Hamas Leader Rejects Surrender in Gaza; Ban Will Visit Region
Hamas won’t surrender to Israel even as it carries on negotiations in Egypt aimed at ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip, one of its leaders said in a television broadcast.
“Gaza will not falter; our triumph over the Zionists is close,” Ismail Haniya, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and the group’s political leader in Gaza, said in a pre-taped broadcast on the movement’s television station late yesterday. He left open the possibility that a negotiated solution could end the fighting now in its 18th day.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who travels to the Middle East today, demanded an immediate cease-fire. “To both sides, I say: Just stop now,” he told a news conference in New York yesterday. “Too many people have died.”
Egyptian and European diplomats are trying to mediate between Israel and Hamas to stop the fighting that has left more than 900 Palestinians dead, according to medical officials in Gaza. Israel, reinforced by newly called-up reservists, pressed ahead with its operation yesterday.
The military struck at least 60 targets from the air and sea and clashed with Palestinian gunmen on the ground, the army said in an e-mailed statement last night. Troops, who had been holding positions outside Gaza City, advanced deeper into its southern neighborhoods, said local Palestinians.
Parallel Tracks
“We are working on two parallel tracks; the first is the track of resistance and steadfastness, and the second is the political track to confront the military aggression on our people,” Haniya said in the broadcast.
It was only the second time that Haniya, who has been in hiding to avoid being targeted by Israeli forces, addressed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on Dec. 27. His comments contradict earlier statements by Hamas’s Damascus-based leadership that it wouldn’t pursue negotiations while fighting was continuing.
A delegation of Hamas officials returned to Cairo yesterday from Damascus to continue talks with Egyptian officials on how to achieve a cease-fire, Egypt’s presidential spokesman said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said troops will keep on fighting in the Gaza Strip until Hamas rockets no longer pose a threat to the south of the country.
“I don’t need Hamas to sign on a piece of paper,” Livni said in discussing efforts to broker a truce during an interview yesterday with Army Radio. What’s more important, she said, is that when Palestinians fire rockets into Israel, “they know they will be hurt.”
Rocket Attacks
About 20 rockets were fired into Israel yesterday, according to police. The number of rocket attacks has been cut to around 20 a day from more than 70 before the war, the military said. About 500 rockets and 200 mortar shells have been fired since the start of the operation.
Thirteen Israelis have died, nine in combat, according to the army.
Ban’s trip will take him to Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait. The UN chief said he would press Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to halt military operations in Gaza, and will seek assistance in bringing about a cease-fire from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other leaders.
He will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel has so far turned down Ban’s request to visit the Gaza Strip.
Gaza Blockade
Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and the European Union, refuses to recognize Israel or any peace agreements with the Jewish state. The organization seeks the lifting of the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza after the group seized control of the seaside strip in June 2007 and ended a partnership government with Abbas, who leads Fatah.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed 917 Palestinians and left 4,400 wounded, according to Mu’awia Hassanein, chief of emergency medical services in Gaza. The UN Relief and Works Agency said at least a quarter of the dead are civilians, many of them women and children.
“Every civilian, every child who has been hurt as a result of our operations in recent days is a victim whom we regret and would like to have avoided,” said Olmert, speaking at a school in the Israeli town of Bat Yam yesterday. “However, we will not renounce our right to defend our citizens and we will not allow them to continue suffering from the threats of rockets and terrorism.”
Humanitarian Crisis
International aid groups have warned of a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food, water and medicines in the impoverished Gaza Strip, where about 1.5 million people live in an area of 360 square kilometers (144 square miles).
The UN resumed aid distribution after working out a security arrangement with Israel to assure the safety of its drivers. One driver working for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees was killed and two were injured on Jan. 8. The UN said that Israeli gunfire killed the driver. Israel says it’s still investigating the incident.
President George W. Bush, in his last news conference before leaving office, yesterday supported what he called Israel’s right to defend itself.
“I’m for a sustainable cease-fire, and a definition of sustainable cease-fire is Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel,” Bush said. President-elect Barack Obama has said he won’t address the Gaza issue before taking office on Jan. 20.
Since Israel began bombing Gaza Dec. 27, its benchmark stock index, the TA-25 Index, has gained about 8 percent. Yesterday, it fell for the first time this week, dropping 7.95, or 1.2 percent, to 683.88 at the close in Tel Aviv. Government bonds have dropped 1 percent, while the shekel fell 0.3 percent against the dollar.