Gaza Clashes Leave Infant Girl Dead

Israeli Forces Enter Southern Gaza; Rice Blames Mideast Stalemate On Hamas

(AP)  About 25 Israeli armored vehicles rumbled into southern Gaza and clashed with militants after nightfall Tuesday. A 1-month-old baby was killed in the crossfire, a medical official said.

The Israeli tanks fired shells and attack helicopters fired missiles during the clashes, Palestinian witnesses said.

The baby girl was killed by a ricocheting bullet, Palestinian Health Ministry official Moaiya Hassanain said. Eight militants and three civilians were wounded, none of then seriously, he said.

Israeli defense officials said it was a "pinpoint" operation aimed at Gaza militants. It came just a day after Israel ended a destructive and bloody ground operation in northern Gaza against Palestinian rocket squads.

The armored column entered Gaza through the Kissufim crossing, which was the main crossing point for Israeli settlers in Gaza before Israel's 2005 pullout, witnesses said.

The soldiers arrested two Islamic Jihad militants and were pulling out two hours after the incursion, witnesses said. The Israeli military confirmed that the operation was over.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the region Tuesday and appealed to Israelis and Palestinians to resume negotiations.

Some Israeli officials are calling for a large-scale invasion of Gaza to stop the rocket attacks, which this week have ranged as far as the coastal city of Ashkelon, 11 miles north of Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was quoted as saying that Israel might be forced to send troops back into the territory, but officials in her office clarified that she was referring to a military operation, not reoccupation.

"We cannot afford this kind of extreme Islamic state controlled by Hamas," Livni told foreign diplomats in a meeting in Jerusalem, according to a ministry statement released Tuesday. Israel evacuated Gaza "not in order to come back, but we might find ourselves in a situation that we have no other alternative."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said often that a large-scale operation is nearing, indicating that Israel might try to overthrow the Hamas regime.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, while warning of severe reprisals against Hamas, has hesitated to order a large invasion, expressing concern about the inevitably high casualties on both sides.

Palestinians fired three rockets at Israel on Tuesday, hitting a house in the battered border town of Sderot. The number of rockets was far fewer than in previous days. Israel carried out several airstrikes in Gaza, killing one militant.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who controls a West Bank government that rivals Hamas' Gaza regime, called off talks with Israel on Sunday to protest the exceptionally high death toll from the latest military operation in Gaza.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Rice in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abbas said "peace and negotiations are our strategic choice" but fell short of announcing a resumption of talks.

"I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed, for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008," Abbas said, referring to the goal of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty stated at a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference in November.

Rice called for the resumption of peace talks as soon as possible, saying they were necessary to counter Hamas' influence.

"What we are trying to achieve is not easy ... but I do believe it can be done. We need very much for everybody to be focused on peace," she said.

Referring to Hamas and its opposition to peacemaking, she said: "We won't let them win."

Rice also said Israel should make "a very strong effort to spare innocent life" in Gaza.

Livni told the diplomats on Monday that Abbas' decision to halt the negotiations "shows weakness," signaling to Hamas that its attacks from Gaza could influence Abbas' actions.

In Washington, President Bush said there is "plenty of time" to get a Mideast peace deal in the 10 months before he leaves office.

"This is a process that always has two steps forward and one step back," Bush said after meeting at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah II. "We just need to make sure that it's just one step back."

[juwboy]

Rather than employing its usual "disproportionate" response to attacks by Hamas, I believe that Israel should adopt the following approach.

Israel should abandon its policy of occasional, targeted, pinpoint, laser-guided, single-missile strikes against known terrorists who use innocent women and children as human shields.

Instead, Israel should use a "proportionate" approach and fire thousands of short-range, unguided, randomly-directed rockets, from its border, into all of the nearby civilian areas of Gaza.

[closethippy1]

Posted by earth56 at 12:04 AM : Mar 05, 2008

Israel is the country that has violated the most number of UN resolutions and for the longest time in the world, not only in the Middle East.
It has invaded more countries than any other country in the Middle East.
And it has an apartheid system unmatched even by a backward country like Saudi Arabia. Nelson Mandela from South Africa said it''s even worse than the Apartheid South Africa practiced.
For all these reasons Israel needs to be confronted until a resolution to their rebellious behaviour is found.
Thank you.

[moses2008-2009]

Dedicated for bobacon and all that are against Israel right for self defence.

Psalms chapter 11:

In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain.

For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.

When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do?"

The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes everyone on earth;
his eyes examine them.

The LORD examines the righteous,
but the wicked, those who love violence,
he hates with a passion.

On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
the upright will see his face.


and by the way ,the word Violance in this chapter is pronounced HAMAS in Hebrew.

[j-whitman]

libsrweak,,, If I was a republican you could assume I was a racist..... But I''m not

[j-whitman]

libsrweak,,,, Hate to break it to you, last time I checked I was white

[libsrweak]

Posted by j-whitman at 12:21 AM : Mar 05, 2008
+ report abuse

************

HAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHH well well well..that racist trait finally shows its ugly face..

[j-whitman]

singinrick,,,,, Do you have an urge for a banana ???

[j-whitman]

singinrick,,,, Obama is your distant cousin, vote for family

[j-whitman]

singinrick.... DNA science shows you are related to black people from Africa over 50,000 years ago.

[j-whitman]

singinrick,,,, Speaking of fools on the board,, Did you eat fried chicken tonight ?? Biological sciences have proved they are evolved from the dinosaur

[jack19512]

egypt should annex gaza and let egypt be responsible for civilitiy there. maybe then the gaza fighting will end and he west bank palistinians can make peace.

[nothappyatall]

"hope the soldier who killed this innocent child shoots himself!!!"

No such thing as an ''innocent'' child over there, they grow up to become militants, join in the war or suicide bomber types, where do you think ther radicals and the military gets NEW people, mars??
Kill ALL the children there and thats about the only thing that will finally stop the war/conflict petty squabble over a strip of land when the old ones die off and the younger ones kill each other off.

[closethippy1]

This is what Hamas is saying about its actions against Israel: To have Israel control the borders, the airspace and the coast of Gaza, and decide who and what can enter and leave Gaza, and then do nothing about it is to make it look as it is legitimate for the Israelis to do all that.
Remember that Israel''s actions are happening in the context of a 40 years military occupation of the area.
Yes, Hamas can write articles and hold protests and do interviews and travel the world over to argue their case and plead and beg and all that.
But who''s listening? Who''s doing anything about it? 40 long years and nothing, nothing, has been done to ease the Palestinians'''' situation.
In fact, it just keeps getting worse with more land confiscation, more Jewish settlers transfered to this lands, more Only Jewish freeways for Jewish settlers to travel on them, more checkpoints, more Palestinians being hunted down and killed without the decency of a court trial, etc.
And all this in the West Bank where not a single rocket has been fired from.
Gaza is under siege and being strangled to death. And to expect Palestinians there, and in the West Bank, to do nothing about it is insane.
One way or another they have to let the world know, at least let Israel know, that they''re not happy with not having the same rights everyone else in the world has.
They really don''t have much of a choice but to attack Israel and let them know that 40 years of occupation has to come to an end somehow, sometime.

[libsrweak]

I hope the soldier who killed this innocent child shoots himself!!!

Posted by takeback2 at 09:27 PM : Mar 04, 2008
+ report abuse

******

dont worry the hamas would kill th soldier plus more civilians and more infants in retaliation..and of coruse that is okay with you and will not be told by Associated Press nor condemed by the UN..

[keithle1]

Our heads are so far up Israel''s butt, we couldn''t find our way out even if we wanted to.

[keithle1]

"1-month-old baby was killed" And? This stuff happens ALL THE TIME. Why is it news?

Who cares? Same old, same old. YAWN. Wake me when they have killed off everyone on each side.

[stezzer]

The Palestinians voted for Hamas. They voted for a terrorist organization. They voted for war.

There is no reason to fire rockets from unoccupied Gaza into Israel. Just as there was no common sense in destroying the greenhouse farming infrastructure that was left them by the Israelis. Technology they could have used to feed their own people.

Hamas has done nothing for the Palestinian people. They are violent, uneducated, idiots. And anyone who makes excuses for them, or appeases their behavior, are even bigger fools.

[grazinggoat]

CBS news: ''Livni told the diplomats on Monday that Abbas'' decision to halt the negotiations "shows weakness," signaling to Hamas that its attacks from Gaza could influence Abbas'' actions.''

- I already thought she would be a b*tch but now she confirms it. I''d add her comment is as credible as an elephant flying in the air. Here you go Tzipi! Tzipi hide yourself with a humble scarf, that would be better for you. Idiot!

[nothappyatall]

"was killed by a ricocheting bullet, Palestinian Health Ministry official Moaiya Hassanain said. "

Oh well, another one that wont grow up to become a suicide bomber or take up guns. She was stamped ''return to maker'' LOL

[nothappyatall]

"Israeli Forces Enter Southern Gaza; Rice Blames Mideast Stalemate On Hamas"

Take a hike RICEY, the USA is the guard dog for your baby- IsRAel, time to cut the leash and let em fall or not- on their own merits, not with us helping them, for our involvement with ISRaEL is what caused 9/11