Israel’s foreign minister Tzipi Livni has declared her country “is not going to show restraint” as its forces close in on the main Hamas stronghold in Gaza.
This is day 15 of the Israeli-Hamas fight for Gaza.
Palestinian militants fired at least 10 more rockets at Israel.
And now Israel is making ready for a total assault upon Gaza City and the possible Hamas militants hiding there.
Related:
Gaza Day 15: New UN Effort While Fighting Rages
Here’s a report from the Telegraph (UK):
As the conflict entered its third week, airstrikes were intensified and Israeli Defence Force (IDF) troops moved deeper into the outskirts of Gaza City, engaging militants in gun battles.
With Palestinian medics saying the death toll had risen to more than 780, two Hamas rockets hit the Israeli town of Ashkelon.
“Israel is not going to show restraint anymore,” Mrs Livni said in an interview in the United States. “It is not a missile against a missile. We are going to attack strongly if they continue.”
The IDF killed 15 Hamas fighters some of the most intense close-quarter fighting of the conflict so far, raising the possibility that Israel is preparing for its final push against the militant group’s stronghold.
Some of the heaviest clashes took place on a coastal road north of Gaza City, with IDF troops moving to within a mile of the city before pulling slightly back.
Although a few hundred Hamas fighters are believed to have died in the fighting, there are thousands more who are thought to be waiting in urban areas to take on the Israeli ground forces.
Overnight, Israeli aircraft hit more than 40 targets throughout Gaza, including rocket-launching sites, weapons-storage facilities and smuggling tunnels, a military spokesman said.
The renewed fighting followed a failed international attempt to force a ceasefire.
“The idea is not to reoccupy the Gaza Strip,” Mrs Livni said in the Washington Post. “We are coming back because of terror.”
 An Israeli police officer in Sderot removes a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip by Hamas fighters. An Israeli military spokeswoman said Hamas had used tunnels into Egypt to acquire 100 tons of explosives in the past year. |
| Photo Credit: By David Silverman — Getty Images |
