Ceasefire efforts fail to stem violence in Gaza

21 November 2012

Israel steps up operations in Gaza despite a US push to bring an end to the conflict

Israel has continued its bombardment of Gaza for an eighth day, despite US and Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire between the main protagonists on 20 November.

Hamas, which governs Gaza and has been held responsible by the Israelis for more than 800 rocket attacks on its territory in the past week, said it expected to broker a ceasefire imminently.

However, Israel, which has amassed approximately 50,000 troops on the Gaza border and continues to threaten invasion for the second time in four years, denied it had entered negotiations to end the conflict.

If anything, Israel had stepped up its operations in Gaza. Providing regular updates through its twitter feed, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) claimed it had successfully destroyed various rocket-making facilities in the Strip.

In one operation alone on 21 November, the IDF claimed that “more than 100 terror sites were targeted, of which approximately 50 were underground rocket launchers”.

It also claimed senior Hamas military officials had been eliminated “as well as several other terrorist squads”.

The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed 30 people were killed on 20 November, making it the deadliest day of the conflict to date. More than 130 people have been reported killed since Israeli operations began, with civilians accounting for about half this number.

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