The York Dispatch · York, Pennsylvania · 31 December 2008

CP-2008-004

Israel rejects calls for a truce

Tunnels: Attacks target Hamas smuggling

The Associated Press, Gaza City

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Transcribed from the clipping

“GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel rejected international pressure to suspend its air offensive against Palestinian militants, sending warplanes Wednesday to demolish smuggling tunnels that are the lifeline of Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers.

The diplomatic action was set in motion by the scale of destruction in Gaza since Israel unleashed its campaign Saturday, and a casualty toll that Gaza officials now put at 390 dead and some 1,600 wounded. Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed, and the U.N. says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died.

Four Israelis have been killed by rocket fire, including three civilians. The chief of Israel’s internal security services, Yuval Diskin, told Cabinet ministers Wednesday that Hamas’ ability to rule had been ‘badly impaired.’

Weapons development facilities have been ‘completely wiped out’ and the network of smuggling tunnels has been badly damaged, a participant in the meeting quoted Diskin as saying. Calls for an immediate cease-fire have also come from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.

President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice personally called leaders in the Middle East on Tuesday to press for a durable solution. Underlying the Israeli decision to keep fighting are the mightier weapons that Hamas has smuggled into Gaza through underground tunnels along the border with Egypt.

Newer weapons have dramatically expanded their range and put more than a 10th of Israel’s population in their sights. More than two dozens rockets and mortar shells were fired by midday Wednesday, including five that hit in and around the major southern Israeli city of Beersheba, 22 miles from Gaza. No serious casualties were reported.

While rejecting a truce, Israel said it would allow 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies to enter Gaza on Wednesday, in addition to 4,000 tons the military says have been allowed in since the offensive began.

Meanwhile, in Iran, hard-line student groups have appealed to the government to authorize volunteer suicide bombers to leave Iran and fight against Israel in response to the Gaza attacks.”

Context added by this archive

Three separate counts of the Palestinian dead in one paragraph — Gaza officials’, Hamas’ and the United Nations’ — and the Israeli dead counted separately with their civilians named as a number. The caption notes there were also demonstrations of support for Israel.

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