Israel vows to continue Gaza strikes as death toll rises

As the death toll from Israeli air strikes on Gaza approached 100, Israeli sources made it clear that the attacks would continue for at least another week as they considered a ground offensive.

The relentless barrage continued yesterday, targeting militant commanders’ homes, rocket-launching sites, weapon storage facilities and militant command centres.

The interior ministry building in Gaza city was destroyed. Many of the casualties, however, were civilians.

Reports claimed that eight members of the same family – including five children – were killed in an air strike on two homes in Khan Younis, south of Gaza.

Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for the Gazan health ministry, told Palestinian media that no warning was given and that most of the dead were children.

There were also claims that a missile was fired at a cafe in Khan Younis late on Wednesday night, where dozens were gathered to watch the World Cup game between Argentina and the Netherlands. Six people were killed and 15 injured, according to AFP.

Israel has accused Hamas militants of deliberately firing rockets from densely populated areas and using schools, mosques and hospitals as cover.

Exit strategy

Areas throughout southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, again came under rocket fire. Two homes in the southern city of Beersheba were hit but the occupants were not injured, having rushed to a secure room.

So far there have been no Israeli fatalities but an elderly man was seriously injured when he fell as he ran to a bomb shelter. Another was also seriously hurt when a mortar bomb hit his community close to the Gaza border.

Neither side is yet talking about an exit strategy. Israel is reluctant to agree to yet another truce that it says will be broken a few years down the line when militant groups stock up on rockets. This time it wants to reach a conclusion that will ensure absolute quiet in southern Israel with Hamas deterred from breaking it for a protracted period. However, such a scenario is not on the horizon.

Security cabinet decision

It is expected that within the next few days Israel’s security cabinet will take a decision on whether to launch a ground offensive into Gaza. The aim of such an operation, it says, would not be the occupation of Gaza or the crushing of Hamas, but more achievable goals: a decrease in rocket barrages and a blow to Hamas’s strategic weapons which cannot be accomplished with Israeli aerial strikes.

Israeli military spokesman Lieut Col Peter Lerner said Israel had already mobilised 20,000 reservists for a possible ground operation, but for the time being it remained focused on maximising its air campaign.

Israeli finance minister Yair Lapid declared that Israel was no longer interested in reaching a mutual agreement with Hamas on restoring calm.

“The war on terror has no end date,” he said. “The formula of calm for calm is no longer on the agenda, a ground offensive is still on the table.”

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of launching a war against the Palestinian people and committing “collective genocide”. – (Additional reporting Guardian service)