ISRAELI forces killed 31 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, in the Gaza Strip yesterday, in an escalation of fighting that renewed threats of an Israeli invasion.
A total of 66 Palestinians have been killed in four days of Israeli air strikes, gunship attacks and raids aimed at extremists affiliated with Gaza's ruling Hamas movement. A baby and two teenagers were among the dead, and dozens of people have been
wounded.
Palestinian officials said Israeli forces advanced towards the towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabalya, the deepest incursion in several months. The Israeli army confirmed its forces were operating in the area and that five soldiers had been wounded.
The attacks were a response to the firing of 20 rockets into Israel, including three Soviet-designed Grad missiles, which are more powerful and accurate than locally produced Qassams. The use of Grad missiles brings the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, home to 120,000 Israelis, within range of Palestinian rocket fire. Three Israelis were injured and one was killed in last week's attacks.
At least half the dead yesterday were civilians, the youngest a six-month-old boy. Hamas said he died in an Israeli strike on Beit Hanoun, a northern town from where Palestinian militants often launch rockets at Israel. But local residents said one of those rockets fell short and landed in the area of the little boy's house.
The Israeli military, which sent troops, tanks and aircraft after Gaza rocket squads, said it attacked only rocket-launching operations but militants sometimes operated in civilian areas. Troops had identified 15 hits in operations against rocket squads and militants laying explosive devices.
Fierce fighting erupted early yesterday near the northern town of Jebaliya, with Israeli troops backed by tanks and aircraft up against Palestinian militants launching crude rockets and mortars.
At least six militants and four civilians, including two teenagers, were killed. One of the dead militants was identified as the commander of a rocket unit in Gaza City.
Medical officials said two women and a man were killed after a tank shell struck a house. The military said it would look into the report.
Five Israeli soldiers were wounded in the clashes.
Nearly two dozen rockets landed yesterday in southern Israel. Three struck the Ashkelon area, wounding two children and a woman.
Hamas fighters were unbowed by the spiralling violence. "The Zionist forces failed in Gaza before," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas's military wing. "We will respond to any aggression with every available means."
Israel evacuated its troops and settlers from Gaza in late 2005, but militants proceeded to fire rockets from the abandoned territory.
On Thursday, the militants raised the stakes significantly by firing Iranian-made rockets at Ashkelon.
While the city has been targeted before, it has never suffered direct hits.
The attack increased the pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to protect a widening circle of people at risk.
The United States urged Israel to "consider the consequences" of any action. More bloodshed could derail Washington's hopes of a peace deal before President George Bush steps down in January.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to visit the region this week to try to prod Israel and moderate Palestinians forward in their bid to reach a peace accord by the end of the year. The two sides declared that goal at a US-sponsored conference in November.
But the efforts of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, are compromised by the fact that he rules only the West Bank, while Gaza is controlled by the violently anti-Israel Hamas. Israel's fragile governing coalition would be hard pressed to make concessions to the Palestinians while Gaza militants pummel southern Israel with rockets.
With tens of thousands more citizens now coming within range, Israeli leaders have warned of a possible invasion.
Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said Israel had "no other choice". He warned Gazans they risked a "shoah" if the rocket fire did not end. An aide said Vilnai meant "disaster" rather than "holocaust", the more common meaning of the word.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the attacks on Ashkelon "demanded an Israeli retaliation".
Barak, who has warned repeatedly of a large-scale military operation in Gaza, blamed Hamas for the rise in violence and said the militant movement would "suffer the consequences".
Abbas has called on Israel to stop all attacks in Gaza and urged Palestinian militants to halt the rocket fire.
"It is in the interest of the Palestinian people not to give Israel any pretext to continue its aggressions," he said.
Hazem Abu Shanab, a senior member of Abbas's Fatah faction in Gaza, called the Israeli incursion a "real massacre against all of us".
Hamas officials said there had been an "international silence" over the "massacre".
