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Rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel

— Photo: AP

Against a Goliath: Palestinian demonstrators use sling-shots to hurl stones at Israeli soldiers during a demonstration against Israel’s military operation in Gaza, in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah on Thursday.

DUBAI: Two rockets fired from Lebanon exploded in northern Israel on Thursday, threatening to open a second front in the war which began on December 27 when Israel attacked the Gaza Strip.

These rockets wounded two persons living in a nursing home in the Nahariya area of Israel.

The Lebanese Hizbollah, which fought Israel with rockets during the 34-day war in 2006, did not appear to have any direct involvement in the firing. The Lebanese Army command said in a statement that “an unknown party launched a number of rockets and Israel retaliated and launched artillery shells on the southern region of Naqoura.” The statement added that Israeli shelling did not cause any casualties.

In the fighting in Gaza, an Israeli Army officer was killed when Hamas fighters attacked his unit with an anti-tank missile. The total number of Israeli troops killed in the fighting so far has now risen to seven. Israeli warplanes continued to attack houses of Hamas commanders and areas in the south under which tunnels to funnel in material from Egypt have been dug. The Israeli military hopes to complete phase two of its operation over the weekend by seizing the entire northern Gaza Strip.

Despite hectic efforts, the terms of a ceasefire have still not been thrashed out.

Hamas representative in Beirut Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera television that the group would not accept any ceasefire proposal which did not involve Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as the opening of all border crossings. “Any proposal that does not include these bases is unacceptable, and no one should bother by presenting such proposals,” he said. Meanwhile, Amos Gilad, a senior official in the Israeli Defence Ministry is in Egypt to discuss a set of ceasefire proposals. These discussions revolve around establishing a mechanism that would prevent smuggling of weapons from the Egyptian side into Gaza, including the deployment of an international monitoring force. Talks are also expected to deal with the timing and conditions for the opening of border crossing points.

Turkey and Iran on Wednesday held talks in Ankara on the Gaza situation. Turkish sources were quoted as saying that the Iranian envoy Syed Jalili had brought with him a message for the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to remain grim, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accusing Israel of breaching international humanitarian law. The ICRC said in a statement that its relief workers had found four starving children sitting next to their dead mothers and other bodies in a house that Israeli forces had bombed in Gaza City. “This is a shocking incident,” said Pierre Wettach, the chief of ICRC for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. “The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded,” he said.

Hasan Suroor reports from London:

A group of leading British Muslims, who advise the government on tackling extremism, have warned that Israeli’s “disproportionate” use of force in Gaza has “revived” extremist elements and could have repercussions for Britain’s national security.

In a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, they have said that the anger in the Muslim community has reached “acute levels of intensity” which is likely to be exploited by extremist groups.

“The Israeli government’s use of disproportionate force to combat threats to its security has revived extremist groups and empowered their message of violence and perennial conflict,” they said.

Urging Mr Brown to distance Britain from America’s “partisan” line, the letter said that the “simplified narrative emanating from the White House” threatened to undermine Britain’s national interests.

“We urge you to make concerted and successful efforts to convince the US administration of the dangers of its current approach and to ensure that the incoming Obama administration forges a more enlightened direction,” it said.

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