Israeli forces pounded Gaza yesterday, meeting stiff resistance from Hamas Islamists and sending thousands of residents fleeing, as US Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Israel ceasefire talks had made some progress.
In a blow to Israel’s economy and a public relations coup for Hamas, US and European air carriers halted flights to the Jewish state citing concern over a militant rocket from Gaza that hit a house near Ben Gurion airport. Israel urged a re-think, saying its air space was safe.
Adding to pressure on Israel, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday there was “a strong possibility” that it was committing war crimes in Gaza, where 645 Palestinians have died in the fighting, mostly civilians.
Israel denied the suggestion, stepping up the war of words and accusing Hamas of using fellow Gazans as human shields.
Making an unannounced, one-day visit, Kerry was due to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, signalling an intensification of efforts to end the bloodshed.
“We have certainly made some steps forward. There is still work to be done,” Kerry said shortly after arriving.
Israel launched its offensive on July 8 to halt missile salvoes by Hamas and its allies, struggling under the weight of an Israeli-Egyptian economic blockade and angered by a crackdown on their supporters in the nearby occupied West Bank.
After failing to halt the militant barrage through days of aerial bombardment, Israel sent ground troops into the Gaza Strip last Thursday, looking to knock out Hamas’s missile stores and destroy a vast, underground network of tunnels.
“We are meeting resistance around the tunnels ... they are constantly trying to attack us around and in the tunnels. That is the trend,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said on Wednesday.
Some 29 Israeli soldiers have been killed so far in the conflagration, including a tank officer shot by a Palestinian sniper overnight. Three civilians have died in rocket attacks out of Gaza, including a foreign labourer hit yesterday.
The military says one of its soldiers is also missing and believes he might be dead. Hamas says it has captured him, but has not released a picture of him in their hands.
Death, destruction
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 18 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday, many of them in the southern town of Khan Younis – one of the focal points of Israel’s recent assault.
In the far north, residents continued to flee Beit Hanoun as Israeli tanks thrust deeper into the border town and destroyed nearby orchards in their search for hidden Hamas tunnels.
“Columns of people are heading west of Beit Hanoun, looking for a safe shelter. This is not war, this is annihilation,” said 17-year-old Hamed Ayman.
“I once dreamt of becoming a doctor. Today I am homeless. They should watch out for what I could become next,” the youth told Reuters.
Gaza officials said that so far in the 16-day conflict, 475 houses had been totally destroyed by Israeli fire and 2,644 partially damaged. Some 46 schools, 56 mosques and seven hospitals had also suffered varying degrees of destruction. “There seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes,” the UN’s Pillay told an emergency session at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
She also condemned indiscriminate, militant rocket and mortar attacks out of Gaza.