Israel Advances on Hamas Targets in Ground Offensive
by VOA News July 19, 2014
Israeli soldiers say they have repelled a cross-border tunnel raid and uncovered more than a dozen tunnels into Israel, while Palestinian medics say more Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed 25 more Palestinians.
Palestinian officials on Saturday said at least 325 Palestinians have died since July 8, when Israel expanded its airstrikes in Gaza in an attempt to stop rocket fire into Israel.
Israeli authorities say a rocket from Gaza killed a man near the southern city of Dimona Saturday. He is the second Israeli citizen to die from the violence, in addition to one Israeli soldier killed in what was described as friendly fire.
As Israel's ground operation in the Gaza Strip nears the end of its third day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is traveling to the Middle East to help mediate the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Israel's military says it has hit about 200 terrorist targets since the operation began late Thursday, including more than 20 tunnels used to infiltrate Israel and smuggle weapons and explosives. The military says it has killed more than 20 militants in the offensive.
During the incursion, Palestinian militants have continued to fire a barrage of rockets into Israel, but Israel's Iron Dome missile defense shield has shot down many of them.
Hamas has proposed a multi-year truce that includes demands such as lifting the long-standing Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, opening air, sea and land entries into Gaza, and releasing Palestinian prisoners arrested by Israel last month in the West Bank.
Israel has been pushing for an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that calls for a 'cessation of hostilities' in exchange for the increased movement of people and goods between Gaza and Israel. Hamas has rejected the plan, saying the offer amounts to a surrender.
Security council meeting
Late Friday, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the Gaza crisis.
Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said Israel is committing war crimes and human rights violations against the Palestinian people. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said Israel was left with no choice but to launch its offensive into Gaza, saying the goal is to degrade Hamas' terror capabilities. He said Hamas has 'rejected every overture to restore the quiet.'
A U.N. official, Jeff Feltman, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to the Middle East Saturday to help mediate the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The official did not say specifically where Ban will go.
US reaction
On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that 'no nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders.'
Obama said he made clear during a phone conversation with Netanyahu that he understands the ground operation is limited to destroying tunnels Hamas militants use to attack Israel.
'We are hopeful that Israel will continue to approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and that all of us are working hard to return to the cease-fire that was reached in November of 2012,' he said.
Netanyahu said Friday he was prepared to 'significantly widen' the offensive, which appeared to be more limited than Israel's 2008 and 2009 operation when about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
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