Israel is pushing ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip after branding a
UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire "unworkable".
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, rejected the truce call following a
security cabinet meeting on Friday.
Referring to continued rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, Olmert said: "The
firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the UN decision is
unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian
organisations."
A series of Israeli air raids and ground attacks on Friday killed dozens of
Palestinians in northern Gaza, medical sources said.
Palestinian doctors said tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of
the Strip, killing six Gazans from the same family.
The Israeli air force launched attacks overnight against what an army
spokesman described as 50 targets, including launching pads for rockets fired
from Gaza into Israel.
The Israeli army said six rockets were also fired into southern Israel on
Friday morning, injuring one person and four rockets hit Beersheba, a town
about 40km from the Israeli-Gaza border and the port of Ashdod.
Civilian casualties
At least 803 Palestinians have been killed and 3,300 injured since the
Israeli offensive began on December 27.
More than 300 Palestinian children and nearly 100 women are among the dead,
according to the UN.
Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, have been killed during the
same period.
The UN said on Friday that a further 30 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on
January 4 after the Israeli army moved dozens of civilians to a building
which troops later shelled.
A special report by the UN's Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said 110 Gazans were transferred to the house and that the
Israeli army were investigating the incident.
The continuing hostilities will come as a disappointment for those within the
international community who have been pushing for a ceasefire since the
conflict began.
Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, said despite the talk of
peace at the United Nations in New York, there was "certainly no peace here
in the Gaza Strip".
She said explosions and heavy artillery fire could be continuously heard
overnight and into Friday.
The UN resolution, which was backed by 14 of the 15-member body with only the
US abstaining, called for an "immediate, durable and fully respected"
ceasefire.
It also said border crossings into Gaza should be re-opened and measures put
in place to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip Strip.
The resolution underlined there should be "unimpeded provision" and
distribution of aid into the territory, where Gazans have been starved of
fuel, food and medical supplies for months following Israel’s crippling
blockade.
UN aid suspension
Meanwhile, the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (Unwra) has been forced
to suspend humanitarian activities in the Strip after coming under fire from
Israeli forces.
On Thursday, a contract worker was killed when a Unwra aid convoy came under
Israeli fire during a three-hour armistice agreed by the Israelis in order to
deliver essential supplies to Gaza residents.
Israel says it is investigating the incident.
The UN says it cannot resume aid work in the territory because it is unable
to guarantee the safety of its employees – despite the daily three-hour pause
in the Israeli offensive.
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