Security Council to meet on Gaza

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 | Presstv.ir

Israel launched a ground incursion into Gaza on the eighth day of the attacks. Israel's move to launch a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip has prompted the United Nations Security Council to call for an emergency meeting. The UNSC has so far held two meetings on the crisis, sparked by Tel Aviv last Saturday, but has failed to pass a resolution courtesy of the United State -- which has blocked the drafts for being 'unbalanced' as they did not condemn the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. The closed-door meeting is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 pm (0000 GMT) at UN headquarters in New York, the United Nations press office said on Saturday. Contrary to its previous claims that the troop accumulation at the Gaza border was only a precautionary measure, Tel Aviv moved its tanks and troops into the costal territory earlier on Saturday. Over 460 Palestinians in Gaza have so far been killed and over 2,300 others have been wounded. This is while Hamas fighters killed at least five Israeli troops and wounded another 25, bring the total Israeli toll to 11 soldiers killed and 41 injured. The Washington Post had earlier quoted an Israeli army spokeswoman as saying that 'everything is connected' in Gaza, and that "anything affiliated with Hamas is a legitimate target." The remarks were widely interpreted as a justification for Israeli troops to kill civilians under the pretext that they are potentially linked with Hamas. While Hamas tends to target military men invading their land, Israeli warplanes on numerous occasions have targeted government buildings, mosques, schools and even the seat of Gaza's parliament. Since Friday, Israeli authorities have been refusing entry to a Red Cross medical team to Gaza to help treat residents injured in bombings - another blow to the crisis-stricken Gazans, who had been living under dire humanitarian conditions even prior to the Dec. 27 onslaught, as a result of an Israeli blockade imposed on them.