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| Palestinians flee their homes to take shelter at the United Nations school in Gaza City, Sunday, July 13, 2014. Israel briefly deployed ground troops inside the Gaza Strip for the first time early Sunday as its military warned northern residents to evacuate their homes, part of a widening campaign against militant rocket fire that's seen more than 160 Palestinians killed. Israel accuses Hamas of using Gaza's civilians as human shields by firing rockets from there. Critics say Israel's heavy bombardment of one of the most densely populated territories in the world is itself the main factor putting civilians at risk. |
GAZA CITY, Gaza
Strip (AP) -- Thousands of Palestinian residents of the northern
Gaza Strip fled their homes on Sunday and sought safety in U.N.
shelters, heeding warnings from the Israeli military about impending
plans to bomb the area in the sixth day of an offensive against Hamas
that has killed more than 160 people.
The
fighting showed no signs of slowing, despite international calls for a
cease-fire and growing concerns about the mounting civilian death toll
in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and voiced U.S. "readiness" to help restore
calm, while Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, continued to
work behind the scenes.
Amid the diplomacy,
Israel said it was pushing forward with preparations for a possible
ground invasion of Gaza. Thousands of troops have massed along the
border in recent days.
"We don't know when the
operation will end," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his
Cabinet on Sunday. "It might take a long time." He said the military
was prepared "for all possibilities."
Israel
launched the offensive last Tuesday in what it said was a response to
heavy rocket fire out of Hamas-controlled Gaza. The military says it has
launched more than 1,300 airstrikes, while Palestinian militants have
launched more than 800 rockets at Israel. The Palestinian Health
Ministry in Gaza says 166 people have been killed, including dozens of
civilians. There have been no Israeli fatalities, though several people
have been wounded, including a teenage boy who was seriously injured by
rocket shrapnel Sunday.
Early Sunday, the
Israeli air force dropped leaflets around the northern Gaza town of Beit
Lahia ordering people to evacuate their homes. Israel says much of the
rocket fire has come from the area, and overnight Sunday, the military
carried out a brief ground operation on what it said was a
rocket-launching site that could not be struck from the air. Four
Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded before returning to Israel.
The
U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said some 17,000
Palestinians had headed to special shelters set up in 20 United Nations
schools in Gaza.
"The fact that in a span of
almost a few hours, 10,000 people sought refuge in these 15 schools is
an indication to the difficult situation on the ground," said Sami
Mshasha, a UNRWA spokesman.
Some raced by in
pickup trucks, waving white flags. "Once we received the message, we
felt scared to stay in our homes. We want to leave," said one resident,
Mohammed Abu Halemah.
Shortly before
nightfall, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes in the northern
Gaza town of Beit Lahia. Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV station reported four
airstrikes in a 10-minute span, and a large plume of black smoke could
be seen over the area from the Israeli border. There were no immediate
reports of casualties.
Hamas, an Islamic
militant group sworn to Israel's destruction, has remained defiant, and
it continued to fire rockets into Israel throughout the day. It urged
people in northern Gaza to stay in their homes and has so far rejected
proposals for a cease-fire as unsatisfactory.
"They
want us to put down our arms and leave the resistance," said Moussa Abu
Marzouk, a top Hamas official, on his Facebook page. "They started the
battle, and we will stay on our land and fight to protect our future."
Despite
Israeli claims that it has inflicted heavy damage on the group, Hamas
says it is largely unscathed, and Palestinian medics say most of the
dead have been civilians.
The outbreak of
violence follows the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers
in the West Bank, the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager
in an apparent revenge attack, and wide-ranging Israeli moves against
Hamas militants and infrastructure in the West Bank. Hamas has demanded
that hundreds of recently arrested activists be freed as part of a
cease-fire.
Many of the airstrikes have been
on the homes of wanted Hamas militants, putting their families at risk.
In an attack on Saturday, the target of one such airstrike, Gaza's
police chief, survived, while 17 members of his extended family were
killed.
Israel accuses Hamas of using Gaza's civilians as human shields, putting people in the densely populated territory in danger.
"The
leadership of Hamas and the other organizations has chosen - at a time
when they are using the population of Gaza as human shields - to hide
underground, to flee abroad and to deliberately put civilians in the
line of fire," Netanyahu said.
Despite
Israel's claims, the international community, including many of Israel's
allies, have begun to express concerns about the growing civilian death
toll.
The Israeli military said that one of
the rockets fired by Gaza militants Sunday night "hit an electricity
infrastructure in Israel that supplied electricity to the Gaza Strip,
causing a power outage to some 70,000 Gaza civilians."
In
Vienna, Kerry spoke Sunday with Netanyahu and highlighted U.S. concerns
about the "escalating tensions," the State Department said.
Kerry
"described his engagement with leaders in the region to help to stop
the rocket fire so calm can be restored and civilian casualties
prevented, and underscored the United States' readiness to facilitate a
cessation of hostilities," the State Department said.
Egypt,
meanwhile, said President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi spoke to the U.N. chief
Ban Ki-moon. El-Sissi's spokesman quoted Ban as praising Egyptian
efforts to halt the fighting and affirming that "Egypt is the most
capable party to effectively participate in reaching a calm between the
two sides." Netanyahu's office declined comment on diplomatic efforts.
Other
countries were also involved. Germany's foreign minister said he would
head to the region on Monday, while French President Francois Hollande
tried to rally Arab and Muslim leaders to push for a cease-fire.
Hollande
held telephone talks over the weekend with Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki.
Marzouki
spokesman Adnane Mancer said the French and Tunisian presidents agreed
that Marzouki would try to talk to Hamas leaders and urge a cease-fire,
while Hollande would try to do the same with other parties. A French
presidential official said Hollande was talking to Israeli, Palestinian
and other Arab officials.
On Sunday,
Palestinians with foreign passports began leaving Gaza through the Erez
border crossing. Israel, which cooperated in the evacuation, said 800
Palestinians living in Gaza have passports from countries including
Australia, Britain and the U.S.
Rawan Mohanna,
a 21-year-old chemistry major at the University of Texas, said she had
arrived in Gaza with her family a month ago because her older sister was
getting married to a Gazan.
Mohanna, who
lives in Dallas, said her family is now returning to the U.S. with mixed
feelings because her newlywed sister and other relatives were staying
behind.
"It's bittersweet that we get to leave but they are still there and they can't get out," she said.
