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| Smoke and fire are seen from an explosion by a high rise housing media organizations in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. It's the Israel's military second strike on the building in two days. The Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, is located on the top floor. |
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers traded fire and tough cease-fire proposals Monday, and threatened to escalate their border conflict if diplomacy fails. No deal appeared near.
An
Israeli airstrike targeting a Gaza media center killed a senior
militant and engulfed the building in flames, while Gaza fighters fired
95 rockets at Israel, nearly one-third of them intercepted by an Israeli
missile shield.
A total of 38 Palestinians
were killed Monday, bringing the death toll since the start of Israel's
offensive to 109, including 56 civilians. Some 840 people have been
wounded, including 225 children, Gaza heath officials said. Three
Israeli civilians have been killed and dozens have been wounded.
Over
the weekend, civilian casualties in Gaza rose sharply after Israel
began targeting the homes of what it said were suspected militants. Two
such strikes late Monday killed five people - a father and his
4-year-old twin sons in northern Gaza and two people in the south,
medics said.
Jamal Daloo, who lost his wife, a
son, four grandchildren and five other members of his family in an
attack Sunday, sat in quiet mourning Monday next to the ruins of his
home, his face streaked with tears.
"The
international public opinion witnessed the facts," he said, speaking as
his 16-year-old daughter, Yara, was still missing under the rubble being
cleared away by bulldozers. "This does not require my words."
Egypt,
the traditional mediator between Israel and the Arab world, was at the
center of a flurry of diplomatic activity Monday. Egyptian intelligence
officials met separately in Cairo with an Israeli envoy and with Khaled
Mashaal, the top Hamas leader in exile.
Hamas
wants Israel to halt all attacks on Gaza and lift tight restrictions on
trade and movement in and out of the territory that have been in place
since Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007. Israel demands an end to
rocket fire from Gaza and a halt to weapons smuggling into Gaza through
tunnels under the border with Egypt.
With
positions far apart on a comprehensive deal, some close to the
negotiations suggested Egypt is first seeking a halt to fighting before
other conditions are discussed. They spoke on condition of anonymity
because the talks are in a sensitive stage.
Mashaal
told reporters that Hamas would only agree to a cease-fire if its
demands are met. "We don't accept Israeli conditions because it is the
aggressor," he said. "We want a cease-fire along with meeting our
demands."
Mashaal also suggested that Israel's
threat of invading Gaza was simply a ploy. He said Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is waving the threat of a ground offensive
and asking the world to pressure Egypt, Turkey and Qatar, so they
pressure Hamas."
"He wants to negotiate with
us under fire to impose his conditions, pretending he is acting from a
position of strength," Mashaal said.
Israeli
leaders have repeatedly threatened to widen the offensive, saying an
invasion is an option. Israel has amassed troops on the Gaza border and
begun calling up thousands of reservists.
Still, an Israeli official emphasized that Israel hopes to find a diplomatic solution.
"We
prefer the diplomatic solution if it's possible. If we see it's not
going to bear fruit, we can escalate," he said, speaking on condition of
anonymity because of the diplomatic efforts under way. He added that
Israel wants international guarantees that Hamas will not rearm or use
Egypt's Sinai region, which abuts Gaza, for militant activity.
As
part of global efforts to end the Gaza fighting, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon
arrived in Cairo on Monday and was to meet with Israeli President
Shimon Peres on Tuesday.
The U.N. Security
Council held closed-door consultations at the request of Russia, and
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin later accused one country of foot-dragging,
implying it was the U.S.
Germany's foreign
minister was also headed to the region for talks with Israeli and
Palestinian leaders. On Tuesday, Turkey's foreign minister and a
delegation of Arab League foreign ministers were to visit Gaza.
Hamas,
an offshoot of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood, is negotiating from a
stronger position than four years ago, when Israel launched a
three-week war on the militants in Gaza. At that time, Hamas was
internationally isolated; now, the Muslim Brotherhood is in power in
Egypt and Tunisia, and Hamas is also getting political support from
Qatar and Turkey.
President Barack Obama and
other Western leaders have blamed Hamas for the latest outbreak of
fighting, saying Israel has a right to defend itself against rocket
attacks. However, they have also warned Israel against sending ground
troops into Gaza, a move that would likely lead to a sharp increase in
the Gaza death toll.
Over the years, Israeli
governments have struggled to come up with an effective policy toward
Hamas, which is deeply rooted in Gaza, a densely populated territory of
1.6 million.
Neither Israel's economic
blockade of the territory nor bruising military strikes have cowed the
Islamists, weakened their grip on Gaza or their ability to fire rockets
at the Jewish state.
Instead, the two sides have observed informal cease-fires over the years, interrupted by flare-ups of violence.
Hamas
has fired more than 1,000 rockets at Israel since the start of the
latest offensive on Wednesday, kicked off by Israel's assassination of
the Hamas military chief.
Of the 95 rockets
fired Monday, 29 of them intercepted by Israel's U.S.-financed Iron Dome
anti-missile battery, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Rockets
landed in open areas of the southern cities of Beersheba, Ashdod and
Ashkelon, and caused damage in a number of areas, including an empty
school building in Ashkelon.
In Gaza, an
Israeli airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza City killed Ramez
Harb, a senior figure in Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al Quds
Brigades, the group said. A number of foreign and local news
organizations have offices in the building, which was also struck on
Sunday. A passer-by, a carpenter from Gaza's tiny Christian community,
was also killed, medics said.
And in central Gaza, four militants were killed in two separate strikes.
In
the West Bank, Palestinian stone throwers protesting against Israel's
Gaza campaign clashed with Israeli soldiers in several locations Monday.
In the city of Hebron, a 22-year-old man was killed by army fire and
three other protesters were injured, doctors said. The army said
soldiers opened fire after a masked man approached them and failed to
stop.
