Attack on Israel from Lebanon threatens 2nd front

Attack on Israel from Lebanon threatens 2nd front

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By IBRAHIM BARZAK and STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writers Ibrahim Barzak And Steve Weizman, Associated Press Writers

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– Gaza gets a brief break

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Reuters – Israelis take cover before a rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza lands in Beersheba, after they attended …












JERUSALEM – Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into northern Israel
early Thursday, threatening to open a second front for the Jewish state
as it pushed forward with its offensive in the Gaza Strip. Gaza
militants fired a rocket barrage into southern Israel almost
simultaneously.
There were no serious
injuries in either attack. But the rockets on Israel's north raised the
specter of renewed hostilities with Hezbollah, just 2 1/2 years after Israel
battled the guerrilla group to a 34-day stalemate. Hezbollah started
the 2006 war as Israel was battling Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly said it was prepared for a possible attack on the north since it launched its bruising campaign against Hamas
militants in Gaza on Dec. 27. Israel has mobilized thousands of reserve
troops for such a scenario, and leaders have warned Hezbollah of dire
consequences if it enters the fighting.
Shortly after the rockets fell around the town of Nahariya, five miles south of the Lebanese border, Lebanese TV stations reported Israeli mortar fire on open areas in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military confirmed it carried out "pinpoint fire" in response without elaborating.
There
was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket barrage from
Lebanon. Israeli defense commentators said they believed Hezbollah was
behind the salvo, but expected the incident to be a one-time show of
solidarity with the Palestinians, not a declaration of war.
Earlier,
Palestinians reported more than 20 airstrikes around Gaza City before
dawn Thursday. One person was killed and 10 wounded. Also, there were
clashes between Israeli armored forces and Hamas militants in southern
Gaza.
Israel had resumed its Gaza
offensive Wednesday after a three-hour lull to allow in humanitarian
aid, bombing heavily around suspected smuggling tunnels near the border
with Egypt after Hamas responded with a rocket barrage.
Despite
the heavy fighting, strides appeared to being made on the diplomatic
front with the U.S. throwing its weight behind a deal being brokered by
France and Egypt.
While the U.N. Security Council
failed to reach agreement on a cease-fire resolution, Egypt's U.N.
Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said representatives of Israel, Hamas and
the Palestinian Authority agreed to meet separately with Egyptian
officials in Cairo.
Israeli defense officials said senior envoy Amos Gilad would fly to Egypt Thursday morning.
Israeli
airstrikes killed 29 Palestinians on Wednesday after leaflets were
dropped warning residents to leave the area "because Hamas uses your
houses to hide and smuggle military weapons."
The casualties brought the total Palestinian death toll
during Israel's 13-day assault to 688, according to Palestinian health
officials, and drove home the complexities of finding a diplomatic
solution for Israel's Gaza invasion. Ten Israelis have been killed,
including three civilians, since the offensive began.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes, seeking refugee at U.N. schools turned into temporary shelters.
The
fury of the renewed fighting made it appear each side was scrambling to
get in as many hits as possible before a truce could materialize.
"I feel like the ground is shaking when we hear the shelling. People are terrified," said Fida Kishta, a resident of the Gaza-Egypt border area where Israeli planes destroyed 16 empty houses Wednesday.
In
Turkey, a Mideast diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to speak publicly said that country would be
asked to put together an international force that could help keep the
peace. And diplomats in New York worked on a U.N. Security Council statement backing the cease-fire initiative but failed to reach agreement on action to end the violence.
"We
are very much applauding the efforts of a number of states,
particularly the effort that President (Hosni) Mubarak has undertaken
on behalf of Egypt," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. "We're
supporting that initiative."
The
Israeli military, which has refused to allow journalists into Gaza,
permitted two TV teams to accompany soldiers on patrol for the first
time. The footage showed soldiers walking through a deserted street in
an unidentified location in Gaza.
The Israeli military correspondent who accompanied the soldiers
said they were concerned about Hamas booby-traps. He said they were
shooting through walls, throwing grenades around corners, going from
house to house looking for Hamas gunmen and using bomb sniffer dogs.
Buildings showed bullet and shrapnel marks. "We used a lot of fire,"
said an officer in the group, Lt. Col. Ofer.
Despite the violence, a surprise announcement in Paris on Wednesday put a spotlight on diplomacy.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that both Israel
and the Palestinian Authority had accepted the cease-fire deal, but he
made no mention of Hamas, without whom no truce could work.
The Palestinian Authority controls only the West Bank while
Hamas rules Gaza — two territories on opposite sides of Israel that are
supposed to make up a future Palestinian state. Hamas took control of
Gaza from forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007.
Later, Israeli officials made it clear Sarkozy's statement was not exactly accurate.
For Israel to accept the proposal, "there has to be a total and
complete cessation of all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, and ...
we have to see an arms embargo on Hamas that will receive international
support," said government spokesman Mark Regev.
For its part, Hamas said it would not accept a truce deal unless it
includes an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza — something Israel says
it is not willing to do. Israel and Egypt have maintained a stiff
economic embargo on Gaza since the Hamas takeover.
Growing international outrage over the human toll of Israel's offensive, which includes 3,000 Palestinians
wounded — could work against continued fighting. So could President
Bush's departure from office this month and a Feb. 10 election in
Israel.
But Israel has a big interest in inflicting as much damage as
possible on Hamas, both to stop militant rocket fire on southern
Israeli towns and to diminish the group's ability to play a spoiler
role in peace talks with Palestinian moderates.
The Israeli Cabinet formally decided on Wednesday to push ahead
with the offensive while at the same time pursuing the cease-fire.
Israeli officials also rejected Hamas' call to open the border crossings, which Israel has largely kept closed since the group seized the territory by force in June 2007.
The military has called up thousands of reserve troops that it could
use to expand the Gaza offensive. Defense officials said the troops
could be ready for action by Friday.
Still, Israel briefly suspended its offensive Wednesday to
allow humanitarian supplies to reach Gaza, and Israeli officials said
such lulls would be declared on a regular basis.
The announcement came among growing warnings by the World Bank and aid groups of a humanitarian crisis. The World Bank pointed to a severe shortage of drinking water and said the sewage system is under growing strain.
Solafa Odeh, a resident of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia,
said around 100 people in her community were lining up for fresh water
outside a local grocery store Wednesday. "We were only allowed half a
gallon each, and I saw some people walk away with their jerry cans
empty," Odeh said.
Of the 688 Palestinians killed since Dec. 27, some 350 were
civilians, among them 130 children, according to Palestinian officials.
During Wednesday's lull, Israel allowed in 80 trucks of
supplies as well as industrial fuel for Gaza's power plant. Medics
tried to retrieve bodies in areas that had previously been too
dangerous to approach.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement that one of
its ambulance drivers was shot by Israeli soldiers during the lull. The
Israeli military said it had no knowledge of the incident.
Also Wednesday, Israel released footage of suspected Hamas militants captured by Israeli troops. Israel's chief army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu,
said 120 suspected militants have been captured. He also said soldiers
conducting searches have uncovered many explosive devices and tunnels.
"We uncovered many tunnels for kidnapping soldiers, at least
one car bomb, booby trapped dolls, tunnels — an underground city,"
Benyahu said on Israel TV's Channel 10.
The CARE aid organization said one of its workers was killed Monday in an Israeli airstrike.
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Weizman reported from Jerusalem and Barzak from Gaza City