Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen fought fierce night-time clashes around the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday, as a war on Hamas that had killed more than 900 Palestinians entered its 18th day.
Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, told AFP its forces had destroyed two Israeli tanks in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Zeitun, using rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
They also said a number of soldiers were killed in the village of Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis near the Israeli border. But an army spokesman denied any tanks had been knocked out and said there was no report of Israeli casualties.
Medics said one Palestinian was killed by tankfire in Zeitun. It was not clear whether the victim was a fighter or civilian.
As the world awaited a threatened intensification of the offensive by Israel, the defiant leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip vowed that the Islamists would emerge victorious.
Ismail Haniya made a rare televised address on Monday only hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened to hit Hamas with an "iron fist" if it did not end the rocket attacks which the war aims to halt.
"We are approaching victory," said Haniya, head of the Hamas government in Gaza, which the Islamists seized from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas 18 months ago.
"I tell you that after 17 days of this foolish war, Gaza has not been broken and Gaza will not fall," he added, speaking from an undisclosed location.
Haniya also said the "blood of children" who have been killed in the conflict would serve as a "curse which will come back to haunt" US President George W. Bush.
Bush has consistently blamed Hamas for the conflict, saying that while he wanted to see a "sustainable ceasefire," it was up to Hamas to choose to end its rocket fire.
Israel and Hamas both ignored a UN resolution -- on which the United States abstained -- which called last week for a truce.
The focus of peace efforts is now on an Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, talks on opening Gaza's border crossings and taking steps to prevent arms smuggling.
Olmert said Israel's key demands were non-negotiable.
"We want to end the operation when the two conditions we have demanded are met: ending the rocket fire and stopping Hamas's rearmament. If these two conditions are met, we will end our operation in Gaza," he said.
"Anything else will meet the iron fist of the Israeli people, who are no longer ready to tolerate the Qassams (rockets)."
An army spokesman said nearly 30 missiles had been launched from Gaza on Monday, but no casualties were reported.
Residents said Israeli tanks already on Monday punched their way to the southern rim of Gaza City, advancing several hundred metres (yards) into the neighbourhoods of Ash Sheikh Ajlin, Tuffah and Zeitun.
"We are tightening the encirclement of the city," the offensive's commander, Brigadier Eyal Eisenberg, told reporters. "We are not static. We are careful to be constantly on the move."
In the hours after midnight, witnesses said the tanks had moved further in to Ash Sheikh Ajlin, Zeitun and a third neighbourhood, Tal al-Hawa, and were coming under mortar and RPG fire.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090113...azaundraftvote
I made an earlier thread commenting on how the ground offensive isnt going according to Israels plan, and that they are struggling, and not saying much about their losses, and i think this new report is a further confirmation.
here you have more fierce clashes occuring, yet i thought Hamas has been greatly damaged and hurt, yet theyre still able to have such fierce clashes using rpgs and so on?
also do you really believe that Israel is not suffering any casualties in these battles? only the most gullible person would, its obvious Israel are sustaining losses, and its obvious that they are struggling, hence the need for re-inforcements in the reserve units, thats why their even called RESERVES, reserves are only used when the main force is not doing well.
as you can also see from this report, hamas has fired another 30 rockets, another clear sign of FAILURE on israels ground offensive, all israel has managed to do from this war is kill lots of women and children, yet when it comes to REAL results, they have achieved zilch.
also notice that olmert is slightly changing his tone, forget his rhetoric nonsense of an iron fist, notice olmert and the israelis are now willing to end the conflict based on a ceasefire resolution! the israelis were first intent on crushing hamas and the rocket fire on their own without a ceasefire, yet they are now open to negotians and want hamas to stop firing rockets and stop smuggling weapons, hm, i thought israels objective was to stop those 2 things, and its quite obvious that they cant, hence they now need talks and ceasefires to help them out!
the writing is on the wall my friends, beneath the media spins and control, its quite clear that Israel is clearly FAILING its goals, after almost 3 weeks of huge intense operations they still cant stop hamas. Israel has these objectives when they began the war:
-End Hamas rockets, or end Hamas' capabilities at rocket attacks: FAIL
-Strike major millitary blow against Hamas weakining its fighting condition:FAIL
-Make the conditions in Gaza so bad that the people turn on Hamas: FAIL
when this war is over, Israel will have not reached a single of its objectives, people say that Israel is sending a msg to hezbollah and Iran to scare them off, lol, are you kidding me? if i was hezbollah i would be even more willing to get into a fight with Israel now as its quite clear that Israel does not know how to fight against resistence millitia groups, hamas are weaker than hezbollah, dont have as good weapons, yet they are still holding out. on top of that the terrain in gaza is smaller, tighter, israel is trying to squeeze hamas in, unlike in south lebanon where the terrain is much more spacious and friendlier for guerilla warfare, yet even with these conditions hamas is still holding out. so notice, hamas has weaker weapons, less friendly terrain and are still putting up a fight, now imagine hezbollah? they have better weapons, more free space, etc etc, and hezbollah is supposed to fear israel now? are you kidding me?