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Israeli army terms long Gaza raid futile

5 more Palestinian killed

AFP, Jerusalem
Senior army officers warned yesterday that Israel's ongoing operation in northern Gaza, which has left more than 120 Palestinians dead since its launch last month, has run on for too long and is now counterproductive.
"The operation has exhausted itself, and continuing it is liable only to lead to complications," one senior officer told the Maariv daily.
"Every additional day that passes makes the humanitarian situation in the northern Gaza Strip worse, and in the meantime, the Palestinians are learning the IDF's (army's) patterns and the location of the troops in Jabaliya, Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya, making it possible for them to strike at the soldiers."
Five more Palestinians, including a 70-year-old man, were killed overnight as the army pushed on with its so-called Operation Days of Penitence, its deadliest offensive in
Gaza since the Palestinian uprising began more than four years ago.
The operation was designed to put an end to rocket attacks fired at southern Israel from Gaza by militant groups such as Hamas.
Its original focus was the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Hanun, but the operation was broadened on Wednesday when troops moved into the town of Beit Lahiya.
However, in a sign that the operation is failing to achieve its aims, two more Qassam rockets -- which take their name from Hamas' armed wing -- were fired from the center of Beit Lahiya shortly after troops had moved in.
"The benefit of continuing the operation is doubtful because even when the IDF is in the northern Gaza Strip, this does not completely prevent Qassam rocket fire at Israel," another officer told Maariv.
"Ultimately, after Israel withdraws, the question whether
Qassam rockets will continue will only be up to the Palestinian security forces, who will have to stop the fire."
Israel is planning to pull all its troops and the 8,000 Jewish settlers in Gaza out of the territory next year.
Meanwhile, the head of the cashstrapped UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Wednesday appealed for international help, highlighting the miserable situation in Gaza and Israeli restrictions on his staff across the occupied territories.
"I would like to see mutual respect and cooperation between Israel and UNRWA," Peter Hansen told representatives of major donor nations and the host countries of the more than four million Palestinian refugees under his agency's care.
He charged that the latest Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed 118 people in two weeks, and Israel's construction of an Israeli barrier across the West Bank had crippled UNRWA's activities.