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Palestinian PM: Israel Aims to Oust Gov't... UNSC schedules debate
(AP) -- The Palestinian prime minister said Friday that Israel's offensive is aimed at toppling the Hamas-led government, but maintained he is working with mediators to resolve the crisis over a captive Israeli soldier.Israel kept up the pressure in Gaza, destroying the interior minister's office and targeting a car carrying militants in an airstrike. Israel also said it attacked a militant cell, killing a local Islamic Jihad leader - the first reported death in the offensive. With the crisis threatening to boil over into major fighting, the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency debate Friday. The Palestinians sought for a resolution condemning Israel's actions and demanding a halt to all military operations. The United Nations said a strike that destroyed Gaza's only power plant had pushed the territory to the edge of a humanitarian crisis, and the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was working to get the military blockade of Gaza lifted for aid shipments. With troops massed on the border, Israeli officials on Thursday postponed a planned invasion of northern Gaza as international mediators sought a way out of the standoff. Haniyeh said Friday he was in contact with Arab, Muslim and European leaders to try to resolve the crisis, "but this Israeli military escalation complicates matters and makes it more difficult." The Bush administration called on the Palestinians to free Shalit and on Israel to practice restraint. With negotiations appearing to bear no fruit, Israel continued its air assault in Gaza on Friday. And more details here, including this clever bit of thinking Mohammed Nazal, a Syria-based member of the Hamas politburo, told The Associated Press on Friday that Israel is not serious about negotiating Shalit's release. "Israel is negotiating by fire," he said. "They're buying time until they can locate the soldier through intelligence and then try to free him." and this pretty piece of shooting In the pre-dawn attack on the Interior Ministry, Hamas minister Said Siyam's office went up in flames when a missile struck his fourth-floor room. The ground floor office of Siyam's bodyguard also was destroyed, while the first, second and third floors - where passports and ID cards are printed - were left untouched. No casualties were reported. Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-30 |
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