HEADLINES:
R/€ Call for end to cycle of attacks as Gaza death toll soars to 234
March 05, 2008 Edition 2
GENEVA: Israeli military attacks have claimed the lives of 234 Palestinians this year compared with 301 throughout last year, according to figures published by the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The agency said 123 Palestinians, 27 of them children and 28 of them unarmed civilians, died in Israeli Defence Force operations last week. Five Israelis were killed in the same period, four in military operations in Gaza and one by a rocket that landed in Israel.
The Israeli army took action as militants in Gaza showered southern Israel with 258 missiles and mortars.
On Saturday, 63 Palestinians were killed and 172 injured - making this the "deadliest" day for Palestinians since 2000, the agency said.
The mission ended yesterday, but sporadic violence continued.
The agency called for an end to the cycle of attack and counterattack in Gaza and for a return to peaceful dialogue.
It said that because of military damage or shortages of materials, only 12 of the 214 schools in Gaza were open.
Meanwhile, American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume US-sponsored peace talks suspended because of Israel's offensive in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
During talks in Cairo, Rice said that only negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority could lead to lasting peace. She brushed aside Egyptian calls for a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.
"Negotiations ought to resume as soon as possible," Rice told reporters in Cairo, where she consulted Egyptian leaders on how to defuse the Gaza crisis and appease Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas has suspended talks with Israel over the bloodshed in Gaza.
Olmert has called for negotiations to resume but threatened to take further military action in the Hamas-controlled territory to curb rocket attacks. - Sapa-dpa, Reuters
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