By IAN DEITCH and IBRAHIM BARZAK
Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -
Israel destroyed the headquarters of Hamas' prime minister and blasted a
sprawling network of smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip on
Saturday, broadening a blistering four-day-old offensive against the
Islamic militant group even as diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire
appeared to be gaining steam.
Hamas officials said a
building used by Hamas for broadcasts was bombed and three people were
injured. The injured were from Al Quds TV, a Lebanon-based television
channel. The building is also used by foreign news outlets including
Germany's ARD, Kuwait TV and the Italian RAI and others.
The Israeli military spokesman was not immediately aware of the strikes but said they were investigating.
In neighboring Egypt,
President Mohammed Morsi hosted leaders from Hamas and two key allies,
Qatar and Turkey, to seek a way to end the fighting.
"There are discussions
about the ways to bring a cease-fire soon, but there are no guarantees
until now," Morsi said at a news conference. He said he was working with
Turkey, Arab countries, the U.S., Russia and western European countries
to halt the fighting.
Israel launched the
operation on Wednesday in what it said was an effort to end months of
rocket fire out of the Hamas-ruled territory. It began the offensive
with an unexpected airstrike that killed Hamas' powerful military chief,
and since then has relentlessly targeted suspected rocket launchers and
storage sites.
In all, 48 Palestinians,
including 15 civilians, have been killed and more than 400 civilians
wounded, according to medical officials.
Three Israeli civilians have been killed and more than 50 wounded.
Israeli military officials
expressed satisfaction with their progress Saturday, claiming they have
inflicted heavy damage to Hamas.
"Most of their capabilities
have been destroyed," Maj. Gen. Tal Russo, Israel's southern commander,
told reporters. Asked whether Israel is ready to send ground troops
into Gaza, he said: "Absolutely."
"Most of their weapons are
stored in civilian's homes, they launch rockets from residential areas.
We do not want to hit civilians in Gaza but we do want to hit the
hornets' nest of terror in Gaza," he said.
Footage released Saturday
by the Islamic Jihad showed rockets being fired from a hidden bunker in a
built-up area. It wasn't clear whether it was a residential
neighborhood.
Israel's Deputy Foreign
Minister Danny Ayalon told channel 1 TV that "Hamas is committing a
double war crime, they are firing rockets at Israeli civilians while
using Palestinian civilians as human shields."
The White House said
President Barack Obama was also in touch with the Egyptian and Turkish
leaders. The U.S. has solidly backed Israel so far.
Speaking on Air Force One,
deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said that the White House
believes Israel "has the right to defend itself" against attack and that
the Israelis will make their own decisions about their "military
tactics and operations."
Despite the bruising offensive, Israel has failed to slow the barrages of rockets from Gaza.
The Israeli military said
160 rockets were launched into Israel on Saturday, raising the total
number to roughly 500 since this week's fighting began. Eight Israelis,
including five civilians, were lightly wounded Saturday, the army said.
Israel carried out at least
300 airstrikes on Saturday, the military said, and it broadened its
array of targets. One air raid flattened the three-story office building
used by Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. He was not inside the
building at the time.
In southern Gaza, aircraft
went after the tunnels that militants use to smuggle in weapons and
other contraband from neighboring Egypt. Tunnel operators said the
intensity of the bombing was unprecedented, and that massive explosions
could be heard kilometers (miles) away, both in Gaza and in Egypt.
The operators, speaking on
condition of anonymity because of the illicit nature of their business,
said they cannot approach the tunnel area to assess the damage, but the
blasts appeared to be more powerful than in Israel's last major push to
destroy the tunnels during a previous offensive four years ago. The
tunnels are a key lifeline for Hamas, bringing in both weapons and
supporting a lucrative trade that helps fund the group's activities.
Missiles also smashed into
two small security facilities and the massive Hamas police headquarters
in Gaza City, setting off a huge blaze that engulfed nearby houses and
civilian cars parked outside, the Interior Ministry reported. No one was
inside the buildings.
Early on Sunday, Gaza
health official Ashraf al-Kidra said two teenagers were killed and ten
people were injured when a building was hit.
Gaza residents reported heavy Israeli raids overnight.
Air attacks knocked out
five electricity transformers, cutting off power to more than 400,000
people in southern Gaza, according to the Gaza electricity distribution
company. People switched on backup generators for limited electrical
supplies.
Hamas has unveiled an
arsenal of more powerful, longer-range rockets this week, and for the
first time has struck at Israel's two largest cities, Jerusalem and Tel
Aviv. Both cities, more than 70 kilometers (45 miles) from Gaza, had
previously been beyond rocket range.
In a psychological boost
for Israel, a new rocket-defense system known as "Iron Dome" knocked
down a rocket headed toward Tel Aviv, eliciting cheers from relieved
residents huddled in fear after air raid sirens sounded in the city.
Associated Press video
showed a plume of smoke following an intercepting missile out of a
rocket-defense battery deployed near the city, followed by a burst of
light overhead as it struck its target.
Police said a second rocket
also targeted Tel Aviv. It was not clear where it landed or whether it
was shot down. No injuries were reported. It was the third straight day
the city was targeted.
Israel says the Iron Dome
system has shot down some 250 of 500 rockets fired toward the country
this week, most in southern Israel near Gaza.
Saturday's interception was
the first time Iron Dome has been deployed in Tel Aviv. The battery was
a new upgraded version that was only activated on Saturday, two months
ahead of schedule, the Defense Ministry said.
Israel has vowed to stage a
ground invasion, a scenario that would bring the scale of fighting
closer to that of a war four years ago. Hamas was badly bruised during
that conflict but has since restocked its arsenal with more and better
weapons. Five years after seizing control of Gaza, it has also come
under pressure from smaller, more militant groups to prove its
commitment to fighting Israel as it turns its focus to governing the
seaside strip.
Israel's Defense Minister
Ehud Barak has authorized the emergency call-up of up to 75,000 reserve
troops ahead of a possible ground offensive. Israel has massed thousands
of troops and dozens of tanks and armored vehicles along the border in
recent days.
Egypt, which is led by
Hamas' parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been spearheading
efforts to forge a cease-fire. Morsi has vowed to stand strong with the
people of Gaza and this week recalled Cairo's ambassador from Israel to
protest the offensive.
Quietly, though, non-Muslim
Brotherhood members in Morsi's government are said to be pushing Hamas
to end its rocket fire on Israel. Morsi is under pressure not to go too
far and risk straining ties with Israel's ally, the United States.
The Hamas website said
Saturday that its leader, Khaled Meshaal, met with the head of Egyptian
intelligence for two hours Saturday in Cairo, a day after the Egyptian
official was in the Gaza Strip trying to work out an end to the
escalation in violence.
Hamas has not immediately
accepted Egypt's proposal for a cease-fire, but the group's website said
it could end its rocket fire if Israel agrees to end "all acts of
aggression and assassination" and lift its five-year blockade on Gaza.
Egypt will present the Hamas position to Israeli officials.
Israeli officials say they
are not interested in a "timeout," and want firm guarantees that the
rocket fire, which has paralyzed life in an area home to 1 million
Israelis, finally ends. Past cease-fires have been short lived.
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke with the leaders of Britain, Poland,
Portugal, Bulgaria to press his case. "No government in the world would
allow a situation where its population lives under the constant threat
of rockets," Netanyahu told them, according to a statement from his
office.
The diplomatic activity in
Cairo illustrated Hamas' rising influence in a changing Middle East. The
Arab Spring has brought Islamists to power and influence across the
region, helping Hamas emerge from years of isolation.
Morsi warned that a ground
operation by Irael will have "repercussions" across the region. "All
must realize the situation is different than before, and the people of
the region now are different than before and the leaders are different
than before," he said at a joint press conference with Turkey's Islamist
prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan, like Morsi, leads an
Islamist government that has chilly diplomatic ties with Israel.
On Friday, Morsi sent his
prime minister to Gaza on a solidarity mission with Hamas. And on
Saturday, Tunisia's Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem visited Gaza as
well.
___
Joe Federman reported from
Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Gaza City and Aya
Batrawy in Cairo contributed reporting.
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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