Gaza deaths mount in deadly raids

Written By Unknown on Senin, 19 November 2012 | 19.21

19 November 2012 Last updated at 07:15 ET
A man being saved after his house was destroyed in an Israeli air strike, Gaza City, 18 Nov 2012

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Many members of a family are thought to have died in one of the homes targeted by Israel

At least 18 people have died in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces kept up air strikes they say are aimed at stopping rocket attacks into Israel.

Fewer rockets have been launched, but some have hit southern Israeli towns.

More than 90 Palestinians and three Israelis have died since Wednesday. They include nine members of a Gaza family apparently killed by mistake.

The UN secretary general has called for an immediate ceasefire as he prepares to join truce talks in Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he was ready to expand the operation, after Israel authorised the mobilisation of up to 75,000 army reservists.

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has said an Israeli ground invasion would have "serious repercussions", saying Egypt would never accept it "and neither will the free world".

The Arab League, which met in emergency session in Cairo on Sunday, is sending a delegation of foreign ministers to Gaza on Tuesday.

Target missed?

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had targeted about 80 sites overnight into Monday, including militant-owned buildings, weapons storage facilities and police stations, bringing its total to 1,350 sites targeted since Wednesday.

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Analysis

In truth there is little enthusiasm in Israel - either in the government or among the military top brass - for a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military analysts believe that a large part of Israel's military goals were achieved during the opening two days of this conflict.

As the air campaign goes on Israel faces diminishing returns.

The increase in the number of civilian casualties inflicted in the Gaza Strip, and the consequent shift in international support for Israel, probably weighs more heavily than any modest advantages in terms of destroying additional rockets or Hamas infrastructure.

One of the overnight blasts destroyed a Hamas police headquarters.

As well as air strikes there was the rhythmic thud of shelling from Israeli warships, says the BBC's Jon Donnison in Gaza City.

On Monday morning, a rocket fired from Gaza hit a school in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, said the IDF. Classes had already been cancelled.

At least nine children were killed in Gaza on Sunday - the bloodiest day so far - and TV reports showing horrific images of their burned and bloodied bodies have been fuelling Palestinian anger, adds our correspondent.

In one strike, nine members of the family of Hamas policeman Mohamed Dalou were killed.

The army's chief military spokesman, Yoav Mordechai, told Israel's Channel 2 TV that the intended target of the strike had been Yehiya Rabiah, the head of Hamas's rocket-launching unit, but that there had been "civilian casualties".

Later, the IDF told the BBC's Paul Danahar, who is in Gaza City, that the house had been targeted because it was thought Mr Rabiyah might be hiding there but officials did not know whether he was inside at the time of the attack.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was deeply saddened by the deaths of the Dalou family and other Palestinians, while expressing alarm at the continued rocket fire from Gaza against Israeli towns.

"This must stop," he said in a statement released late on Sunday. "I strongly urge the parties to co-operate with all efforts led by Egypt to reach an immediate ceasefire."

An Israeli soldier inspects the damage caused to a building by a rocket launched by Palestinian militants from Gaza strip hitting the city of Ashkelon

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Air raid sirens in Ashkelon sounded throughout Sunday

Hamas's military wing said earlier: "The massacre of the Dalou family will not pass without punishment."

The charity Save the Children has said families in Gaza are running out of food and water, with most trapped in their homes and enduring power cuts of up to 18 hours a day.

War or peace?

Egypt has been leading efforts to broker a peace deal, with both senior Israeli and Hamas officials in Cairo for talks.

The BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, says it is feared the conflict might get worse before any truce is agreed.

Since the conflict began, Gaza militants have fired 848 rockets towards Israel - 546 hit Israel and 302 were intercepted by the Iron Dome interception system, the IDF says.

Before the recent offensive, Israel had repeatedly carried out air strikes on Gaza as Palestinian militants fired rockets across the border.

But the aerial and naval bombardment is its most intense assault on the territory since Israel launched a full-scale invasion four years ago.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, a year after winning a decisive victory in general elections. Israel withdrew from the strip in 2005 but maintains a blockade around it.

Israel, as well as the United States and the European Union, regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

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map of gaza and israel

Tel Aviv

Ashkelon

Jabaliya,Gaza

Gaza City

Tel Aviv, Israel

Panic as rocket targets Tel Aviv sending people fleeing for cover

Ashkelon, Israel

Ashkelon bears the brunt of rocket attacks on Israel

Jabaliya refugee camp

A Palestinian man inspects the damage to a house, after an Israeli airstrike in Jabaliya north Gaza.

A man surveys the rubble of a house in Jabaliya refugee camp

Gaza City

The homes of at least seven Hamas officials hit in Israeli attacks on Gaza City

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