Israelis tanks and troops pulled back to the Israel-Gaza border yesterday after a particularly deadly incursion that killed 30 Palestinians over three days, but the army said the withdrawal was temporary and did not mean its month-long offensive was over.
The latest Gaza fighting came as the world's attention stayed fixed on fighting further north, where Israel is waging war with Lebanon-based Hizbullah guerrillas.
An end to the violence in Gaza did not appear to be in sight, moreover, with Palestinian officials saying yesterday that negotiations for the release of prisoners had stalled.
Palestinian officials said they had not received a response from Israel to their softened conditions for the release of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit (19), who was captured by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid on June 25th. Hamas has called for Israel's guarantees that it would free women, children and long-serving Palestinian prisoners if Cpl Shalit is released.
Dr Salah Bardawil, a senior Hamas official, said Israel's refusal to guarantee that it would release any Palestinian prisoners if Cpl Shalit were freed created the stalemate. Dr Bardawil also denied reports that Hamas and Hizbullah were co-operating in negotiations for the release of prisoners.
He noted, however, that he would support such an effort "if it is in the interests of both Lebanese and Palestinians".
Israel's incursion into Gaza began after militants killed two soldiers and captured Cpl Shalit, who remains in the custody of the Palestinian militant groups.
An Associated Press count says Israeli troops have killed 159 Palestinians since they started attacking the Gaza Strip to try to recover Cpl Shalit and stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel. Most of those killed were militants, but included were a considerable number of civilians.
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a rocket attack yesterday on the southern Israeli town of Zikim that injured two children who were hit by shrapnel.
In Algeria, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the situation in the Palestinian areas and Lebanon was only likely to get worse after world leaders failed in Rome on Wednesday to agree on an immediate ceasefire.
"The situation will worsen and the consequences will be very heavy, not only for the region but probably for the entire world," he told Algeria's official news agency.
Israeli aircraft yesterday hit a metal workshop in the city of Khan Younis that the military said was a weapons storehouse. The strike wounded nine people, including two children, hospital officials said, while hospital officials said a 40-year-old Palestinian man whose house was targeted by Israeli forces had died of his wounds.
Palestinians could be seen streaming out of their houses early in the day to clean up after Israel's latest incursion.
In the temporary absence of Israeli troops, residents inspected their battered houses and vehicles, while rescue workers searched for bodies underneath rubble and militants picked up mines and explosives they had planted to try and blow up Israeli tanks. - (AP)