The UN has said it is suspending aid operations in Gaza because its staff have been hit by Israeli attacks.

The suspension would continue "until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security", the UN said.

Meanwhile, the US, UK and France have dropped opposition to a UN resolution urging an immediate ceasefire, and Arab nations are studying a draft.

It comes on day 13 of an offensive by Israel aimed at stopping Palestinian militants firing rockets from Gaza.

Israel's war on Gaza has left more than 700 Palestinians dead - nearly a third of them women and children - and more than 3,000 injured.

But at the organisation's headquarters in Damascus, 100km miles from the territory, Musa Abu Marzouq, the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, told Al Jazeera why he believes his organisation is on the verge of victory against Israel.

Al Jazeera: Under what conditions will Hamas agree a ceasefire with Israel?

Abu Marzouq: We have three conditions for any peace initiative coming from any state.

First, the aggression of the Israelis should stop. All of the gates should be opened, including the gate of Rafah between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Finally, Israel has to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

We are not saying we will stop firing rockets from the Gaza Strip to Israel - we are only talking about stopping the aggression from the Israelis against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (IPS) - Consumed by coverage of the Nov. 4 presidential election, U.S. mainstream media ignored a key Israeli military attack on a Hamas target that some Palestinians claim marked the effective end of the ceasefire between the two sides and set the stage for the current round of bloodletting.

While the major U.S. news wire Associated Press (AP) reported that the attack, in which six members of Hamas's military wing were killed by Israeli ground forces, threatened the ceasefire, its report was carried by only a handful of small newspapers around the country.

The Nov 4 raid -- and the escalation that followed -- also went unreported by the major U.S. network and cable television new programmes, according to a search of the Nexis database for all English-language news coverage between Nov. 4 and 7.

But the military action, which was followed up by an aerial attack that killed at least one other Palestinian, appears to have dealt a fatal blow to the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire that had taken effect Jun. 19 and largely held for some four and a half months.

In retaliation for the attack, Hamas launched some 35 Qassam rockets into Israeli territory Nov. 5 which, in turn, provoked Israel to severely tighten its then-17-month-old economic siege of the Palestinian territory.

RAMALLAH, Jan 8 (IPS) - An international chorus of condemnation has blasted Israel over its human rights abuses in Gaza. Operation Cast Lead, into its 12th day, has now claimed the lives of over 700 Palestinians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded safe access Thursday for ICRC officials and Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) ambulances to evacuate the wounded. It accused Israel of deliberately delaying ambulances.

Rescue teams made several attempts to rescue the wounded and retrieve bodies in several areas of Gaza city but were refused entry by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers.

On Wednesday, however, after a week's intensive negotiations with Israeli officials, ICRC officials and PRC ambulance teams managed to reach some of the survivors in Gaza's Zeitoun neighbourhood.

The ICRC reported finding four starving toddlers next to the bodies of their dead mothers in one of the houses. The children were apparently too weak to stand. One man was found barely alive. Twelve bodies were found laid out on mattresses in the same house.

CAIRO, Jan 8 (IPS) - Egyptian authorities have almost fully sealed the border with Gaza, preventing delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

"The government has expressly forbidden the entry of aid convoys laden with food into the Gaza Strip," Emmad al-Din Moustafa, member of the Popular Committee for Aiding Gaza told IPS. "The continued border closure -- like the Israeli assault itself -- constitutes a crime against humanity."

Israel began a series of devastating air strikes on targets throughout the Gaza Strip Dec. 27, followed by a ground offensive launched Jan. 3. According to Israeli officials, the campaign, which has included thousands of air strikes and naval bombardment, comes in retaliation for rockets fired at Israel by Gaza-based Palestinian resistance factions.

Since the campaign began, humanitarian aid -- donated by sympathisers from across the Arab and Islamic world -- has flown into the city of Al-Arish, 40 km west of Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip. But according to local sources, Egyptian authorities are preventing the transportation of food and medicine into the besieged territory.

"The crossing has only been opened briefly five or six times to allow the entry of limited amounts of aid," Hatem Al-Bulk, political activist from Al-Arish told IPS. "About 1,000 tonnes of food have been delivered so far, but the population of Gaza needs an estimated 1,500 tonnes per day to survive."

The Israeli government says it has not yet given the go-ahead to increase the scale of the military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the announcement during a visit to the Gaza Strip, where he was accompanied by Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

"We haven't yet reached that point and the army has not yet been asked to do everything necessary," he said.

His statement came as two Israeli soldiers were wounded on Thursday after a Palestinian rocket attack.

The attack happened during the daily three-hour suspension of bombing which Israel began on Wednesday, which is intended to enable the distribution of humanitarian aid to the territory.

While in Madrid at a press conference, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said that he hoped a series of rockets fired into northern Israel, from Lebanon, was an "isolated incident."

He noted that no Palestinian groups had claimed responsibility for the rockets which created panic on both sides of the border.

Hezbollah has denied any responsibility for the attacks.

Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that he would expel the Israeli ambassador in Venezuela. He, of course, did this in order to show his support for the Palestinians. Venezuela is very close to America, it is a neighbor of America. This is Chavez. He did this because of his humanity, his sense of revolution and, in this way, he dealt a severe blow to those who are now hosting the ambassadors of Israel in their capitals and do not have enough courage to even think about telling them to leave.  ...

Yesterday, an Egyptian official said something interesting. He asked 'Does the Security Council need more than 650 martyrs and more than 2,500 wounded to make its decision and act in a responsible manner?' These are nice words to hear and I would like to ask this Egyptian official whether the Egyptian regime needs more than 650 martyrs and more than 2,500 people wounded before it permanently opens the Rafah border crossing to help the people of Gaza stand with perseverance and achieve victory? The same question that you ask from the Security Council, I am asking you. I am here talking to the Egyptian official.

What is required from Egypt is only to open the border crossing, not to declare war. I was told by some of my colleagues yesterday that a group of Egyptian lawyers, who are loyal to the Egyptian regime, have actually filed a lawsuit against me personally. They filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice because of my speech on the first night of the commemoration of Ashura when I called on the Egyptian leadership to open the Rafah border crossing and called on the Egyptian people and the Egyptian army to pressure the Egyptian regime to take a positive step. They considered what I said as unjust and as a call for a revolution and the toppling of the Egyptian regime.  ...

We also heard yesterday from John Bolton, a Zionist who was formerly in the American administration and is now frustrated. John Bolton pointed out the real aim of the Americans and the Zionists. The real aim, as he said, was to destroy the Palestinian cause. He spoke about separating the West Bank from Gaza. He spoke about ending the two-state proposal by keeping the state of Israel and giving part of the West Bank to Jordan and giving the Gaza Strip to Egypt. ...

Turgid Version


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.