12-28-2008, 09:47 PM
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,1214216.story
Missiles target tunnels to Egypt that serve as region's lifeline.
By Ashraf Khalil and Rushdi abu Alouf
12:34 PM PST, December 28, 2008
REPORTING FROM GAZA CITY AND JERUSALEM -- Israeli warplanes expanded their assault on the Gaza Strip today, launching missile strikes on the network of cross-border tunnels to Egypt that serve as a vital lifeline for the besieged coastal enclave.
Israeli tanks massed along the Gaza border as the Jewish state called up more than 6,000 army reservists in possible preparation for a land assault against the Hamas movement, which controls the strip.
As darkness fell over Gaza this evening, the situation on the territory's southern border with Egypt was chaotic and fluid. Egyptian border police traded sporadic gunfire with Gazan militants amid reports that a large group had tried to breach the border fence that Egypt has kept sealed for more than a year.
"About 100-150 Palestinians jumped over the border fence to the Egyptian side," said Gaza resident Ahmed Radwan, speaking on the phone from the town of Rafah. "They are about 300 meters into the Egyptian side but have been prevented by Egyptian forces from going any further."
Fighters from Gaza's various militant factions launched at least 30 rockets toward southern Israel, according to the Israeli army. That number was less than half the size of the barrage launched on Saturday, when Israel began its aerial assault with strikes targeting police stations and security compounds throughout Gaza.
Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi reportedly told the Cabinet today that 50% of Hamas' rocket-launching capabilities had been destroyed.
However, two of the Gazan rockets reached deeper into Israel than than most previous strikes, landing near the coastal city of Ashdod, 23 miles north of Gaza.
No serious injuries were reported, but the expansion of the rockets' range seemed to confirm Israeli concerns that the militant group Hamas was developing the ability to target some of the Israel's largest cities.
The two-day death toll climbed past to 292, with Gazan medical officials charging that one-third of the victims were civilians, a statement that could not be confirmed. An estimated 900 people had been injured.
The bloodshed, presented in grisly detail by Arab satellite television, has roiled the Arab world and incensed Palestinians both in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel.
Shopowners in the West Bank and in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem shut their doors in a near-total protest strike. Two Palestinians were killed Sunday in separate clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
ashraf.khalil@latimes.com
Abu Alouf is a special correspondent.