GAZA CITY — Israeli
warplanes kept up their deadly raids on Gaza Thursday but failed to
prevent Hamas from firing rockets at Jerusalem, two of which struck near
settlements in the West Bank.
As the violence escalated, with more than
30 Palestinians killed on Thursday alone, UN chief Ban Ki-moon appealed
for an immediate ceasefire at an emergency meeting of the Security
Council.
“It is now more urgent than ever to try
to find common ground for a return to calm and a ceasefire
understanding,” he said as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
lobbied the UN for a crackdown on Israel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a similar plea in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Putin urged an immediate end to confrontation and expressed concern over civilian casualties.
And US Secretary of State John Kerry
warned the region was facing “dangerous moment” after speaking to both
Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
But Israel appeared bent on dealing a
fatal blow to Hamas, with Netanyahu reportedly saying talk of a
ceasefire was “not even on the agenda”.
Hamas also appeared to have no interest
in letting up, striking deep inside Israel over the past 48 hours, with
rockets crashing down near Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and even as far away
as Hadera, 116 kilometres to the north.
As sirens wailed across Jerusalem for the
second time in two days, a series of loud explosions echoed across the
city as the Iron Dome anti-missile system shot down two rockets fired
from Gaza, the army said.
Another two crashed down in open areas in
the occupied West Bank, one hitting near the Maaleh Adumim settlement
and the other landing near Ofer, an Israeli military prison just west of
Ramallah, causing no damage or injuries, witnesses and security
officials told AFP.
Hamas fighters from Izzeddine Al Qassam took responsibility, saying they had fired “four M75 rockets at Jerusalem”.
Empty streets
Since the start of the campaign in the early hours of Tuesday, 82 Palestinians have been killed and more than 500 injured.
As the number of victims in Gaza rose,
Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing, with hospitals in north Sinai
placed on standby to receive the wounded, Egypt’s official MENA news
agency reported.
But there have been no Israeli deaths or
serious injuries, although medics said one woman died on Thursday, a day
after falling while running for cover.
“We are facing long days of fighting and
Hamas is trying to surprise Israel with attacks from the air, sea and
land,” Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Thursday.
The violence has emptied the streets from
Gaza City to Tel Aviv, as both Israelis and Palestinians take shelter
indoors for fear of being caught in the open when the next rocket or
missile hits.
On the beachfront in Tel Aviv, cafes
which would normally have been bursting at the seams at the height of
tourist season sat empty, their waiters nervously checking the phones
for any news of incoming missiles.
But in Gaza, the story was much darker
after an Israeli missile slammed into a coffee shop in Khan Younis,
killing nine football fans as they watched a World Cup semifinal match.
Another 15 people were hurt.
And Israel has confirmed preparations are
under way for a possible ground attack, with tanks seen massing along
the border and Netanyahu facing mounting pressure from coalition
hardliners to put boots back on the ground in the territory from which
Israel pulled all troops and settlers in 2005.
“If we can achieve our goals without a
ground operation, we would prefer it this way,” said Yossi Kuperwasser,
head of strategic affairs ministry.
860 sites bombed
Since the start of the operation, the
Israeli military’s biggest offensive on Gaza since November 2012, its
forces have hit over 860 “terror sites,” 110 of them on Thursday.
In the same period, Gaza fighters had
fired 470 rockets, of which more than 350 had struck Israel, while
another 87 rockets were intercepted, an army statement said. Of that
number, 103 struck Israel on Thursday, while another 21 were
intercepted.
Neither side has shown any sign of
backing down, and Israel has approved the call-up of 40,000 reservists
as it steps up its preparations for a possible ground assault.
Analysts said Hamas had a clear aim: to
drag Israel into a ground war hoping to inflict heavy casualties on its
troops who would likely come under fire from anti-tank missiles and
explosive devices. Fighters would also be seeking to capture Israeli
soldiers to use as leverage.
