英语六级阅读 Airstrikes rock Gaza as truce remains elusive
2009-01-03来源:和谐英语
Israeli jets bombed the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza early Thursday and navy ships opened fire at Hamas positions along the coastline as diplomatic pressure to end six days of devastating violence showed little immediate effect.
Explosions shook Gaza City as Israeli planes targeted three government buildings, including the parliament. Hospital officials said 25 wounded were evacuated from nearby houses. The military said aircraft also bombed smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, part of an ongoing attempt to cut off Hamas' last lifeline to the world outside the embattled Palestinian territory.
One pre-dawn strike targeting the house of a Hamas operative in northern Gaza killed a 35-year-old woman and wounded eight people, a Gaza Health Ministry official said.
Gaza officials said more than 390 people have died and 1,600 have been wounded since Saturday. Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed, and the U.N. says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died.
In Israel, three civilians and a soldier have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza, which has reached deeper than ever into Israel.
The U.N. Security Council, meeting for emergency consultations Wednesday night, discussed but did not vote on an Arab request for a legally binding resolution that would condemn Israel and halt its attacks. A draft resolution was immediately labeled by the United States as "unbalanced" because it made no mention of halting Hamas rocket fire at Israeli towns — the immediate cause behind the massive air offensive Israel launched Saturday.
Diplomatic efforts by leaders in the United States, Europe and the Middle East appeared to be having little effect. A French proposal for a 48-hour cease-fire to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza failed to gain traction. Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the time was not ripe to consider it. A separate proposal by Turkey and Egypt, two of Israel's few allies in the Muslim world, also seemed to be attracting little serious study in Israel or Gaza, where Hamas was also dismissed talk of a truce.
Explosions shook Gaza City as Israeli planes targeted three government buildings, including the parliament. Hospital officials said 25 wounded were evacuated from nearby houses. The military said aircraft also bombed smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, part of an ongoing attempt to cut off Hamas' last lifeline to the world outside the embattled Palestinian territory.
One pre-dawn strike targeting the house of a Hamas operative in northern Gaza killed a 35-year-old woman and wounded eight people, a Gaza Health Ministry official said.
Gaza officials said more than 390 people have died and 1,600 have been wounded since Saturday. Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed, and the U.N. says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died.
In Israel, three civilians and a soldier have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza, which has reached deeper than ever into Israel.
The U.N. Security Council, meeting for emergency consultations Wednesday night, discussed but did not vote on an Arab request for a legally binding resolution that would condemn Israel and halt its attacks. A draft resolution was immediately labeled by the United States as "unbalanced" because it made no mention of halting Hamas rocket fire at Israeli towns — the immediate cause behind the massive air offensive Israel launched Saturday.
Diplomatic efforts by leaders in the United States, Europe and the Middle East appeared to be having little effect. A French proposal for a 48-hour cease-fire to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza failed to gain traction. Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the time was not ripe to consider it. A separate proposal by Turkey and Egypt, two of Israel's few allies in the Muslim world, also seemed to be attracting little serious study in Israel or Gaza, where Hamas was also dismissed talk of a truce.
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