MIDDLE EAST: The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, yesterday vowed to push on with a five-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip in which 47 Palestinians have been killed and around 250 injured, saying he wanted to "significantly decrease" rocket fire from Palestinian militants.
The incursion, the latest in more than a dozen offensives in Beit Hanoun in recent years, has become the biggest assault in Gaza since June. In the past four months more than 350 Palestinians have died. One Israeli soldier has been killed in the offensive, and one seriously injured.
Despite the incursion, militants continued to fire their crude Qassam rockets into nearby Israeli towns, particularly Sderot, which sits close to the Gaza border. Eight Israelis and three foreigners have been killed in Israel by rockets in the past four years.
Among the dead in Beit Hanoun was a girl aged 12, shot in the head by an Israeli sniper on Saturday. On Friday two volunteer paramedics, both 17, were killed in nearby Beit Lahiya.
A crowd of around 100 paramedics marched through Gaza City yesterday to protest against the deaths.
Beit Hanoun, a town of more than 30,000 people, has been closed off since Wednesday, but reports describe a dire situation with electricity cuts as well as limited water and food. Tanks and bulldozers are on the streets.
At least 12 Palestinians were killed over the weekend, many of them from Hamas.
"The operation is limited in time, but we have no intention of announcing when it will end," Mr Olmert said yesterday at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting.
"When we reach the conclusion that the effectiveness of the operation is bringing us closer to reaching the goals, we will definitely pull our forces out of Gaza . . . We have no intention of staying in Gaza."
The latest offensive has brought international criticism. "The right of all states to defend themselves does not justify disproportionate use of violence or actions which are contrary to international humanitarian law," said a statement from the Finnish presidency of the EU. Pope Benedict spoke of the "grave deterioration" in Gaza and called on both sides to resume negotiations.
In Jerusalem the newest member of the cabinet, Avigdor Lieberman, sparked criticism when he said Arabs in Israel should lose their citizenship so that Israel could become as "homogeneous" a Jewish state as possible. Mr Lieberman, a far-right politician born in Moldova, was brought in to shore up Mr Olmert's weak coalition, but has provoked concern with his outspoken views.
"The source of the conflict here is not territory, it is not occupation, it is not settlers," he told Israel's Army Radio yesterday. "It is a clash between two people and two religions.
"Anywhere in the world where there are two peoples and two religions, whether it's the former Yugoslavia or the Caucasus region in Russia or in Northern Ireland, there is conflict."