英语六级阅读 Airstrikes rock Gaza as truce remains elusive
2009-01-03来源:和谐英语
The moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, will travel to New York to participate in another Security Council meeting about Gaza on Monday, Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said. Abbas, who lost control of Gaza to his Hamas rivals in a violent takeover last year, will demand Israel "stop this aggression in Gaza" and lift its blockade of the territory, he said.
Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border on Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault.
Israeli warplanes have carried out some 500 sorties in five days against Hamas targets, and helicopters have flown hundreds more combat missions, a senior Israeli military officer said on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Earlier this week, the government approved the call-up of more than 9,000 reserve soldiers. The call-up has yet to be carried out.
Echoing Israel's cool response to truce proposals, a senior Hamas leader with ties to its military wing said now was not the right time to call off the fight. Hamas was unhappy with the six-month truce that collapsed just before the fighting began because it didn't result in an easing of Israel's crippling blockade on Gaza.
The Hamas leader, Osama Mazini, said in a statement distributed by the Hamas press office that his fighters were eager for a ground assault. "The people of Gaza are waiting to see the Zionist enemy in Gaza to tear them into pieces of flesh," said Mazini.
Mazini also had a message for anyone who might question the wisdom of Hamas' decision to take on Israel and provoke the fiercest military assault on Gaza since the 1967 Mideast war.
"Whoever says that Hamas entered a losing gamble, we say this is the price of victory and liberation. Whoever doesn't pay the price will be a slave all their lives," he said.
The Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, promised victory in a speech broadcast later on a Hamas TV station.
"Absolutely, you will be victorious with God's will. Victory is near, God willing, it is closer than what people expect," Haniyeh said. Haniyeh, like other Hamas leaders, is in hiding.
Israel's latest airstrikes have concentrated on crushing the numerous smuggling tunnels running under Gaza's southern border with Egypt. They provide a crucial lifeline, not just for the Hamas rulers, but also for bringing in food and fuel for Gaza's people.
Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2007, and have cracked open their borders only to let in limited amounts of humanitarian aid.
Israel says more than 80 tunnels have been destroyed. Several hundred tunnels ran under the border before Israeli warplanes began striking.
Fighting on, Gaza's militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Wednesday evening, including one in the city of Ashkelon that was caught on a security camera. In the video, a man is seen walking along a sidewalk and ducking for cover along a wall as the missile explodes in a cloud of smoke just a few steps behind him.
The city of 120,000 people 11 miles north of Gaza has been a frequent target.
Students in large swaths of Israel's south were told to stay home Thursday because of the rocket threat. The 18,000 students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, southern Israel's only university, were also told to stay home. On Wednesday, a Hamas rocket fell through the ceiling of a classroom in the city that was empty because school had been canceled.
Beersheba, a major southern Israeli city 19 miles from Gaza, had never before been within range of Gaza rockets, reflecting the increasing sophistication of Hamas' arsenal.
In 2001 Gaza militants began firing homemade rockets at Israeli communities adjacent to Gaza. Now militants are firing large numbers of industrial-grade weapons that defense officials say are manufactured in China and Iran. The new missiles have dramatically expanded their range and put more than a tenth of Israel's population in their sights.
Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border on Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault.
Israeli warplanes have carried out some 500 sorties in five days against Hamas targets, and helicopters have flown hundreds more combat missions, a senior Israeli military officer said on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Earlier this week, the government approved the call-up of more than 9,000 reserve soldiers. The call-up has yet to be carried out.
Echoing Israel's cool response to truce proposals, a senior Hamas leader with ties to its military wing said now was not the right time to call off the fight. Hamas was unhappy with the six-month truce that collapsed just before the fighting began because it didn't result in an easing of Israel's crippling blockade on Gaza.
The Hamas leader, Osama Mazini, said in a statement distributed by the Hamas press office that his fighters were eager for a ground assault. "The people of Gaza are waiting to see the Zionist enemy in Gaza to tear them into pieces of flesh," said Mazini.
Mazini also had a message for anyone who might question the wisdom of Hamas' decision to take on Israel and provoke the fiercest military assault on Gaza since the 1967 Mideast war.
"Whoever says that Hamas entered a losing gamble, we say this is the price of victory and liberation. Whoever doesn't pay the price will be a slave all their lives," he said.
The Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, promised victory in a speech broadcast later on a Hamas TV station.
"Absolutely, you will be victorious with God's will. Victory is near, God willing, it is closer than what people expect," Haniyeh said. Haniyeh, like other Hamas leaders, is in hiding.
Israel's latest airstrikes have concentrated on crushing the numerous smuggling tunnels running under Gaza's southern border with Egypt. They provide a crucial lifeline, not just for the Hamas rulers, but also for bringing in food and fuel for Gaza's people.
Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2007, and have cracked open their borders only to let in limited amounts of humanitarian aid.
Israel says more than 80 tunnels have been destroyed. Several hundred tunnels ran under the border before Israeli warplanes began striking.
Fighting on, Gaza's militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Wednesday evening, including one in the city of Ashkelon that was caught on a security camera. In the video, a man is seen walking along a sidewalk and ducking for cover along a wall as the missile explodes in a cloud of smoke just a few steps behind him.
The city of 120,000 people 11 miles north of Gaza has been a frequent target.
Students in large swaths of Israel's south were told to stay home Thursday because of the rocket threat. The 18,000 students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, southern Israel's only university, were also told to stay home. On Wednesday, a Hamas rocket fell through the ceiling of a classroom in the city that was empty because school had been canceled.
Beersheba, a major southern Israeli city 19 miles from Gaza, had never before been within range of Gaza rockets, reflecting the increasing sophistication of Hamas' arsenal.
In 2001 Gaza militants began firing homemade rockets at Israeli communities adjacent to Gaza. Now militants are firing large numbers of industrial-grade weapons that defense officials say are manufactured in China and Iran. The new missiles have dramatically expanded their range and put more than a tenth of Israel's population in their sights.
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