Israel fails to capture Gaza City

Israeli forces have failed to capture Gaza City despite sending thousands of reserve soldiers to invade the city on Sunday, a Press TV correspondent reports.

 

Israeli troops and tanks which have been trying to enter the Gaza City are still engaging resistance fighters and have not succeeded to sweep into the city Press TV correspondent Akram al-Satarri reported.

On Sunday, thousands of Israeli reservists backed by tanks and helicopter gunships attacked eastern Gaza city, facing a strong resistance from Palestinian fighters.

On Monday, heavy clashes between the Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces are going on in East and South of the Gaza City.

Plums of smoke have darkened Gaza sky on 17th day of the U.S.-backed Israeli onslaught on the besieged region as the Israeli army continues shelling and air strikes.

Israeli massive bombing campaign of the besieged Gaza Strip which started on December 27, and its later ground offensive has so far killed at least 900 Palestinians and wounded 4000 others, most of them women and children.

Gazans have been suffering from a tight Israeli blockade a short time after the Hamas movement -- which does not recognize Israel as a legitimate state-- won an overwhelming victory in 2006 parliamentary elections.

Israel launched the military campaign against the impoverished coastal strip after a recent Israeli National Security Council assessment urged Tel Aviv to hinder "elections in the Palestinian Authority" because the upcoming elections in the Palestinian Authority might lead to Hamas victory.

 

Source: Press TV

12/01/2009

 

Israel: Gaza offensive nearing its end

Israel's deputy defense minister says Tel Aviv's large-scale military incursion into the Gaza Strip appears to be nearing its end.

 

"...it would seem that we are close to ending the ground operation and ending the operation altogether," Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told the Public Radio on Sunday.

Vilnai added the 16-day long offensive, which has so far claimed at least 880 lives and wounded 3,690 others - most of them civilians -, "allowed us to reach objectives that no-one could have dreamed about two weeks ago."

The official claimed that the war against the territory has caused a heavy blow to Hamas movement.

"Regarding the blow to Hamas: they still don't understand what has hit them: they will understand better when they come out of their hiding places."

Earlier in the day Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also said Tel Aviv "is approaching the goals it set for itself, but another effort is needed."

Israel had formerly claimed that Operation Cast Lead is aimed at weakening the government of Hamas and 'halting rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip'.

Israeli towns, however, are still being hit by Palestinian rockets, and Hamas fighters are intensifying attacks on Israeli tanks and aircraft in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier in the day Palestinian fighters targeted an Israeli aircraft, while the Israeli military confirmed that Hamas had used an anti-aircraft missile for the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead on December 27.

Source: Press TV

11/01/2009