Israeli Forces Bisect Gaza Strip

(CBS/AP)  Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships pushed deeper into Gaza Sunday, fighting militants at close range and surrounding the coastal territory's largest city in the first full day of an overwhelming ground offensive.

Israel said it has inflicted a heavy blow against Hamas as it expands a weeklong offensive meant to stop rocket fire on southern Israel. But spiraling civilian casualties fueled an intensifying international outcry.

Israel's ground forces moved in after nightfall Saturday following hours of intense, fiery artillery shelling to clear the way. Gaza will be Israel's graveyard, Hamas warned, but Israel said it lost just one soldier in the first day of ground combat, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.

"Israeli soldiers are currently in combat operations in Gaza and we know that we will take casualties," said government spokesman Mark Regev. "We didn't enter this operation because we wanted to."

They did it because they had to, said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at a cabinet meeting, to stop the barrage of Hamas rockets raining down on Israeli communities. But the rockets haven't stopped, Roth reports. More than thirty fell on Israel on Sunday.

Israeli soldiers continued to fight primarily in open areas in the launching zones used by Gaza's militants to send rockets raining down on Israeli cities. As the troops in three brigade-size formations moved in, residents of those Israeli cities began emerging from bomb shelters in hopes that the rocket fire would taper off.

Backing up the troops, mobile artillery units fired shells that exploded in heavy veils of white smoke over Gaza's urban skyline. Tanks pushed south of Gaza City as deep as the abandoned Israeli settlement of Netzarim, which Israel left along with other Israeli communities when it pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

That effectively cut off Gaza City, the territory's largest population center with some 400,000 residents, from the rest of Gaza to the south.

Israel's military chief said Hamas fighters were trying to draw soldiers deeper into Gaza's sprawling, densely packed urban areas, where the military said Hamas was seeking protection behind civilians.

Israeli forces have not yet entered urban areas, said Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu, the chief army spokesman. He warned, however, that the operation was not a "school trip" and would be long and demanding.

The ground invasion presents Israel with the risk of being sucked into intense urban combat, with house-to-house fighting, sniper fire and booby-traps. Hamas is believed to have some 20,000 gunmen and has had time to prepare.

To guard against hidden explosives, Israel's ground forces moved through fields and orchards with bomb-sniffing dogs.

Since the ground assault began, 64 Palestinian civilians have been killed, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, a Health Ministry official.

At one hospital, in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, medics carrying three injured children in their arms rushed them to treatment. One of the children had a blood-soaked bandage wrapped around his head and covering his eyes.

An Israeli shell also struck an ambulance in the town, killing one paramedic, said Marwan Abu Ras, a hospital administrator. The relief organization Oxfam, which said the ambulance belonged to a partner organization, al-Awda Hospital, confirmed the incident.

An airstrike hit another ambulance belonging to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza City, killing three other paramedics, said medic Jamal Hawajiri. That ambulance crew was driving to a Hamas training site where there were reports of wounded.

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[claydowner]

If you are oh so concerned about this war then lets all work to end our dependence on OPEC oil. Hamas gets help from Iran from whom we buy oil from. Go buy a 40 MPG car. Join the Pickens energy plan so we can wash our hands of OPEC oil forever.

Why did Hamas not invest its money in schools, roads, hospitals, infrastructure, and small businesses that would create jobs for Palestinians? Instead they chose Qassam rockets with help from Iran to bombard Israeli civilians. Hamas started this whole episode lets see if they have the stomach to see it end over the graves of the Palestinian civilians they are responsible for killing. I hope the Israeli Army tears the guts out of Hamas once and for all. Israel tried to live in peace but instead they got war. Sending rockets into civilian living areas killing women and children is an act of war. Whether you like Israel or not they must defend their families from attack.

There can be no peace in the Middle East until organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas are contained or destroyed. Remember these are the same organizations that encourage their young people to strap on suicide bombs for martyrdom. They are only about themselves exploiting helpless children and families for their own political gain. Lets hope Israel''s soldiers do their duty because they are fighting our fight. God bless them for standing up to these miserable and vile killers.

[dochavoc67]

It always amazes me how some group or country will pick a fight with Israel, vowing to do Allah''s will and destroy the Zionists (remember, Islam is a peaceful religion, right?). When Israel gets tired of having its people killed in terrorist attacks, they go after the responsible parties with a vengance - inevitably kicking a$$ and taking names. When the cowards that picked the fight in the first place get tired of getting stomped, they hide themselves and their weapons amongst innocents and cry ''Foul!'' in the international community. You know what we called chicken-$.h.i.t behavior like that back in the neighborhood? Punk. Giving these scum any more credibility than that word is ridiculous.

Bottom line: if the international community wanted to stop the violence, then they should have gone after Hamas for the missile and mortar attacks that started this whole thing.

[zzy-izzy]

Please lets just give one side the state of Texas and the other side the state of Alaska then the whole world would be happy.

[abrame]

Posted by Abrame at 06:12 AM : Jan 05, 2009
--------

Translation: I''ll say something non sequitur and pretend in means something....and I still won''t admit that the Jews stole Palestine by terrorism.

HAHAHAHAHA!!

Posted by FloydZeppd

(had to edit a mistake I made that reversed a meaning I intended to make )

I don''t much care if the Jews stole a thing, 60 years ago.

I don''t much care about the Korean war, the great drought of the early 50''''s, Joe McCarthy, etc.

There are lessons to be learned but there comes a time to move on.

Arabs and Palestinian terrorists are nut cases to me for choosing to hate Israel more than be good parents and providers and love their children.

Golda Meir was right as far as I am concerned.

I could go one but for me to obsess and hate anything going back that far is ludicrous.

[abrame]

Translation: I''''''''ll say something non sequitur and pretend in means something....and I still won''''''''t admit that the Jews stole Palestine by terrorism.

HAHAHAHAHA!!

Posted by FloydZeppd

FloydZeppd is obsessed that I admit Israel stole Palestine. Amazing. Simply amazing.

[abrame]

Posted by Abrame at 06:12 AM : Jan 05, 2009
--------

Translation: I''''ll say something non sequitur and pretend in means something....and I still won''''t admit that the Jews stole Palestine by terrorism.

HAHAHAHAHA!!

Posted by FloydZeppd

I don''t much care if the Jews stole a thing, 60 years ago.

I don''t much care about the Korean war, the great drought of the early 50''s, Joe McCarthy, etc.

There are lessons to be learned but there comes a time to move on.

Arabs and Palestinian terrorists are nut cases to me for not wanting to hate Israel more than be good parents and providers and love their children.

Golda Meir was right as far as I am concerned.

I could go one but for me to obsess and hate anything going back that far is ludicrous.

[petro49l]

Osama Bin Laden should speak on the Internet during the Jewish offensive. He must condemn the massacres of Arab Children. I thought he championed for oppressed Arabs. He softened his tone with the Israelis. Bin Laden liberalized the agenda for the Knesset.

[kittykatty2]

When is America ever going to call Israeli''s what they truly are? Thugs. And to think my tax dollars are funding their murderous rampages totally incenses me.

[abrame]

. You''''d be proud to be a Palestinian.
Posted by trishab59

Sure, I can just see my self-esteem getting stronger with each terror missile.

[abrame]

Here''s a great CBS article for Palestinians:

Overcoming Unemployment And Mental Illness

Jan. 4, 2009, by Jonathan LaPook

(CBS) While unemployment for the overall population is running at 6.7 percent, for people coping with psychiatric difficulties, it reaches 90 percent. For those struggling with both, there''s a special program that not only dramatically lowers unemployment, but also fosters self-respect, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook...