Israel bombed dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday and said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that would end Palestinian rocket fire.
Police said, "Militants in the Gaza Strip fired 110 rockets at southern Israel on Monday, causing no casualties." For the second straight day, Israeli missiles blasted a tower block in the city of Gaza housing international media. Two people were killed there, one of them an Islamic Jihad militant. Khaled Meshaal, exiled leader of Hamas, said a truce was possible but the Islamist group, in charge of the Gaza Strip since 2007, would not accept Israeli demands and wanted Israel to halt its strikes first. Khaled Meshaal said, “Whoever started the war must end it."
Yaalon also said Israel wanted an end to Gaza guerrilla activity in the neighbouring Egyptian Sinai peninsula. Although 84 percent of Israelis supported the current Gaza assault, according to a poll by Israel's Haaretz newspaper, only 30 percent wanted an invasion, while 19 percent wanted their government to work on securing a truce soon. A senior officer close to Netanyahu said, “Israel is prepared and has taken steps, and is ready for a ground incursion which will deal severely with the Hamas military machine.”
Egypt is acting as a mediator in the biggest test yet of Cairo's 1979 peace treaty with Israel since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. “I think we are close, but the nature of this kind of negotiation, (means) it is very difficult to predict,” says Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, who visited Gaza on Friday to show support to its people.
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