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Business News/ News / World/  Israel stocks up arms, calls up reservists in Gaza push
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Israel stocks up arms, calls up reservists in Gaza push

Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not halt its operations to destroy tunnels Hamas dug to attack Israelis even if a truce is called

More than 100 Palestinians died in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, among them the victims of Israeli fire on a market and the UN school where Palestinians fleeing the fighting had sought refuge. Photo: ReutersPremium
More than 100 Palestinians died in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, among them the victims of Israeli fire on a market and the UN school where Palestinians fleeing the fighting had sought refuge. Photo: Reuters

Jerusalem/Tel Aviv: Israel won’t halt its operations to destroy tunnels Hamas dug to attack Israelis even if a truce is called, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, as the country called up an additional 16,000 reservists.

“We are determined to complete this operation, with or without a cease-fire," Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast by radio before a cabinet meeting. “We won’t agree to any proposal that won’t let the Israeli army complete this important job."

There’s little sign of agreement on terms for a truce to end the third major conflict in Gaza in less than six years. At least 119 were killed in Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinians said, taking the toll in the territory to about 1,374 since fighting began. The Israeli military said three soldiers were killed after a booby-trapped former UN clinic exploded, bringing the total to 56. Three civilians have been killed by rocket fire.

Netanyahu spoke n Thursday after rockets fired from Gaza set off sirens in southern Israel, adding to the more than 146 launched in the past 24 hours. Israel carried out about 110 strikes in the same time, the army said. Some 2,830 rockets have been launched from Gaza at Israel since 8 July, and armed militants have infiltrated from Gaza through tunnels and by sea.

President Barack Obama and United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon are among world leaders calling for an immediate end of hostilities. Israel says that would require Gaza to be disarmed, while Hamas, the militant group that rules the territory, seeks an end to an Israeli blockade in force since 2006 and which has been joined by Egypt.

‘Sleeping Children’

Wednesday was one of the deadliest days of the conflict, which is now in its fourth week.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) accused Israel of violating international law with an attack on a school, which it said was sheltering 3,300 people who had sought refuge there from the fighting. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said “nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children," citing a death toll of at least 16 and demanding “accountability and justice," in an emailed statement.

The school may have been hit by Hamas fire, Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Moti Almoz said in comments broadcast on Army Radio. Troops were responding to fire launched at them from near the building and it is still unclear if it was their fire that hit the school, or Hamas’s, he said.

“Hamas is concentrating its efforts to fire at Israeli soldiers from areas near schools, in order to use civilians as human shields," Almoz said. He said it would take some time to complete the investigation into the incident.

Disarm Hamas

The army also said it was looking into the report of an air strike on a market. Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al- Qedra said 20 people died in that attack.

Any process to resolve the crisis in Gaza in a lasting and meaningful way must lead to the disarmament of Hamas and all terrorist groups, US defence secretary Chuck Hagel said in a phone call with defence minister Moshe Ya’alon, according to a press release posted on the department of defence website. He reiterated the US support for Israel’s security and its right to self defence.

UNRWA said on Wednesday it found a cache of rockets at one of its schools, the third such discovery this month. Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the group, condemned the group or groups responsible, saying it endangered civilians.

Ya’alon said on Wednesday the army is ready to broaden its incursion further. The most recent call-up brings the number of reservists drafted to 86,000. The move will preserve flexibility, Almoz told Army Radio on Thursday.

‘Serious Violation’

Israel, like the US and European Union (EU), labels Hamas a terrorist organization.

Wednesday’s attack on the school was the second deadly strike on a UN refuge facility in a week. The Palestinians accuse Israel of shelling a UN refuge in Beit Hanoun last week; Israel has said it wasn’t responsible.

“The precise location of the Jabalia Elementary Girls School and the fact that it was housing thousands of internally displaced people was communicated to the Israeli army 17 times, to ensure its protection," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, said in a statement. He called the attack “a serious violation of international law."

The US agreed to provide additional ammunition to Israel in response to a request from the country’s ministry of defence, the Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday. The US didn’t provide details of the request.

Israel’s financial markets have shrugged off the violence, with the shekel little changed since it escalated on 8 July and the benchmark TA-25 index up about 1% in the period. Bloomberg

David Lerman and Nicole Gaouette in Washington, Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem and Fadwa Hodali in Ramallah also contributed to this story.

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Published: 31 Jul 2014, 09:13 AM IST
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