World waits on a cease-fire duel
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 19, 2009 00:00
GAZACITY - After 22 days of fighting that wrought scores of casualties in Gaza, Hamas echoes Israel’s cease-fire with a declaration of a week-long truce dependent on Israeli withdrawal. The tenuous peace is challenged early, with more rockets fired into Israel
As medics pulled dozens of bodies from the rubble of bombed-out homes yesterday, Hamas announced a one-week cease-fire, after Israel called a unilateral halt to its 22-day offensive in Gaza.
After exchanges of gunfire and an air strike punctured what Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged was a "fragile" cease-fire, Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas and other armed groups said they would silence their guns for the next seven days to give Israeli troops a chance to withdraw from the territory.
"We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of aid and basic goods," Mussa Abu Marzuk, the deputy leader of Hamas's politburo, said in Damascus. Dawud Shihab, a Gaza-based spokesman for Islamic Jihad, a smaller faction, said the truce would allow Arab governments to pressure Israel to withdraw all its troops.
"During this period, the resistance is ready to respond to all efforts by the Egyptians, Turks, Syrians and Arabs that will allow for a total withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and the total opening of border crossings," he said.
Olmert announced late Saturday that he had ordered an end to offensive operations in Gaza after 22 days of combat but added that troops would remain in the territory and would fire back if they came under fresh attack.
After the cease-fire came into effect at 2.00 a.m. local time, Gaza enjoyed its first bomb-free night in over three weeks but there were soon signs that it was unraveling.
Hamas congratulates 'victory'
As Hamas fired rockets and Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, troops shot dead an eight-year-old girl in the northern town of Beit Hanun and a 20-year-old man near southern Khan Yunis, medics said.
"The government's decision allows Israel to respond and renew the fire if our enemy in the Gaza Strip continues its strikes," Olmert said at the start of the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
"This morning they again proved that the cease-fire is fragile and it has to be reassessed on a minute by minute basis," he said. "We hope that the fire ends. If it continues, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will respond."
Palestinian medics took advantage of the halt in Israel's deadliest offensive on Gaza to rush to areas which had been inaccessible due to furious fighting, pulling at least 95 bodies from the rubble, including those of several children.
The discoveries brought the overall death toll since Israel launched its Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to at least 1,300, the medics said.
On the ground, as Hamas congratulated the Palestinians on "victory" from mosque loudspeakers, Gaza residents cautiously ventured out into the streets to survey the rubble that was once their homes.
Meanwhile, Yahia Karin surveyed the damage in Zeitun, which that was the scene of some of the most furious battles between Israeli ground troops and Hamas militants.
"Everything has been completely destroyed," he said looking at the charred pile of rubble on the spot where he once lived.
After exchanges of gunfire and an air strike punctured what Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged was a "fragile" cease-fire, Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas and other armed groups said they would silence their guns for the next seven days to give Israeli troops a chance to withdraw from the territory.
"We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of aid and basic goods," Mussa Abu Marzuk, the deputy leader of Hamas's politburo, said in Damascus. Dawud Shihab, a Gaza-based spokesman for Islamic Jihad, a smaller faction, said the truce would allow Arab governments to pressure Israel to withdraw all its troops.
"During this period, the resistance is ready to respond to all efforts by the Egyptians, Turks, Syrians and Arabs that will allow for a total withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and the total opening of border crossings," he said.
Olmert announced late Saturday that he had ordered an end to offensive operations in Gaza after 22 days of combat but added that troops would remain in the territory and would fire back if they came under fresh attack.
After the cease-fire came into effect at 2.00 a.m. local time, Gaza enjoyed its first bomb-free night in over three weeks but there were soon signs that it was unraveling.
Hamas congratulates 'victory'
As Hamas fired rockets and Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, troops shot dead an eight-year-old girl in the northern town of Beit Hanun and a 20-year-old man near southern Khan Yunis, medics said.
"The government's decision allows Israel to respond and renew the fire if our enemy in the Gaza Strip continues its strikes," Olmert said at the start of the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
"This morning they again proved that the cease-fire is fragile and it has to be reassessed on a minute by minute basis," he said. "We hope that the fire ends. If it continues, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will respond."
Palestinian medics took advantage of the halt in Israel's deadliest offensive on Gaza to rush to areas which had been inaccessible due to furious fighting, pulling at least 95 bodies from the rubble, including those of several children.
The discoveries brought the overall death toll since Israel launched its Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to at least 1,300, the medics said.
On the ground, as Hamas congratulated the Palestinians on "victory" from mosque loudspeakers, Gaza residents cautiously ventured out into the streets to survey the rubble that was once their homes.
Meanwhile, Yahia Karin surveyed the damage in Zeitun, which that was the scene of some of the most furious battles between Israeli ground troops and Hamas militants.
"Everything has been completely destroyed," he said looking at the charred pile of rubble on the spot where he once lived.