Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has steered away from his conciliatory attitude to the Palestinian militants. He brushed aside criticism of Israel’s four day long aerial attack on Gaza. He said that there was no international pressure on him to abandon the operation and thundered that he would not rule out a ground invasion to stop the hurling of rockets by Palestinian militants. Netanyahu has spoken with leaders of the US, Russia and the UN soon after the aerial attacks by Israel commenced. Israel has hit more than 1000 targets in Gaza and more are under their radar. Palestinian authorities have reported nearly 100 casualties caused by the aerial offensive. They include civilians some of whom are women and children. Hundreds more have been wounded. A large number of Israelis have also been injured by Palestinian rockets. Neither side appears ready to de-escalate hostilities.
No outside mediator has yet stepped in to broker a renewal of the ceasefire concluded after the cross-border fighting in November 2012. A rocket from Lebanon has also hit Israel and that threatens a widening of the conflict. It may be just symbolic but Israel has already retaliated. It is not clear whether Hezbollah, the Shia organization is behind the Lebanese rocket fire. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has called on local and international donors for help in tackling the chaos in the occupied territory, especially Gaza. How long will the UN remain eyeless about the fighting in Gaza which compounds the clashes in Iraq and other parts of West Asia?
