ISRAEL OFFENSIVE
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Israel pounds Gaza for tenth day, Europe in panic mode
Published on Tue, Jan 06, 2009 at 03:43 in 
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New Delhi: With Israeli troops pushing deeper into Gaza and anger mounting especially across the Arab world, top European envoys are heading to West Asia.
Israel’s offensive into the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza entered the tenth day on Monday, taking the death toll up to 500.
Apart from a ground assault, the Israeli forces continue to pound the 40-kilometre-long densely populated coastal strip from air and sea.
With complete backing from the outgoing US administration, Israel says Operation Cast Lead was unavoidable. Hamas rocket attacks into Israeli territory had to be stopped they say.
While Israel maintains that it is only targeting Hamas, at least 25 per cent of the over 500 Palestinian casualties so far have been civilian — many of them children.
"The attack resulted in the death of seven people from one family — my brother, his two wives and four children. We took out three bodies and could not find the rest. There are four or five bodies under the rubble and we cannot take them out," Abu Aysha, a Gaza Beach Camp resident said.
As Israeli forces surround Gaza city, aid groups have warned of a dire humanitarian situation in the area which is already reeling from an 18-month Israeli economic blockade.
After keeping relatively silent for 10 days, the international community finally seems to be waking up.
United Nations Secretary General Ban ki Moon has called for a ceasefire. French President Sarkozy is heading to West Asia to try to persuade Israeli and Arab leaders to agree to a 48-hour humanitarian truce. A separate, high-profile EU delegation and a Russian envoy are already there.
But is this sudden diplomatic activity too little too late to assuage an outraged Arab world.
Meanwhile, India dealing with its own terror related problems with Pakistan, has issued at least four statements so far condemning the Israeli operation. The latest one calls it disproportionate and totally unacceptable.
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