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Gazans brace for Israeli ground invasion as death toll from air attacks reaches 430
Israeli warplanes killed three young brothers and demolished a mosque in Gaza on Friday as Hamas vowed to avenge the deadly weeklong offensive against the impoverished enclave. A missile fired by an Israeli jet slammed into a house in southern Gaza, killing three boys, aged from seven to 10. It was one of more than 40 fresh raids carried out in the overcrowded enclave on Friday.

Since Israel unleashed its air and sea campaign, at least 430 Palestinians have been killed, including 65 children, and 2,250 others wounded, according to Gaza medics. The United Nations has estimated that at least one quarter of all Palestinians killed were civilians.

The bombardment has destroyed dozens of houses and raised heightened fears over the enclave where most of the 1.5 million residents depend on foreign aid.

"The protection of civilians, the fabric of life, the future of the peace talks and of the regional peace process has been trapped between the irresponsibility of the Hamas attacks and the excessiveness of the Israeli response," Robert Serry, UN envoy for the Middle East, told reporters in Occupied Jerusalem.
Robert pro'ly never leaves 'occupied' Jerusalem, so he's not had the experience of having mortar shells and missiles launched at him.
Also on Friday, thousands of Hamas supporters attended the funeral of Nizar Rayan - a firebrand terrorist leader who was killed with his four wives and 11 of his children a day earlier.

Hamas representatives vowed to avenge the death of its most senior official to be killed since the assassination of then-party leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004. "I call on the resistance to continue pounding Jewish settlements and cities," said Sheikh Abdel-Rahman al-Jamal. "We will remain on the path of jihad."
"We shall have Dire RevengeĀ™!"
A mosque in the northern town of Jabaliya that the Israeli military claimed was a "terror hub" used to stockpile weapons was among the latest targets hit in Israeli raids. Long queues formed outside bakeries and other stores, which only open during the rare hours when electricity is available. The UN emergency food program has begun distributing bread to families caught up in an "appalling" humanitarian situation in Gaza, the agency said Friday.

"The current situation in Gaza is appalling, and many basic food items are no longer available," the World Food Program (WFP) representative in the Occupied Palestinian territories, Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, said in a statement.

The Rome-based agency appealed for $9 million in emergency funds "to meet foreseen additional food needs" as the conflict raged unabated.
We gave at the office ...
"As an emergency response to alleviate the suffering of families living close to areas affected by conflict," the WFP began distributing bread to some 15,000 first-time recipients in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza, Van Nieuwenhuyse said. "This area ... is one of the poorest and most heavily affected by the recent conflict," she added.

Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip have hampered humanitarian efforts targeting 265,000 people, the statement said. "The scarcity of wheat has meant that the majority of mills and bakeries have stopped working in Gaza, and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple food," it added.

Max Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, also weighed in on the crisis. "There is a critical emergency in the Gaza Strip right now ... By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more," he said.

"Schools are closed, the population is staying home, Gaza is experiencing a food crisis ... Hospitals and clinics are absolutely overwhelmed," he added. "There probably is an air strike every 20 minutes on average, probably intensifying at night," Gaylard said, adding that rockets fired at Israel by Gaza militants "are indiscriminate and expanding in range."
Posted by: Fred 2009-01-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=258854