Olmert says Gaza offensive is first of several stages as death toll rises

The blitz that began on Saturday was "the first of several stages approved by the security cabinet," Olmert told President Shimon Peres in a briefing, according to the latter's spokeswoman Ayelet Frisch.

 

Israel on Tuesday rejected any truce with Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip before cross-border rocket fire ceased and said its air strikes, the fiercest in decades, heralded "long weeks of military action".

 

Israeli ground forces massed on the border of the coastal enclave for a possible invasion while Israeli warplanes pressed on for the fourth day with attacks on Hamas targets, killing 12 Palestinians. They included sisters aged 10 and 12.

 

Medical officials put Palestinian casualties since Israel launched its attacks on Saturday at 348 dead with more than 800 wounded. A United Nations agency said at least 62 of the dead were civilians.

 

"The government is giving the military its full backing and the room for maneuver to achieve the goal set out by the government," Olmert was quoted by AFP as saying.

 

Peres said that "Israel is not fighting the Palestinian population but a terror organization that is determined to continue the violence and destabilize the region."

 

FOUR ISRAELIS KILLED

Hamas, an Islamist movement that took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 after routing Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, defied the Israeli assaults, the fiercest in the coastal territory since the 1967 Middle East war.

 

Rocket fire from Gaza at Israel intensified immediately after Hamas declared the end of a six-month-old Egyptian-brokered truce on Dec. 19.

 

The rockets caused few casualties, but damaged buildings and sparked panic in towns along the Gaza border. Since Israel's offensive began, four Israelis have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza, including three on Monday.

 

Israel kept schools closed for thousands of pupils within a radius of about 30 km (18 miles) from the Gaza border, citing concerns about further rocket fire. Residents were told to remain indoors and on the alert for alarms heralding incoming rockets.

 

Most Gazans in the territory of 1.5 million people, one of the most densely populated on earth, have stayed home, in rooms away from windows that could shatter in blasts from air strikes on Hamas facilities.

 

Israel declared areas around the Gaza Strip a "closed military zone", citing the risk from Palestinian rockets, and ordered out journalists observing a build-up of armored forces.

 

Israel agreed to allow 100 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza on Tuesday, including five ambulances from Turkey, defense officials said. A Jordanian diplomat said 21 Jordanian army doctors and four field hospitals would be allowed to enter on Wednesday, though Israeli officials could not immediately confirm that.

 

Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA), considering the electricity shortage in Gaza, plans to send 5 generators for hospitals, Anatolian Agency reported.

 

The Israeli navy rammed a boat loaded with medical supplies that was trying to break its blockade of the Gaza Strip, the pro-Palestinian charity operating the vessel said Tuesday.

 

No one was injured in the collision between the patrol boat and the 20-metre (66-foot) Dignity, which was trying to take three tons of medical supplies into Gaza on day four of the Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory.