Israel kills seven in Gaza as Mubarak says end to conflict in sight BEIRUT: At least 55 civilians were killed Wednesday as Israeli jets and gunboats pummeled towns and villages across Lebanon and tens of thousands of people fled a conflict that both sides defiantly warned would have no limit. In the bloodiest day since the fighting erupted eight days ago, two Israeli soldiers were also reported killed in clashes with militants from the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement as another volley of rockets fell on northern Israel. Streams of Lebanese were fleeing their homes to find safe havens and thousands of foreigners, mainly Westerners, were being evacuated by sea from Beirut to the neighboring Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe, with 500,000 people displaced by the Israeli onslaught and the air and sea blockade and at least 310 people killed in Lebanon alone since last Wednesday. With the international community unable to agree even on a ceasefire call, Israel vowed its intensive war against militants would go on as long it deemed necessary. The security cabinet met this morning and decided on the continuation of the offensives in Lebanon and Gaza with no time limit, an Israeli official said. Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed open war against Israel after his Beirut headquarters was bombed, retorted that its militants can continue to strike with an arsenal of rockets for long months, and not just days or weeks. Israel unleashed its military might against its northern neighbor after the capture of two soldiers eight days ago in Hezbollah attacks that left another eight dead. It followed the seizure of another soldier last month by Palestinian militants in Gaza, which triggered a similar assault there. Arabic television stations reported that another two Israeli soldiers were killed and three wounded in border clashes Wednesday after ground troops went back into Lebanon to conduct pinpoint operations against Hezbollah. There was no confirmation from Israel. The United Nations is drawing up plans for an international force to try to restore calm in Lebanon but U.S. President George W. Bush, who says Israel has the right to defend itself, insisted that Hezbollah and Syria had to be reined in before there could be peace in the region. And Israel pressed on with a new wave of attacks from air and sea against southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 55 people, flattening houses, destroying roads and hitting trucks, police said. Twenty-one people were killed in a single village where residents said 10 houses were turned to rubble by shelling from Israeli gunboats and warplanes. Israeli helicopters also fired rockets on a residential Christian district in Beirut, the first direct strikes in the center of the capital, raising concerns about the evacuation operation underway at the nearby port. Israel also continued its deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing seven people on Wednesday, bringing to 93 the number killed since it launched an operation to retrieve a captive soldier and halt rocket attacks. Around 70 Palestinians were wounded in Wednesday s incursion and three militants shot dead by Israeli forces operating in the West Bank town of Nablus, where a soldier was killed by a roadside bomb on Tuesday. Ground troops have been operating inside the Gaza Strip since June 28, when troops rolled back into the territory in a bid to retrieve Shalit, a corporal whose capture sparked the worst Israeli-Palestinian crisis in months President Hosni Mubarak said mediation had resumed with the Palestinians over the capture of an Israeli soldier in Gaza, predicting a solution to the crisis soon. In an interview with the weekly Al-Mussawer magazine published Wednesday, the veteran leader said that Egypt had resumed efforts in the mediation between the Palestinians and the Israelis. There is a possibility of a solution to the crisis soon which allows for the end of Israeli incursions in the Gaza Strip and which allows for the release of a significant number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, Mubarak said in the interview, excerpts from which were published by the MENA news agency. Egypt is intensifying efforts for a ceasefire, so that the Israeli military operations against Lebanon do not continue for a longer period, which leads to more death and destruction, Mubarak said. But the regional conflict, which has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced is not likely to push into Syria, Mubarak said. It is difficult for Israel to broaden its military offensive to include Syria right now because the Israelis are interested mainly in removing Hezbollah from south Lebanon, Mubarak said. But Mubarak warned Israel that it was not the right time to call for the disarming of Hezbollah. The Israelis believe that they have the opportunity to get rid of Hezbollah s weapons and the danger it poses to them, and they are trying to associate an end to the fighting with [United Nations] resolution 1559, which calls for disarming the militias in Lebanon, he said. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, on his second visit to the region in days, called for an immediate solution to end the violence in both Gaza and Lebanon, saying every day counts. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, who took office about a year ago after the first elections since former powerbroker Syria ended its three-decade military presence, accused Israel of committing massacres against his people. The intensifying aggression in this barbaric way proves that Israel has decided to push Lebanon back 50 years. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the relentless bombardment, saying it was aimed at obtaining the release of the two Israeli soldiers and the disarmament of Hezbollah in line with a UN resolution. Over the past week 25 Israelis have been killed, most in a barrage of rocket fire across the border, including 12 soldiers. Another eight rockets exploded in the northern metropolis of Haifa Wednesday, although there were no reports of casualties. And with no ceasefire in sight, foreigners continued to flee the fiercest Israeli offensive since it sent its forces across the border in 1982 to rout Yasser Arafat s Palestine Liberation Organization. Israel, which has sent ground troops back into Lebanon for the first time since it ended its occupation in May 2000, has been emboldened by strong public support at home and the lack of a ceasefire call from its ally Washington. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said the Jewish state is not planning to attack Iran or Syria, noting that it already has its hands full with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
