Israel Reoccupies Northern Gaza

Israeli ground forces and armored vehicles thrust into northern Gaza, reoccupying three disbanded Jewish settlements in the Strip. (Reuters)

Israeli ground forces, armored vehicles and sappers thrust four kilometers (two miles) into northern Gaza, moving into three disbanded Jewish settlements and an industrial zone, a Palestinian security source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israeli trucks and infantry took over the remains of Dugit, Elei Sinai and Nissanit settlements dismantled last year after Israel ended its 38-year-old occupation of the impoverished coastal area.

Occupation forces also amassed outside the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the deepest Israeli ground thrust into the area since an Israeli soldier was taken prisoner last week by Palestinian resistance groups.

As Israeli forces entered northern Gaza, fierce clashes flared up with Palestinian resistance fighters in the area.

Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships fired at Palestinian fighters inside Beit Lahiya. Fighters from various Palestinian factions responded with automatic weapons.

Israel launched its onslaught on Wednesday, June 28, destroying the Gaza Strip main power plant, three main bridges, water pipes, schools, universities, football pitches and tombs.

Israeli tanks and bulldozers also devastated vast swathes of olive trees, a main source of income to the Palestinian farmers.

Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert declared Tuesday, July 4, a "long war" against the Gaza Strip.

Buffer Zone

A Palestinian boy looks at the damage caused by an Israeli strike. (Reuters)

By dawn Thursday, Israeli troops were positioned west of Beit Lahiya, having moved partially into the outlying neighborhoods of Atatra and Salatin.

A Palestinian security source said the Israeli troops were occupying two buildings and digging a military position in the sand.

Israeli radio reported that troops had been ordered to advance six kilometers (almost four miles) into the Gaza Strip to stop rocket firing by Palestinians.

The Israeli military warned civilians to stay clear of the newly occupied area.

Israel's security cabinet had on Wednesday ordered the military to extend an interdiction zone to be enforced by air and artillery back-up.

The Israeli army was also given orders to intensify air raids against Hamas and step up so-called targeted killing operations against resistance leaders.

Civilians Killed

An Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip killed two Palestinian civilians on Thursday, witnesses told Reuters.

They said nine people were wounded, including a few gunmen.

Another missile was later fired at a group of resistance fighters east of Khan Younis, wounding three, witnesses added.

Earlier on Thursday, a Palestinian civilian, 20-year-old of Mohammed Attar, was killed by Israeli machine-gun fire in Beit Lahiya, medical sources said.

The latest deaths bring to 5,137 the number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian intifada in September 2000, most of them Palestinians, according to an AFP toll.

Punishment

Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniyeh slammed the ongoing Israeli offensive against the Palestinian people and appealed for international intervention.

"What Israel is doing is exposing its plan to reoccupy large sectors of the Gaza Strip, strike its infrastructure, impose collective punishment on our people and throw them into a state of panic," he said in a statement.

"The crimes committed by Israel will transform into failure and confusion but only strengthen the Palestinian people's unity," averred Haniyeh.

The European Union said the Israeli military operations had delayed efforts to get much-needed funding to the Palestinians, as 1.4 million people living in impoverished Gaza Strip grapple with food shortages as well as fuel and power cuts.

The UN's Middle East envoy Alvaro de Soto has warned that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip had become "dangerous" after Israel knocked out a power station, supplying 43 percent of the Gaza Strip's electricity.

He warned of the risk of water-born diseases without proper water distribution, sanitation and sewage system.

Switzerland, the depositary state for the Geneva Conventions, has also accused Israel of breaking humanitarian law by inflicting "collective punishment" on Palestinians.

It stressed that there was "no doubt" that Israel had not taken the necessary precautions required of it under international law to protect the civilian population and infrastructure.