Post by Sohail on Jan 14, 2009 23:05:35 GMT
Palestinian officials have said the death toll since the Israeli assault on Gaza was launched has climbed above 1,000.
The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said 1,010 Palestinians had been killed and 4,700 wounded by Israeli forces in 18 days of fighting.
Activists claim that hundreds of civilians are among the dead. Israeli officials have given no firm casualty toll for Palestinians but say troops have killed hundreds of militants.
At least 10 people, including at least four militants, were killed on Wednesday, medics said. Bodies were also retrieved from past attacks The Israeli military said its aircraft bombed about 35 tunnels under the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt and also struck Hamas police headquarters in the Israeli-encircled city of Gaza, eight squads of gunmen and weapons storage facilities.
Six Palestinian militants and four civilians were killed in the Israeli attacks, medical workers said.
Progress was reported in talks on an Egyptian proposal to end the hostilities. The deal would see a temporary ceasefire, followed by a long-term truce and the opening of Gaza's border crossings in the presence of officials from the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Nine Israeli human rights groups condemned Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip for causing unprecedented suffering to civilian residents.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and the army's top brass, the nine rights groups said civilians in Gaza were being subjected to "extreme humanitarian distress".
"The level of harm to the civilian population is unprecedented," they wrote, accusing troops of "making wanton use of lethal force which has to date caused the deaths of hundreds of uninvolved civilians."
Polls show that more than 90 per cent of the Israeli public support the Gaza offensive.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4240950/Palestinian-death-toll-in-Gaza-over-1000.html
The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said 1,010 Palestinians had been killed and 4,700 wounded by Israeli forces in 18 days of fighting.
Activists claim that hundreds of civilians are among the dead. Israeli officials have given no firm casualty toll for Palestinians but say troops have killed hundreds of militants.
At least 10 people, including at least four militants, were killed on Wednesday, medics said. Bodies were also retrieved from past attacks The Israeli military said its aircraft bombed about 35 tunnels under the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt and also struck Hamas police headquarters in the Israeli-encircled city of Gaza, eight squads of gunmen and weapons storage facilities.
Six Palestinian militants and four civilians were killed in the Israeli attacks, medical workers said.
Progress was reported in talks on an Egyptian proposal to end the hostilities. The deal would see a temporary ceasefire, followed by a long-term truce and the opening of Gaza's border crossings in the presence of officials from the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Nine Israeli human rights groups condemned Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip for causing unprecedented suffering to civilian residents.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and the army's top brass, the nine rights groups said civilians in Gaza were being subjected to "extreme humanitarian distress".
"The level of harm to the civilian population is unprecedented," they wrote, accusing troops of "making wanton use of lethal force which has to date caused the deaths of hundreds of uninvolved civilians."
Polls show that more than 90 per cent of the Israeli public support the Gaza offensive.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4240950/Palestinian-death-toll-in-Gaza-over-1000.html
