英语六级阅读 Israel pounds Gaza as rockets strike from Lebanon

 　　A Palestinian woman covers her face as smoke rises following an explosion caused by Israeli military operations in Gaza city, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009.
　　Israeli aircraft pounded Hamas weapons positions and Gaza smuggling tunnels, witnesses and the military said Wednesday, while militants in Lebanon raised the specter of a new front by sending three rockets crashing into northern Israel.
　　The rockets from Lebanon landed in open areas near the town of Kiryat Shemona, causing no injuries or damage, Israeli police said. Residents of northern Israel were instructed to head to bomb shelters following the second attack from Lebanon in less than a week.
　　U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo Wednesday in diplomatic efforts to end the violence in the Gaza Strip, which began 19 days ago. The Israeli air and ground offensive against the coastal territory's Hamas rulers has killed more than 940 Palestinians, half of them civilians, according to Palestinian hospital officials.
　　Thirteen Israelis have also been killed, four of them by rocket fire from Gaza.
　　Eight years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns sparked the war, which began on Dec. 27 with a devastating air offensive, then expanded to include a ground campaign.
　　There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrilla group that fought a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, denied involvement in a similar attack last week and speculation has focused on small Palestinian groups in Lebanon.
　　The rockets flying across its northern border have fueled Israel's fears that militants in Lebanon could try to open a second front in solidarity with Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers.
　　Lebanese security officials said the Israeli army fired shells on southern Lebanon in response. Israeli helicopter gunships flew reconnaissance missions along the heavily protected border as Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers sent out patrols, the Lebanese officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
　　The Israeli military confirmed that it returned fire, and said it regards the Lebanese government and military as responsible for preventing attacks on Israel.
　　Israeli military officials have said the cease-fire talks in Cairo, which they term "decisive," will determine whether Israel moves closer to a truce or widens its offensive to send thousands of reservists into crowded, urban areas where casualties on both sides would likely mount.
 　　Israel had planned to send its lead negotiator, Amos Gilad, to Cairo on Wednesday, but his trip was put off because conditions weren't ripe, defense officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the date of his departure has not been set.
　　Ban was meeting with Mubarak, who launched an initiative with France a week ago aimed at achieving a temporary halt to the fighting to be followed by a permanent cease-fire and arrangements on border security. He will head from Egypt to Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait. His itinerary does not include a stop in Gaza, where Hamas is shunned by many world powers as a terrorist organization.
　　Israel pressed ahead with its military offensive overnight even as diplomatic efforts advanced. Warplanes and helicopter gunships pounded 60 targets overnight, including a police court in Gaza City, rocket-launching sites, weapons-production and storage facilities and about 35 weapons smuggling tunnels, the military said. Witnesses also reported an air strike on the house of a militant rocket squad leader.
　　A row of houses in Gaza City was demolished by a powerful air strike. The street was filled with rubble and furniture, severed electricity wires and telephone cables lay on the ground, and windows of nearby houses were shattered.
　　Four Palestinians, including at least two militants, were killed and 32 people were wounded in overnight fighting, Gaza hospital officials said.