GAZA CITY - ISRAEL rejected world appeals for a truce on Tuesday and warned its deadly assault on Gaza could last for weeks as warplanes pummelled Hamas positions for a fourth day and tanks massed on the border.
Despite the devastating aerial pounding that has now killed at least 363 people, Hamas militants continued to fight back, firing deadly rockets deep inside Israeli territory.
Hamas violence since truce ended Dec 30
ISRAEL vowed on Tuesday to break Hamas's will and rejected any truce with the group before cross-border rocket fire ceased.
BRUSSELS - THE European Commission made a new call on Tuesday for Palestinian group Hamas and Israel to halt their conflict so urgent supplies can be delivered to the population of the Gaza Strip.
'The European Commission is extremely concerned about the plight of civilians in the Gaza Strip,' the EU executive arm said in a statement.
Quartet to discuss Gaza crisis by phone: officials
LONDON - UN chief Ban Ki-Moon and foreign ministers of
the Middle East Quartet were to discuss the Israel-Gaza crisis in a conference call on Tuesday, officials said.
Mr Ban was to talk with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, France's Bernard Kouchner, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Quartet envoy Tony Blair, said a diplomatic source in London.
'There is a conference call this afternoon, which will be Quartet
Principals (Rice, Lavrov, Secretary General Ban and the EU representatives) plus Tony Blair,' said the source, requesting anonymity.
Gaza children traumatised as Israeli bombs rain down
GAZA CITY - 'WE are scared... that we can die at any moment,' said 11-year-old Mohammed Ayyad, still terrified hours after a massive Israeli bombardment of Hamas government buildings next to his house in Gaza.
Like the rest of Gaza's children, he has been traumatised by the four-day assault on Islamist Hamas targets which has transformed many areas of the overcrowded territory into piles of rubble and shattered glass.
Children again fell victim to Israel's 'all-out war' on the Islamist Hamas movement, with two sisters dying when a missile slammed into their donkey cart in the northern town of Beit Hanun.
In Gaza City, residents picked through rubble and broken glass after a night in which Israel hammered the overcrowded territory with some 40 strikes targeting Hamas buildings, training camps and rocket launchers.
Despite repeated pleas by UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a stop to the 'unacceptable' violence that has sparked outrage in the Muslim world and protests in many countries, Israel waved aside calls for a truce.
'There is no reason that we would accept a ceasefire at this stage,' Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told AFP.
'If there is a ceasefire, that will allow Hamas to regain strength, recover from the shock and prepare an even stronger attack against Israel,' he said.
With tanks and personnel massed on the Gaza border, Israel said infantry was ready to join what it warned would be a prolonged offensive.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the bombardment so far was 'the first of several stages approved by the security cabinet,' while Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai warned the offensive - one of Israel's deadliest ever against Gaza - could last weeks.
'We are ready for a prolonged conflict and for weeks of combat,' Mr Vilnai said.
An army spokeswoman said that 'the ground forces are ready,' adding that 'for the moment we are only hitting from the air and the sea'.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has described the bombardment as an 'all-out war' against Hamas, has repeatedly warned that he is ready to send ground troops into Gaza.
The four days of intensive bombardment, which have killed several senior Hamas officials and reduced many of the group's structures in Gaza to rubble, has failed to stop rocket fire from the territory.
Three Israelis - two civilians and one soldier - were killed on Monday by rockets fired from Gaza, with one reaching the deepest yet inside Israel and slamming into the southern port city of Ashdod, more than 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the border.
Hamas has warned it might also launch suicide attacks inside Israel for the first time since January 2005.
Since Israel unleashed its massive aerial attack on Saturday following persistent rocket fire from Gaza, at least 363 Palestinians, including 39 children, have been killed and 1,720 wounded, according to Gaza medics.
Palestinian militants have fired more than 250 rockets, killing four people inside Israel and wounding around two dozen more.
Rebuffing Arab appeals, Israel's main ally Washington has given the offensive strong support but said it was working behind the scenes to forge a truce.
'The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself,' said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was reaching out by telephone to key world leaders and diplomats to find a lasting way to end the violence, officials said.
At the United Nations, Ban said he was 'deeply alarmed by the current escalation of violence in and around Gaza. This is unacceptable.
'Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and... a ceasefire must be declared immediately.' EU foreign ministers were set to meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss how they can work to help ease the crisis in Gaza.
There was growing concern about the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent territory of 1.5 million which Israel has virtually sealed off since Hamas seized power in June last year.
The Israeli military opened the Kerem Shalom crossing to allow more than 100 trucks filled with humanitarian aid to enter Gaza on Tuesday, a military spokesman said. On Monday, dozens of trucks were allowed to pass through.
Israel's offensive followed days of rising violence after a tenuous six-month truce in and around Gaza ended on December 19. It also comes ahead of early parliamentary elections in Israel called for February 10. -- AFP
