The Israeli forces have intensified their land, sea and air attacks on the Gaza Strip. Israeli warplanes struck 60 targets, claiming that 20 of them were tunnels used for smuggling arms from Egypt into Gaza. The bombing destroyed dozens of houses, killed more than 15 Palestinians and wounded dozens others, bringing the death toll since the start of the attack to 940, including 400 children, women and elderly, while the number of injured rose to more than 4350. The Hamas delegation headed by Emad Al-Alami yesterday held talks with Omar Suleiman on the Egyptian initiative to stop the Israeli military operations in Gaza. But Hamas is expected to reject Cairo's proposals. There were fierce clashes between the Israeli ground forces and the Palestinian resistance groups on the eighteenth day of the attack, with the resistance firing more rockets on southern Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of intending to annihilate the Palestinians in Gaza. An Egyptian source said there are obstacles to the talks, as Hamas insists on achieving political gains from the aggression and does not care to end it. Also Lebanese political sources close to Hamas said it would reject the initiative. In the Egyptian city of Rafah, three houses that are 100 meters away from the border were damaged as a result of the continued Israeli bombardment close by. The residents had to leave in search for a safer place.
