Israel, Hamas vow to fight on in Gaza

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel sent tanks deeper into Gaza on Saturday and threatened to intensify its offensive against Hamas as both sides spurned international calls to end the conflict.

Hamas accused the Jewish state of perpetrating a 'holocaust' and fired more rockets into Israel. Its leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, said the Islamist group would only consider a truce after Israel halted its 15-day-old offensive, pulled out all its troops and opened the coastal enclave's border crossings.

"I ask you Israelis, what have you achieved from this war you support? What have you achieved except killing innocent children and creating a trace of smashed skulls and a sea of blood drowning Gaza?" Meshaal said.

"What have you achieved except a holocaust your leaders want to win the next Israeli elections with?" Meshaal said, using the term for the Nazi genocide during World War Two that killed some six million Jews. There was no immediate reaction from Israel.

Israeli leaders have pressed on with their offensive despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire and Egyptian-European efforts at mediation, saying it is intent on stopping Hamas rocket fire into Israel.

HAMAS ROCKETS

As a phalanx of Israeli tanks advanced from the north toward the city of Gaza and aircraft hit targets across the coastal strip, Hamas fired about a dozen rockets at Israel, wounding three in Ashkelon, 20 km (12 miles) north of Gaza.

Israeli forces on Saturday killed at least 26 people, including eight members of one family in the northern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the fighting to 843.