 A picture taken from the southern Israeli border with Gaza shows smoke billowing following an Israeli air strike inside the Palestinian territory on November 17, 2012. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel would be held to account for the children among 40 people dead in three days of air strikes on Gaza.  A Palestinian youth takes cover behind a makeshift barrier during clashes with Israeli soldiers on November 17, 2012. Israeli strikes on Gaza destroyed the Hamas government headquarters as Israel called up thousands more reservists for a possible ground war.  An Israeli missile from the Iron Dome defense missile system is launched to intercept and destroy incoming rocket fire from Gaza on November 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israeli troops have been massing on the border as some 200 targets were hit overnight in Gaza, including Hamas cabinet buildings.  Israeli civilians run for cover during a rocket attack launched from Gaza on November 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel.  Israeli soldiers gather next to their armored bulldozers stationed on Israel's border with Gaza on Saturday, November 17.  Israeli soldiers fire tear gas toward stone throwers demonstrating against the Israeli military offensive in Gaza in the village of Beit Omar, north of the West Bank town of Hebron, on Saturday. Egypt and Turkey put the onus on Israel to end the fighting around Gaza as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Cairo a day after Washington urged the two governments to pressure the Palestinians.  An injured student from the University of Birzeit is carried away Saturday during clashes with Israeli soldiers as hundreds of students took part in a demonstration against the ongoing Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip in the Israeli occupied West Bank town of Betunia. Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 10 Palestinians and destroyed the Hamas government headquarters.  A student from the University of Birzeit throws a molotov cocktail toward Israeli soldiers during clashes.  Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli air raid in Gaza City on November 17, 2012. Israeli air strikes hit the cabinet headquarters of Gaza's Hamas government after militants fired rockets at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as Israel called up thousands more reservists in readiness for a potential ground war.  Palestinian paramedics carry an injured woman on a stretcher Saturday following an Israeli air raid on a house in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.  Smoke billows across the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on Saturday following Israeli air strikes inside the Palestinian territory.  A Palestinian Hamas policeman looks at an Israeli rocket in the street in Gaza City on Saturday.  An Israeli man walks to his house damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip in the moshav of Sde Uziyahu near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. The Israeli military said it had sealed off all main roads around Gaza and declared a closed military zone, in the latest sign it was poised to launch a first ground offensive on the Palestinian enclave since December 2008-January 2009.  Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest near the Israeli Embassy in Madrid on Friday against Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip.  Israeli children wave their national flag Saturday as they greet a bus carrying soldiers on a road leading to the Israel-Gaza border near the southern Israeli town of Ofakim.  Israeli tanks maneuver at the Israeli-Gaza Strip border.  Relatives take cover from a rocket attack during the funeral for Itzik Amsalem in Kiryat Malachi, Israel, on Friday, November 16. At least three people were killed in the Israeli town when a rocket fired from Gaza struck an apartment building there on Thursday. Fighting between Israel and Hamas militants persisted Friday with no immediate end in sight.  A rocket fired from Gaza toward Israel sails into the air Friday.  Explosions erupt from spots targeted by Israeli airstrikes inside Gaza on Friday.  Israeli soldiers stand guard while explosives experts examine the site where a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near the Jewish settlement of Gush Etzion in the village of Kisan, south of Bethlehem on Friday.  A relative grieves during the funeral for Itzik Amsalem in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, on Friday.  Palestinian protesters hold up the Hamas flag during a rally Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.  People take cover during a rocket attack at a funeral Friday in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel.  Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli security forces Friday in a West Bank village near Bethlehem.  An Israeli soldier aims at Palestinian youth at a West Bank checkpoint Friday during a protest against the fighting in Gaza.  Palestinian Fares Sadallah, 11, cries outside his home after an Israeli airstrike Friday in northern Gaza.  Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze Friday at the Ministry of Interior in Gaza City following an Israeli air raid.  Relatives of Itzik Amsalam, who was killed Thursday in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, mourn during Friday's funeral.  A woman cries during the funeral of Itzik Amsalam on Friday.  An Israeli soldier fires a tear gas canister toward Palestinian stone throwers on a road mainly used by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Beit Omar on Friday.  Palestinians run for cover after an Israeli airstrike hits Gaza City on Friday.  Palestinian youths inspect a destroyed mosque in northern Gaza on Friday.  Israeli soldiers conduct a patrol as some 16,000 reserve troops are drafted in on Friday.  Palestinian mourners carry the body of Audi Naser during his funeral in Gaza on Friday.  Palestinian women and children cry during the funeral of Audi Naser on Friday.  Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish a fire at the Civilian Affairs branch of the Ministry of Interior on Friday.  Smokes billows from a target of an Israeli airstrike Friday in Gaza near the border with Israel.  An Israeli woman looks out from an apartment building in Ashdod, Israel, damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants on Friday.  Palestinians extinguish a fire after Israeli airstrikes targeted the Interior Ministry building in Gaza City Friday.  Israelis take cover in a pipe used as a bomb shelter, after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, November 15 in Kiryat Malachi, Israel. Rockets and shells crisscrossed between Israel and Gaza on Thursday as Palestinian militants continued rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and Israel pounded what it called terror sites.  An Israeli man looks out from an apartment building that was hit by a rocket launched presumably from the Gaza Strip, claiming three lives on Thursday in Kiryat Malachi, Israel.  Palestinians extinguish a fire after Israeli air strikes targeted an electricity generator that fed the house of Hamas's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City, on Thursday.  A crater is left at a spot targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City early Thursday.  Israeli soldiers rest by their armored personnel carriers stationed on the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday.  Rescue workers evacuate a body Thursday in the Israeli town of Kiryat Malakhi after a rocket launched from Gaza hit an apartment building.   Palestinian relatives mourn over the body of Hanen Tafish, a 10-month-old girl, at the morgue of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Thursday after she died following an Israeli air strike in the Zeitun neighbourhood.  Palestinians watch a funeral Thursday in southern Gaza.  A Palestinian pleads for help as he and others try to save a man trapped under his car after an Israeli air raid Thursday in northern Gaza.  Israeli police inspect an apartment building hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Kiryat Malakhi on Thursday. At least three Israelis were killed and four were wounded, an Israeli police spokesman said.  The Israeli military launches a missile Thursday from the southern city of Beersheba.  A picture taken from the southern Israeli town of Sderot shows smoke billowing from a spot targeted by an Israeli airstrike inside Gaza on Thursday.  A Palestinian man inspects his damaged house following an Israeli airstrike early Thursday in Gaza City.  An Israeli reacts after a rocket launched from Gaza hits a building Thursday in Kiryat Malakhi.  Palestinian firefighters extinguish the blaze from the car of Ahmed al-Jaabari, head of Hamas' military wing, after an Israeli airstrike hit it in Gaza City on Wednesday, November 14. The Israeli strike killed al-Jaabari.  A woman sits inside a bomb shelter Wednesday in Netivot, Israel.  Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike Wednesday in Khan Younis, Gaza.  Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire from the car in which al-Jaabari was apparently riding.  A Palestinian man cries as security forces wheel al-Jaabari's body into a hospital.  Palestinian youths look inside a building where al-Jaabari's body was brought after the attack.  A wounded Palestinian girl cries at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.  Palestinian youths evacuate an elderly man following an Israeli airstrike.  Palestinian civilians leave their houses following an Israeli airstrike.                                                               
Near the Israel-Gaza border (CNN) -- The toll of five days of warring between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza mounted Sunday: Dozens dead, hundreds wounded and buildings destroyed. Thick, black plumes of smoke rose over Gaza City as Israel launched a fresh round of airstrikes Sunday, targeting government buildings and the homes of Hamas officials, while Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets at residential communities in southern Israel. Leaders across the world have called on Israeli and Palestinian governing bodies to show restraint, fearing at a minimum a possible repeat of Israel's 2008 invasion that left at least 1,400 people dead. But the crisis showed no sign of abating Sunday despite reports Egypt and France were attempting to broker cease-fires. U.S. fears Israel-Hamas conflict escalates to ground invasion   Fighting Back Despite Airstrikes  Gaza Ground War Could Be Imminent  Israeli family talks about Gaza rockets  Small boy caught in Mideast crossfire  Israeli troops mass on Gaza border  Egypt's role in Gaza-Israel conflict  24 hours in Gaza  Map: Israel Map: Israel Blasts interrupt interview in Gaza French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was en route to Israel Sunday "to work out a cease-fire with all parties involved" as part of an effort to de-escalate the conflict, according to a ministry statement. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy, meanwhile, said discussions were underway about how to bring about a cease-fire. "But there are no guarantees at the moment," Morsy said Saturday in Cairo, where he met with Hamas officials and other Arab diplomats. Morsy did not go into details of the effort, though an Egyptian military official told CNN the nation's intelligence chief, Mohammed Shehata, was spearheading talks with Hamas and Israel. Shehata contacted Israel and requested it "calm down" the situation, said the military official, a general, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. It is not known what, if anything, Israel said in response to the request. Hamas, however, put conditions on cease-fire talks. Israel must cease its attacks and lift its blockade of Gaza in exchange "for stopping the rockets" targeting Israeli cities, according to a report by the Palestinian Information Center, a Hamas-run media outlet. Israel is unlikely to consider such a request as it sees the blockade as vital to its national security. Q&A: Gaza strikes could be beginning of ground attack At least 48 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials, since Israel launched its military operation, "Pillar of Defense," on Wednesday. The Israeli operation was in response to rocket attacks that have plagued portions of southern Israel for months. At least 440 people have been injured in the shelling and airstrikes, including six Palestinian journalists who were wounded Sunday in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a Hamas-run television station in Gaza City, Palestinian government and medical officials said. In Israel, the rocket attacks have killed at least three people and wounded 68, including a number of soldiers along the Israel-Gaza border, the Israel Defense Forces said. The Israeli government has called up 75,000 reservists, while it simultaneously deployed 30,000 troops to the Gaza border, the IDF said. "Israel will take all necessary and legitimate measure to defend its citizens, including ground operations," Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, told CNN late Saturday. Message of Gaza violence: Hamas can't be ignored For days, Israel has been using shelling and airstrikes to target what it describes as rocket-launching sites operated by Hamas and other militant groups. Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al Qassam Brigade, said Saturday it has fired more than 900 rockets at Israel since the fighting began. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces put the number at more than 1,000. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system is credited with stopping hundreds of the rockets fired at its cities, but hundreds have gotten by the system. On Sunday, air raid sirens sent Israelis in the southern city of Ashkelon, a few kilometers from the Gaza border, running for shelters from rockets. One struck the carport of a home in a residential neighborhood, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reported. As clean-up crews worked to remove debris from around the house, another air siren sounded as Pleitgen was delivering an update live on CNN. "We've got to get out of here," Pleitgen said. Minutes later, the attack was over. The rocket struck some distance where Pleitgen was reporting, though he said there was "definitely an impact." On the other side of the border, an Israeli airstrike targeted two buildings Sunday that housed Hamas-run media as well as international journalists. Video broadcast on Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV showed people running from the smoldering buildings, while others helped the injured. The journalists wounded in the attack worked for Palestinian-owned, Beirut-based Alquds TV, according to the Hamas Ministry of Interior. CNN's Sara Sidner reported from Gaza City; CNN's Fred Pleitgen reported from southern Israel; and CNN's Chelsea J. Carter from Atlanta. CNN's Kindah Shair, Amir Ahmed, Jessica Yellin, Ben Wedeman and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.   |
11/18/2012
Israelis, Palestinian militants trade attacks
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