WORLD> Middle East
Israel pounds new Hamas targets, enlists reserves
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-12 22:49


Palestinian children take part in a protest in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross offices in Beirut January 12, 2009 against Israel's attacks on Gaza. [Agencies] 

Israeli security officials believe they have struck a tough blow against Hamas, killing hundreds of the Islamic militant group's fighters, including top commanders. The director of the Shin Bet security agency told the Cabinet on Sunday that Hamas leaders in Gaza are ready to surrender.

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The army also says Hamas has been avoiding pitched battles against the advancing Israelis, resorting instead to guerrilla tactics as its fighters melt into crowded residential areas.

Maj. Avital Leibovich, an army spokeswoman, said residential neighborhoods in Gaza are riddled with booby traps and explosives, and in some cases dummies are placed at apartment entrances to simulate militants and rigged to explode if soldiers approach.

Hamas, at least publicly, has vowed to continue fighting.

Israeli ground forces made their deepest foray yet into Gaza City on Sunday, with tanks rolling into residential neighborhoods and infantry fighting urban warfare in streets in buildings with Hamas militants, Palestinian residents said.

The army "is advancing more into urban areas," Leibovich said. "Since the majority of the Hamas militants are pretty much in hiding in those places, mainly urban places, then we operate in those areas."

Israeli leaders are expected to decide in the next day or two on whether to push the offensive into a third phase - in which the army takes over larger areas of Gaza. This move would require the use of thousands of reserve units massed on the border with Gaza.

A push into densely crowded urban areas would threaten the lives of many more civilians. More than 20,000 Palestinians have already fled Gaza's rural border areas and crowded into nearby towns, staying with relatives and at UN schools turned into makeshift shelters.

International aid groups have repeatedly said Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians, who are believed to make up about half of the dead.

Defense officials said several thousand reservists were already in Gaza as part of preparations for the new phase. For the time being, the units have been taking over areas cleared out by the regular troops, allowing those forces to push forward toward new targets. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified operational strategy.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel is "very close" to achieving its three key goals: destroying Hamas' military capabilities, ending the rocket fire and preventing it from rearming.