The UN secretary-general called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza yesterday as US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton headed to the region with a message that escalation of the conflict was in nobody’s interest.
Nevertheless, Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket fire continued for a seventh day.
For the second time since the fighting began, a rocket was launched at Jerusalem, triggering warning sirens. Police said it fell in an open area in the occupied West Bank and did not cause any casualties. Hamas’ armed wing said in Gaza it fired the projectile.
Photo: EPA
Egypt was trying to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement.
An Egyptian intelligence source said: “There is still no breakthrough and Egypt is working to find middle ground.”
Israel’s military yesterday targeted about 100 sites in Gaza, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the National Islamic Bank. Gaza’s health ministry said six Palestinians were killed.
Israeli police said more than 60 rockets were fired from Gaza by midday and 25 of the projectiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system. The military said an officer was wounded.
About 115 Palestinians have died in a week of fighting, the majority of them civilians, including 27 children, hospital officials said. Three Israelis died last week when a rocket from Gaza struck their house.
In Cairo, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate ceasefire and said an Israeli ground operation in Gaza would be a “dangerous escalation” that must be avoided.
He held talks in Cairo with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, before traveling to Israel for discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ban plans to return to Egypt today to see Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who was unavailable due to the death of his sister.
Israel’s leaders weighed the benefits and risks of sending tanks and infantry into the densely populated coastal enclave two months before an Israeli election, and indicated they would prefer a diplomatic path backed by world powers.
Clinton was going to the Middle East for talks in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Cairo to try to calm the conflict. An Israeli source said she was expected to meet Netanyahu today.
“Her visits will build on American engagement with regional leaders over the past days — including intensive engagement by [US] President [Barack] Obama with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Morsi — to support de-escalation of violence and a durable outcome that ends the rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns, and restores a broader calm,” a US Department of State official said.
Netanyahu and his top ministers debated their next moves in a meeting that lasted into the early hours of yesterday morning.
“Before deciding on a ground invasion, the prime minister intends to exhaust the diplomatic move in order to see if a long-term ceasefire can be achieved,” a senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said after the meeting.
A delegation of nine Arab ministers, led by the Egyptian foreign minister, visited Gaza in a further signal of heightened Arab solidarity.
Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood was mentor to the founders of Hamas, on Monday took a call from Obama, who told him Hamas must stop rocket fire into Israel — effectively endorsing Israel’s stated aim in launching the offensive last week. Obama also said he regretted civilian deaths — which have been predominantly among the Palestinians.
“The two leaders discussed ways to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and President Obama underscored the necessity of Hamas ending rocket fire into Israel,” the White House said, adding that the US leader had also called Netanyahu. “In both calls, President Obama expressed regret for the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives.”
Morsi has warned Netanyahu of serious consequences from a ground invasion of the kind that killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza four years ago, but he has been careful not to alienate Israel, with whom Egypt’s former military rulers signed a peace treaty in 1979.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a