Breaking News - Israeli ground forces cros border into Gaza strip

Israeli Ground Forces Cross Border Into Gaza Strip

Saturday, January 03, 2009 o

FNC

Jan. 3, 2008: Israeli tanks reposition themselves along the Gaza Strip border before carrying out a ground offensive.

Jan. 3, 2008: Israeli tanks reposition themselves along the Gaza Strip border before carrying out a ground offensive. * * * * *

DEVELOPING: Israeli ground forces began moving across the border into the northern Gaza Strip in an escalation late Saturday night of the weeklong offensive against Hamas.

The incursion was confirmed to FOX News by Israeli defense officials, and witnesses in the Gaza Strip reported seeing troops moving in — a development that Reuters described as a small column of Israeli military vehicles backed by combat helicopters.

Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip had intensified Saturday evening as tanks began repositioning themselves around the border despite international efforts to secure a cease-fire and avert a ground war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel launched the aerial campaign a week ago in a bid to halt weeks of intensifying Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza. The offensive has dealt a heavy blow to Hamas, but failed to halt the rocket fire.

Click here for photos.

Early Saturday, Israel dropped leaflets in downtown Gaza City ordering people off the streets.

Most of Israel's latest airstrikes hit empty buildings and abandoned sites, though a mosque also was hit, killing 10 people, as artillery units joined the Gaza offensive for the first time Saturday.
Related

Palestinian militants fired six rockets into southern Israel, causing no injuries. One rocket struck a house in the city of Ashkelon, police said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is visiting the region next week, and U.S. President Bush and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon both spoke in favor of an internationally monitored truce.

President Bush, in a radio address taped Friday, accused Hamas of an "act of terror" in its rocket attacks into Israel and suggested that no cease-fire would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of weapons to terrorist groups.

But Hamas, in its first reaction to the proposal on Saturday, seemed cool to the idea of international monitors

From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks against Israeli targets, and on Friday, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said from Damascus that his group was prepared for an invasion and may attempt to abduct soldiers, as it has in the past.

Israel launched the new round of airstrikes on Gaza in response to renewed missile attacks by Hamas after the two sides' six-month cease-fire ended last month.

The United Nations estimated Friday that around 100 civilians have been killed in Gaza in the past week, around 25 percent of the 400 estimated killed in the bombing campaign.

Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in the Hamas rocket attacks, which have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing one-eighth of Israel's population of 7 million within rocket range.

FOX News' Mike Tobin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Israeli
• attack
• gaza

[valleyschool93]

@loadi2

evidence...? is this you just bullshitting and repeating what the media says. have you ever been to the gaza strip?

[fixrifex]

@r2koch I do not particularly respect people who make such assumption,I will never support war no matter the cause. Barbaric and primitive minds like yours has yet to evolve to understand humanity is one race,and the life of one is not less important than the life of another, all human life is precious. and for all those who justify killing shame on you.

[fixrifex]

The tendency in the natural world is for the most skilfull,adaptable and powerful to succeed. Israel has all the military arsenal this world can provide, palestinians do not. Palestinians are fighting a war they cannot win because israel has the support of the current roman empire (USA). In the mean time innocent people are dieing.

[r2koch]

@sherlot1994 I'm all with Israel and all educated people are ... of course I believe that the leftist liberals are all idiots...I can not believe they exist in Israel...when an Israeli speaks against Israel I believe that they are idiots and arabs enjoy it when Israelis attack Israelis...arabs and their sympathizer are shit all around the world period.

[sherlot1994]

@SOTHISISDEMOCRACY you shut uppp.....cause you nothing about the holocaust....i say gaza population suffer a lot but not as the daed from the holocaust.....

[sherlot1994]

@SOTHISISDEMOCRACY how could you say that the jews are nazis.....cause we are the most population that got hurt by them(more than blacks disabled people and other)

[sherlot1994]

@2SixGraders excatly..............

[sherlot1994]

@Leftistsaremad no good !!!!!do you know anything about uss???you know nothing about all the suffer we passed and i don't mean in the 2000 i mean before having a country/

[sherlot1994]

@MsCuriousCat Israel has ever attacked americaa....in awarr...we are so far from each othee....learn geography and historyy...i have already learnt.....

[sherlot1994]

@MsCuriousCat how you know so muchh about the war???all that are lies innocent people did die there but unporposly.......our targer was only killing hamas people......

they must have told you lies again.......we have proofsss....they have nothing and its still so popular to think bad things about ass....