Israel warns Gazans to leave homes as air strikes continue

Israel has urged thousands of Palestinians in eastern and northern Gaza to leave their homes as it continues air strikes. An Egyptian truce initiative on Tuesday failed to halt rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas militants and other groups.

Israel, which had its first fatality on Tuesday, said senior Hamas militants had died in strikes on Gaza overnight.

Palestinian officials say Israeli raids have killed 204 people so far, including ten overnight into Wednesday.

Among those reported killed was a five-month-old baby.

Israel launched its Operation Protective Edge on 8 July. Its stated objective is to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, but the United Nations says the majority of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.

Twenty-four hours on from the first faltering attempts at a ceasefire, the conflict between Israel and Hamas grinds on to a grimly familiar pattern.

Israel says its warnings are to avoid civilian casualties in planned raids but they’ll spread further fear, anger and uncertainty in Gaza where civilians will feel there are no real places of safety now.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now faces a dilemma. There are right-wing members of his cabinet demanding a ground offensive and he doesn’t want to look weak in domestic politics. But the risks for him are significant. Ground fighting may cause huge numbers of casualties, alienating Israel’s allies, and trap him into a long campaign without a clear exit strategy.

Instinctively he seems to feel that Israelis would prefer to see Hamas diminished and the rocket fire ended through the air campaign. Ground fighting would mean Israeli casualties too.

But if air power doesn’t prove decisive, the political pressure for him to go further will grow.

BBC

UM– USEKE.RW