Israeli troops took back parts of the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip yesterday after a withering hail of fire from land, sea and air killed one person, wounded 30 and left life in the area in disarray.
In the latest sign of right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "get tough" policy, the 45km long Gaza Strip was effectively carved into three separate areas with its main coastal road cut by Israeli checkpoints.
Mortar bomb attacks
The Israeli army said Sharon had ordered the assaults after five mortar bombs fired from the strip slammed into the southern Israeli town of Sderot, 5km away. The military wing of the Muslim militant group Hamas said it had fired them.
The mortar rounds landed deeper in Israel than any since the start of a Palestinian uprising for independence last September, falling just down the road from Sharon's Negev Desert ranch.
Some residents were forced into using donkeys and making long detours to get to destinations in the strip, where 1.2 million Palestinians live in an area that at some points is just 4km wide.
Gaza City's main police headquarters and two elite Force 17 security unit posts were among at least seven main targets in an attack that lasted for hours. An Israeli army spokesman declined to say how long troops would remain in the strip.
Palestinian sources said a 24-year-old Palestinian policeman had been killed in the Israeli reprisal.
Apart from the wounded, hospitals reported that relatives had brought dozens of people in for help from shock after they endured six hours of night bombardment that residents said was the worst since the start of violence seven months ago.
The Gaza attacks, involving tanks, helicopter gunships, missiles, ships and bulldozers, began less than 24 hours after Israel's first bombing raid in five years on a Syrian target in Lebanon.
Arab nations respond
Arab nations blasted Israel's security offensive and western nations called for restraint on all sides.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia said Israel was acting in a "despicable" way and urged a firm stance against what it called Israel's warmongering.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency that the attack demonstrated that Israel had moved away from the language of peace and adopted one of war and destruction.
In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of children, men, women, students and workers turned to beach travel in donkey carts to take them to points where they could pick up taxis and buses.
Israel has tanks on main roads, all of which are closed.
An Israeli bulldozer dug a trench in the coastal road and piled it with stones to prevent travel.
"These escalatory Israeli measures are not intended to put an end to the Intifada [uprising], but are aimed at humiliating us and make us submit to Israel's will," Iyad Ismail, 29, a bank employee, said.
"It's clear that Israel has expanded the sphere of war with the Palestinians. It has carried out a new and dangerous step by reoccupying Palestinian areas," Palestinian Cabinet minister Hassan Asfour said.
Witnesses said the army had thrust into Palestinian-ruled Beit Hanoun near the Erez crossing to Israel and at several other points. Blockades kept Palestinians from entering an area of homes and orchards.
The army said it had taken over the land because it was being used for actions against Israel and would leave once violence ended.
Israel transferred most of the Gaza Strip to Palestinian rule in 1994 at the start of seven years of peacemaking, which deadlocked before the latest spate of violence began.
"It is high time Arab leaders reconsidered their ways of how to confront and how to put an end to this aggression ... Will they wake up after all the Palestinian land is reoccupied and after Israel enters all Arab capitals?" Palestinian minister Asfour said. "We call on the Arab people to go down to the streets in their countries and wake up their leaders."
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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