Civilian deaths mount in Gaza as Israel troops move deeper

At least a dozen Palestinian civilians have been killed on Monday, medical sources told Qatari al Jazeera. The latest total death count in Gaza stands at 531 people killed across 10 days, with more than 80 deaths since the ground offensive began two days ago.Â

 

Troops, backed by air and naval support, are reported to have surrounded Gaza City. Israeli soldiers positioned on the north-south road at Netzarim, the besieged territory has been split into two, effectively blocking Palestinian supply lines.

 

An Israeli soldier was killed in fighting with Hamas on Sunday and overall 55 soldiers were wounded since Saturday, including four who remain in serious condition, according to official figures released by the Israel Defense Ministry.

 

More than 30 Palestinian gunmen have been killed in the fighting, Israel also said.

 

Israeli troops have partially surrounded Gaza City and Hamas has been hit hard, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday.

 

"Gaza City is partially surrounded," Barak told parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee. "We have hit Hamas hard, but we have not yet reached all the goals that we have set for ourselves and the operation continues," he was quoted by AFP as saying.

 

Israel allowed a convoy of humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip on Monday, the army said. The aid included medicine and food which was sent from Egypt, Jordan, Greece and U.N. aid agencies, the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

 

HAMAS VOWS VICTORY

Mahmud Zahar, a top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, on Monday vowed that the Islamists were heading to "victory" against Israel.

 

"Victory is coming, God willing," Zahar said in a television address broadcast on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa television, his first since the start of Israel’s massive offensive against Hamas on Dec. 27.

 

Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, "has given the most beautiful performances during its confrontation with the army that the world thought invincible," he said.

 

"We will defeat it, God willing."

 

"The painful tests of today will help us realize our national aspirations of tomorrow," he said, adding that Hamas was not renouncing its aim to "free all of Palestine."

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"With this aggression, the enemy is condemning itself and giving the world reasons to eliminate the temporary entity in Palestine."

 

"They have legitimized the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine. They have legitimized the destruction of their synagogues and their schools by hitting our mosques and our schools."

 

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected to arrive in the region on Monday in a fresh diplomatic push for a truce, which Israel has so far resisted.

 

Along with Sarkozy, EU and Russian delegations were also expected in the region on Monday. The EU delegation includes EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

 

They will be joined in Cairo by EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. The delegation will go on to Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman from Cairo.

 

International efforts to halt the conflict sought new impetus after the U.N. Security Council failed to agree a statement on the conflict, with the United States giving strong backing to Israel.

 

France's Sarkozy was scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday, after first meeting his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo.

 

France hopes Egypt can rekindle its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.

 

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, is heading a delegation to the Middle East, while Medvedev’s Middle East envoy, Alexander Saltanov, was also on the way.

 

The European Union and Russia are both part of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, along with the United Nations and the United States.

 

A Hamas official said a delegation from the Islamist group would head for talks in Egypt, which has launched contacts to achieve a ceasefire to end Israel's 10-day-old offensive.