Egypt for ceasefire
talks
CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A
delegation of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement arrived in Egypt on Friday
night for talks with Egyptian mediators on a ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza
Strip.
The team, grouping three Hamas leaders, Ayman Taha, Jamal
Abu Hashim and Salah el-Bardawil, crossed into Egypt via Rafah border crossing
at the Egyptian-Gaza border, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported. Full story
Abbas arrives in Egypt for talks with
Mubarak on Gaza crisis
CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived here on
Friday night for talks on the current crisis of the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian
MENA news agency reported.
Abbas was expected to have talks with President Hosni
Mubarak on Saturday morning on an Egyptian initiative on Gaza ceasefire and
means of ending the Israeli attacks, which has killed 801 Palestinians and
wounded 3,300 others.
UN relief agency decides to resume
humanitarian aid activities in
Gaza
GAZA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua)
-- The United Nations for Relief and Work Agency in the Far East (UNRWA) decided
Friday to resume providing humanitarian services to the Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip after receiving guarantees from Israel that it won't be targeted.
The UNRWA, which provides humanitarian aid to 80 percent
of the strip population, said in a statement that the decision was made after
Israel promised that its institutions, mainly schools and cars, won't be
targeted.
Death toll rises to 801 as more people
killed by fresh Israeli strikes on
Gaza
GAZA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua)
-- Israeli airstrikes and tanks shells continued on Gaza on Friday night,
killing nine more people, which rose the death toll to 801 since the beginning
of the Israeli military offensive on Dec. 27, a senior Gaza official said.
Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein released the
figures to reporters, saying that now 801 Palestinians were killed and 3300 were
injured.
