Gaza toll 128 in bloody day

Israeli strike disables only power plant

A Palestinian man searches through the rubble of the Gaza City home of Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, after an Israeli airstrike before dawn Tuesday. The house was one of dozens of targets that included Gaza’s only power plant and the offices of Hamas’ satellite television station.
A Palestinian man searches through the rubble of the Gaza City home of Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, after an Israeli airstrike before dawn Tuesday. The house was one of dozens of targets that included Gaza’s only power plant and the offices of Hamas’ satellite television station.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel unleashed its heaviest air and artillery assault of the Gaza fighting on Tuesday, destroying key symbols of Hamas control, shutting down the territory's only power plant and leaving at least 128 Palestinians dead on the bloodiest day of the 22-day conflict.

In fighting early today, another 13 people were killed after tank shells hit a United Nations school in Gaza where hundreds of Palestinians had taken refuge from Israeli attacks.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said another 40 Palestinians were wounded in shelling early today.

With most of Gaza's 1.7 million people now cut off from power and water, Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Hamas military wing said his group still will not cease fire until its demands are met.

After increasingly urgent international calls for a halt in the hostilities, the West Bank-based Palestinian leadership, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, announced Tuesday that Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main Palestinian factions fighting in Gaza, were ready for an immediate 24-hour truce and that a Palestinian delegation including members of Hamas was planning to head to Cairo for broader cease-fire talks.

But Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, immediately responded in a text message that the announcement of a unilateral 24-hour truce was "incorrect and has nothing to do with the positions of the resistance."

photo

AP

Israeli soldiers, family and friends mourn at the grave of Sgt. Sagi Erez, 19, who was killed Monday after militants infi ltrated Israel through a tunnel.

He added: "When we have an Israeli commitment with an international obligation of a humanitarian cease-fire, we will study it. But declaring a unilateral truce while the occupation kills our children, this will never happen."

Meanwhile, Israel's final objective in Gaza remained unclear a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis to be prepared for a "prolonged" war.

Netanyahu is under pressure from hawkish members of his coalition to topple Hamas in an all-out offensive but has not let on whether he plans to go beyond destroying Hamas rocket launchers, weapons depots and military tunnels used to infiltrate Israel and smuggle weapons.

Dozens of Israeli airstrikes and heavy tank shelling hit areas across Gaza. In the sprawling Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, at least 24 people -- 10 from the same family -- were killed and dozens wounded in a barrage of tank fire, Hamas health officials said.

"Tanks were firing in all directions and shrapnel was flying," said Moussa al-Mabhouh, a volunteer for Gaza's Civil Defense. "Smoke was rising from houses and from nearby workshops."

Shrapnel from one strike in Jebaliya hit near a car with United Nations markings, killing an employee of a U.N. aid agency and his brother, and wounding the aid worker's 12-year-old son, said agency spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna.

The Israeli military has said it is targeting Hamas command centers, along with rocket launchers and weapons arsenals, but has not provided explanations when asked about specific strikes in which many members of a single family were killed.

On Tuesday, multiple members of at least five families were pulled from the rubble after airstrikes and tank shells struck their homes, including the mayor of the Bureij refugee camp, his 70-year-old father and three relatives, according to Palestinian health officials.

In all, at least 1,229 Palestinians had been killed, including 128 on Tuesday, making it the single deadliest day since the start of fighting July 8, al-Kidra said. More than 7,000 have been wounded, he said.

Israel said it has lost 53 soldiers, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai citizen.

Despite the heavy Palestinian losses, Deif, the commander of the Hamas military wing, said in an audio statement on Al-Aqsa TV that fighting would continue.

"There is not going to be a cease-fire as long as the demands of our people are not fulfilled," he said.

Hamas has demanded that Israel and Egypt lift a border blockade imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized the territory in 2007. Over the past year, Egypt has further tightened restrictions, shutting down hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border that had provide crucial tax income to Hamas. The closure of the tunnels drove Hamas into a severe financial crisis.

Al-Aqsa also broadcast a videotape it said showed an infiltration by Hamas fighters into Israel on Monday through a border tunnel. The footage showed armed Palestinians climbing out of a hole in the ground and attacking an Israeli guard post near the border. They were then seen fleeing back down the hole.

The Israeli military said Hamas infiltrated Israeli territory near a communal farm and killed five soldiers on guard nearby. A Hamas gunman also was killed in the attack. Israeli media reported a soldier shot and killed him while he was dragging one of the bodies back to the tunnel.

The military said Palestinian militants fired at least 64 rockets Tuesday at Israeli cities.

power plant burns

Meanwhile, the miserable living condition of Gaza's 1.7 million people deteriorated even further after two Israeli tank shells struck one of three fuel tanks of Gaza's only power plant. The hit set off a fire, and a column of thick putrid smoke rose from the site for hours.

"We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room," said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority. "Everything was burned."

The shutdown meant Gaza has an 80 percent deficit of electricity, said Sari Bashi of the Israeli rights group Gisha. Widespread power failures also disrupt water supplies because electricity is needed to operate pumps. In Gaza, about 1.2 million have no access to running water, she said.

Maher Salem of the utilities department in the Gaza City municipality said about 600,000 of the city's 800,000 residents were facing water problems.

"But the most catastrophic issue for us, which is the ticking bomb, is that once we have run out of fuel [for backup generators], we have to shut down the wastewater treatment," he said, adding that fuel would last up to four more days.

The Israeli military has not commented on the shelling of the power plant.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of attacks, leveling the home of the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, and damaging the offices of the movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, a central mosque in Gaza City and government offices.

Haniyeh's house, in a narrow alley of the Shati refugee camp, was reduced to rubble but no one was hurt. Residents placed a large framed portrait of Haniyeh atop the wreckage and draped it with green Hamas flags and Palestinian national banners.

Israel has targeted several homes of Hamas leaders but so far none has been killed. Haniyeh said in a statement Tuesday that "destroying stones will not break our determination."

In Iran on Tuesday, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Muslims from around the world to help arm Hamas and other Palestinians in their fight against Israel.

Khamenei said that while Israel and America seek to disarm Hamas, Iran says "the opposite ... the Muslim World has a duty to arm the Palestinian nation by all means."

Kerry defended

In the U.S., National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., used a gathering in Washington of hundreds of American Jewish supporters of Israel to defend the U.S. secretary of state for his handling of cease-fire talks.

Kerry drew scorn in Israeli media for offering peace plans that were interpreted as favoring Hamas at the expense of Israel's security.

"We've been dismayed by some press reports in Israel mischaracterizing his efforts last week to achieve a cease-fire," Rice told leaders of major U.S. Jewish organizations at the National Press Club. "The reality is that John Kerry, on behalf of the United States, has been working every step of the way with Israel in support of our shared interests."

The draft was said to have called for lifting the economic blockade of Gaza without explicitly calling for the destruction of the tunnels that Israel says Hamas uses to hide weapons and conduct cross-border raids.

Dermer, the American-born Israeli ambassador who took office last year, said criticism of Kerry for his "good-faith efforts" to secure a cease-fire was "unwarranted." The former top aide to Netanyahu said the Israeli leader shared that view.

Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans in Congress vowed urgent support Tuesday for a $225 million missile-defense package for Israel, boosting hopes that legislation will clear Congress before lawmakers begin a month-long vacation at week's end.

"Let's stop playing games," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling the assistance a necessity for the "life-or-death struggle Israel faces."

In a daily barrage of Palestinian rocket fire, Israel's Iron Dome missile-defense system has been credited with knocking hundreds of missiles out of the sky. While the Obama administration has pressed for a cease-fire, it also has backed Israel's desire to replenish its missile-defense stockpiles. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel extended Israel's request to Congress last week.

However, neither Republicans who control the House nor Democrats who command a Senate majority have yet to announce plans for a vote on a stand-alone bill on the issue.

In the Senate, Democrats have combined money for Israel, border security and wildfire assistance into one measure. But Republicans oppose it because of a disagreement over provisions relating to Central American children illegally flooding into the country.

In the House, Republicans unveiled a measure to address the illegal aliens and said funds for Israel would be handled in a separate bill that has yet to be made public.

Information for this article was contributed by Ibrahim Barzak, Yousur Alhlou, Ian Deitch, Matthew Lee, Bradley Klapper, Donna Cassata, Karin Laub staff members of The Associated Press; by David Lerman, Laura Litvan, Terry Atlas and Nicole Gaouette of Bloomberg News; and by Isabel Kershner and Fares Akram of The New York Times.

A Section on 07/30/2014

Upcoming Events